Twenty -five years ago this site was a field of grass ; a wagon road leading from the river country wound through this territory, and the location was visited by a party of eastern men. as they passed over the divide in a freighter's wagon, for Sidney was then the first town south of Alliance. On reaching the "highest point," where Dalton, "Queen of the Prairie," today lifts her head, the men stood up and asked why the country was not fanned better and why better stock was not raised

Blind Cannon Xear Poixt of Rocks

and the driver responded that farming did not pay. Great has been the change from that day to this for Dalton is now surrounded by a rich, productive agricultural district. Only three years after the travelers passed the Burlington railroad was built through Cheyenne county and a side track and section house were established on the top of the notch of the divide and named Dalton. Shortly afterward a man put up a store and scales and the scattered people who lived in the district began to come in for supplies saving the longer trip to Sidney. Then settlers east of Dalton told that they had been raising enough wheat and grain for their use. Other farmers questioned why large fields would not yield as well as small ones. Macaroni wheat was introduced, which had drouth resisting qualities. Farmers remembered the years of 1893 and 1895, which were well nigh rainless. The pioneer merchant. W. S. Woolsey, became busy and prosperous and another man ventured into the station town to establish the Clough store. During this period farms grew closer to the village and a small school was established. From