Solitary places made glad: being observations and experiences for thirty-two years in Nebraska; with sketches and incidents touching the discovery, early settlement, and development of the state

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMEKICA.

Preface

OME time before his death, the late Dr. W. B. Slaughter had in contemplation the writing of a book on Nebraska. He requested me, as I was one of the first pioneers, to furnish him material touching the early settlement of the Territory. The request was complied with, and a limited amount furnished. He afterward said : '' You have not furnished me the tithe of what I expected; I shall expect a great deal more from you.'' Soon after this remark he was called to his heavenly home.

Later, one of the leading members of the Nebraska Conference said to me : " You owe it to the Church and posterity to leave in permanent form your early experiences and observations in Nebraska.'' A leading pastor in a sister denomination of the State suggested the same thing, and similar suggestions have been made by others. These remarks impressed me with the thought that perhaps I did owe it to the

6 PREFACE.

Church and the world to follow out their suggestions; hence this volume.

I give this unpretentious book to the world, earnestly praying the blessing of God upon every one who may chance to read its pages. If it shall be the means, in the hands of God, of leading a soul to Christ, or a believer up to a higher plane of religious experience or to more active service for the Master, my labor shall not be in vain.

H. T. DAVIS.

Lincoln, Nebraska, June 4, 1890.

Chapter I. THE "great AMERICAN DESERT " A MYTH

Early Views of the West— The Sahara of the United States disappears before the March of Civilization, ^^^^ 1^

Chapter II. DISCOVERY OF NEBRASKA

Coronado's Expedition in 1540-41— De Soto discovers the Mississippi— Father Marquette and La Salle— Nebraska twice owned by Spain, and twice by France— Ceded to the United States in 1803— Organized as a Territory in 1854— Admitted as a State in 1867— Piosperity, . 26

Chapter III. TOPOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA

Position— Area— Elevation — CUmate— Soil— Resources- Intelligence of the People, 38

Chapter IV. CALIFORNIA GOLD EXCITEMENT IN 1848-50

Gold discoverd— Anxious to go— "Outfit" obtained— Farewell to Friends— Trip from South Bend to Old Fort Kearney — Perilous Passage over the "Big Muddy "—First Night in Nebraska— Beautiful Scene, 46

Chapter V. ACROSS THE PLAINS

Old Fort Kearney — Nebraska City — Platte River — Indians — New Fort Kearney — Wolves — Midnight Alarm — Chimney Rock — Court-house Rock — Buflfaloes — Sweet Water — Summit of the Rocky Mountains — Green River— Bear River— Humboldt— Desert— Carson River— Summit of the Sierra Nevadas— Journey Ended, Page 56

Chapter VI

Disappointed Gold-seekers— Long Illness— Doctor-bill— Wickedness Rampant — Lynch-law — Summary Punishment tlie Palladium of the People— Vigilance Committees—Bold Robery— The Victim [^captured and hung, 83

Chapter VII. RETURN HOME BY WAY OF THE ISTHMUS

San Francisco— San Diego— " Wonders of the Deep "— Acapulco — Terrible Storm — Panama — Crossing the Isthmus— From Aspinwall to New York— Home, . 94

Chapter VIII. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS

Memorable City and Church— John Brownfield— David Stover — Conversion — Parental Influence — Call to Preach — Attend Asbury University — Licensed to Preach— Join Conference— First Circuit— Second Circuit — Two Gracious Revivals — First Convert's Triumphant Death — Ordained Deacon — Bishop WauKh, 108

Chapter IX. ATTENTION TURNED TO THE WEST

Fascinations of the West — Belle vue Mission offered Us — Acceptance — Adieu to Friends — We reach St. Louis — Up the " Big Muddy "—Arrive in Omaha, . Page 122

Chapter X. THE PIONEER EVANGEL

Methodism Cosmopolitan — Missionaries sent to Oregon in 1834 — Planning to capture Kansas and Nebraska for Christ — The Territories organized — The Bishops send out W. H. Goode as a Scout — Our Superintendency an Element of Power— Kansas and Nebraska Conference organized — Quantrell burns the City of Lawrence — Second Conference — Bishop Ames and Dr. Poe on the Missouri River — A Heroine — A Sermon instead of a Dance — The Third Conference, . . . 128

