Near where he was standing there were a pair of partly exposed boots, of the kind worn by the laborers. They were in a position that indicated they might be upon feet. The dirt had been partly dug out with a spade, and the hole again refilled, and it had the appearance of a partly buried man. Williams called to the driver to dump his dirt over the boots, "and finish burying this dead nigger." There were no independent or saucy negroes in Williams camp after that incident.

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

MORE OF THE IRRIGATION STORY

Going back again to the beginning, the first irrigation works in the North Platte valleywere built without much money, Fortunately, perhaps, there was plenty of time, and most people had a team or two of pintail bronchos.

Enterprise Canal

For surveying and doing all the engineering work upon the Enterprise canal which covers about fourteen thousand acres of land, William R. Akers received one hundred dollars. The construction work was done by the people along the ditch, and each took shares of stock in payment. When the irrigation district law came into existence, the Enterprise district was formed, bonds voted, and the stock in the company exchanged for the bonds. This policy was followed by the Mitchell ditch, the Central, and some of the others farther down the valley.

Winter Creek Canal

The people under the Winter creek canal line, managed to scrape together enough money to have their line run out and cross-sectioned, but the building seemed too large to undertake. Finally Dan D. Johnson grew weary of just laying around and plowed up the ground on a section of the canal line that crossed his land. He was moving some of the dirt to one side, when Will Ripley drove up.