HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

sort of a person, and it is probable that he kicked or struck at the dog, before it attacked him. Wheeler, however, started a suit for damages, but it was never finished.

Just below Laing's ranch on "Lorren*s" Fork. about half way to the ranch of Adams & Redington, Sam Fowler, well known in the Democratic politics of old Cheyenne county, had his location, where he ran a bunch of horses.

There are not many prettier sights within my recollection; along after noon on a hot <la\. than a bunch of sleek, fat horses, that have been out on attractive but dry feeding places, head for the watering gaps, springs or creeks. As they draw near, they begin to feel more thirsty, and one will break into a trot ; another will go it one better and gallop, and then, before long, they all are racing wild and free with heads up and plumes flying down the long slopes to the water. It is a grand sight that has passed forever.

Situated about two miles up the Platte river from Bridgeport, on the south side of the river, is a cottonwood grove. It was once the ranch of George Laing, a young Englishman who came out here for the love of adventure, and the alluring profits in raising cattle. His ranch cannot be classed as one of the early locations, but it was ahead of the grangers, and that puts it back about thirty-five or forty years ago.