The Superior Express -

I firmly believe people who don’t read newspapers are missing out on things they should know.

Some people call me a historian and if I am it is because I like to read. It was while reading old newspapers on the weekend that I got the ideas for the entries in this space.

I’ve long known that my garden grows the best in January and February.

In the gloomy days of January and February, garden catalogs tickle my interest in gardening. This time of year I picture a weed free, well watered and lush garden. I get the real itch to till the soil.

Friday, when I went to get chairs from storage, I went past the area where I moved last year’s geraniums to protect them from winter’s cold temperatures. They have done well in the storage area and now I am dreaming of rooting slips and expanding my geranium planting. I can think of several places were the colorful red flowers would brighten people’s days. Of course, this time of year I never think of the need to weed and water.

This week I read in a 1914 Nuckolls County newspaper the following: S. R. Duncan of the Nebraska Horticultural Society said, “Farmers should not neglect the strawberry. Every family should have a strawberry patch large enough to supply the household with fresh fruit throughout the berry seasons and enough surplus to can and preserve for winter use. Strawberries are the easiest fruit to grow and bring the quickest returns for the labor and money expended. Three hundred plants set out and well cared for during an average season ought to supply a family of ordinary size with all the fruit they can use.”

As I read the above article, I recalled my big plans as I set out a big strawberry bed.

That first year I may have had 300 weed free plants. I‘ve forgotten the exact number but it was a big bed. The plants grew well that first year and sent out runners in all directions but the plants didn’t produce the dreamed of harvests. They didn’t survive my care. I attributed their death to over mulching.

Remembering from my childhood how hard it was to weed a strawberry bed, I used a tractor powered hammer mill and shredded newspapers into a mulch much like cellulose insulation and spread inches of mulch around the newly planted strawberry plants. Runners spread over the open area and the weed free patch looked good. Only there was a problem, the mulch was so heavy the runners didn’t root.

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In a newspaper published in 1894, I read about a fire which destroyed a Nelson jewelry store and the call sent to Superior for mutual aid.

Fire fighters in the two towns have long relied on each other in times of emergency but I doubt the Superior crew was of much help that day.

In 1894 I suspect the Superior department was using a hose cart they pulled by hand to the scene of a fire. That cart is now in the Nuckolls County Museum and sometimes brought out for parades.

The newspaper story reported a call was sent to Superior asking the firemen to take the morning train to Nelson and bring along a barrel of water.

By the time they arrived, the store had been reduced to ashes but the Nelson men had contained the fire to just the one store.

The editor praised the efforts of Nelson men and published the following account:

The good people of Nelson were aroused about 5 a.m. by the cry of fire. The fire was located in a frame building owned by E. D. Hobbs and occupied by C. A. Houghtaling as a jewelry store. The building was soon a total loss.

The people of our neighboring towns may talk about their enterprise, may boast of their superior advantages in water power, their beautiful women and brave men; they may hoot at us because we have no electric lights, because our business men are asleep, because our show windows are decorated with rough boards with price lists on them; because we move around like a corpse unburied. They jeer, sneer and rant, but they cannot, nor never can, turn out a better fire department than the town of Nelson.

Bert Roberts had scarcely turned on the alarm of fire than the central hose company came flying down the street and in just 34 seconds from the time alarm was sent in had a stream of water on the flames. A moment later East End Hook and Ladder Company was on the ground and doing noble work. Men by the hundreds stood in the street and cheered the heroic efforts and tried to give directions that could be heard above the roar of the fierce conflagration. Such deeds of valor, especially by those not financially in it, were scarcely equalled and never excelled. Many of our best citizens lent their presence to encourage the brave boys, but all of their efforts were futile.

Word was soon sent to the Superior fire laddies to come on the early morning train and bring with them at least a barrel of water.

They came but alas, there was no fire to conquer.