A colorful past leading to a prosperous future

Third in a series . . .

By the late 1880s and early 1890s Sidney’s boom was over and before long Cheyenne County would become mainly agricultural, an industry that had already established itself even before the major events of the boom.

After the need for protection against Native Americans along the railroad was no longer needed, the last major fight being the Battle of Wounded Knee and the rush to the Black Hills was all but over, therefore cargo coming to and from miners was no longer in great demand, coupled with the completion of the Chicago and Northwestern railway, giving freight lines a more efficient route to the Dakotas, there was no real need for an army post in Fort Sidney.

The military base established in the summer of 1867, originally known as the Sidney Barracks, was abandoned by the army in 1894 and all that came with the post left with the post, leaving only those who were not associated with the army and the buildings/homes the army built.

By 1899 all the buildings associated with the old post were sold, the army had truly pulled out of Sidney – at least for the time being – and the first public sale of the old post remnants by the Department of Interior on Aug. 18, 1896 was of the Fort Sidney Wood and Timber Abandoned Military Reservation lands.

Many of the buildings that were once a part of the old post were scrapped and used for lumber, leaving the lands they once stood upon as farm lands.

The citizens of Fort Sidney would soon decide to drop the Fort and become known just as Sidney.

The newer faster more efficient railroad to Pierre, South Dakota, gravely affected cargo transport within Sidney and its industry in a major way.

No longer was Sidney the major hub for the Midwest, and as it happens in the business world, the freightliner companies pulled out of Sidney and relocated to Pierre, taking with them the people who were attached to the railroad and dependent upon the railroad for their livelihood.

For a time it seemed Sidney may not have survived such an upheaval, but there was another industry that had taken a strong hold in the area, one that would stay for the duration, one that even today is recognize as Cheyenne County and Sidney’s longest profession – agriculture.

The 1880s did not just see lawlessness within the area, but farmers settled on the lands, recognizing the wide open spaces and the great opportunities western Nebraska would offer, despite the unpredictable weather.

According to a report written for the Nebraska Historical Society more than 300,000 head of cattle roamed the lands of Cheyenne County in 1882.

By this time Cheyenne County had dwindled down to a third of what it once had been when Thomas Kane petitioned the Governor for the right to be recognized as a real member of the state.

And in 1888 Cheyenne County experienced the first split from one of only two counties in the panhandle into several counties, Kimball, Banner, Scotts Bluff and Deuel Counties.

The separation is said to be due to conflicts between neighboring farmers and cattle ranchers.

Agriculture seemed to be the new and lasting ‘lay of the land’ for western Nebraska even after the Burlington Railroad established a subsidiary hub in Sidney once the Alliance-Brush line was built.

The new railway would be used to connect and transport coal from the mines and fields of South Dakota and Wyoming to the smelters in Pueblo, Col., with Sidney being named headquarters for this railway at the beginning of the new century.

This new railway would become the founding of smaller towns within Cheyenne County, towns known even today as Lorenzo, Dalton and Gurley.

Following suit, the Union Pacific, with its newer tracks and faster capabilities to transport people, would find Cheyenne County being further taken apart by the formation of Morrill County.

Yet another county taken from the county that once occupied half the panhandle of Nebraska, but again the area seemed to be thriving and a new life had been breathed into Cheyenne County and Sidney.

Granted Sidney would not see the boom it had in the 1870s and 1880s for many more years to come, but the once small outpost consisting of only soldiers was proving it would not curl up and die once abandon by the military and the many freightliner companies, but would find yet another avenue to stay alive – agriculture and before long black gold.

But before black gold would make its appearance again the town would attract the likes of a darker element and more hardship.

To be continued . . .

Editor’s note: This article was written from many different, but very reliable, historical sources. The collection of history comes from sources such as The City of Sidney, The University of Nebraska, Nebraska Government, The Nebraska Historical Society and the Cheyenne County Historical Society’s websites.