Every newly settled county has three classes of settlers.  There are those who come and stay over night; those who stay because finances will  not permit them to leave, and others who stay from the sole desire to conquer nature in an untamed land and form a stable community for posterity.  Blaine County had her share of each class.  I will endeavor to mention as many as possible.
          Ten miles north of Brewster is one of the fertile valleys often found in the sandhills was located a German settlement.
           Fred Schipporeit and family was the foremost to settle here.¹ Mr. Schipporeit was born in East Prussia.  He came to Blaine County in 1884.  The third generation is now enjoying the home place.  These farms in this valley are the largest and best equipped in the county.
          Other families in the valley are Gus and John Jochem's; Kaiser's, Burk's and Schneidereit's.
           A postoffice was established at Mr. Schipporeit's in 1907.² It was named Scheding for a minister there.³  
          The office was soon discontinued and another is situated at the head of the valley called Giles.
         The eastern part of the county was settled in the same year but a little later than the western part.  The North Loup here has a wider valley than that near Purdum.  It is also more fertile.
           One of the first families to arrive was Mr. E. E. Smith's from New York in 1884.  They have remained there since that time, building up a large and beautiful farm.  Their children have been some of the best of Blaine County’s citizens.  

1. Western Nebr. p. 763

2. &  3. Ibid p. 763 & 678 respectively.

          Another family was E. P. Dunn's who arrived from Iowa in a covered wagon with a large team of horses which were a comical sight in the sandhills.¹ Mr. Dunn's folks had previously come from Massachusetts to Iowa.  They lived in this part of the Loup valley called the Dunn Precinct until 1900.  They then moved into the Purdum community.  The youngest son, William, developed this farm after his father's death until his own in 1923.  His sons are progressing in the work of better farming in the sandhills.
            Other members of the Dunn precinct were Worth's, Golson's, Barton's and Sawyer's.
            I wish to mention a family who did not live in Blaine County but contributed a great deal to the early community life of Purdum.  Mr. Wes Bivens and family homesteaded land five miles northwest of Purdum on the North Loup in 1884.² They built up a fine farm here with the novelty of having two of their own fish ponds adjoining their place.  Mr. Bivens is lately deceased but his son still owns the farm.  Mrs. Bivens might be called the Betsy Ross of Buffalo Flatts.³ She made the first flag for their first celebration in their new home.
            The prairie fire was the greatest error to the settler.  Mr. Levi Cox, lately deceased, lived on a north side of the Loup with husband and two small boys.⁴ She was alone as often happened, when men must freight necessities such long distances, when a prairie fire came down upon her home.  She knew her children would be safe in the steadfast sod house, so she turned her mind to saving the few pigs which were so precious in that time.  She took the eldest boy with her and stood ready to beat out the approaching flames. With her long, full skirts she must needs stop

1. Western Nebr. p. 174.

2. Greenland, R. R. Inter. Dec. 26, 1926

3. Ibid.

4. Cox, Levi, inter. Dec. 28, 1926

 

and unfasten them from the barbed wire fence as the wind was blowing cyclonically.  She managed to beat out the sparks around the pens and bravely stood her ground until the fire had passed.  It passed quickly for the lack of heavy vegetation to feed upon.  The fire had swept completely over the house burning a few roots protruding from it.  The sod house must be praised again for doing its part in conquering nature.  In summer, it was cool; in winter, warm; no fire harmed it or wing could beat it down.
            There is only one incident of anyone being lost in the sandhills.  In 1891 a German family by the name of Heuman moved into Thomas County near Thedford.¹ The eldest girt, Hanna, worked for a near neighbor.  She did not come home for one Sunday as was her custom and the younger children became restless.  The two little girls named Tillie and Retta begged to be allowed to walk over to see their sister.  These girls were eight and four years of age, respectively.  Their mother allowed them to go, bidding them stay but an hour.  They arrived safely and started home at the end of the hour.  Some pretty flowers beguiled the children into leaving the faint trail.  When out of sight of the trail, they were quickly lost in the maze of little hills so closely resembling each other.  They walked many miles in the direction they believed to be of their home.  A search was begun Monday morning.  They endeavored to track the girls which made slow progress and the girls moved continually during the day.  Tillie was not alive when found on the following Sunday, May 17.  .  Her tender skin was blackened by the sun and wind and she was known only by her garments when found tying under a rosebush over which she had spread her handkerchief.

 1.  Sheldon, A. E., History and Stories of Nebraska.

          The unforeseen snowstorm was a constant dread during the winter.  The radio was not there to warn; not even a telephone or telegraph.  The first signs were a few lightly falling flakes or a huge rolling cloud of snow moving along on the prairie's surface.  In this latter way did the third great snowstorm of the state come down upon the people.  The morning of January 12, 1888 dawned very warm and bright.  The children started blithely off to school.  In the eastern part of the state it caught the children when coming home.  It is known as the school children's storm.¹

            Mr. Purdum's children had gone from home about one mile when he saw the storm closing over the hills to the northwest.  By a quick decision he managed to overtake the children and bring them safely home in the first flurries of snow.