Chapter XI. FIRST WORK IN NEBRASKA

Crude Ideas of Nebraska — Bellevue — Story of a Diamond — How the People viewed Us — Hunting for a Town without Houses — First Sermon in Nebraska — Wild Speculation — Its Demoralizing Effects— First Quarterage received— Glad of Green Pumpkins — Tliankful for Potatoes and Salt — Hospitality of Friends, . . 147

Chapter XII

When Founded — Indian Tradition of the Name— Amusing and Thrilling Incidents — George Francis Train — Moving in an Ox-wagon — Indians — First Methodist Episcopal Church — Ride on Horseback Two Hundred Miles to

Conference — Falls City in 1860— John Brown— The Conference divided, Page 163

Chapter XIII. FIRST NEBRASKA CONFERENCE

Members — Statistics — "Crowned Ones" — Martyr Spirit Stili in the Church — Nebraska City District in 1861 — A Fearful Ride in the Cold— Popgun Elder— S. P. Majors — Belle vue Conference — Bishop Simpson — Crossing the Platte in a Skiff— Laura Beatty — An Awful Tragedy — A Death-bed Repentance, 182

Chapter XIV. CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS

The Dark Cloud — The Rainbow of Promise — National Prosperity — " Jayhawkers " — Ordered to Halt — Camp-meeting near Falls City — Bloody Fray — Dave Stephenson, 206

Chapter XV

Location — Salt Basins — First Settlers — Indians — First Sermon in the County — Elder Young — Lancaster — Visit to the New Town — Act providing for the Change of the Capital — Lot Sales — First Legislature in the New Capitol — First Methodist Episcopal Church — Other Churches, - - - 212

Chapter XVI. ONE OF THE EARLY PIONEERS

Rev. Z. B. Turman, the First Preacher in Lancaster County — Salt Creek Circuit — Great Revival — Coon-meat — Preaching to " Spotted Horse " and His Warriors — The Captive Squaw and Her Sad Fate — A Mushand-milk Tea— Indian Troubles— The "New Ulm Massacre," Page 231

Chapter XVII. DISTRICT INCIDENTS

Eleventh Nebraska Conference — Bishop Ames — Old Sermons — U. P. R. R. completed — Rapid Growth of the Church— Hastings — Overtaken in a Fearful Storm — Three Memorable Quarterly Meetings — Sad Death of a Worldling — The Dutchman's Curse — The Confused Hostess — No Desire to Dance, 244

Chapter XVIII. FURTHER ACCOUNT OF DISTRICT WORK

Marvelous Growth — Privations and Toils of the Preachers — The Christmas-box — Touching Incident — Conference of 1873 — Bishop Andrews— Conference of 1874 — Bishop Bowman — Dr. J. M. Reid — Conference of 1875 — Bishop Gilbert Haven — His Triumphant Death — Rev. George Worley, 269

Chapter XIX. THN SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED

Appointed to Omaha District — Columbus — Osceola— Rising City — David City — The Work in Omaha — Conference at Falls City — Bishop Foster — Appointed the Second Time to Nebraska City District — A Remarkable Meeting — West Nebraska Mission formed — Dr. T. B. Lemon — Division of the Conference, .... 287

Chapter XX. GRASSHOPPER INCIDENTS

Their Origin — Depredations in all Ages — An Atheist renounces His Atheism— Wonderful Answers to Prayer—

A Touching Incident — Another Atheist changed— Annie Wittenmyer — Assistance from the East — Mrs. M. E! Eoberts — Keflex Influence of Work done for Others — Man's Weakness and God's Power, Page 298

Chapter XXI. BEATRICE

Location— Founded in 1857— Emigrants on a Missouri Steamer organize a Colony — Beatrice in 1661 — Albert Towle — Governor Butler— First Homestead — First Methodist Preacher— First Quarterly Meeting— Indians— Terrible Massacre— The Great Change, . . 319

Chapter XXII

Location — First Settlers — First Grave in the County — Methodist Class organized — David Baker — Buffaloes invade the County — Friendship of the Early Settlers— W. E. Morgan— First Quarterly Meeting— Other Churches— Appointed to York Station 1883— Great Revival — The Little Girl and the Dark Cloud — Second Year— Another Great Revival — The New Church — Subscription — Third Year — Church completed— Dedication by Bishop Warren, 332

Chapter I. The "great American Desert" A Myth

Early Views of the West— The Sahara of the United States disappears before the March of Civilization.

