Memories of Nebraska Territory

I am pretty sure a conversation like this happened, but I don't have exact proof.

My great grandfather was a man of his times, born right after the Civil War, lived an urban life in Council Bluffs, and around the turn of the century (1900) was participating in a physical education fad by buying and riding a bicycle among other things. His father, my great-great grandfather, said that he'd spent his life working and was ready to relax, and wasn't about to ride a bicycle.

But their differences became more pronounced when it came to camping. My great grandfather Will said that the new thing was automobiles, and he had a friend who actually had one, and who proposed coming out West, picking up Will, and driving all the way to Colorado and seeing the great Rocky Mountains. Where would they spend the night? Camping, he said. They'd bring a tent, and sleep out under the stars. Will was actually excited about it, though he wasn't sure it would actually come to pass. It was a long way out there, and they'd have to check that there were enough gas stations, for example. But the camping part sounded good to him. Imagine that, sleeping out under the stars on a clear night, getting away from the city and all.

Great-great grandfather, James Walker, scoffed. "The last time I camped," he said, "I didn't want to. We were pioneers down in southeastern Nebraska, Richardson County. The Civil War was coming though we didn't know it yet. We wanted to do whatever we could to help Lincoln, and what would help Lincoln was making Nebraska a state by having a Constitutional Convention, which they did, in Omaha, and they wanted people to represent Richardson County, so that was me."

"It was a long horse ride," he continued, "but my horse was up to it, and that wasn't a problem. There were even a few inns and such, but we didn't have money, or to put it better, what little money we had went for salt and such things that were necessary, and I wasn't about to splurge on an inn and the alcohol that generally was expected to come with it. I had dried nuts and fruit and things to eat, and blankets, and I slept out under the stars even though it was a bit cold. And I wasn't especially happy about it. I spent my life cutting down trees, building little cabins, plastering up between the boards to keep the bitter winter wind out, trying to get out of that weather, so the critters wouldn't get at my food supply. Why would I want to go out there, and leave my food supply on my horse or some such thing, hoping the critters wouldn't get at it? No, if I could, I'd get in a cabin in a minute, just to sleep better."

"That's why, when I hear your idea, I just wonder. Doesn't a gasoline engine make the whole thing more complicated? In my day it was just me and my horse. I had food for the horse and food for me, which wasn't great, wasn't like a home-cooked meal, but at least it was food. If I could boil water I could cook it and I could even make some chicory or something to drink and that was it."

"I must say though, we got up to Omaha and they closed that convention almost the minute it started. Statehood actually had a lot of enemies. First there were the southerners who settled in Nebraska, like some of our neighbors, who didn't feel like doing anything to help Lincoln. Second was the people in Omaha who were convinced that if Nebraska became a state they'd move the capital, which as we now know, they did. But finally was just a whole bunch of pioneers just like us, hard working but not prosperous because the land isn't so great out there, and they just thought statehood would cost them money they didn't have. All those votes they had, where statehood lost by a small margin, it was mostly because people were too cheap to want to pay any more taxes than they already did. So the whole trip was for nothing. Those guys won and we didn't make a constitution, and Nebraska didn't become a state until years later when it would finally become ready. And by then I was long gone.

But I'll never forget, me and my horse, camping on that prairie, not far from the Missouri of course, we weren't really in the middle of nowhere, but we had to just make camp, make a little fire, just brave the cold, and get up and go the next morning. Why would I want to do that for a whole week, especially out there in the mountains, which they say get pretty cold at night? I wouldn't. I've had enough of that. I want a fire that actually makes my whole room or whole cabin warm. So it'll stay warm until I wake up."