Seier Ranch and Refuge

James E. Ducey. October 12, 2014. Grant County News 130(12): 1. 5.

Germans John Seier and the Zlomke brothers arriving along the Bloody and Skull creek tributaries of the Calamus River in 1880 initiated a new community.

Others also came to this portion of the then unorganized territory of the eastern sandhills, westward of Holt County. In 1885, John brought his new wife Lydia, and she was the first white woman in the area, according to local history. At this time, he filed on a 160-acre homestead it what had been organized into an expansive Brown county.

With the arrival of more settlers, the Duff post-office was established less than a mile north of the Seier place in April, 1886. Stephen B. Nelson was the first postmaster.

August Seier filed on his nearby homestead at the same time. Both Seier family parcels were in T26N R20W, near the headwaters of Bloody creek.

In May, 1888, "Everything is improving with our pleasant showers and we all hope to have a good crop this year," wrote Rustler, the community correspondent in the Ainsworth newspaper. The corn crop was "excellent" for the season, Rustler wrote later in the year.

That winter, Rock county was formally established.

The first school was opened in 1893 in a sod house with S.W. Spragg the first teacher.

Duff had a post-office. There was also a general store and a dance hall with its many wonderful community events of celebration. 

"In spite of hard times, Duff is flourishing. It supports four schools and though some of them are lacking in quantity they make it up in quality," wrote the "Vagrant" in an October 1895 issue of the Long Pine Republican Journal. "Miss Nancy and Miss Jose Hughes, of Ainsworth, teach the North and Central schools and Miss Inez Chester and Miss Anna Leissering of Long Pine vicinity, teach the South and East schools."

Many families depended on these local schools and their teachers. During the autumn of 1895, dances were a special, yet regular event. These Friday nights were "popular in country circles," according to the community correspondent. The erection of a new windmill was significant enough to report in the local news. Potatoes were among the crops shipped to Ainsworth to provide cash.

August and Anne Seier (with five children) and John C. and Sophie Seier were enumerated in the area for the 1900 census, in the Pewaukee precinct.

For a time in 1901-1902 the Duff post-office was discontinued, with mail services shifted to nearby Spragg, but by 1903 the office near the Seier place was reopened with a new post-master.

The community enjoyed its special times as the land became filled with settlers, working for their living, active commerce and appreciated community events.

In 1907, John C. Seier bought 360 acres from the U.S. government.

John and Sophie continued to live in the area in 1910, along with their nine children, ages 21 to four.

In 1912, John C. Seier bought another 80 acres, being the final known transaction involving the 920 acres associated with government land office dealings through the years.

By 1920, the only Seiers in the Duff vicinity were younger John (Jonnie, 23) and his wife Lydia. They would soon have two children, that would continue the families history.

The Duff post-office was closed in 1953, with mail services transferred to Rose, nearby to the east along Highway 183.

Louise Seier (1920 to 2002) and John W. Seier were the last two family members to live in the vicinity. They donated their 2400 acre property to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, which established the first federal wildlife refuge in this portion of the eastern sandhills.

It created a "legacy to the family" Louise Seier said in December 1999. "We like wildlife and thought it was a good idea."

The Fish and Wildlife Service took possession in January. 2000, designating the John W. and Louise Seier National Wildlife Refuge. It was not open to the public at the time and continues to be closed to public access as of October 2014, as there is no comprehensive plan for the area, according to the refuge manager.

"The John W. and Louise Seier National Wilflife Refuge is a good example of Sandhills prairie," according to Steve Hicks, manager of the Fort Niobrara/Valentine refuge complex. "Native plants and and animals find refuge there."

Included among the property is the meadows where Bloody creek starts, upland Sandhill prairie, woodland around the ranch buildings and meadows in the lowlands.

Most buildings of the former Seier place are still present, though some of them are expected to be eventually removed, Hicks indicated.

Management of the area is ongoing, though a provisional plan that has been in effect since the refuge was acquired by the agency. For example, volunteer cedar trees were removed from the area in the winter of 2010-2011, Hicks said. Other management tools used include grazing of cattle, with plans for controlled prairie burns being developed.

"We have the responsibility to be good stewards of this land into the future," Hicks said.

There is no known time-frame for when the public will be allowed to walk about and enjoy the land and special values associated with the former ranch of the Seier family.