The First School at Keystone;
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 In April of 1884, W. L. Declow, E. T. Buss, both now deceased, and I came to Keystone from Sherman, Chatauqua County, New York and took up homesteads in that vicinity. Mr. Buss homesteaded what is now part of the W. E. Russell farm about a mile east of town. Mr. Declow took the northeast quarter of Section 32, Township 9, Range 25, now shown on the map as being owned by Emmett Kitchen. I took a quarter that is now the east half of the Chas. Brasch farm and lays just east of the farm buildings.
At first we three lived in one house, a frame building 12 feet by 12 feet, and as we always had been chums, we had some rather amusing and interesting times. One experience, I remember was the time when Mr. Buss pulled his shoe from under the bed, which at that time, served as our clothes closet, and found a large bull snake coiled around the shoe.
One of the first things that commanded the attention of the early settlers was the question of a school and in the spring of 1885, I with Mr. Taylor drove all over the school district, then No. 29, which comprised most of the southwest part of the country south of the Platte River as far east as Cozad, and circulated a petition to have the district divided so that we could get better school facilities, for at this time there was talk of a railroad going through and we settlers feared that if it did, we would have a hard time to get the division so we decided to circulate the petition and get the district divided before the railroad came through. We drove all over this territory, secured the necessary signers and thus District 51, which comprised at first all of township 9 in the southwest corner of the county, was formed. According to the records in the county superintendent's office the new school district No. 51 came into existence on November 30, 1886. The first school board of this district being: W. L. Declow, director; E. T. Buss, treasurer and R. R. Teemley, moderator. The sod school house of Keystone was built by the settlers a short distance south of where the Chas. Brasch farm buildings now stand. It had a board floor, homemade desks, and the roof was the same as used on most of the early soddies, sod laid over boards, with tar paper between the boards and sod. I taught the first two terms in this little school house while living on my homestead having only about forty-rods from my home to go. These two terms were taught in the first year, the first term during the winter months and then shortly after the term closed, it was decided to hold another term in order that the children might catch up with their schooling that had been neglected the year before due to there not being any school in this new country to which they had come. As I remember this second term lasted late, in fact until the latter part of the summer. This was during the year of 1885-86.
My salary was $35.00 per month and in order to get my pay I had to ride horseback to the home of the director, Wm. Walker who lived about north of Eustis and then go to the other member, L. W. Zook's home over on the valley north. The next term was taught by Miss Strickland, now Mrs. John Jack of near Eustis and the fourth and last term taught here was by Miss Jennie Mann, who came here from New York state and lived with her sister, Mrs. W. L. Declow. This last term is the only one for which any recoreds can be found, and under the teachers reports on file at Lexington in the county superintendent's office is the report of Miss Mann which shows that she taught two months in the fall of 1887 and that there were five boys and one girl, between the ages of five and sixteen years, who attended. However in the directors reports, also in the county Superintendent's office it shows that E. T. Buss also taught five months during that same year in Anthony Garven's hall over his hardware. The directors report is dated July 16, 1888 and is signed by M. B. Taylor.
Probably our closest "get-together" happened on our second Thanksgiving spent in this new country. This was on the 26th of November, 1885. As there were so many more young men here than there were young ladies, we young bachelors decided to have a "Bachelors Thanksgiving Dinner," to be prepared entirely by the "Bachelors" themselves. Each was to bring his portion to the E. T. Buss home, he having by this time built himself a nice, new soddie which stood in the center of the section. All but about four of the fellows were from 21 to 23 years of age and all but one or two of these boys were homesteaders, and as I remember they were: Harry Hall, S. F. Parker, W. G. Parker, J. O. Tillotson, R. R. Teemley, Chas. Fox, W. L. Declow, E. T. Buss, W. M. Stebbins, Chas. Smith, Milton Stebbins, Geno Wood, Jack Colligan, Tom Colligan, Norman McDonald, George Elliot, Will Hunt, Frank Hawkenberry, Friend Henderson, Tom McCarty, Henry Lynch, Abe Parsons, Jack Ridge, James Berwick, J. P. Burrows, Ed Thompson and Dave Seth and possibly there were others that I do not recall.
