History of Dundy County by Leona McAllister

Many years ago, Miss Leona McCallister undertook the task of writing and compiling the history of Dundy county. She solicited the aid of old timers whom she had been able to locate. She hoped to have a book published but found the cost of doing so after the depression had set in was not possible. She decided to have a serial publication in the county weekly newspaper.

The first chapter appeared in the first issue in 1937 and continued until early 1938.

Lucille Gerdes clipped these items from the papers and pasted them in a large scrapbook which has been presented to the museum. Through the diligent effort of Bill Hardwick, these have been transformed into a 300 page book which is available from the Historical Society by contacting Shirley Mullanix or Betty Deyle.

History of Dundy County
By Leona McAllister
includes more than 40
early pioneer contributors
Now available
Dundy County Historical Society
8 ½ by 11 inch format - 300 pages
send $25 check made out to
Dundy County Historical Society
to:
Shirley Mullanix
PO Box 511
Benkelman, NE 69021

Haigler Happenings - September 20, 2010

Jim and Jerrie Wheaton went to Sterling to the Lee Miller Fun Fly-In Sunday Sept 19.  This was a demonstration of the radio controlled small aircraft and some very talented pilots.  Jim's brother-in-law Keith Edelen was one of the pilots and bought one of his planes from Jerrie's father.  It was an entertaining day.  Jim's sister Edna and daughter Rusty and family were also there so there was some good family time as well.

 

Stan and LaNeta Carlock, of Haigler,  accompanied his brother and wife, Marv and MaryAnn Carlock of Laird, to Kansas City, Missouri over Labor Day weekend.  After overnighting in Salina, Kansas; they drove on to KC, where they were guests of Federal Judge Scott O. Wright and his wife Shirley at the Marriott Residence Inn in Country Club Plaza.  Readers may remember that Judge Wright last  visited his hometown of Haigler 3 years ago.  As a child, he lived with his family west of Haigler on the old Guy Smith farm, now owned by the Steven Crouse family.  He was born in the farmhouse that still stands on the property, and attended country school 67 South.  His family moved to Missouri in 1933, the depression years; but he never forgot where he came from - Haigler.  In his autobiography published book, Never in Doubt, he proudly states he was born in Haigler, Nebraska.  He has been a strong supporter of the preservation and restoration work of the country schoolhouse museum.  Now 87 years young, it is his hope to return once again to Haigler, to see the completed schoolhouse Museum and his childhood home.

 

The Great West District United Methodist Women's Annual Fall Meeting was held in Sidney, NE, on Saturday, September 18th.  Five ladies from our Haigler UMW unit arose very early that morning to travel to Sidney to attend the day's festivities.  Those ladies were Sally Leinen, Karen Harford, Marilyn Bannister, Nancy Freehling and Myrna Mulligan.  The theme for the meeting was "Who Is Our Neighbor?" and the special message speaker was Ron Snell from The Connection Homeless Shelter in North Platte.  Karen Harford, our Haigler UMW President, was nominated and elected to serve as a District officer.

 

A festive party of celebration was held in the Haigler United Methodist Church basement on Sunday afternoon, September 19th, beginning at 2:00 p.m.  The party was hosted by the Haigler United Methodist Women and was in honor of our Secret Sisters.  This was a time of revealing our identities to our Secret Sisters and discovering something new about all those in attendance.  The party held an old-fashioned "clothesline" theme and each individual was asked to bring an item to hang on the clothesline that symbolized or represented who they were.  Poems were read; songs were sung; gifts were presented; and identities were revealed after guessing what item on the clothesline belonged to each individual lady.  There were over twenty ladies in attendance to participate in the fun of discovery.  Desserts and a time of fellowship were then enjoyed.  Our Haigler United Methodist Women is a very active unit; we have a lot of fun with our ongoing projects; and we are always open to new members.

After attending the Secret Sister Party held at the United Methodist Church on Sunday afternoon, LaNeta Carlock and Myrna Mulligan visited in the home of Gerald and Betty Myer.  Later that evening, Myrna also visited with Grace Adams and took her a basket of goodies from the Secret Sister Party held earlier that afternoon.

Lois Zuege spent Saturday morning helping Dawn Evans at the yard sale and the afternoon in Benkelman visiting her sister Edith, and Julie.

 

On Sunday, September 19, a few minutes before noon, Floy Fisher's neice, Leah Brewer, called from St Francis, inviting her to get dressed to go out to dinner someplace.  Leah and husband, Dwight, came by a few minutes later and picked Floy up and proceeded west from Haigler.  When they came into Wray they talked about going on out south of Wray a couple of miles to pick up Floy's son, Garry, to join us for lunch.  Leah proceeded to "talk" to Garry on the phone and was "told" to pick him up at his sister's place, next door.  When they got there, they got out of the car and suggested we go in for a few minutes.  When Floy walked through the door, her daughter, Sharna Richardson, met her with "Happy Birthday!!"  It was a total surprise.  Sharna had invited family, friends, neighbors, church members (around 30 or more) who came and went during the afternoon making it a wonderfully exciting and enjoyable day.  The occasion was Floy's 85th birthday.  Leah and Dwight had to go home before the end of the time alloted for the come and go, so Floy rode home to Haigler with Lois Zuege and Rikki.