THE waters of the Missouri River, on the west, were once supposed to wash a country uninhabitable by civilized men. This country was thought to be a vast sandy plain, stretching away to the Rocky Mountains, with but here and there a shrub and spire of grass, and wholly unsusceptible of cultivation.

In the earlier history of our country the '' Great American Desert '^ was considered about the same in extent as the Sahara of Africa; and it is really amusing to read the opinions held, only a few years ago, by some of our best geographical writers touching the territory of which Nebraska is now a part.

In 1793, Jedediah Morse published his "Universal Geography," and in this work he gives the most advanced knowledge of his time touching the interior of the North American continent. An extract or two will indicate the extent and accuracy of his knowledge. Much of his information was derived from the Indians. He says: "From the best accounts that can be obtained from the Indians, we learn that the four most capital rivers of the continent of North America — namely, the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the River Bourbon [the Missouri], and the Oregon, or Eiver of the West — have their sources in the same neighborhood.''

Touching the nature of the country west of the Mississippi, he says : " It has been supposed that all settlers Avho go beyond the Mississippi will be forever lost to the United States.''

When the United States proposed to purchase from France the Louisiana territory, some of our ablest statesmen seemed to know but little of its extent or topography. Mr. Jefferson said with regard to it: "The country which we wish to purchase is a barren sand, six hundred miles from east to west, and from thirty to forty and fifty miles from north to south." "In 1803 Congress attempted to extend the Indian trade into the wild northwest, and so organized the expedition that has become historic as that of Lewis and Clarke. The instructions for it were draughted in April, 1803. On the last day of the same month Louisiana was ceded to the United States ;

THE " GREAT AMERICAN DESERT:' 17

and so the expedition, which consumed two years, four months, and nine days in the round-trip from and to St. Louis, resulted in an exploration of our own territory/^

In the Geography of Morse, and the report of the Lewis and Clarke expedition, the shadows of the Great American Desert first appeared.

Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike commanded two Government expeditions into the country in 1805- 1807. He was sent out to examine the sources of the Mississippi, Missouri, Platte, and Arkansas Rivers, and he first gave prominence to the unfortunate myth in American geography. In his report to the War-office he declares the vast regions explored as repulsive to all emigrants and impossible ever to be settled, and then says : " From these immense prairies may be derived one great advantage to the United States ; namely, the restriction of our population to some certain limits, and thereby a continuation of the Union. Our citizens being so prone to rambling and extending themselves on the frontier, will, through necessity, be constrained to limit their extent to the west to the borders of the Missouri and Mississippi, while they leave the prairies, incapable of cultivation, to the wandering and uncivilized Aborigines of the country. It appears to me to be only possible to introduce a limited po})ulation to the banks of the Kansas, Platte, and Arkansas.'' "In the year 1819-20, Major Stephen H. Long, of the Army, by order of John C. Calhoun, Secretary of AVar, Avent out to explore the Missouri and its principal branches; and then, in succession, Red River, Arkansas, and the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri. The expedition took winter-quarters near Council Bluffs, and then swept the eastern base and slopes of the Rocky Mountains, along and among the heads and tributaries of the Missouri and its lower valleys. A few extracts from the report of Major Long will show how the ^desert' grew in area and in terror before the American people, and how good material it furnished to Europeans who wished to disparage the United States and discourage emigration, and prepare the way to capture Oregon. 'Of the country between the Mississippi and Missouri, it is reported that the scarcity of timber, mill-seats, and springs of water — defects that are almost uniformly prevalent — must, for a loug time, prove serious impediments in the way of settliug the country. Large tracts are often to be met with exhibiting scarcely a trace of vegetation.' The ^ Great American Desert' manifests itself thus authoritatively in an official document in this report of a United States exploring expedition. Of the mountainous country beyond, Major Long says: 'It is a region destined by the barrenness of ^its soil, the inhos-

THE " GREAT AMERICAN DESERTS 19

pltable character of its climate, and by other physical disadvantages, to be the abode of perpetual desolation.^ '^ *

From the reports of the Government explorations of Lewis and Clarke, Pike and Long, the material was furnished for the school histories and geographies of that day. These reports were considered authentic.

