Plehn and family, Heyward G. Leavitt, Mrs. John Hall, Mrs. H. H. Ostenberg, Mrs. A. Grace Hamer, and Helen R. Eastman. Bishop Beecher had thirty-five confirmations on one trip.

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

Rev. Curren's Story

Another who has done much for the religious and moral life of the North Platte valley in all parts thereof, from Garden county to Fort Laramie, is Rev. J. B. Currens, the Presbyterian missionary who built the church at Scottsbluff.

In the early days he used to wade the river to render spiritual service to the people of Garden county. He was located at Alliance and when the railroad extension was made through the valley into Wyoming he was upon the ground early. He made stereopticon pictures of when the railroad came to Scottsbluff. It was Sunday morning and the construction men were "cleaning up." The track had been laid to

train stood at the head of what is now Broadway. There was no depot, hotel, store, or street, but the railroad was there.

As Mr. Currens said, "I had been down at Bridgeport and built a church and now I came to Scottsbluff. But there were no Presbyterians in sight. How could we have a church here? Rev. E. H. Sayre and his family were at Gering, but they had Methodist and Baptist churches there. Also resident pastors and it was the desire of the Presbyterians not to the town the night before. Some of the men were shaving each other, and others were doing their week's washing. The construction