The
town of Rulo was once said to be
"The front door of Richardson
County".
It was first laid out in 1856 and
incorporated Nov 01, 1858.
The land on which Rulo now stands
was originally part of the giant lands
granted to the wife of Charles Rouleau
under the terms of the treaty of Prairie
Du Chien.
It was from her that the town
takes its name and later shortened to
Rulo.
Part of the land belonged to Mrs.
Bedard, sister of Mrs. Rouleau.
The
location is one that must have commended
itself strongly to the pioneers, as a
better site for a town could not be
found.
It stands on a cluster of hills
from the top of which the eye may follow
the graceful curves of the Missouri
River for miles and miles.
A person standing on one of these
hills may look into three states -
Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.
The elevation at Rulo is 875 feet
above sea level, being the lowest point
in Richardson County.
The
population by 1860 was recorded at 440,
with nearly 200 new homes.
It continued to grow and by 1900
the population was 877.
In addition to the new homes,
many frame business buildings were
erected.
The first general store opened in
Rulo was by Martin and Goldsberry, which
was shortly followed by Easley and
Sherer.
The first blacksmith was operated
by Joseph Brazo.
T. D. Easley was the first in the
lumber business and opened his
lumberyard about the time of the first
settlement.
The
first school was taught in 1860 and was
financed by private subscriptions.
In 1861 the first school building
was built at the cost of $450, from
money raised by private subscriptions.
In 1867 the need for increased
school facilities caused the building of
a larger structure.
To defray the cost of the work,
bonds in the sum of $3,400 were issued
by the district and the proceeds of
these being insufficient, about $1,000
more was raised by private subscription.
The bond bore the date of 1867
and ran for a period of 20 years.
The first teacher in the newly
divided school was L. Messier, who had
two lady assistants.
The
first paper published in Richardson
County was at Rulo.
The Western Guide was owned by
Rulo Town and Ferry Company.
The sheet made its debut May 1858
and continued for exactly one year.
It was then purchased by A. D.
Kirk and C. A. Hergesheimer, who ran it
until the war of 1861-65, when it was
suspended due to the lack of patronage.
It was resurrected in 1864 as the
Nebraska Register and continued to 1869
when it was sold to H. A. Buel, who
shortly took it to Salem where it soon
died.
The
first lights were brought across the
Missouri River by transmission line from
Mound City, Mo.
There was a good ferry across the
Missouri River.
The first ferry was built by
Stephen Story and operated out of St.
Stephens.
It was moved to Rulo where it
continued to operate until 1865.
At that time James Parsons
started a ferry powered by a treadmill
driven by a horse going nowhere.
Next, George Cook owned a ferry
propelled by long sweeping oars powered
by muscular forearms of the crewmen.
The first steam powered ferry,
"Bell Morgan," was owned by
Louis Van Lue and followed by Ephraim
Elshire Sr.
Olney Graham operated his ferry
longer than any of the others, nearly 20
years.
His successor was James Roland,
who called his boat "Rulo
Bell."
Andy Halbert then bought this
ferry and operated it as a private
ferry.
At the same time, Harold
Vinsonhaler operated a ferry.
After the "Rulo Bell"
burned as it drifted downriver, George
Olson began operating a ferry and
continued to do so until the Missouri
River highway bridge opened in 1939.
An act passed by the Legislature
and approved on Jan. 3, 1862, set ferry
rates for that time at: a pair of
horses, mules, oxen, and wagon, 75
cents; extra pair, 25 cents; horse or
mule and rider, 25 cents; two horses or
mule and buggy, 75 cents; one horse or
mule and buggy, 50 cents; each horse or
mule led, 25 cents; for loose cattle per
head, 10 cents; hogs and sheep under the
number of 10, five cents each; for over
10 and under 50, three cents each; over
50, one cent each; for each footman, 10
cents; for each crate of freight, five
cents; and lumber, $1 per hundred feet.
For
many years Rulo was a favorite place for
buying fish taken fresh from the
Missouri River.
In the 1940's - 50's there were
fish shacks up and down the riverbank.
A total of 13 families made their
living by taking fish from the river.
At
the time when men first began to look
toward Richardson County, with an eye to
making settlement here, no railroad was
within hundreds of miles and the only
means of reaching this county was either
by making the journey overland through a
wilderness, as yet without a well
defined wagon trail, or up the river by
boat.
This latter method most appealed
to the early adventurer and many no
doubt had journeys up the river long
before any thought of settlement in this
part of the West was entertained.
Bordering on the river was of
immense advantage to the early people
and caused the river counties to be
first choice of the pioneers.
In those days the railroad was by
no means a new thing in the older and
more thickly settled parts of the East,
but had not caused its extension to any
great degree in this direction.
Being
forced to use the river, which was then
full of snags and sand bars and subject
to overflow and with the low water
stages, the early navigator was not
without his troubles; but under dire
necessity the obstacles were overcome
and navigation had reached a high state
of development.
The steamboats, both for carrying
all kinds of freight and passengers,
were numerous and while slow and tedious
served remarkably well, until at last,
the coming of the railroad made that
mode of travel obsolete.
The
better river boats had a capacity for
carrying as many as 400 passengers and
the fare from St. Louis Mo., to Rulo or
St. Stephens would range about $15 to
$20, which, of course, included meals
and state rooms.
The culinary department of those,
boats was generally in good hands and
larder well supplied, with the best that
money could buy.
The length of time usually
required in making the trip from St.
Louis to this county was about seven to
eight days.
Those having had the pleasure of
such a journey in the old days generally
described them as having been quite dull
and eventless.
Such an experience was very aptly
described by the noted Mark Twain in his
"Roughing It", when he said:
"We were six days in going from St.
Louis to St. Joseph, Mo., a trip that
was so dull and sleepy and eventless,
that it has left no more impression on
my memory than if its duration had been
six minutes."
It
would be hard for those of us now in
this area to find a trip on a large boat
on the Missouri River from Rulo to be
dull.
The beauty of the view from
either side during any season of the
year would be exciting and enjoyable.
In
addition to passengers, those boats
carried from 500 to 600 tons of freight
and the rates were as high as $2.50 per
hundredweight.
The boats carried a crew of 80 to
100 men and the value of these boats
were estimated to be nearly $50,000
each.
With
many passengers of the boats getting off
in Rulo, the risk for disease was great
and what is referred to as the Epidemic
of 1860, occurred during the early
summer.
The disease, described as acute
dysentery, was contagious and many died
as it spread rapidly and it was not
confined to Rulo.
It was said to be a strong
likeness to the great plague in London.
As the people moved west, one
account of the matter tells us that 16
died in Salem in one week.
The newspapers of the time
carried much on the epidemic, yet it
soon ran its course and disappeared so
quickly as to leave little impression on
the memory of the busy pioneers.
Rulo
had many churches: Baptist, Holiness
Church, St. Peter's Episcopal Church,
Trinity Methodist Church and Rulo
Immaculate Conception Church.
Of these churches, the Trinity
United Methodist Church and
Immaculate Conception Church remain very
active.
The Catholic Church also had a
school in Rulo.