(This column originally ran June 15, 2014.) The instant the Nebraska territory became official, it also became legal to settle west of the Missouri River in what had been known as Indian Territory. With the desire to settle came the urge to own land, but until an official survey was completed, parcels could not be legally described.
Vigilante law filled the void as settlers banded together in mutual protection societies, though they were strictly illegal by federal law. The first survey on Nebraska soil, albeit completely unofficial, was claimed by A.D.
Jones of Council Bluffs, Iowa, who rowed across the Missouri River in a flat-bottomed boat in November 1853. After camping overnight, Jones blazed a mark on a tree near the river, then another to the north, one on what would become 10th Street, one near a ravine with heavy trees, then to some stone outcroppings to the south that formed an irregular tract he dubbed Park Wilde. Certain the site would develop, Jones applied for a post office at about the same time U.
S. Indian Agent Hepner objected to his presence, saying Indian title to the land had not yet been extinguished, and ordered him to vacate the site. Enough time elapsed for the territory to be opened, and on May 6, 1854, what was supposedly the first letter received in the new territory arrived, appointing him postmaster.
Jones was not alone in staking out tentative claims across the river from Iowa, and stakes sprouted everywhere. The federal government acted quickly .