^^n 1824, Woodbridge and Willard j)ublished their ^Geography for Schools,^ and they thus spoke to the generation of pupils whom a better information is now correcting.'^ They say :

^^From longitude 96°, or the meridian of Council Bluifs, to the Chippewa Mountains, is a desert region of four hundred miles in length and breadth. On approaching within one hundred miles of the Rocky Mountains, their snow-capped summits became visible. Here the hills become more frequent, and elevated rocks more abundant, and the soil more sterile, until we reach the abrupt chain of peaks which divide it from the western declivities of North America. Not a thousandth part can be said to have any timber growth, and the surface is generally naked. . . . The predominant soil of this region is a sterile sand, and large tracts are often to be met with, which exhibit scarcely a trace of vegetation. . . .

*"The United States of Yesterday and of To-morrow," p. 99.

Agreeable to the best intelligence we have, the country, both northward and southward of that described, commencing near the sources of the Sabine and Colorado, and extending to the northern boundary of the United States, is throughout of a similar character/'

The Edinburgh Review , of 1843, contained the following, from the polished pen of Washington Irving : " There lies the desert, except in a few spots on the border of the rivers, incapable, probably forever, of fixed settlements. This is the great prairie wilderness, which has a general breadth of six hundred or seven hundred miles, and extends from south to north nearly fourteen hundred miles, so complete in the character of aridity that the great rivers — the Platte, Arkansas, and Rio Grande — after many hundred miles of course through the mountains, dry up altogether on the plains in summer, like the streams of Australia, leaving only standing pools of water between wide sand-bars/'

In his work entitled "Astoria," Washington Irving describes the Great American Desert in the following language : "An immense tract, stretching north and south four hundred of miles along the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and drained by the tributary streams of the Missouri and the Mississippi. This region, which resembles one of the immeasurable steppes of x\sia, has

THE "GREAT AMERICAN DESERT." 21

not inaptly been termed the ' Great American Desert ' It is a laud where no man permanently abides; for in certain seasons of the year there is no food, either for the hunter or his steed iUe herbage is parched and withered; the brooks and streams are dried up; the buffalo, the elk, and the deer have wandered to distant parts, keeping within the range of expiring verdure, and leaving behind them a vast, uninhabitable solitude, seamed by ravines, the former beds of torrents, but now serving only to tantalize and increase the thirst

of the traveler Such is the nature of this

immense wilderness of the far West, which apparently defies cultivation, and the habitation ot civilized life. It is to be feared that a great part of it will form a lawless interval between the abodes of civilized man, like the wastes of the ocean or the deserts of Arabia."

Mr. Irving's knowledge of the country he describes was not obtained from personal observation, but was gained at second-hand. He depended upon others for his information, and, relyiug upon their representations, unwittingly made erroneous statements that became current throughout the world. The men who gave Irvino- much of his information, were interested in the fur-"trade, and it was to their interest to keep concealed many facts touching the country. It was the policv of these men to keep,the world in ignorance with regard to this region, that it might be kept as long as possible " luioccupicd as a game reserve/'

Mr. Irving afterwards made the following confession touching his own writings : '^ I have read somewhat, heard and seen more, and dreamed more than all. My brain is filled, therefore, with all kinds of odds and ends. In traveling, these heterogeneous matters have become shaken up in my mind, as the articles are apt to be in an illpacked traveling trunk, so that, when I attempt to draw forth a fact, I can not determine whether I have heard, read, or dreamed it, and I am always at a loss to know how much to believe of my own stories.'^

As late as 1849, on the map of Olney's " Quarto Geography, '^ from Northern Texas to the British Line, and from the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains, was a space in which was found, in large letters, the words, " Great American Desert. '^

At a still later date an English writer in the Westminster Review says : '' From the valley of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, the United States territory consists of an arid tract, extending south nearly to Texas, which has been called the ^ Great American Desert.' This sterile region, covering such an immense area, contains but a few thousand miles of fertile land. . . . Nature, marching from east to west, showered her bounties on the land of the United States, until

THE " GREA T AMERICAN DESERTS 23

she readied the Mississippi, but there she turned aside and went northward to favor British territory."

It is related of Benjamin Franklin that, in one of those courtly halls and gatherings in Europe, when nobility and statesmanship and diplomacy were toying with the young Republic, there hung a map of the United States, with that disheartening inscription, curving from the Texan to the Biltish Border, '' The Great American Desert." Franklin took a pen and drew a broad, erasing line through the title. The prophecy uttered by Franklin's pen has been fulfilled. The desert has disappeared.

