HOMESTEAD Homestead National Monument: Its Establishment and Administration

¹Beatrice Express, July 20, 1876, page 2, column 4. The same claim appeared in the December 28, 1876 Issue of that newspaper on page 2, column 4. Microfilm copies of this newspaper are in the Nebraska State Historical Society (indicated hereafter as NSHS). The same claim appears in A. T. Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (Chicago 1882), 896.

²"The First Homesteader" (unpublished manuscript being prepared by the Bureau of Land Management, Washington, D. C.).

³Nebraska City News, January 10, 1885, page 2, column 3. Files in the NSHS.

⁴Chapman Bros. Portrait and Biographical Album of Gage County, Nebraska (Chicago 1888), 521-523. According to the records of the General Land Office, only three persons filed claims at the Brownville Land Office on January 1, 1863. Unpublished manuscript, Bureau of Land Management.

⁵James T. Dubois and Gertrude S. Mathews, Galusha A. Grow, Father of the Homestead Law (Boston 1917), 284.

⁶Nebraska City News, January 10, 1885, page 2, column 3. Files of the newspaper are in the NSHS. The U. S. Land Office Tract Book, Nebraska City, located in the NSHS, shows on pages 144-145, that Young, whose entry was number one, dated January 1, 1863, received his certificate (No. 1590) November 4, 1873, and his patent March 20, 1874. Before railroads adopted standard time in 1883, various localities kept their own mean time. Brownville is located at 957deg; 39' 30" longitude; Nebraska City, 957deg; 51' 20"; Vermillion, South Dakota, 967deg; 56' 00". If Freeman and Gore (another claimant of a midnight filing) filed at midnight on December 31, 1862 and Gore's claim was effective at that time, then Freeman's claim would be about 44 seconds ahead of Young's and 5 minutes and 12 seconds ahead of Gore's entry in Vermillion.

⁷Nebraska City News, January 18, 1918, page 3, column 5.

⁸Dakota Republican, July 11, 1901, page 1, column 5; August 29, 1901, page 1. Originals on file at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion.

⁹Letter, Mahlon Gore to Franklin Taylor, May 29, 1901. Original in the South Dakota State Historical Society, Pierre. General Land Office records show that Gore was the only one to file at Vermillion on January 1, 1863. The busiest land offices on January 1, 1863 were at Humboldt, Kansas, where 70 entries were recorded; Traverse City, Michigan, with 50; Minneapolis, Minnesota, with 60; La Crosse, Wisconsin, with 55; and St. Cloud, Minnesota, with 39. Unpublished manuscript, Bureau of Land Management.

¹⁰Dakota Republican, August 29, 1901. Gore's entry was cancelled January 11, 1868 (memorandum from the Assistant to the Director to the Director, Bureau of Land Management, May 18, 1961).

¹¹Dubois and Mathews, loc. cit; Congressional Record (1897), Vol. 29, Part II, 1,999.

¹²A. E. Sheldon, History and Stories of Nebraska (Chicago 1911), 111; James C. Olson, History of Nebraska (Lincoln, 1955), 166.

¹³Nebraska City News, January 18, 1918.

¹⁴Ferd J. Goodfellow, "South Dakota's Early Surveys," Vol. V (1910), South Dakota Historical Collections, 360-362; Doane Robinson, Encyclopedia of South Dakota (Pierre 1925), 326. One South Dakota newspaper, the Big Stone Headlight, was under the impression that the home of J. Sterling Morton was the first homestead. (Dakota Republican, August 3, 1901.) It was probably confusing Morton with Freeman.

¹⁵Nebraska City News, January 10, 1885.

¹⁶See above.

¹⁷Nebraska City News, January 10, 1885.

¹⁸Beatrice Daily Sun, February 12, 1909, page 1, column 2; see also editorial in the February 13 issue of this newspaper. Microfilm copies of the Sun are in the NSHS.

¹⁹Congressional Record, 60th Congress, 2nd Session, 3,441. House of Representative Bills, 60th Congress, 2nd Session.

²⁰Congressional Record, 60th Congress, 2nd Session, 3,441.