            There were one hundred lives lost in this storm in Nebraska alone.  The wind blew at the rate of fifty-six miles an hour and the mercury fell to thirty-four degrees below zero.  Everyone was under a terrible nervous strain for three days, when the tension was broken by the sun shining brightly.  Every one moved about to get food for cattle, fuel or provisions, when the storm came down upon them again, seeming to rejoice in its new victims.  Both were the trials of the brave pioneer.

1.  Sheldon, A. E. History and Stories of Nebraska, p. 10.

            One great credit must be given to the people of the Purdum community.  One of their first concerns was to provide a school for their children.  Their first school was in the 1887-1888.¹ The school house was small, a little coop in which the pupils congealed like an egg in the winds of winter and baked like a potato in the remorseless suns of summer.² But for all this the children seemed to have grasped the rudiments of a faint education.
            The community was fortunate also in securing a high class of teachers.  Mr. T. C. Jackson was the first teacher of the little school.³ He had taken a homestead on the North Loup west of Mr. Purdum's home.  Mr. Jackson was a student of the Agricultural College of Nebraska before coming to Blaine County.  He wished to have an orchard in the sandhills, where fruit was very coarse.  By giving the most of his life he built up a beautiful home and great sufficient fruit for his family's use.
            The second teacher, Mrs. S. H. Oldham, will be mentioned later.
            Miss Mary Skliba, later Mrs. Jackson was the third teacher.⁴ Before coming to Blaine county, she taught school at Fairmont, Nebraska, where she knew Mr. & Mrs. Oldham.  When they moved to the sandhills in March, 1887, they wished Miss Skliba to come with them.¹ So after finishing her term she came up alone in June.  She filed on a homestead next to Mr. Oldham's and has lived on Buffalo Flatts ever since.

1. Johnson, Mrs. G. P. letter, Nov. 22, 1926.
2. Garland, Life on the Prairie, p. 96.
3. Johnson, Mrs. G. P. letter, Nov. 22, 1926.
4. Ibid.

           There were many other teachers all of this came high rank.
            The Homestead Act was the greatest thing that ever helped develop the Middle West.  In this act of January 1, 1883, one man might file on one hundred sixty acres which was to be his own after paying small filing cost and living upon it for five years.² It was by this means that the valleys of the sandhills became inhabited.  This act has helped the following to own a home.  Mr. James Teaford came to the county in 1888.  His family was always prominent in the social life.  His two sons Sam and Ralph still live in the Purdum community, each owning a large farm.³
           Mr. Fred W. Spencer came to Blaine County in 1886 and has since lived near the county seat, Brewster.⁴ He has established his family on a large farm there and has always been a faithful citizen.
            The Harris family have also been in the county for years.  They, at first, lived near Dunning and now the sons live in Halsey.⁵
            Mr. John Simonton came to the Purdum community from Indiana.  He and his family have lived for years on a homestead next to the north side of the North Loup.  The family has always been very active in public affairs.  The youngest son, Lewis, has often been assessor and is now a county commissioner.

1. Jackson, Mrs. T. C. Inter. Dec. 26, 1926.
2. Sheldon, Hist. & Stories of Nebr. p. 110. 3 & 4. Western Nebr.
3.  Greenland, R. R. Inter. Dec. 26, 1926.

            Mr. Sadler is one other man to have made use of the Homestead Act.  He has lived for years near Brewster.
            There were very few trees growing in the sandhills when the first settlers arrived.  Everyone tried to have trees on their homes.  To further this good work the government offered a quarter section of land to any person twenty-one years of age who would promise to plant a certain number of trees each year.¹
            Of all the people on tree claims in Blaine County, Ed Oldham stands out alone as a success on the tree claim.  He came to the county after his brother, Sanford, did.  Ed Oldham moved several times and at each place there now stands a large grove of trees.  These trees are mostly uncommon to the hills but furnish a perfect history of Mr. Oldham's life.²
            High hopes and ambitions were with the early settlers.  The prairie valleys were fertile and very cheap.  They knew the one owning the greatest amount of land would be rich some day.  They will be some day, in another generation or two at least.  So there were many races for the first rights the land.  One instance: a nephew of Mrs. Sanford Oldham filed on a pre-emption quarter but was not of age so could not hold it.³ He wished to sell the relinquishment rights before another contestant in the field should pay these rights and receive the title to the land. 

1. Wilber, C. D. Nebraska and the Northwest, p. 368.
2. Western Nebraska.
3. Jackson, Mrs. T. C., Letter, Dec. 5, 1926.

Continued in Section 3.