Columbus was fifty years old last Tuesday, and it seems quite remarkable that the day was permitted to pass unobserved by appropriate anniversary ceremonies. And not so remarkable, either --- few of the present generation were aware that the city of their nativity or residence had a birthday last Tuesday, and only one of the men who were present at the birth of Columbus, Mr. Jacob Louis, is living today. Mr. Louis is an old man now, and little given to celebrating, and the younger generation was evidently not disposed to celebrate. It was on the evening of May 29, 1856, that Mr. Louis and twelve associates, comprising the Columbus Townsite company, arrived here after a tedious trip by ox team from Omaha. Mr. Louis is now nearing the age of four score years. His memory is not as good as it was a decade ago, and he has forgotten many of the interesting details attending the birth of Columbus, but for the benefit of a Telegram reporter who called at his home last Tuesday he recalled a few of them.

"We arrived here in the evening," he said, "and camped for the night on this side of the river near Buck Island. There were thirteen in the party, including myself. The others were Frederick Gottschalk, Carl Reinke, Michael Smith, Jacob Guter, John Wolfel, Vincent Kummer, Henry Lusche, Charles Bremer, John Browner, J. P. Becker, Anthony Voll, and John Held. Five of us had been here the previous March, later returning to Omaha where the company was organized. The original town plat was one mile square. The grove of trees at my home place was on the east line. The landscape as far as the eye could see was unbroken prairie, and of course there was not a house to be seen. On the banks of the Loup these days were many trees, and during the first month we built a log house near the present site of the brewery, covering it with a roof of grass. That was the first building in Columbus, and furnished us all a home for several months. Nearly every member of the company had an ox team, and during the first summer we broke ground and put in a crop. The harvest that fall didn't amount to much. Grasshoppers came and saved us the trouble of harvest, and on this account we had a hard time to keep from starving during the next winter. But wild game was abundant in those days, and we had plenty of fresh meat. Deer and elk, especially, were plentiful, and I have seen wild buffalo in this county. At one time after a prairie fire I saw about a thousand elk in one herd not far from Columbus. They had been driven before the fire until stopped by the river, which was running bank full. The day on which Columbus was born was cloudless and calm, not damp and dingy as it is today. It seems a long while ago, and as I look about me and see the great changes which have taken place I know it was long ago."