to sleep About ten o'clock they were awakened by the bright' light from the fire which had come quite close to them. They dressed hurriedly, took sacks and water to beat it away from the house and corral. Mrs. Jones' brother, Lee Henderson, had gathered a large pile of wood for her winter's supply. The fire got into that and burned it up, almost getting to the house. The two women worked until morning when the fire had passed. A neighbor came over to see how they had stood the fire. 1 Ie had fought it and lost most of his hay, but had saved his home. They were all feeling rather blue and discouraged.

Mr. George Gilliard took a load of household goods for a neighbor from Lewellen up twenty-five miles north of Alliance. It took nearly a week. He camped on the way up and back, and paid his own expenses. He received $10 for the trip and thought himself wonderfully well paid.

Among the blessings of these early settlers are to be counted the wild fruits and berries to be found in the canyons and at oilier points throughout this part of the county. Wild currants, cherries, grapes, and plums grew m

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

abundance in the canyons and among the rocks, while in the sandhills are found the sand cherries.

There were very few settlers in the sandhills then, few and far between. In the early days', a family wished to get up to a northern settlement so struck out across the county through the sandhills. They got lost and wandered around for some days. They ate up all the provisions they had and fed the straw out of the bed-ticks to the horses before they finally came to the head of Blue Creek.