People could only stand idly by and see their buildings go up in smoke. This was a severe blow to the town. But out of ashes and debris grew the splendid brick and stone buildings now occupying the same sites on Main avenue. Later an effort was made to provide some means of fire protection for the city. Two large cisterns were made. One at the corner of Main avenue and Second street and one at Egan and Second streets. These were filled with water and a large hand engine was secured, which did valiant duty on many occasions. The first fire after the purchase of the new engine was the depot hotel. It was a hot day in August. Twelve hundred feet of hose were required and nearly every man in town was at the pump brakes or the hose line, but the building was saved as the last barrel of water in the cistern was exhausted. At this date all the water for domestic use was hauled to town in wagons from nearby springs and

was made, for the second thousand feet is much more difficult than the first, and they should have paid a high price for it. The drilling company penetrated the earth about seven hundred feet, salted the hole and represented they had struck a vein of coal. This caused great excitement for a time as it was known that the state had, and has a large reward for coal in paying quantities in Nebraska. Finally the drilling company represented that they were down 1,100 feet, collected for the first thousand, managed to lose their drill beyond recovery and abandoned the whole thing. The manager was afterwards killed in Wyoming by one of his employees for becoming too intimate with his wife. The demand increased with its rapid growth, and on May 24, 1888, the first election for water bonds took place and $35,000 of bonds were voted.