REMINISCENCES OF PIONEERING
Glenwood, Iowa
William Burger, who was here last week visiting the brother, A. H. Burger of Glenwood, and his sister, Mrs. Thomas Young of Hastings, told the Tribune man some interesting facts about his life. He was an early day resident
of Mills County, and came here with his parents from Missouri in 1849, when he was 5 years old.
In 1860, when a lad only 16 years of age, he joined the great throng of emigrants who were pouring across the plains into Colorado and other western states, where rich discoveries of gold and silver were constantly being made. For six months he was a teamster in Uncle Sam's regular army in Colorado, and during the early part of the civil war, he freighted across the plains between Omaha and Denver.
Mr. Burger can relate many interesting incidents of those days. He became acquainted with many of the famous scouts, soldiers and plainsmen of that period. He was in several lively skirmishes with the Indians, and for a period of two years during the latter part of the war was compelled to return to Mills County and wait until the Indians quieted down enough so that it would be safe to return with his family.
For the past 45 years Mr. Burger has lived in Hall County, not far from Grand Island, Nebraska. He has a large ranch near Doniphan, and is the owner of the largest general merchandise store in that thriving little city. He is one of the early day pioneers to that region. He has seen the country develop from a vast region of prairie grass to finely improved and modernly equipped farms. The automobile and rural mail wagon now operate where once the Indians and the buffalo roamed at will.
Mr. Burger, for a half dozen years before the advent of the railroad, kept a stage station, Inn and general store at his ranch. All his supplies were hauled from Plattsmouth, 160 miles distant. Some idea may be had of the extent of his business at that time when it is known that he had a stable that would hold 300 horses.
The famous Oregon trail, which followed along the south side of the Platte river and through a portion of his land, was a great highway along which thousands of teams passed. This quite naturally brought him much trade and enabled him to build up a big business.
Speaking of the Oregon trail, Mr. Burger says he can still see evidences of its existence on his land after more than 40 years of non-use. It was a great pathway across the plains. In places it would be a half mile in width, then at other points it would narrow down to 50 or 100 yards.
This trail was traversed for a score of years before the coming of the railroad. The tramping that it received from the thousands of emigrant trains and heavy freight wagons, hauled as they were by long lines of oxen or mules, churned the soil into dust. Wind storms would carry this dust away, leaving irregular ditches and depressions and removing the valuable top soil.
Mr. Burger says that it has taken years to get this land back to its original fertility, and he has had to use great quantities of fertilizer to restore the strength of the soil. He has heretofore been able to trace the old trail through his land not only by the depression that it made but by the scantier crops it produced.
Contributed by Deb Hascall
