History

The county is named for the river that originates just to the northwest of Lusk and flows east across Nebraska to the Missouri River. Created from the eastern portion of Converse County on February 4, 1911, the county was organized two years later. The stagecoach route from Cheyenne to the Black Hills crossed the county in the 1870s. Primarily a ranching area, the county also has been the site of significant oil discoveries, including the Lance Creek oil field, one of the largest in the state at the time of World War I. The county is the site of important discoveries of dinosaur remains, many on display in national museums. It is the least populated county in the state.

Courthouse Statue of Justice

When it was completed in December 1919, the Niobrara County Courthouse had one feature that made it unique among the courthouses in Wyoming that had been built before--a bronze statue of justice mounted above the courthouse dome. The dome itself was also unique, having been designed to allow sunlight to filter through it to the foyer on the ground floor, and with four clocks mounted on the dome, one facing each direction so the residents of Lusk could tell the time no matter where in town they were. However, the vision of sunlight pouring through the dome to the first floor was never realized. District Court Judge William C. Mentzer insisted during construction that the district court be enlarged. The county commissioners agreed, and when the construction was completed, the sunlight was contained by the courtroom's ceiling rafters and never reached the foyer on the ground floor.

The bronze statue of justice was erected and looked proudly out over the town, but only for ten years. By that time the county commissioners had had enough of the statue, constantly having to repair the dome and the roof. When strong winds blew across the open prairies, which they frequently did, and struck the statue, it shifted, causing damage to the dome and roof. In 1930, the commissioners voted to remove both the statue and dome, including the four clocks, and build a new roof. For more than a year the statue of justice lay on the ground behind the courthouse. Then one night it disappeared, only to reappear a few mornings later erected on the crest of a hill with a view of the town.

The bronze lady was a landmark for several years, remarked upon by every visitor to Lusk and Niobrara County. And then one morning it was gone. Soon stories were circulating that some of the town's ruffians had kidnapped the statue and had resurrected it deep in an abandoned mine shaft. Tales of ghostly rites conducted in the lady's presence in the bowels of the earth, were whispered throughout Lusk for a number of years. Finally, during World War II, with the Spirit of '76 upon them, a group of young men braved the depths of the mine, raised the lady justice into the light again, and donated her to a scrap metal campaign, to be melted and made into mortar shells.

Early Settlement

So ended the saga of Wyoming's first experience with a courthouse justice statue, and it was almost one which didn't occur. The creation and organization of Niobrara County was another hotly contested one, similar to Lincoln County. When Converse County was created and organized in 1888, the eastern part of the county, which would eventually become Niobrara County, contained both settlers and settlements. Isolated ranches had existed since the 1870s, and in 1880 a prospector named McHenry began mining a hill he called Silver Cliff. Soon other miners came. Three settlements developed: Running Water, a stage station for the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage; New Rochelle, a mining camp; and Silver Cliff, the first mining camp. In 1884, Frank Lusk donated land for a town site. The three settlements combined into the town of Lusk, and a post office was established.

Two years later, 1886, the Fremont, Elk Horn and Missouri Valley Railroad reached Lusk, and the town began to thrive. New businesses were founded, local copper mines were developed, and homesteaders, following the railroad, settled on the land in the area. It was about this time that the town of Manville, approximately 15 miles west of Lusk and on the railroad, was plated and established. When Converse County was organized in 1888, both Lusk and Manville, which had reserved a town block for a courthouse, were candidates for the county seat of Converse County, but lost to Douglas.

County Creation

During the next twenty years, population growth and economic development, spurred on by increased mining and the advent of dry farming, continued in the eastern section of Converse County. Both Lusk and Manville were busy towns. By 1910, the division of Converse County and the organization of a new county in the eastern part of Converse were being advocated. Sentiment among the area's residents was sharply divided, with the western section, centered around Manville, opposing; and the eastern section, including Lusk, strongly in favor. The Manville Register was the spokesman against the formation of a new county, while the Lusk Herald and a "County Division Club," formed in Lusk, beat the drum for a new county.

When the Eleventh State Legislature met in Cheyenne on January 10, 1911, petitions for and against the creation of Niobrara County were waiting for the legislators. Moreover, a committee consisting of Harry C. Snyder, Thomas Bell, George Voohees, and Russell Thorp, had been appointed (the record is not clear by whom, but possibly by themselves) to go to Cheyenne and lobby the legislature for creation of Niobrara County. The name, "Niobrara," from the Niobrara River (English translation: Running Water) had been promoted by Snyder. In their petitions, the opponents to the formation of a new county argued that the population was insufficient and the taxable wealth of the proposed county, except for farm and ranch land, was decreasing--the tax burden, which the expenses of a new county would bring, would be too great for the landowners to bear. The position of the advocates of a new county was just the opposite: the population was expanding, the taxable wealth of the proposed county was increasing, and new businesses and industries were starting up.