For a number of years an army of " agricultural invaders" has been crowding the ^' Great American Desert," and this ghostly domain has been displaced by the best grain lands and grazing lands and mineral lands of the world. To-day, a net-work of railroads covers the " Great American Desert," and hundreds of thousands of the finest farms in the world, whose fields yield from twenty to fifty bushels of wheat per acre, and from thirty to ninety bushels of corn per acre, dot the vast plains, once supposed to be uninhabitable. A few years have entirely dissipated the delusion touching the West, and the Sahara of the United States has been found to be one of the most fcr-. tile, picturesque, and inviting regions in the world.

The salubrious climate; the dry, pure air; tiie clear, blue sky ; the hills and valleys clothed with a rich, green sward, and decorated with ten thousand beautiful flowers; the beautiful winding streams, skirted with timber, along which herds of buifalo and antelope once grazed, — all combine to enhance the beauty and loveliness of the rich and rolling prairies of Nebraska.

And now, w^here but a few years ago the wild Indian lived in his wigwam, the beautiful city stands ; where the buffalo, unmolested, grazed and ruminated, is seen the beautiful farm, with fields waving with luxuriant harvests. The warwhoop of the savage had scarcely died away w^hen the sound of the church-going bell and the voice of prayer and song were heard. Where the buffalo, the elk, the deer, the antelope, lived in peace and held undisturbed sway, are now seen the church with its beautiful spire pointing heavenward, the university, the college, the common school, and all the institutions neccessary to the culture of the head and the heart.

The forces that are at work to-day for the development of the country are tenfold greater than they were thirty years ago. Cities groAv up as by magic ; large farms are opened in a year ; internal improvements are made wnth a rapidity that would stagger the faith of the most credulous who lived a generation ago.

THE " GREA T AMERICAN DESERT." 25

We have seen the biifFalo-path transformed into the piiblie highway, and the Indian-trail to the railroad, with its fiery steed snuffing the breeze, and sweeping with lightning speed from the Missouri River to the gold-washed shores of the Pacific.

We have seen ignorance and barbarity melt aww before the mild and genial rays of civilization and the gospel ; and the air that but a little while ago resounded with the wild war-cry of the savage, now resounds with the songs of peace.

We are living in a wonderful era — the brightest and most inspiring of all the past. This is an age of wonderful advancement. And I am glad to chronicle the fact that the moral and intellectual development of the country keeps pace with its material advancement. It has been the pleasure of the writer to witness the making glad of these solitary places. He has seen, with his own eyes, the dreary and desolate plains of Nebraska transformed into gardens of beauty and glory. And it is the purpose in the following pages to delineate, to some extent, from actual observation, the progress of this work. 3

Chapter II. Discovkry Of Nebraska

CoBONADo's Expedition in 1540-41 — De Soto discovers THE Mississippi — Father Marquette and La Salle — Nebraska twice owned by Spain, and twice by France— Ceded to the United States in 1803— Organized as a Territory in 1854— Admitted as a State in 1867 — Prosperity.

THE discovery of Nebraska dates back to a period far more distant than many really suppose.

Judge James W. Savage has given much time and thought to the study of this subject. In an address delivered before the State Historical Society, April 16, 1880, he says: "Fourscore years before the Pilgrims landed on the venerable shores of Massachusetts; sixty-eight years before Hudson discovered the ancient and beautiful river which still bears his name ; sixty-six years before John Smith, with his cockney colonists, sailed up a summer stream, which they named after James the First of England, and commenced the settlement of what was afterward to be Virginia; twenty-three years before Shakespeare was born, when Queen Elizabeth Avas a little girl, and

Charles the Fifth sat upon the united throne of Germany and Spain, Nebraska was discovered, the peculiarities of her soil noted, her fruits and productions described, and her inhabitants and animals depicted." Three hundred and fifty years ago Nebraska was discovered by the brilliant and adventurous Coronado. The expedition of Coronado from the City of Mexico to the plains of Nebraska, in 1540-41, was one of the most wonderful undertakings in the history of the North American continent. Leaving the home of the Montezumas with an army of eleven hundred men, scaling the mountains of Mexico, pushing across arid plains and deserts of burning sand, meeting and conquering hostile tribes, swimming rivers, and surmounting almost every conceivable obstacle, he at last reached the valley of the Great Platte, it is supposed, near where the city of Columbus now stands. He and his noble band of brave and toil-worn men were the first to traverse the beautiful prairies, climb the hills, and cross the streams of the country destined in future ages to be one of the most thrifty and wealthy States of the American Union.

