Franklin County, Nebraska

For Another Day

This article’s historical background also comes from the Franklin county Historical Society’s past minutes. The museum secretary, who wrote that museum officials found some facts that were connected with early enterprises of the county, wrote it in 1933.

Walter Phillips and Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Newbold also contributed several antiques to the museum.

This is what the museum officials found:

“Mills and churches were very essential institutions to young communities, and Franklin County wisely supplied itself well with both from the earliest days.

“The site of one such mill has recently been located by the museum. It was known as Crystal Springs Manufacturing Co. and besides manufacturing woolen goods of all kinds; it operated a gristmill in connection with its main business. It was built by Frank N. Phillips in 1885, four and one-half miles northwest of Riverton, and beside Thompson Creek on a farm now owned by W. G. Newbold.

“Its location is marked by three great iron wheels, one of which is entirely embedded in the earth while one looms above men’s heads on the top of a heavy iron shaft. A pair of French burrs lie on the bank nearby and large trees are growing up in the excavation of the building. Through the courtesy of Mr. Newbold, several souvenirs of the old mill were secured, also a fine Indian tool and a carpenter’s brace from a bit, made by an old pioneer of Minden.

“We first heard the story of the mill from Mrs. Phillips some years ago. She told us that she was just over from England at that time and, being a trained weaver naturally, she found work at the new mill. The employees seemed to live as a family and ate at a long table together. Much to their amusement she had not yet learned the knack of American English, but Mr. Phillips, the young foreman, came gallantly to her aid. Judging from her ready wit and pleasing personality as an old lady, she was undoubtedly able to hold her own against the jibes. She began work in an English mill as a child of ten, working longer hours that men today consider inhuman for themselves. Her son, Walter W. Phillips of Franklin, has presented a generous sample of her weaving done at Crystal Springs Manufacturing Company, which is one of the most interesting historical donations to the museum.

“Frank N. Phillips was an outstanding pioneer. The first date among his interesting papers id 1868 and is a teacher’s certificate in Johnson County, Nebraska, just one year after Nebraska became a state. The paper on which it is written was torn from a blank book. Fine flourishes and heavy standing characterize the perfectly legible penmanship and the all-important sentence with began: ‘I find that he is competent to teach reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and grammar in any common schools, etc.’ The paper bears a five-cent letter stamp.

“He (Frank Phillips) was appointed registrar of voted for Grant Precinct by William H. James, Governor of Nebraska, in 1872, and Justice of Peace by the county commissioners in the same month. It was an office he filled for many years. His enrollment of the militia for Grant precinct in 1885 contains many familiar names, and his last paper is a receipt given him by the late I. E. Whitmore for ‘payment on county seat subscription’ (1912 date). The old mill site is a lovely spot among the hills and trees of Thompson Creek near the protecting home of the Newbolds and worthy of a suitable market when the coming golden era materialized.”

The golden era never materialized, for there is not a marker to tell us where Crystal Springs Manufacturing Co. was located. Can anyone living in the Thompson Creek Area tell us where it was? It was already overgrown by trees and brush in 1933, so by now it is probably only a written memory.

Crystal Springs community at one time was a thriving area with the mill and a school and a store. There are histories written of the little berg. Space doesn’t permit the publishing of them now, so I will save them for Another Day. Who knows, perhaps someday out of the blue yonder, will come more information on Crystal Springs Manufacturing Co. If anyone knows of this site, please give me a tour, I would be grateful.

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
In poverty, hunger and dirt,
And still, with a voice of dolorous pitch,
She sang the ‘Song of the Skirt.’ Thomas Hood

Rena Donovan, For Another Day.

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