²¹Congressional Record, 61st Congress, 1st Session, 1,236.

²²Senate Journal of the Legislature of the State of Nebraska, 32nd Session (Lincoln, 1911), 134, 141-142, 154-156.

²³Beatrice Daily Sun, February 5, 1911; January 28, 1911.

²⁴Newman Grove Reporter, April 8, 1925.

²⁵Nebraska State Journal, November 13, 1925.

²⁶Photo in George W. Norris collection, Library of Congress; Beatrice Daily Sun, May 11, 1926.

²⁷Beatrice Sun, September 6, 1927, page 1, column 1.

²⁸Ibid.

²⁹Ibid.

³⁰Beatrice Daily Sun, September 9, 1927, page 1, column 5; September 11, 1927, page 1, column 2.

³¹Beatrice Daily Sun, September 18, 1927.

³²Ibid.

³³Congressional Record, 71st Congress, 1st Session, 2,217.

³⁴See H. R. 3572, 71st Congress, 1st Session in Edmund B. Rogers, History of Legislation Relating to the National Park System Through the 82nd Congress.

³⁵Congressional Record, 71st Congress, 1st Session, 2,217.

³⁶Beatrice Daily Sun, May 31, 1929, page 1, column 3.

³⁷Beatrice Daily Sun, June 7, 1929.

³⁸Beatrice Daily Sun, June 9, 1929.

³⁹Beatrice Daily Sun, January 10, 1934.

⁴⁰Beatrice Daily Sun, March 25, 1934.

⁴¹Congressional Record, 73rd Congress, 2nd Session, 9,552; Beatrice Daily Sun, May 25, 1934.

⁴²Beatrice Daily Sun, May 25, 1934.

⁴³Lincoln State Journal, August 23, 1934, page 3, column 2-3. Microfilm copies in the NSHS; Beatrice Daily Sun, August 22, 1934.

⁴⁴Letters E. L. Novotny to Kenneth F. Jones, August 27, 1934; Novotny to George W. Norris, August 28, 1934. Social and Economic Records Division, National Archives, Washington, D. C., hereafter abbreviated NA.

⁴⁵Letter Arno Cammerer to Norris, October 2, 1934, NA. A National Monument normally differs from a National Park in size. A National Park is usually a superlatively scenic or scientific area.

⁴⁶Beatrice Daily Sun, August 28, 1934.

⁴⁷Beatrice Daily Sun, November 12, 1934, page 1, column 1; November 13, 1934, page 1, column 3.

⁴⁸Beatrice Daily Sun, November 16, 1934, page 1, columns 2 and 3.

⁴⁹The Dakota Republican, December 20, 1934. File in the South Dakota State Historical Society.

⁵⁰Letter, Norris to Fred W. Johnson, December 15, 1934. Copy in Region Two Office files, Omaha.

⁵¹Letter, Johnson to Norris, January 9, 1935.

⁵²Beatrice Daily Sun, January 9, 1935.

⁵³Letter, A. E. Sheldon to Norris, January 9, 1935. Norris collection.

⁵⁴Letter, D. S. Dalby to Norris, January 28, 1935. Norris collection.

⁵⁵Letters, Novotny to the President of the United States, January 7, 1935; Novotny to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, January 8, 1935. NA.

⁵⁶Beatrice Daily Sun, January 20, 1935.

⁵⁷Beatrice Daily Sun, January 14, 1935.

⁵⁸Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 1st Session, 745.

⁵⁹S. 1307, 74th Congress, 1st Session.

⁶⁰Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 1st Session, 798, 1,101.

⁶¹Edmund B. Rogers, History of Legislation Relating to the National Park System through the 82nd Congress, Homestead National Monument; letter, Hugo F. Srb to President Roosevelt, February 11, 1935, NA; Senate Journal of the State of Nebraska, Fiftieth Session (Lincoln, 1935), 43-344, 358.

⁶²Letter, Norris to Harold L. Ickes, January 25, 1935.

⁶³Letter, A. E. Demaray to Norris, February 6, 1935, NA.

⁶⁴Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 1st Session, 646.

⁶⁵Calendar No. 379, Senate Report No. 365, 74th Congress, 1st Session.

