Looking back across the thirty-six years of intervening time, it appears that the appointment of D. C. Middleton as deputy sheriff by John Riggs was a wise bit of strategy. Doc Middleton might not have complete respect for the ownership of horses and cattle, but while deputy sheriff it is safe to say that the stock of Hunter's ranch and Newman's ranch were absolutely immune from the frequent and almost epidemic tendencies of other people's stock to mysteriously disappear.

E. T- Rosecrans served a number of terms as sheriff following Riggs, and in 1894 W. H. Essex was elected, being re-elected two years later. For eight years following 1898, Thos. E. Housh was the administrator of the law, then came Chas. B. Suplinger, L. A. Beckwith and then A. D. New. R. M. Bruce, the present popular sheriff, was first elected in 1917.

Surveyors Solomon V. Pitcher was the first surveyor of Sheridan county. Pitcher was with the government outfits prior to his settlement at Rushville. He assisted in the surveys in the southwest part of Scotts Bluff county, and was with the party that found the big cedar with a seven foot trunk. This cedar was so near to a proper corner for a section, that it was so designated. Some years later the timber scavengers cut it, but the perpetrators of the deed were never found. A tree seven feet in diameter should make a large number of posts, and no doubt did do so, and perhaps kept a homesteader's family from dire hunger.