Coffee, Musser, stalwart characters of the cattle days ; there are Eugene E. Thompson, David Briggs, William G. Wilson and Herman Krause, who have carried all the modern conveniences into their ranch homes. Of the smaller ranches there are many worthy of especial mention, among which we find Frank E. Jesse, Frank H. Palmer, Leonard Boyer, Frank C. Reeves, Henry Heir, Jacob Herman, Cecil C. Wilson and Leslie Ballinger. These men have joined with others in making the, sand hills a good place to live.

Jules A. Sandoz, member of the state horticultural society, and director therein, has put the sand hills on the map as a producer of

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

fruit. His fruit ranch is equal to many of those of Idaho. Washington or Colorado. Plums of all varieties, apples, pears, and all kinds of small fruits are grown upon this ranch. In addition to his own development he has furnished many of his friends and neighbors with plants, trees and bushes of all kinds and without charge. He is not in the nursery business, except in the way that it will benefit and improve his home, his neighborhood, his county and his state.

In one distinctive feature has Sheridan county passed all her contemporaries. Potash production in Nebraska, as an industry, is practically confined to this county, although frayed edges are over the county lines in adjoining and nearby counties. "Sand hills gold," as it has been called, seems to have been intended for Sheridan county alone.