The Chicago, Burlington and Ouincy railroad company has marked this city as its center of operations in the Platte valley, and here should be both the freight and passenger divisions and a natural point for other prospective lines centering here, as pointed out more fully in the railroad story of this county's history. During the comingmonths steps will be taken to install car repair shops here, with a saw mill for framing timbers. A twenty stall roundhouse has been built and a modern passenger station will be provided.

In recent years there has not been a vacant house or a vacant room in the city, and this in fact has been the condition nearly all of the time since the town was laid out near ly twenty years ago. Bridgeport is the gate way to the great North Platte valley, and i surrounded by rich irrigated lands.

When the Burlingtbn railroad reached the present location of Bridgeport it secured

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HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

ground for the town site parti)- from Pete Peterson of Julesburg and partly from l\. V. Drown. The first building put up then for a saloon is now used for an ice cream parlor It was built for a man named Armstrong. The first store building was where Brown's grocery now is and was built fqr J. A. Gaines. R. P. Scott purchased the town site for Lincoln Land Company. J. L. Miller who had been farming below the town, quit about that time and came into town. The next year Miller went in with Gaines in the Miller cv- Gaines store. Will Gaines bought the interest of J. A. Gaines shortly after this time and in 1902 Miller bought out Will Gaines. This first general store up to about six years ago was run as J.