The county then contained eleven precincts as follows: Alkali, Lisco, Lost Creek, Blue Creek, Park, Sughrue. Rush Creek, Green, Chappell, Swan and Big Springs.

In their order road districts one to eleven were created of the same name and size as the precincts. The first bills allowed by the commissioners were for election services, viz : C. G. Jones, A. T. Stewart, J. H. Roudebush, Frank Isenberger, Floyd Jones, E. E. Catron, Simon Hopper, R. D. Root, W. T. Bowers, George Northrup, E. F. Clayton, Ed. Coumbe, and Reuben Lisco.

By order of the board, all territory of Deuel county then north of the North Platte river was designated as commissoner district number one. District number two was the west

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

half of that part of the county south of the river and district number three was the east half. April 3, 1889, E. Fish was appointed deputy for Ed. Herrington, clerk, as Mr. Herrington was in Sidney much of the time transcribing the records for the new county.

Two petitions for bonding the county, one for one bridge and another for two bridges, across the North Platte river, were filed April 22, but both were rejected. On May 21, another petition for eighteen thousand dollars in bonds and two bridges was approved but was lost on the election.

The board of commissioners, sitting as a board of equalization, on June 19, 1889, found the following assessable property in Deuel county: personal, $93,345.79; real estate, $443,558.50; Union Pacific railway, $303,- 503.20; Western Union Telegraph Company, 83,448.90, a total of $848,856.39. The first levy for taxes was: for roads three and a half mills ; bridges, one mill ; sinking fund, one and a half mills. The Big Springs Precinct Bridge Bond was for three mills. Another attempt was made for a "North River" bridge by a petition of October 9, 1889, when ten thousand dollars worth of bonds was asked, but was lost at the subsequent election.