We made a long table with boards and prepared this meal without any aid from anyone of the fairer sex. It was a very delectable Thanksgiving Dinner, some of the specialities served being, mock mince pies, frosted cakes and a dishpan full of fried doughnuts. We also had a program
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of songs, speaking, etc., one reading especially lingering in my mind being a poem written and read by Geno Wood, a young lawyer and homesteader at that time, now living in Virginia. The papers of the county and the daily papers of the state gave this dinner a fine write up, calling the attention of the young ladies of the east of these lonesome homesteaders who had to do their own cooking and housekeeping.
The first bonafide settlers in Farnam Precinct were M. J. Tufts and family who located on Section 20, Township 9, Range 25 in the fall of 1883. The early settlers of this section faced a serious problem of how and where to get water as over the greater part of the Plum Creek and Farnam territory it is from two hundred to four hundred feet to water. Many settlers hauled water from the Platte River in these early days when the holes and lagoons were dry. The first well put down in Farnam Precinct was by M. J. Tufts in the spring of 1884. This well was dug by Hugh Brott, a homesteader north of Eustis. It was three hundred twenty-five feet deep. In the summer of 1884 a Mr. Watkins came from Bradford, Pa., with an oil drilling machine and put down the first drilled well on the Keystone Townsite Section. This was a public well, for everyone to use. The next wells drilled by Mr. Watkins were for M. B. Taylor and William Willis. With these wells finished that summer there was no more scarcity of water for these early settlers. Many of the early settlers who could not afford a well made cisterns.
Another experience this first year was when Mr. Buss was stricken with typhoid fever and was very ill. He was taken to the M. J. Tufts home where he was nursed through this illness. Three different times, I remember, we had to drive with team and wagon to Lexington for a doctor, bringing him up one day or night and taking him back the next. One evening I shall not forget was when I went to do the chores for Mr. Buss, during his illness, and it became very dark before I got back, so Mrs. Tufts, fearing I would get lost in returning, went upstairs and hung out a lantern that I might be guided safely back across this new prairie.
The early settlers around Keystone had little thought at first that a railroad would be built through that section but in the latter part of 1885 a railroad survey running west from Holdrege to Sterling, Colo., was made by the B. & M. Railroad. Work was commenced on this railroad in the fall of 1885 and was completed to Farnam Townsite which had been laid out in cooperation with the Lincoln Townsite company of Lincoln, Nebr. R. O. Phillips was president of this company and the first train to arrive on regular schedule was that on the evening of July 20, 1886. This train carried one passenger, a contractor working on the road and who had a camp just west of Farnam. I was present when this first train arrived, it being known a few days before that this regular train would begin giving regular service that day. I recalled that a group of homesteaders and business men of Keystone which included Bob Castile, John Castile, Levie Anderson, W. L. Declow, E. T. Buss, Frank Hawkenberry, Lou Tonne and others with a small band, guns and a cow bell were there. As the train pulled in the trainmen blew the whistle and rang the bell while the band played, the guns boomed and the cow bell rattled. It was a very happy occasion for all present and for the entire community. An associated dispatch was written and sent back by the train crew which, however stayed over night in Farnam, returning to Holdrege the next morning. This dispatch was for the Daily Press of the day and was published on our leading papers of the state, giving an account of the celebration of the arrival of the first train at Farnam, Nebr.
Farnam was the end of the road for several weeks, until heavy grading was completed on the Deer Creek canyon, when they continued laying track on west, so during this time a turn table was put in about five hundred feet west of the present depot. Here the engines would turn around for the return trip. We were given daily service after this by the train coming up from Holdrege in the evening and going back the next morning.
Mr. DeClow went into the real estate business when Farnam started and later moved away. After leaving here, he went into the business of importing blooded horses and jacks and before his death about two years ago he had become known all over the country as an importer of fine horses and mules.
Mr. Buss later taught the first term of school in the Farnam school, Keystone no longer existing, and after a few years as teacher, he went into the mercantile business in which he continued for a number of years until his death Nov. 15, 1924.
In 1889, after making final proof on my homestead, I entered the hardware business at Gothenburg, afterwards adding farm implements, which business has been continued until recently.
 W. M. Stebbins of Gothenburg, who has been so kind as to contribute the above letter has served in three sessions of The Nebraska Legislature, 1911-13-15. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1920 and served two terms as State Treasurer from 1927-1931.
1886
1936
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