It was maintained just over the line of the reservation near the present site of the city of Crawford. Here were frequent fracases between the cowboys and the soldiers. John Cotton was an ex-cow-puncher. One days in the justice court at Fort Robinson where Cotton was an trial for some misdemeanor Jack Talbott, the foreman of the Oxyoke ranch, was asked to state his opinion as to Cotton's general reputation. He replied with this quaint expression:

"Well, he's a pretty good feller, but he sells licker that would make a hummin' bird spit in a rattlesnake's eye."

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

CLIMATE-- AGRICULTURE AND SOILS

The soil survey of Dawes county is very complete. The county lies in the northwestern part of the state, has an area of 1,402 square miles, or 897,280 acres.

Physiographically the county includes portions of two main divisions. The southern part lies within the High Plains, the northern part in a lowland belt. That part of the High Plains lying within the county is known in Nebraska geography as the Dawes Table, and occupies the southern third of the county.

The Niobrara river drains about 450 square miles of the county on the south and the White river drains all the remainder, except about 35 square miles in the northwest corner, which drains north into the Cheyenne river. The White river rises in Sioux county, about 30 miles west of the Dawes county line, and flows in a northeasterly direction, crossing into South Dakota about two miles from the eastern county line. The valley is approximately 45 miles long, but the length of the stream is much greater because of its meandering course.