The trail of the Loup; being a history of the Loup River region . t this point are not excelled forbeauty of location or fertility of soil by any in our section of the , then, in the very heart of the valley, our pioneers selected forpermanent settlement, section eight of the present Ord Township. Thevery first thing done was to plow a furrow around the entire section—this, by the way, was done by Nels Andersen, who on this account, andjustly, claims to have been the first to turn the virgin glebe in the Valley—and then to cast lots for choice of quarters. These fell out as follows:J
The trail of the Loup; being a history of the Loup River region . t this point are not excelled forbeauty of location or fertility of soil by any in our section of the , then, in the very heart of the valley, our pioneers selected forpermanent settlement, section eight of the present Ord Township. Thevery first thing done was to plow a furrow around the entire section—this, by the way, was done by Nels Andersen, who on this account, andjustly, claims to have been the first to turn the virgin glebe in the Valley—and then to cast lots for choice of quarters. These fell out as follows:Jeppe Smith, N. W. i; Peter Mortensen, N. E. i; George Miller, S. E. i;and Nels Andersen, S. W. i. When Christian Prey, the fifth member,arrived a few weeks later, he selected the S. E. i of Section six, corneringwith the other section on the northwest. For economys sake the newcomers deemed it advisable to spend thefirst year in a joint habitation, as Mr. Mortensen puts it. This was apart dugout and part log-house, set in the sunny bank of a low sink in the. COMING OF THE PIONEERS 91 latters claim. Not alone did this humble abode answer as a home for theowners, but it became also a sort of hostelry—no pay being taken, let it beknown—from later comers. Its hospitable roof sheltered many a wearywayfarer in the early days. Furthermore, in these unpretentious quarterswas tried the first criminal suit in the annals of the new county; here wasfield the first school for the upper half of the county; and here for severalyears, was the county treasurers ofBce located. We cannot but regretthat this modest, though historic landmark should have been demolished,not even a photograph remaining. The cut here inserted is drawn asfaithfully as possible from memory and is, at least, in main features, trueto the original. The first summer was a busy one for the newcomers. Prairie had tobe broken for a first crop of sod corn; trees must be felled on the riverislands and logs hauled out for
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Keywords: ., bookauthorfoghthwh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1906
