Blaine County has thirty-three per cent of tillable surface. The soil is a dark, sandy loam from one to ten feet deep, with a sandy subsoil, to water. Sixty-seven per cent of the surface embrace sand hills and good pasturage. The valleys of the North and Middle Loup rivers can be successfully irrigated. Irrigation from wells can be effected at little expense, as in most of the small valleys along the sand hills the water reaches close to the surface. The value of land has increased fifteen per cent within the last five years. Rye, corn, and wheat yield profitable crops. Cherries, plums, grapes, strawberries, and other small fruits are raised. The principal timber is cottonwood, box elder, and ash. The county was organized in 1886 with an area of 720 square miles. The population in 1900 was 603, of which number Brewster, the county seat, has two hundred. Dunning, the only other town of any importance, has a population of fifty-five inhabitants. There are 18.4 miles of railway in the county.

      C. J. FLETCHER is serving his first term as Sheriff of Blaine County. He is the son of J. M. Fletcher, who served in the 103d New York Volunteers during a period of two years. His parents were living in Van Buren County, Iowa, at the time of his birth on May 18, 1869. At three years of age he moved with his parents to Kansas, where he lived for six years. He came to Nebraska in 1884 and located at Brewster in 1885. He is a member of the Re

publican party. Married Miss Laura M. Barton in 1897.

      H. C. COX came to Nebraska in 1882, his father, Charles B. W. Cox, being one of the first settlers in the county and a physician. He was born in Gordon, Texas, December 11, 1881. He took a homestead in 1902 and an additional three quarters of land under the Kinkaid law. He is a ranchman and he and his father are in partnership in this business. He is serving his first term as County Clerk, having been elected on the Democratic ticket.

      MRS. LOUISE PITT-ERICKSON was born November 29, 1883 at Ulysses, Nebraska. She took homestead land at Brewster and located permanently there in 1902. She was educated at the Ulysses High School and is now serving her first term as Superintendent of Public Instruction in Blaine County, being elected on the Fusion ticket. She was married May 14, 1904 to Peder C. Erickson. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. G. Pitt, came to Nebraska in 1884 and Mrs. Pitt died in 1901.

      A. F. CARLSON is a native of Sweden, his parents having come to America when he was a small boy. They lived in Boone County, Iowa, for several years, settled at Oakland, Nebraska in 1883 and in Blaine County three years later. He was born August 9, 1871. He was County Clerk for four terms and is serving his first term as County Treasurer. He is a ranchman and has a half interest in a drug business at Basalt, Colorado. He is a Republican and was married December 1, 1897 to Miss Neva Cox of North Carolina.

      GEORGE O. SAWYER was born at Bethel, Maine, December 17, 1865. His father served in the Civil War four years, Fifth Maine Regiment, Company G, and was among the first settlers of this county. Mr. Sawyer has lived in Nebraska since 1879 and in Blaine County since 1895. He is in the general merchandise business. From 1885 to 1890 he was County Treasurer. In 1901 he was married to Marie B. Gardner and they have two children. His politics are Republican.

      P. C. ERICKSON came from his native country, Denmark, to the United States in 1873 and took a homestead in Howard County, Nebraska. Fourteen years later he came to Blaine County, where be has since lived. He is in the banking and ranching business, having been cashier in the Brewster Bank. He is also publisher of the Brewster News which is the only newspaper published in Blaine County. The date of his birth was April 27, 1862 and his father died in 1897. For four years lie was County Treasurer, having been elected by the Republican party. He has extensive ranching and irrigation interests in the county.

      E. H. RIGGS was born at Aroma, Illinois. November 7, 1859. In 1880 he went to Kansas, where he acted as telegraph operator for four years, until his coming to Nebraska. He was admitted to the bar in 1894 and has since been a practicing attorney at Brewster. He is also in partnership with Mr. Sawyer in the mercantile business. He studied law in an office at Brewster. He held the positions of County Clerk and County Attorney five years each, and was for four years Treasurer of Blaine County. He married Miss Molly L. Dill of this county in 1887 and they have one daughter. He is affiliated with the Republican party.

      E. D. OLDHAM is one of the oldest settlers in Blaine County, having located here six years after coming to Nebraska in 1877. He was born April 20, 1855 at Millhousen, Indiana. He lived in Illinois twelve years before he moved to this state. He was an assessor of Brown County and was Justice of the Peace in Blaine County, being Republican in his politics. In 1885 he married Mrs. Elizabeth Bidding of Fairmont, Nebraska, and they have one son.

     C. E. VAN NESTE was born in Ogle County, Illinois, July 6, 1855 and came to Nebraska in November of 1884, when Blaine County was not yet organized. He attended the Methodist Seminary of Illinois and was graduated in the class of 1875. He homesteaded in 1884 and was assessor of Edith Precinct for nine years and is Republican in politics. He is a farmer by occupation and was the first man in Blaine County to raise peaches. He has an apple orchard which will yield seventy-five bushels this year, something before unheard of in this county. He was married in 1881 to Sina M. Scott and they have one son.