Haigler Happenings - September 13, 2010

Brent Wheaton was home Sept. 4 to spend the Labor Day weekend dove hunting with his dad Jim and other friends in the Haigler community.  Sunday Sept 5 Jerrie Wheaton flew to San Antonio Texas with Donna Roberts to help Donna's daughter and family move back to Colorado.  While there the group went to Sea World and witnessed the effects of hurricane Hermine.  Jerrie and Donna helped drive the family back and everyone was glad to get here.  Brent, Adam, and Stephanie Wheaton were home along with friend Josh Fink for more dove hunting on Sept. 11.

 

Laura Pearl Wall accompanied Bob and MerryLu Simmons to Westminster on Friday.  They had lunch with Laurie and Spencer Perila and then went to Arvada where Laura Pearl had a doctor's appointment.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Bob Simmons visited in the Wall home on Sunday afternoon.

 

Quentin, Tonya and Taya Simmons visited Grandmother Wall on Saturday morning.

 

Lois  Zuege and granddaughter Rikki spent a few days visiting Diane Sack and Hazel Chambers in Hudson, CO. recently.  While there, on Saturday afternoon, Dorothy and Eileen Walker came over for a meal and visit together.

 

The Collicott Sisters (LaNeta Carlock, Myrna Mulligan, and Galena Webster) drove to Greeley  early Friday morning for medical appointments.   Later that afternoon, they journeyed on to Loveland, CO, up the Big Thompson Canyon, and spent the weekend in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  Estes was celebrating its annual Longs Peak Scottish/Irish Festival; and the mountain village was packed with visitors.  The sisters enjoyed participating in some of the festival activities, and attended the Festival parade on Saturday morning.  Bagpipes and bands were everywhere---with players dressed in colorful kilts and native costumes.  Over 40 groups and clans from around the world were represented.  When a Denver Fife and Drum Band marched down the street, the sisters wondered if Laura Pearl Wall's great grandson , Blaine , was in that band playing his bagpipes----and yes, there he was!    He may still be wondering who those 3 ladies were that hollered his name and "Haigler." 

 

One afternon last week Floy Fisher took over half of a large watermelon over to Lois Zuege's home and visited for a few minutes.

 

On Saturday afternoon Floy Fisher rode along on a watermelon give away.  On Friday Bill and Joan Hanson came from north of Yuma, CO. to Garry Fisher's watermelon patch.  Bill helped fill 2 bins, on a flatbed trailer, with watermelons.  On Saturday afternoon, several able bodied members and guests of the Yuma S.D.A. church, preceding and following the trailer as it moved slowly up the street, went to homes in the surrounding neighborhood giving out melons.  It was heartwarming to see the smiles on the faces of the people when they received the melons.  After walking the length of over 2 streets and handling the heavy watermelons, everyone had had a good time but were ready for a rest.

Haigler Happenings - September 6, 2010

If you haven't driven around Haigler for awhile, you probably haven't seen that the Old Mill and Lumber Yard buildings are gone and a new grain storage facility is being built where they used to be.  This year would have been a good year to have the extra space for storage since the wheat crop was the best it has been for many years.  Hundreds of bushels of wheat had to be hauled to other towns because there was no more room at the Haigler Equity. Some of the neighbors are worried about the noise the fans will make and the added possibility of pests in the neighborhood. Hopefully, this will be good progress for the town. Change is always hard, but once its done, there isn't much you can do to prevent it. So a little bit of history is gone. Soon even the memory of "the way it was" will fade away.  Is this progress? Do I dare ask current residents what they think?  - This article was submitted by Sherri Gregory.

Friday, the 3rd, Dale and Dode Faylor drove to Burlington, CO to the home of their daughter, Yvonne, and husband, Royce Clemans, foster son, Anthony, and daughter Sherie Morabito.  Daughter Daneen Hilger and husband Phil had arrived at the Cleman's home on Thursday. The Hilgers live between Topeka and Lawrence, KS.  Dwight Faylor got to the Cleman's before noon on Saturday.  Kim Faylor was in Oklahoma visiting their sons.  About 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sherri's daughter, Mindee Reynolds, son and daughter from Abilene, KS arrived.  Mindee's husband, Justin, was called on to be an escort at an old friend's funeral so could not come with his family.  Saturday evening, Justin called the Cleman's home and said he had hired a fellow to fly him to Burlington to join the family.  What a surprise to Mindee when Justin walked into the Cleman's home!  And what a blessing it was to Dode and Dale that Justin felt so strongly about being with the family that he hired a plan to come!  The occasion for the gathering was to celebrate Dale and Dode's 62nd Anniversary.

