The memoirs of Albert Barnett

Albert Barnett is a well-known name in these parts. A builder, a businessman, a statesman and a promoter of McCook, Mr. Barnett was also the benefactor who built the beautiful Methodist Church whose bells ring out over our town each day. A. Barnett apparently took the time to write down some memories of the early days in approximately 1906. Since McCook is celebrating its’ 140 anniversary this month, I thought I would share his view of how this town was born in 3 installments. The note on the top of the typed copy I found gives credit to the McCook Historical Society. Somewhere the original papers must exist hopefully preserved in his hand writing.

“Twenty-four years ago today the lots of McCook were placed on the market for sale. Twenty-four years ago nothing existed on the town site to prevent an unobstructed view. Northing more than an occasional cactus and a few sparsely grown blades of buffalo grass. Not a tree or bush could be seen looking across the land where our town now lies. From the Fairview post office which stood on the river bank just south of where the south McCook school is now located, in looking off to the north nothing was in view but the sloping hiss of the town site. The ground had been plotted, the states driven marking off the lots and blocks, but there was nothing that even a bird might rest on but a few scattered Sunflower stalks and there was no birds.”

“H. C. Ryder had come from his home in Crete the previous February and bought several quarters of land for a sheep ranch, so he said. As our Railroad was being completed west and would reach Denver in July, it was definitely settled that there would have to be a division head quarters some place between Hastings and Denver, both Indianola and Culbertson were making efforts to secure the same, with Indianola in the lead and determined to win. Meetings were held there by the Citizens and different schemes were devised and ways were considered to induce the railroad officials to locate the division there. Money was subscribed to purchase the site for a roundhouse, shops, and yards which was to be donated to the railroad company.”

“Several of the business men who thought they were on the inside made trips to Lincoln to see the railroad officials and some times reported “sure things”. Ryder was still buying land for his sheep ranch.”

“One Indianola business man who had been put on to the secrets of Ryder’s sheep ranch had subscribed $500 towards a fund to secure the railroad division and this liberal donation for his home town made him the hero of the hour. Others caught the inspiration and a large amount was raised to pull for the division, and had they been successful I suppose there would have been no McCook. Being only a boy then and commanding the sumptuous salary of $ 50 per month I was entirely on the outside. Nobody hesitated to talk before me both pro and con and I had knowledge of both Indianola’s hopes and fears.”

“Ryder secured enough land for the sheep ranch, a part of which was immediately turned over to the Lincoln Land Company, and Captain Phillips soon had it plotted and they called it McCook.”

“Raising money at Indianola for the purpose of trying to get the division did not cost them much and I have often wondered if upon the account of their getting off so cheap in the fight for the railroad division was not what lead to the founding of the Great Western Watch Works and Lamborns’ Golden Ochre.”

Mr. Barnett’s memoirs will continue next week. I find it interesting that this telling is different from another description given in an earlier column I wrote where the explanation of McCook winning the battle was because the men in Indianola and Culbertson who owned the land the railroad wanted were asking such an exorbitant price that the rail officials chose the cheaper land that then became McCook. These memoirs suggest that the sheep ranch false front was in play at least a year before the announcement was made.

SWNGS library is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4 PM. We are located at 322 Norris Ave. in the historical Temple Building rooms 2-7.