Charles Lambert, cornet; Ed Doering, clarinet; Will Zimmerman, cello; Charles Zimmerman, violin and Louis Rodekohr, drums. No, Art Rodekohr has not been forgotten. He was too young to be in that band. He and his brother, Carl, came on later.

Aside from the instrumental music organization, our community has always been blessed with good singing groups. Relying entirely to memory, a few of the early day vocalists should be mentioned as they added much to the cultural life of the community by their effort. These include: Laura (Hurford) Tanner, Lizzie Brecheisen, Nell (Craig) Huddle, Minnie (Zimmerman) Roemer, Emma Beyer, Mrs. Robert Schlach, T. L. White, Peter Zimmerman, Fred Brechler, M. C. Doering, Jennie (Hall) Vandenberg and others. In later years came Wm. Flesner who had a round, deep bass voice, Ruth (Winter) Doering with a high soprano, the younger Rodekohr children, Carl and Art, tenors, and their sisters Severna (Rodekohr) Preusker, soprano, and Frieda (Rodekohr) Scheerger, alto. Still later the Freudenburgs came over from Madison — first Rudolph and then Walter to add good bass voices. We have many good singers in our community now. They are not history — they, and others who followed, are still making it — i.e. history and music.

The Niobrara State Line was organized in the late '70's. When George Berry became the owner of the stage line in 1879, it was operating westward from Wisner, Nebraska, which was then the western terminus of the railroad. As the railroad built westward, they would move their eastern terminal westward and operated thus until the railroad reached Thatcher, Nebraska, which was such a short distance from Fort Niobrara that the stagecoach line was abandoned to the Fort. (It should be noted that the then Lieutenant John J. Pershing was stationed at Fort Niobrara for a time). Mr. Berry, however, continued his stage coach line westward as far as Lander and then across to Rawlins, Wyoming, on the Union Pacific Railway.

By the time John Berry, George's brother, was old enough to file on a homestead, he filed on a quarter section where the town of Johnstown, named after him, is located. Laura Hurford, mother of Mrs. Jack Dufphey, also took a homestead near there and "proved up on it." Laura later married Dr. E. Tanner.

Early Battle Creek people figured prominently in the famous horse race from Chadron to Chicago in 1893 during the Chicago's World Fair. There were a number of contestants. Each rider was allowed two horses, riding one and leading the other. The riderless horse was supposed to have a rest period by the exchange. John Berry won the race. Horses ridden by another contestant, Doc Middleton, were furnished by J. D. Hale of Sturgis, South Dakota. this was the Jack Hale who first homesteaded in Section 14, Schoolcraft Precinct and made the famous trips with droves of hogs from Madison County to the Black Hills following the

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