Despite the editorial battle that raged in what would be Niobrara County, (Lusk for, and Keeline and Manville against) and the petitions, pro and con, that poured into the Capitol, on February 14, 1911 both houses of the legislature passed House Bill 69, creating Niobrara County. A victory celebration was held in Lusk on February 16 when Harry Snyder, who had been in Cheyenne since the opening of the legislative session, returned home. The local band played and a horseback parade was held, and all of the residents of Lusk were enthusiastically convinced that their town would be chosen the county seat of Niobrara County when the county was organized. Contrarily, the citizens of Manville and Keeline were glum but scheming how they could stop the organization of the new county, or at least deprive Lusk of the county seat.

County Organization

Since the organization of the new county could not take place until after the general election in November 1912, petitions were circulated and sent to Governor Joseph M. Carey, requesting that he not appoint organizing commissioners for the county until after the election. The petitioners hoped that by delaying the vote on organization of the county for 18 months, they could persuade a sufficient number of voters to reject the organization of the county. However, not heeding the petitions, on March 22, 1911, Governor Carey appointed organizing commissioners: Eugene B. Willson, Manville; Albert Rochelle, Lusk; and Thomas H. Thompson of Kirtley.

Eight days later, the organizing commissioners met in Lusk. They appointed Sol J. Weil, clerk; set May 2, 1911 as the date for a special election to approve or disapprove the organization of Niobrara County and to select a county seat; and formed five election districts-­ Keeline, Manville, Lusk, Warren, and Kirtley. Although it was apparent that the new county would be endorsed by the electorate and Lusk chosen as the county seat (the voters in Lusk and the eastern section of the county outnumbered those in Manville, Keeline and the western part of the county by more than two to one), a spirited campaign took place. Clubs for and against the organization of the county were formed, rallies were held throughout the county, and the county's three newspapers waged a war of words.

The results of the election had been predictable. The organization of Niobrara County was confirmed by the voters, 626 for and 203 against. Lusk received 625 votes, Manville 139, Jireh 15, Spencer 4, Hat Creek 2, Lost Springs 2, Keeline 1, and Douglas 1, in the contest for county seat. After the election it was a matter of waiting until the county's first officers could be elected at the general election. At the primary election, held on August 20, 1912, the Democratic, Prohibition and Republican Party members selected a full slate of candidates for county officers which would be voted on at the general election to be held three months later. None of the Prohibition Party candidates were elected at the general election, and only one Democrat.

The first elected county officers of Niobrara County were: Thomas Bell, E. A. Cook and R. F. Burhoop, county commissioners; A. L. Miller, county clerk; Harry B. Rogers, county sheriff; Phillip B. Barber, county treasurer; T. H. Thompson, county assessor; M. H. Neil, county attorney; C. C. Browning, county superintendent of schools; W. L. Louger, county coroner; Richard F. Gray, county surveyor; and B. A. Root, justice of the peace for the Lusk precinct.

On January 1, 1913, the elected county commissioners were sworn into office by the organizing commissioners, and then elected Thomas Bell as chairman of the Niobrara Board of County Commissioners. Six days later, the new board met for the first time to conduct county business. They accepted the oaths of office and the bonds of the other newly elected county officers, appointed the county library board, accepted road and bridge petitions, designated the I.O.O.F. Hall in Lusk as the temporary county courthouse, and accepted the offer of the Town of Lusk to use its jail for the county jail until one could be built.

In March 1913, the county commissioners agreed to lease the first floor of the Harmony Lodge, #24 A.F. and A.M., and then later in the month moved the county offices to the lodge. The lodge would serve as the headquarters of Niobrara County government until it burned to the ground in 1919. Fortunately, the steel vault which the county had installed for records storage was not destroyed by the fire, and the county's records were saved. Since, at the time of the fire, construction of the permanent Niobrara County Courthouse was underway, the fire didn't pose a big problem for the county for any length of time. During the interim between the fire and the completion of the courthouse, the county offices were located in the basement of the First National Bank of Lusk.

Also in March 1913, the Board of County Commissioners employed Elmer Ranck of Lusk to prepare plans and specifications for a county jail. The following August, the commissioners awarded a jail construction contract to Ranck in the amount of $7,325, and then purchased steel jail cells from the Pauly Jail Company of St. Louis for $1,850. The jail was finished in January 1914, and the county moved its prisoners into it the next month.  Although it has been remodeled, added onto, and modernized, the 1914 jail still serves Niobrara County.

Courthouse Construction

Although the first four or five years of county government in Niobrara County were difficult ones financially, the dire prediction of an overwhelming tax burden as forecast by the opponents to organization of the county did not occur. Then in 1917, the county's economy took an abrupt upswing with the discovery of oil and gas, north and west of Lusk. The discovery, as continued drilling, development, and production took place during the next several years, became known as the Lance Creek Field, and during World War II was the largest producing oil field in the Rocky Mountain Region. With this new source of taxable wealth, the Niobrara County commissioners determined during the summer of 1918 to propose a bond election to fund the construction of a new courthouse.