Quentin, Tonya and Taya Simmons brought pizza to Laura Pearl Wall's home for supper on Saturday evening.  MerryLu and Bob brought a watermelon to finish the meal.  Gary Nelson of Lincoln visited Laura Pearl on Saturday morning.

Visitors in the Robert Simmons home on Labor Day Sunday, included Randy, Laurie, Spencer, Madison and Laura Perila of Westminster, and Mr. and Mrs. Jim Sandean of Fort Collins, and Laura Pearl Wall.

Alfred Lee Zuege returned to hi home at Hot Springs, on Wednesday of last week after visiting his mother and other relatives and friends for several days.

Ginny Zuege of Imperial and Sophia Zuege went to McCook on Thursday.  Sophia spent Thursday night with Albert, Jr. and Ginny.  Ginny brought her home on Friday.

Melvin and Norma Fisher were lunch guests of Floy Fisher on Sunday.  After lunch they all visited Dwight and Leah Brewer in St. Francis.&

Labor Day weekend found Leah, Leone and Sherri, the three oldest Gregory sisters together for a long overdue visit at Leah’s house in St. Francis.  On Saturday, they had breakfast at The Haigler Café then drove around Haigler and through the countryside southwest of St. Francis watching for birds and visiting sites around Beecher Island and Bonny Dam.  There were a lot of people enjoying camping, fishing, boating, dove hunting and the beautiful early fall weather.  They visited Anna Brewer, Dwight’s 104 year old mother, then finished off the time together with  baby sopapillas at the Hilltop Café in St. Francis and watermelon (stolen from their cousin’s patch) on Leah’s patio.  On Sunday, Leone and Kenny left early to their cabin west of Canon City to prepare for their trip back to Tucson for the winter.  Sherri and Leah drove to Haigler for a short visit with their aunt Floy before Sherri returned to Lincoln.  The sisters always have a great time laughing about old memories and making new ones.

Almeda Bier, from Longmont, and her sister, Delores Zuege, of Haigler, enjoyed a touring bus trip together, seeing sights in the Black Hills of S.D.  They left Thursday and returned to Haigler on Sunday.  Almeda continued her vist with her sister in Haigler through Monday, returning to Longmont on Monday.

The Old is Gone

I searched through my Haigler pictures and found a couple I took of the old mill area in the northwest corner of town.  These were taken in the fall of 2008.  I wonder how many skunks, wild kitties and "their food" lived in these old buildings?  

They have been replaced with the new grain bunker being built by the Co-Op.  Just thought maybe I might be the only one with recent pictures and you might want to see what was in that spot before.

I don't have a picture of the old lumberyard buildings.

-- Editor

Out with the old; In with the New

New Grain Storage in Haigler

If you haven't driven around Haigler for awhile, you probably haven't seen that the Old Mill and Lumber Yard buildings are gone and a new grain storage facility is being built where they used to be.  This year would have been a good year to have the extra space for storage since the wheat crop was the best it has been for many years.  100s of bushels of wheat had to be hauled to other towns because there was no more room at the Haigler Equity.

Some of the neighbors are worried about the noise the fans will make and the added possibility of pests in the neighborhood.  

Hopefully, this will be good progress for the town.  Change is always hard, but once its done, there isn't much you can do to prevent it.  

So a little bit of history is gone.  Soon even the memory of "the way it was" will fade away.

Is this progress?  Or destruction?  Do I dare ask current residents what they think?

-- Editor

The Gregory Girls

Labor Day weekend found Leah, Leone and Sherri, the three oldest Gregory sisters together for a long overdue visit at Leah’s house in St. Francis.  On Saturday, they had breakfast at The Haigler Café then drove around Haigler and through the countryside southwest of St. Francis watching for birds and visiting sites around Beecher Island and Bonny Dam.  There were a lot of people enjoying camping, fishing, boating, dove hunting and the beautiful early fall weather.  They visited Anna Brewer, Dwight’s 104 year old mother, then finished off the time together with  baby sopapillas at the Hilltop Café in St. Francis and watermelon (stolen from their cousin’s patch) on Leah’s patio.  On Sunday, Leone and Kenny left early to their cabin west of Canon City to prepare for their trip back to Tucson for the winter.  Sherri and Leah drove to Haigler for a short visit with their aunt Floy before Sherri returned to Lincoln carrying contraband (PLUNDERED: pickles, beets, apricot jam, zuccini, watermelon, cantalope) in her trunk.  The sisters always have a great time laughing about old memories and making new ones.