Garfield Township
Location: Fourth in the top tier of townships, going from west to
east.
Bounded on the north by Sherman County
on the south by Schneider Township
on the west by Loup Township
on the east by Cherry Creek Township
Formation: After 1880 [census includes settlers in Schneider
Township]
Before 1885 [on 1885 atlas of Nebr. Map]
Apparently Schneider was formed first and Garfield separated from it.
Rivers & Streams:
South Loup River enters the
township about a mile north of the southwest corner of the township and
winds northeast, finally turning east to exit into Cherry Creek Township a
mile south of the Sherman County line.
Beaver Creek (Muddy) enters
the township about 2 miles from the north boundary and winds basically east
to empty into the South Loup about at south side of present day Ravenna.
Towns:
Nantasket two miles east of
Ravenna
Ravenna two miles into the
township, a mile from the Sherman County line.
Transportation Routes
Highways Highway 2 crosses
east/west
Coming from Sweetwater goes on south side of Ravenna
Drops a mile south as it continues east.
Only east/west road going completely through township
Highway 68 comes out of Sherman County into Ravenna.
Continues south as Ravenna Road
Only north/south road going completely through township
Railroads Burlington
Northern G I through Ravenna
formerly Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
formerly Burlington & Missouri River
Union Pacific Gone now
Howard County & Boleus through Nantasket to Poole & Pleasanton
Railroads race
Winners town would grow.
Freighting in Buffalo County ended
with construction of Burlington.
Equipment & supplies shipped to Kearney, taken north by freight
wagons
Jan 7 2 train loads of tents &
camping equipment arrived in Kearney
End of Feb hauling goods daily
Mid-March - Freighting all those
supplies was not easy and working with the mules must have been a
strain on the temper at times. In May it was reported that "One of
the railroad teamsters, hauling iron pipe from Kearney to the B. &
M. railroad, north, was arrested on Saturday for unmercifully
beating one of his mules."
Early Visitors:
Indians
Pawnee, maybe
a village and burial ground in Ravenna area
Ft. Kearny
Trees to
build fort came from Islands in the Loup
Ft. Banishment
Established
on South Loup in 1866 to protect UPRR construction
Post South
Loup Fort, aka Ft. Desolation
[last October
radio]
UP cut wood
for ties
Gibbon Homestead Colony
Looked around
when exploring for claims
Early settlers cut logs for
house beams & firewood
Early homesteaders 18 before 1880.
Stark, Fritz 1878
New York June 16, 1864
Davenport, Iowa, 3 years, Miller
Omaha, NE, Feb-May 1867
Grand Island 3 years
Fremont Oct. 1870
Council Bluffs Elevator hand
Grand Island Apr. 1871 Started a saw mill on Oak Creek
Gibbon 1873 milling business
Garfield Township homestead 1876, filed on it in 1878
Loup valley at Nantasket
Married in 1877 in Grand Island Wilhelmina Gaden, a native of Germany
Two children William & Anna
Smith, Erastus first in 1874
First to homestead in Garfield Township
Born in Indiana in 1830, in his 40s when he came here
Father from Vermont, mother from
Maine
English came here before the
Revolutionary War
Educated as a civil engineer
Des Moines, Iowa 1854 400 acre farm, sold it
Omaha, NE 1856 Real Estate
1858 Commercial Traveler (traveling salesman?)
Burning Springs, West Va 1861 oil wells but business ended with war
Polk County, Iowa taught school & farmed
Garfield Township, Buffalo County 1874
Household goods, 6 horses & feed,
family provisions for 1 year
Family in Kearney, floor collapsed,
John McGee at Sweetwater
Household goods, stove, 3 horses lost
in Beaver near claim
Homesteaded 1/4
Lost 1st & 3rd year crops to
grasshoppers
Timber claim & bought 540 acres R R
land
Farming & cattle raising
Appointed first postmaster of Beaver Creek Post office Dec. 11, 1878
Jan. 1, 1886 Burlington & Missouri River RR started building
Sold 2/3 interest in a section of land to Lincoln Land Company
Platted a town, Smith kept every
third lot.
Retired to town, looked after his property & buildings
Biographer engineering background,
looked where RR would build
Began recording weather in 1878 till death in 1909.
3 temp readings, 7 a.m., 2 p.m. & 9
p.m.
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