Sweetwater
Volume 28, No. 1
Buffalo
County Historical Society January-February,
2005
Sweetwater, Nebraska
by Mardi
Anderson
In 1982 Linda Wilke,
descendant of one of the early settlers at Sweetwater, wrote a history of this
settlement on the northern edge of Buffalo County. She was kind enough to donate
a copy to the Archives. While there are also various miscellaneous pieces of
information in the archives about Sweetwater and the surrounding area, Wilke's
history has provided the basis for the following
article.
The name
Sweetwater is derived from Sweetwater Creek, sometimes called McGee's Creek. It
was more commonly called Beaver Creek and is now known as Mud Creek. There are
two legends about the origin of the name Sweetwater. One is that a wagon
carrying a substantial amount of sugar tried to cross the creek and upset,
dumping sugar into the creek. The other, more likely story is that early
settlers to the region found the water to be less alkaline, sweeter, than in
states from where they had migrated.
The stream originates in Sherman County somewhere north and
west of Hazard and winds its way southeast into Buffalo County, turns back north
briefly, then south again to empty into the South Loup at Ravenna. If one were
to take a piece of string, wad it up and squeeze it tightly, then toss it out on
a table, one would see what a meandering course this creek
travels.
When the first
settlers came to the area, Beaver Creek was clear with a sandy bottom. As has
happened to so many waterways in Nebraska, when the land was settled and prairie
broken to plant crops, the clear water and sandy bottom disappeared. Some time
through the years, therefore, the Beaver Creek became Mud Creek.
The bridge over Mud Creek on Sweetwater Road, a
quarter mile south
of Highway 2. The bridge was built around 1909 by the
Standard Bridge
Company of Omaha.
In those
early days, the bridge across Beaver Creek consisted of logs long enough to
reach from one bank to the other. The logs were covered with poles and brush.
Next came a layer of hay and sod, and finally dirt. The bridge would usually
last until the next flood when it washed away. Then a new one would be
built.
When the Buffalo
County Board of Supervisors adopted bridge standards in 1908, they contracted
with the Standard Bridge Company of Omaha to build bridges across several
streams in the county. The following year an 80-foot pinned pony truss bridge
was built across the Beaver, now called Mud Creek. With maintenance and repair
over the years, this historic bridge is still in use today and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Early Settlers
The
first people to live in the Sweetwater area were the prehistoric Plains Village
culture called the Itskari Phase who lived here from the early 1200s to the
mid-1400s. They probably were the ancestors of the Pawnees who were living in
this part of the state when the first white settlers arrived. Remains of Itskari
storage pits, earth lodges, and trash deposits have been found in this area
north of the South Loup River.
Settlement by people from the eastern
United States and Europe did not begin until about 1870. When John McGee brought
his family to settle in Buffalo County in 1873, he selected a spot on the bank
of Beaver Creek in what is now Beaver Township near the Sherman County line. A
trail that was used to bring supplies from Kearney to Loup City crossed the
Beaver at this point. It was also on the route used by travelers going west from
Grand Island. McGee established a ranch here, probably a sheep ranch, and kept a
general store for the convenience of travelers. When the stagecoach route
between Kearney and Loup City was established, his ranch became one of the
stops. It cost $2 to ride the stage from Kearney to the McGee Ranch. The McGee
Ranch was officially named Sweetwater when a post office was established there
on December 21, 1874.
When Erastis Smith (founder of Ravenna) came to Buffalo
County he rented a house in Kearney where his family could stay until he
finished a home for them on their claim east of Sweetwater. But then the floor
of the house in Kearney collapsed under the weight of their possessions. So they
loaded up everything and went to McGee's Ranch to stay until the dugout was
completed - five Smiths, four McGees, and a two-room
house.
Three other early
families in the Sweetwater area were the Crostons, Roberts, and Hodges. Mr.
Croston was a Union Civil War veteran from the north, who had fallen in love
with a southern girl. Because of family opposition the couple eloped and moved
to Nebraska. After spending some time in the Grand Island area they moved to a
claim on Beaver Creek on the Sherman County side of the county
line.
The James Roberts
family came to Nebraska from Missouri where they were said to be friends and
neighbors of the infamous James brothers. James Roberts worked for the Union
Pacific when it was being constructed. Attracted to this part of the state, he
brought his family from Nebraska City to Grand Island and then on to
a claim on Beaver Creek in Sherman County near
Sweetwater.
Bob Hodges
came to the area in 1872 and was one of the first to settle in Beaver Township.
Although he lived in the Sweetwater area, he did not immediately file for a
homestead. Hodges reportedly rode as a herder for the Olives in Texas and in
Nebraska. The Olives had a cattle ranch in Dawson County and are best known for
the murders of farmers, Luther Mitchell and Ami Ketchum. Sweetwater was on the
dividing line between the cattlemen and the settlers at that time. Because
Hodges could play the fiddle, he was often called upon to play at many social
events around Sweetwater in those early days. It was said that he knew three
songs.
The McGees left
the area late in 1876 and for a couple of years James Goff operated the store.
Goff was a farmer and may have been the original owner of the Sweetwater town
site. Then Henry Beyer and his wife came to Sweetwater and took over the
mercantile business. Beyer built a new store with living quarters on the second
floor.
Some time later
a friend and family stopped while passing through. A blanket was hung across the
upstairs living quarters to provide privacy for each family. The next morning
the two men drove to Kearney to get supplies for the store. It was late at night
by the time they got back. The pair put up the horses and, exhausted, fell into
bed. There followed a great commotion by wives and children. The men were in the
wrong beds.
