Moore attends the sick of southern Sheridan county also, and for awhile Dr. E. L. Emerson, whose main occupation was ranching, was nevertheless called upon as occasion required.

The Churches

The story of the church has been partly told. Rev. J. A. Scamahorn on the second Sunday in May, 1884, organized the first Methodist church west of Valentine, in the north part of the state. This was also the first church of any kind. Rev. B. F. Diffenbacher, for the Congregationalists Was early on the ground at

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

Hay Springs ; as early as 1885. He also preached at Rushville.

Elder Martin also used to come up from Ord and that section for a number of years. Those early ministers met with unusual experiences, but in the main they were able to meet the requirements.

Robert H. Weller was a pioneer saloon man in all the towns along the Northwestern. As fast as towns were reached by the railroad he would get a saloon license. He had been a cow-puncher, and possessed the liberal conceptions of the old time cowboy. Elder Martin arrived in Rushville, and looking around found only one building at all suitable for holding services, that building being Weller's saloon. He asked the proprietor if he could hold services there, and Weller had said "Sure ; wait a minute. I'll hold the boys steady."

He cleared off a faro layout in the back part of the building for the minister to use for a pulpit, then he went to the bar, and rapped upon it with his six-shooter. The noise eased down, and he said, "Boys, the preacher man is going to be the main game for awhile. He is going to talk, and if there is anyone here who feels he can't keep still, he had better vamouse ; for if he busts loose while the, preacher is here, I'll plug him full of holes." The order was perfect.