⁶⁶Ibid.

⁶⁷Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 1st Session, 4,682.

⁶⁸Congressman H. C. Luckey, "Homestead National Monument of America," Nebraska History Magazine (January-March 1935), 49.

⁶⁹Ibid., 50.

⁷⁰Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 1st Session, 4,974.

⁷¹Luckey, op. cit., 50.

⁷²House Report No. 1168, 74th Congress, 1st Session; Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 1st Session, 9,219.

⁷³Luckey, op. cit., 50.

⁷⁴Letters, Novotny to Norris, March 8, April 2, March 30, June 17, July 15, 1935. Norris collection.

⁷⁵Beatrice Daily Sun, March 31, 1935.

⁷⁶Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 1st Session, 13,319; Luckey, op. cit., 51.

⁷⁷Beatrice Daily Sun, August 16, 1935.

⁷⁸Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 1st Session, 14,145-14,146; Luckey, op. cit., 51.

⁷⁹Beatrice Daily Sun, September 4, 1935, page 1, column 2.

⁸⁰Ibid.

⁸¹Beatrice Daily Sun, March 6, 1936.

⁸²Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 2nd Session, 3,791.

⁸³Ibid., 3,846, 3,905, 5,411; United States Statutes at Large, 49:1184.

⁸⁴Clipping in the NSHS.

⁸⁵Clipping in the NSHS.

⁸⁶Novotny to Norris, May 16, June 17, 1936; January 28, April 23, May 5, 1937; E. L. Hevelone, February 12, March 10, 1938, Norris collection.

⁸⁷Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 3rd Session, 2,010.

⁸⁸Ibid., 2,694, 2,761, 3,180; United States Statutes at Large, 52:88.

⁸⁹Ibid., 49:1184.

⁹⁰Memorandum, A. E. Demaray to Secretary of the Interior, March 11, 1938; letters Cammerer to Hevelone, March 21, 1938; Joseph T. Votava to Attorney General, March 24, 1938, NA.

⁹¹Letter, Hevelone to Cammerer, April 16, 1938, NA.

⁹²Letter, G. A. Moskey to Hevelone, May 13, 1938; Hevelone to Moskey, May 21, 1938. NA.

⁹³Letter, Demaray to Carl McFarland, October 28, 1938, NA.

⁹⁴C. C. Mullady to Mrs. M. Ruth Bishop, November 18, 1938; Beatrice Daily Sun, October 19, 1938.

⁹⁵Thomas Alan Sullivan, comp., Proclamations and Orders Relating to the National Park Service up to January 1, 1945 (Washington, 1947), 210.

⁹⁶Monthly Report of the Superintendent Homestead NM, November 1940, NA.

⁹⁷Monthly Reports of the Superintendent Homestead NM, 1940-1941.

⁹⁸A series of historical studies by Gibbs based on historical research are in the files of Homestead NM. Technical coordination of these reports was provided by Acting Regional Historian Merrill J. Mattes.

⁹⁹Monthly Reports of the Superintendent Homestead NM, December 1941 to June 1944.

¹⁰⁰Monthly Reports of the Superintendent Homestead NM, March 1946 to December 1949.

¹⁰¹Monthly Reports of the Superintendent Homestead NM, January 1950 to December 1953.

The period from 1956 to 1960 was largely one of planning. In March 1956 Blake transferred and Ralph K. Shaver, Park Ranger, Great Smoky Mountains NP, succeeded him as Superintendent. As a part of the staffing under the MISSION 66 program, the Service employed Donald G. Warman as Historian. Following the transfer of Shaver in April 1959, Warren D. Hotchkiss, Management Assistant, Rocky Mountain NP, became Superintendent in September of that year. [105]

¹⁰²Monthly Reports of the Superintendent Homestead NM, January to December 1954.

¹⁰³Monthly Reports of the Superintendent Homestead NM, May to September 1954.

¹⁰⁴Public Law No. 480, 74th Congress.

¹⁰⁵Monthly Reports of the Superintendent Homestead NM, March 1956 to September 1959.

¹⁰⁶Public Law No. 480, 74th Congress.