So far as has been shown, the Mastodon was the first settler in the valley of the Pumpkin; and that was when the surface of that part of the world was many feet below its present level. In the well being put down on the homestead of S. B. Shumway, at a depth of sixtyfour feet, the remains of one of these primitive monsters was encountered. How much of it is there no one knows, but it is certain that we removed a part of the upper jaw containing two back teeth. These grinders weighed about eight pounds each, and were eight inches long by four in width on the grind-

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

ing surface. In sand that showed every indication of caving, the hazard was too precarious to undertake to remove any more of the prehistoric mammoth.

Owing to deep water on the divides the homestead settlements were first in the valleys

"Twin Sisters" Rock

and the first claims on the divide were tree claims. Among the first to homestead on the Sidney tableland were the Raymond brothers. It was twelve miles north and a little east of Sidney. Downer, Teeter and Company owned a well outfit, and they were employed to put down a well. Jack McCutchin, now ( 1920) of Wheatland, Wyoming, had charge. The well was 220 feet deep, and furnished abundant water for the whole neighborhood for many years. It is still in use.

Nels Christenson, heretofore mentioned as having dug a mile of deep wells, was down 280 feet digging in the well of Andrew Liden, which was twelve miles north of Potter, in 1890. The well was a hole about two feet and ten inches in diameter, and the bucket was sixteen inches square, and weighed when full about 300 pounds.