All material for the building of Belmont tunnel, culvert pipe, machinery for the Newcastle coa mines and supplies for the grading camps from Alliance to Newcastle was freighted by team from Alliance out along the right of way. Hundreds of men were shipped out from eastern centers to work on the grade and Alliance with its six saloons did a thriving business with hoboes. However, it was fairly orderly, considering the character of its floating population, only one or two murders being committed during that time.

Alliance continued to grow and thrive until

the panic and hard limes of 1893 and 1894,

when for a few years it seemed to conic to a

standstill -- neither increased nor decreased in

. n new life in the spring

'Inn the Burlington commenced to

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

build southward when the Platte Valley line was built and later in the summer extended on southward to Denver. Since that time it has had a steady and healthy growth, until at the present time it has become a leading city in western Nebraska, with a population of over five thousand people.

Agricultural and Live Stock Industries

This is primarily an agricultural country, ninety-five percent of its total area is tillable. Only about sixty percent of this is in actual

hogs during the summer season and the corn to finish them in the fall. Hog cholera is unknown.

Dairy products are of much importance. The county has one large creamery, which uses a large percent of the native product, but considerable is shipped to outside factories. The Snake Creek valley, having an average width of five miles and a length of thirty miles, produces a great deal of wrild hay. On the table lands straw, corn fodder, alfalfa and kaffir corn are used for rough feed.