Before its cuter limits were trimmed bv the formation of the counties named, it was known as the largest organized county in the state and during that period it had become the cradle of the cattle business. It was while Edward Creighton was building the Far West telegraph line, which antedated the construction of the LT. P. railroad, that the discovery was accidentally made that cattle, turned loose upon the buffalo grass in Cheyenne county, without any other feed, no shelter, and no attention whatever, would not only thrive during the winter, but they would be in better condition in the spring than they were at the beginning of winter. In hauling telegraph poles and wire, cattle were used entirely, and when the construction force had reached a point near where the town of Sidney was afterward located, winter overtook them and the men simply turned the yoke cattle loose and struck east for winter quarters. Not expecting to again see them, work was resumed in the spring with a new set of ox teams, but several of the men thought they would learn what had become of the cattle they turned loose in the early winter and riding north from there found every animal near the head of Middle creek grazing as contentedly as a bunch of milch cows ever did in a blue grass pasture and were actually fat and sleek. When this fact was reported to Edward Creighton. his quick apprehension suggested what might be done by driving Texas cattle to Cheyenne county in the fall and turning them loose. Later he did turn a larger bunch of cattle loose in that locality and the remarkable manner in which they went through the winter caused that experiment to be repeated by Mr. Creighton and many others who had learned of the incident, and the cattle business, as we have known it, was the outgrowth.