and mail route from a Mr. George Canfield when the railroad had reached Wisner (about 1878), having previously served as stage driver for Mr. Canfield. Mr. Berry moved ahead of the railroad until it reached Casper, Wyoming. He also ran a stage line into Deadwood. Even after he acquired his land holdings north of town where the Art Amens now live, he continued operating the stage line from Lander, Wyoming, end of the present C&NW Railway and across to Rawlins, Wyoming on the Union Pacific line.
A story of the Hurford family life which should be noted, is that when the family reached Norfolk in March, 1870, the only school was the one operated by the first settlers in that area which was the colony of German Lutherans and operating a parochial school taught by their pastor. Some wanted their children to also learn English so that public school District No. 2 was organized. They learned to get along with what they had as to building and arrangements were made to have Mrs. Kidder, wife of the Congregational Church pastor, teach English subjects in the afternoon and Pastor Heckendorf to teach German and religion in the forenoon. In the early days, school terms ran in the late spring, summer, and fall months, never in the winter for obvious reasons. Too much open and treacherous prairie, Indians, and occasional wolf or other wild animals. Mrs.. Kidder started the term with forty students, thirty four from German speaking families and six from English speaking families. The teacher was paid $198.50 for the term.
Mr. Hurford was on the board of directors of the public school and his daughter Laura, who later became Mrs. Tanner was one of the six English speaking students. Some German was acquired by Laura Hurford as this writer recalls she was familiar with the German language.
Indians looking through the school windows, seeing Mrs. Kidder with forty children thought — white squaw has heap papooses.
An article in the Enterprise speaks of William Bates to whom previous reference has been given. This article discloses however, that after homesteading, he came to Battle Creek and was employed by Mr. Hurford for one and one half years in 1879, before establishing his own mercantile store. The article states that he carries a "fine stock of peanuts and candy." He later also purchased a stock of merchandise from Henry Chamberlain who had founded the Farmers and Drovers Bank in 1883. It is evident that our early businessmen engaged in more than one line of endeavor.
The next article treats of M. M. Killinger who came from Wythe County, Virginia about 1882, and in 1887 was appointed postmaster. He was a cabinet maker and a carpenter by trade. In addition to being postmaster, he was also engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, and also dealing in "trunks, valises, jewelry, watches, and clocks." His place of business was located across the street west from the Battle Creek Oil Company. The same issue of the paper also refers to Tom Dughar, general mer-
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