On November 6, 1918, Niobrara County taxpayers and qualified voters, by the narrow margin of 29 votes, approved the $60,000 bond issue to build the courthouse proposed by the county commissioners. The bonds were to carry not more than a six percent interest rate and were scheduled for repayment in twenty years. In December, the commissioners employed local architect George E. McDonald, for a fee of five percent of the construction cost, to prepare plans and specifications. Then a month later they accepted his proposals for the courthouse. On February 11, 1919, construction contracts were let to the low bidders: the general contract to D. W. Woods for $57,602.50; the heating and plumbing contract to John Fernau & Sons for $2,335.50; and the electrical contract to Electrical Supply and Construction for $1,300.

The commissioners were aware, of course, that with the architect's fee and the construction contracts, they had overspent their $60,000 by more than $4,000. Their plan was to make up the deficit and purchase furnishings for the new courthouse from the county's annual operating budget. It wasn't to be. Change orders during construction, including Judge Mentzer's demand for a larger courtroom, amounted to more than

$22,000 in additional costs, and the contract for furnishing the courthouse was almost $9,000. Consequently, in August 1920, after the courthouse had been completed and was occupied by the county's officers, the county commissioners went back to the people for their authorization to issue another $40,000 in county bonds to pay for the courthouse. The electorate approved, but by the narrowest of margins -- thirty votes.

Occupied during February 1920, the new Niobrara County Courthouse was an impressive building. Built of dark red brick with white columned porticoes on the south and east entrances, and, of course, with the white dome capped by the bronze statue, the courthouse was the pride of the county's citizens. The basement contained mechanical and heating areas, storage rooms, and two offices which were rented to the Niobrara Abstract Company. The offices of the county commissioners, the county clerk, the county treasurer, and the county assessor were on the first floor. On the second floor were offices for the county attorney, the clerk of district court, and Judge Mentzer's chambers and courtroom. The courtroom had opera type seating for 128 spectators, a highly carved and polished judge's bench, a less elaborate witness platform, a jury box, and a horseshoe curved railing separating the spectators from the attorneys, jurors, and judge.

Prohibition

And during the decade following completion of the courthouse, Judge Mentzer's courtroom was a busy place. This was the era of prohibition and depression, and many Niobrara County farmers and small ranchers turned to making moonshine whiskey to "make ends meet." There was always a ready cash market for illegal booze (reportedly, the "hootch" made in Niobrara County was the best in Wyoming), and the flourishing trade kept many farmers and ranchers from bankruptcy. But, according to Jim Griffith, Sr., publisher and editor of the Lusk Herald, Judge Mentzer's criminal docket was usually filled with moonshining and bootlegging cases during the 1920s, and there was never any suspicion that the Niobrara County Sheriff and his deputies accepted bribes or "looked the other way," as was alleged in other Wyoming Counties.

Obtaining a conviction for moonshining or bootlegging was another matter. This occurred for two reasons: most of the county's jurors empathized with the accused moonshiners and bootleggers; and most of the accused were defended in court by an especially skilled defense attorney, Thomas M. Fagan, whether they had any money or not. Editor Griffith reported on one case illustrating Fagan's creative defense tactics and jurors' feelings for the underdog.

One well-known and active moonshiner was arrested by the county sheriff for operating an illegal still. It was the man's fourth or fifth arrest, but this time the moonshiner was caught "red-handed operating his still." The particularly large and efficient still was seized as evidence; the moonshiner admitted ownership of it, and then confessed his guilt. To make matters worse for himself, the moonshiner signed the confession before rushing to attorney Fagan for help.

In view of the signed confession of guilt, Fagan was in a as how to defend the moonshiner, but his genius was equal quandary to the challenge. For many years, the accused had been a roundup cook. Before that, during the first years of the county, he was a cowboy riding the range, and nearly everyone in Niobrara County "knew that his reputation for truth and veracity was extremely questionable." During jury selection, Fagan made every effort to get jurors who knew the defendant moonshiner well, and preferably had worked with him on a roundup.

Once the jury was sworn in, Fagan's strategy became clear. He set out to prove that his client "was the biggest liar and four-flusher in the world." Fagan's contention was that by claiming ownership of the still and confessing, the moonshiner, incapable of telling the truth, was satisfying his huge ego, praising his importance as a "big shot" moonshiner, and trying to out-brag his fellow moonshiners by swearing that he owned the biggest and best still and made the most and best booze in the county. After all of this, it took the jury only a few minutes to bring back a verdict of "Not Guilty."

Today, there is no moonshining or bootlegging in Niobrara County, nor, for that matter, little criminal activity at all. The county's population is the smallest of Wyoming's twenty-three counties, but county government continues to function effectively. The 1920 county courthouse, which has been remodeled and modernized, still meets the needs of Niobrara County people, and should continue to do so for years to come.