There are consolidated schools at Sunol and Gurley, the first having five teachers and twelve grades, while Gurley has seven teachers and eleven grades.

The rural schools, sixty-five in number do, not seem to be following the extreme consolidation plans of some other counties, it being the general opinion in Cheyenne county that schools of two or three rooms and a teacher's cottage are best. That teaching well all subjects up to the eighth and tenth grades meets

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

the most demands with highest efficiency and economy in administration.

There are four parochial schools in the county : The Catholic Academy at Sidney, and three others which are Lutheran : one at Sidney, one south of Sidney and the third at Gurley. Each of these three has but one teacher. There has been some friction to get them to qualify under the Simon law but not as much as in other counties. The main difficulty has been to get these schools to supply the required text books. Miss Anna McFadden is the present superintendent of Cheyenne county, and takes much interest in her work.

Municipal Enterprises

Sidney possesses as good and cheap a water system as can be found in the state. The water is obtained from a well on the north side. This well goes down to second water and never lowers a foot. Its quality is of the purest. It is pumped to the reservoir on the hill and from there distributed to the town by a fall of a hundred and twenty feet. The reservoir will hold a hundred and twenty-five thousand gallons. The system is owned by the city and was put in at a cost of $25,500. Consumers get a water rate that is very reasonable. A sewer system has been a badly needed innovation and has improved sanitary conditions.