Built in 1906 and remodeled in 1923, this was the home of cattleman Heber Hord until his death in 1949. Hord was the only son of Thomas Benton (T.B.) Hord, who founded a livestock feeding company based in Central City. T.B. Hord began his career during the era of the great cattle drives and the open range, and the Hords played an important role in the birth of the modern livestock industry.
The company became one of the world’s largest livestock feeding operations by the early 1900s, accommodating 16,000 cattle and 12,000 hogs by 1908. The Hords made pioneering use of technology and modern management practices, making their business a model for the industry.
Heber expanded the company further and served for 25 years on the board of the directors of Omaha’s Union Stockyards. He also supported the community through philanthropy, donating his father’s house for use as a local hospital, and donating land for the city’s library and post office.
]]>Twenty miles northeast of here is Spade Ranch headquarters, a National Register of Historic Places site. In Ellsworth are the business offices (built c. 1890) and home (built 1902) of cattleman Bartlett Richards (1862-1911), a Vermont native. Richards, brothers DeForest and Jarvis, Will Comstock, Charles Jameson, and others began assembling the Spade about 1888. By 1900 its range comprised some 500,000 acres, principally in the most rugged Sandhill areas of Sheridan and Cherry counties. Much of the land was in public domain subject to homesteading. Farmers who tried to cultivate Sandhill homesteads usually failed, and in the 1890s the Spade illegally fenced the almost uninhabited land, drilled wells, introduced Hereford cattle, constructed trails, and built telephone lines to ranches and towns. Spade acreage shrank after 1905, when Richards pleaded guilty to fencing government land. After unsuccessful federal court appeals from a 1906 land-conspiracy conviction, Richards was imprisoned for one year at Hastings, where he died, aged 49. Today the core of the Spade is owned by the Bixbys, associates of Richards since 1908. That the ranges remain cattle country today attests to the vision of early Sandhill ranchers.
]]>Welcome to Spring Valley Park. Pioneers of this region, eastern Rock County, recognized it as a great natural haying region extending over twenty miles south down this valley. The nearby village by Newport, established in 1883, became one of the major hay shipping centers in the nation, with thousands of tons being exported each year. Prairie fires have been a major threat to farmers and ranchers. The great prairie fire of 1904 burned over forty miles northward through the county, causing major damage to farmsteads, crops and livestock, and the village of Newport was threatened with destruction.
Because of the fine pasturage, Rock County developed into a major beef producing region, sending thousands of cattle annually to livestock marketing centers. Travelers through the area can view the herds of prime beef cattle.
On this site about 1938, Vic and Maude Thompson established what is considered to be the first roadside rest area in Nebraska. Over the years it has provided comfort to thousands of travelers, and in 1966 they dedicated this Centennial Memorial Forest and proclaimed their ranch a wildlife refuge, free to all. For Safety's Sake . . .Stop and Rest.
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