The start was made by the building of the Union Pacific railroad ; the building of the Burlington has given Cheyenne county a stragetic position, as it has also Sidney, which will become a distributing center for the two lines of railroad. Though Cheyenne county is much reduced in size from the "old Cheyenne" county, it has retained rich land of great fertility. A large proportion of the county is suitable for cultivation. There is little waste land and only a small part is rough. Cheyenne bids well to become one of the richest counties in the Panhandle.

BOX BUTTE COUNTY

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY

Box Butte county had its first inception in the minds of its citizens during the summer months of 1886. The one thousand and eighty square miles now comprising Box Butte county was at that time the southern half of Dawes county. The reason of this was the great distance from Chadron, the county seat. The average distance was sixty miles, which the people were compelled to travel, by team or on horseback, in order to pay their taxes, serve on juries, and attend to their legal matters. The population of this territory had grown to be about three thousand people, which was probably as great a number as lived in the northern half of the county.

A convention was held during the summer of 1886, and at that convention it was decided that steps be taken to secure a division of Dawes county and that the new county erected in the south half, if division succeeded, should be called Box Butte county. Committees were appointed, petitions were circulated and unanimously signed, asking the County Commissioners of Dawes county to submit the question of county division to a vote of the people at the general election to be held in November of that year.