A group of
Norwegian immigrants who had been living in Chicago moved to the area just west
of Sweetwater in 1880. There were also some Danes living here. These settlers
formed the Sweetwater Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in 1882. At
first they met in homes. Finally after about ten years, the Scandinavian
community built a sod church and then in 1903 a frame building was erected.
Since members of the congregation were from Hazard as well as Sweetwater, they
talked for many years of moving. Finally in 1940 the church was moved to Hazard
where it is now known as Faith Lutheran.
Sweetwater
All this
time Sweetwater was located on the bank of Beaver Creek. Then in the summer of
1886 the Burlington Railroad's Grand Island & Wyoming Central branch was
constructed from Grand Island to Broken Bow. The route entered Buffalo County at
St. Michael. Ravenna was founded and became a division point. From there the
railroad was built in a northwesterly direction, more or less following the
winding Beaver Creek. Because of the turns in the course of the creek and
because the railroad was on the north side, it missed Sweetwater by about half a
mile. Henry Beyer moved his store north to the railroad. Sweetwater was platted
in a V with the railroad forming the southwest boundary, the section line on the
east, and the Sherman county line on the north. In fact, the street along the
north edge of Sweetwater is called Sherman
Street.
Beaver Creek
must have had a good steady flow of water because it was not long before there
were three grain and flour mills in operation at Sweetwater. Two were located
south of Beyer's store and the third one farther west. The Sweetwater
Mill stayed in operation the longest. This mill was built and operated by
brothers, Herman and Henry Wilke in 1886. In May of the following year the Kearney New Era reported that this mill was
one of the "solid improvements on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad
to Broken Bow....The roller mill has a capacity of 100 barrels a day and
utilizes the finest water power in the
state."
Three years
later, in 1890, the town of Sweetwater was hit by a tornado, a cyclone as it was
called then. The Sweetwater Mill was destroyed. The Ravenna News reported, "The Sweetwater
Mill, one of the best and finest roller mills in central Nebraska, had evidently
been raised into the air, crushed together by some tremendous force, and dashed
to the ground again, a series of shapeless ruins." Several days after the storm
a part of the mill's roof was found six miles
away.
In 1899 Herman
Wilke formed a partnership with Andrew Rosvold, a Norweigan settler living just
west of Sweetwater, to rebuild the Sweetwater Mill. They rebuilt the building
and then, apparently, Andrew painted the interior. He died that summer from
inhaling paint fumes. In September a notice appeared in the Kearney Hub announcing that Herman Wilke and
Mrs. Rosvold, widow of his partner, would operate the Sweetwater Mill. The mill
continued to operate until the late 1910s.
Sweetwater has never been a very large town, especially after
Ravenna was established just five miles east. But it did have the usual variety
of businesses. Besides the Beyer's general store there were a couple of
blacksmiths and a miller listed in the 1885 Nebraska census. Then a millinery
shop opened and by the turn of the century the town even had a softball team.
Other businesses in Sweetwater included a grain elevator, a bakery, a lumber
business, and a bank. A Presbyterian congregation had formed but they did not
build a church until three years later. Out in the country the Sweetwater
Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran congregation included members from both the
Sweetwater and Hazard communities.
The Sweetwater community has faced other hardships besides
the tornado in 1890. In the 1870s when the first settlers were arriving there
was drought and grasshoppers. There were also Indian scares. The Sioux and
Pawnee Indians frequented the region around Sweetwater. Neither tribe was
friendly toward each other or to the white man who was encroaching on their
land. Located so far north of the Union Pacific Railroad, Sweetwater also
experienced a shortage of supplies. The trip to Kearney and back by wagon was a
long one. Apparently there was no brickyard in the area and hauling in brick was
too expensive. Buildings were therefore constructed of wood. As a result, there
have been several fires in Sweetwater over the years, each destroying two or
three businesses. Oftentimes after such destruction businesses were never
rebuilt.
Today there is
hardly a trace left of Sweetwater. But as you drive along Highway 2 from Ravenna
to Hazard, watch for a sign along the railroad track at the county line that
says "Sweetwater."
Sources
A
History of Sweetwater, Nebraska by Linda Wilke, 1982
Atlas of Buffalo County,
1919
"Early Post Offices
in Buffalo County" by Alice Shaneyfelt Howell,
Buffalo Tales, Vol. 1, No. 8,
August, 1978
"Flour Mills In Buffalo County, Part
II" by Alice Shaneyfelt Howell,
Buffalo Tales,
Vol. 14, No. 8, Nov.-Dec., 1991
"Freighting in Buffalo County, Part
II-Kearney, The Trade Center for Buffalo County Freighting in the 1880's" by
Mardi Anderson, Buffalo Tales, Vol. 8, No. 3, March, 1985
History of
Buffalo County and Its People, Vol. I by Samuel Clay Bassett,
1917
Historic Bridges of Nebraska,
<www.fhwa.dot.gov/nediv/histbrdg.htm>
Kearney Daily Hub, 21 September
1899
Nebraska National Register of Sites, State
Historic Preservation Office, Nebraska State Historical Society
"Railroads in Buffalo County" by Alice
Shaneyfelt Howell,
Buffalo Tales,
Vol. 1, No. 5, May, 1978
The History
of Faith Lutheran Church in Hazard, Nebraska, Compiled and
edited by Lenore King,
(on Hazard website at
<www.nctc.net/~hazard/>)
Reviewed
3-13-05
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