Burke Brothers, with the flat iron brand on three or four thousand cattle between North Platte and Fort McPherson, were not in the

Panhandle ; nor was C. W. Wright, now to be found about the Denver Club, who ranged his two or three thousand cattle branded D D on Brigadier creek, Bad Water and Poison Spider in Wyoming. All of these had scattering cattle in western Nebraska and they had representatives with the annual roundup, to accumulate these and return them to their own respective ranges.

One of the big ranches on the South Platte country, located at Big Springs, in the present borders of Deuel county, was Shiedley Brothers & Company, with its O S O brands, and its ten thousand cattle. This firm had Kansas City offices, and supplied many of the smaller concerns, people with five hundred to two thousand head, with cattle or finance.

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

There came the time when W. A. Paxton quit "wacking bulls" and went into the cow business. He located at Keystone with the Keystone brand. Later he organized the big Ogallala Company that amalgamated several of the largest herds on the range. What the Bay State accomplished at Kimball and north, and Tom Swan in Wyoming, the Ogallala company did at Alkali, now Paxton, Nebraska, and north and west.

This company put ten or twelve thousand cattle into the business at the home ranch, and then bought the Shiedley outfit with its many thousands, Sheedy's Seven U, Boyd Brothers' herd. Sharp's ranch, the Tusler cattle, and several of the other herds of five hundred to two thousand.