Then later with the voyage of La Salle when he took New France, now Canada, and the region of the Great Lakes and the territory of Louisiana, in the name of Louis the Great, King of France. Spain followed by France thus became the first owners of the territory now comprised in Nebraska ; in 1763, Louisiana Territory was* ceded back to Spain, and what is now Cheyenne county, though unmarked and unnamed was in this territory. In 1802, Spain again ceded the territory to France, which prepared the way for Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, to negotiate the Louisiana purchase by which Louisiana Territory became a part of the young Republic in 1803. Cheyenne county was a part of it.

This section of the country was inhabited only by the roving bands of Indians at that time and little was known of the country this far west. May 30, 1854, Nebraska Territory was created by an act of Congress, and in 1866 the question of the admission of Nebraska as a state was raised. All conditions required by Congress were complied with and on March 1, 1867, the territory ceased to be, and the great state of Nebraska came into existence.

Cheyenne county was created by act of the first state legislature in 1867, and at that time contained the territory since erected into Banner, Deuel, Garden, Kimball, Morrill and Scotts Bluff counties. At the present time the county lies in the Panhandle section of Nebraska, in the second tier from the western boundary and the south tier north of the Colorado-Nebraska boundary. Cheyenne county is bounded on the north by Morrill county ; on the east bv Garden and Deuel counties, on the