Not long after the conquest of Mexico by Cortes, in 1519, Nunez de Guzman governed the northern portion of Mexico. Guzman was a bitter enemy of Cortes, and envious of his brilliant discoveries. He had a burning desire to eclipse Cortes in his marvelous discoveries and the magnitude of his conquests. Visions of vast cities of wealth, beauty, and splendor, which he was to conquer, constantly rose before him. Guzman had a slave — a Texas Indian. This slave was cunning and shrewd. He went to his master one day, and told him a strange story touching the wealth and splendor of seven cities lying away to the north. He said, when a boy he often went with his father to these cities, and that in beauty, wealth, population, and magnificence, they compared with the City of Mexico itself ; " that whole streets blazed with shops of gold and silver smiths, that the most precious stones abounded, and that the inhabitants were gorgeously attired, and lived in all the ease and luxury that wealth could bestow.^'

This story excited the curiosity of the governor, and inflamed his lust for gold. He determined, if possible, to find these cities of wealth ; but all efforts to find them failed.

In 1536, four men, half-starved, half-naked, sun-burnt, and foot-sore, from eight years' exposure to cold, heat, hunger, thirst, shipwrecks, and battles, reached the City of Mexico. They were Spaniards. Eight years before, they had landed on the shores of Florida, with four hundred companions. Reaching the New World, they started out on their mission of discovery, expecting to find vast cities of wealth and splendor ; but, alas ! their expectations were doomed to disappointment. They waded through swamps, swam rivers, climbed mountains, and fought battle after battle with hostile tribes. They went north and then west, and after months of weary travel gazed upon the " Father of AVaters,^' afterwards called the Mississippi. They crossed this mighty stream, and traveled several hundred miles in a northwest, and then in a westerly, direction. In their wanderings they doubtless passed over the territory that is now Kansas and Colorado, and over the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains. During the eight long years of weary travel, through drenching rains and blinding snows, pelting hail-storms and savage tribes, suffering from intense cold in the winter and heat in the summer, one after another of these brave men fell, either from thirst or hunger or exposure, or from the hand of the bloody savage, and only four of all the four hundred reached the City of Mexico to tell the sad story of their sufferings. In their travels west of the Mississippi River, they heard of vast cities of wealth lying away to the north. They related what they had heard from the aborigines they had met at different points in their long and lonely journey. The story of these four men kindled anew the desire in the hearts of the Spaniards to discover the rich cities of which they had so often heard and dreamed.

In 1540 the viceroy of Mexico nominated Coronado to head a powerful expedition for the discovery of the Northwest. Coronado was a Spanish cavalier. He came to Mexico in the bloom of manhood. He was a brilliant man, of pleasing manners, and skilled in all the arts of war. He soon won the aifections of the daughter of a wealthy Spanish nobleman, and they were married. His marriage to this beautiful and accomplished lady, as well as his own superior talents, soon brought him into note among the Spanish nobility, and he was chosen to take the responsible position of leading the new expedition of discovery.

Early in the spring, at the head of eleven hundred men, Coronado left the City of Mexico, scaled the rough mountains, passed over the plains, crossed the Rio Grande, and late in the fall reached a number of cities lying, it is supposed, not far south of wh'ere the city of Sante Fe now stands. The natives of these cities received Coronado and his men with the utmost kindness ; their kindness, however, was returned by Coronado with the greatest cruelty and the most inhuman treatment. He burned their cities, put to death many prisoners of war, while he made slaves of many others. Having completely subjugated them, he remained during the winter. In May, 1511, he and bis men left the beautiful valleys wlier^thcy had remained during the Avinter,and proceeded on their way to the north. Day after day this little band pressed their way northward, traveling over treeless prairies, with the blazing sun above them, and burning sands beneath them. They measured the distance they traveled by each man's counting the steps he took during the day.

Late in July, 1541, Coronado reached the southern boundary of the State of Nebraska, and soon after explored the valley of the Great Platte. His description of the soil, the Indians, the buffalo and antelope, the wild grapes and plums, and the terrible hail-storms were exactly as we saw them with our own eyes more than three hundred years afterwards.

The next spring Coronado was thrown from his horse, and received an injury from which he suffered great pain for a long time ; and as he had been told when a boy, by one who professed to foretell future events, that he would die from the effects of an injury caused by the fall from a horse, he imagined that the end of his life was near, and returned with his wife to the City of Mexico.