Looking Back

100 YEARS AGO

‘A Unique Sight’

April 26, 1913

A unique sight in town last Saturday was when Mr. McDonald of the South divide came to town with four loads of potatoes which he pulled with his tractor engine. Whatever that may have cost he saved at least four horse feeds at a livery barn, and the wagons were loaded more heavily than for teams.

75 Years Ago

April 26, 1938

City Officials Keep Constant Attention On Power Program

Sale Of Property Comes, Citizens To Get Chance To Buy Sidney Plant

DEFINITE ACTION IS NOT YET INDICATED

Although the city administration has taken no active part in discussions and meeting relative to the requisition of the western division of the Western Public Service Company by a federal power district, city officials have had their ears to the ground and have not been “caught napping”, it was disclosed yesterday.

Several months ago the mayor and members of the council took steps to keep currently informed on developments, even though no public announcement was made of the fact. It has been the aim of Mayor Roche and the city council members to give Sidney citizens ample opportunity to express their preference if developments should lead to the sale of the power company to federal power or irrigation district.

Early this winter Mayor Roche contacted W. M. Bird, president of the Western Public Service Company, asking him if there was any imminent possibility of the company being sold. Mr. Bird told the mayor at that time that he knew of no definite developments along that line but he assured Roche he would notify him if such a development should take place.

Since that time the mayor has again written Mr. Bird in which he said: “Referring to our recent conversation relative to the possibility of the western division of The Western Public Service Company being acquired by the Federal Public Power projects or the Pathfinder Irrigation District, I would appreciate your confirming your promise made to me that you would give me advance notice of any contemplated sale or transfer of the Sidney utility so that I can assure the council of the city of Sidney that the interests of the city are being properly protected.”

Bird’s reply again emphasized his promise to keep Roche fully informed on developments.

Roche said he had talked with many business men in Sidney who appeared to favor municipal ownership over control by a federal district. The mayor said he did not serve on the council during municipal ownership days and could not say, without considerable study, how he would stand on the question. However, he stressed the fact that the people of Sidney will be given the chance to settle the issue, if it should arrive, and their wishes will be followed.

Rumors have been current for months that the Western Public Service Company sale was imminent but Mr. Bird has maintained from the start that he knows nothing of any definite agreements regarding the transfer. It has been frequently reported that representatives of bond houses, anxious to handle the deal, have been responsible for most of the reports circulated though the press.

50 YEARS AGO

‘Wildcat Venture West of Sidney

Gains Spotlight’

April 26, 1963

Oil industry interest will be focused for the next week or so on a wildcat oil drilling venture about eight miles west of the Sidney town site.

Oliver Development Co., a Montana based independent operator, will be making its first play in the Denver-Julesburg Basin at the No. 1 Lyngholm (NW NW Sec 26-14-51). Success at this site could open up new drilling activity in an area which has been spasmodic play throughout the past few years.

Oliver took the well on a farm out from C. G. Novotny of Cheyenne, Wyo. Mr. Novotny is the former New York Wall Street broker who closed his office in 1958 to move west to Cheyenne to get in on the excitement of development in the Denver-Julesburg Basin and elsewhere in Nebraska and Wyoming. He was the man who opened up the Rudolph Field in southwest Cheyenne County and he has drilled other wells in this immediate territory. He holds sizable lease acreage in this region, plus extensive mineral rights in other parts of the state.

Oliver is expected to drill the Lyngholm as a tight hole – thus no data on findings is expected to be released in the immediate future. However, if oil is found in commercial quantities, others holding leases in that locality may be expected to join Oliver in additional development.

Exeter Drilling Co. has been hired for the venture and was rigging up Thursday. If normal drilling progress is maintained, drillers would expect to reach significant depths by the first of the week.

25 Years Ago

April 25, 1988

Council Due to act on more I-80 progress

By Paul Stamsen

More development at the East I-80 Interchange will come before Sidney City Council tomorrow night.

Two parcels of land in the area are up on a request for zoning change.

The parcels, both 10.3-acre sites, are directly across from the Glover Group/McDonald’s/Sapp Brothers’ Pro Oil location, and just south of the first, between it and the westbound off ramp.

Both requested changes are from Silverberg and Simon and the Sidney Hotel Corp. and request the land use be changed from A (agriculture), to C3 (heavy commercial). Both requests were recommended for approval by the Planning Commission of the City of Sidney.

The request will, if approved by resolution Tuesday, be scheduled for a public hearing at 7:30 p.m., May 10. After the hearing Council may approve such a zoning change by passing an ordinance.

The Airport Zoning Board, which has apparently “not been active in quite a long time,” according to a memo from the Sidney Airport Authority, is apparently being reactivated.

Noting “The Airport Authority is anticipating needing the Zoning Board to be active,” the Authority asked City Council to appoint two city residents to the Airport Zoning Board. Council will be asked, during the regular session to name the members from a list of six provided by the Airport Authority. The action follows similar action requested of Cheyenne County Commissioners.

An executive session on personnel matter will lead off the regular meeting.

The agenda item, unusual because such sessions are generally set for much later during the meetings, is followed by “Consideration by Council of formal action on a personnel matter,” according to the meeting schedule.

Both items precede the scheduled opportunity for comments by the public. A second “proposed closed session re: pending litigation,” is item 12.

Other items included in the schedule are a request for permission to locate a fence with the street right-of-way by Roger Sauder, 2004 13th Avenue; a proclamation of Business and Industry Week, May 8-14; and an appointment to the City Tree Board to preplace Marlan Ferguson, who has been a member eight years.

10 YEARS AGO

‘New Well Field Meets Expectations’

April 24, 2003

A happy ending appears to be in sight for the City of Sidney’s search for a new source of water.

“The bottom line is the water quality is excellent,” Norm Hogg told the Sidney City Council Tuesday. Hogg, a hydrology geologist with Jacobson Helgoth, the city’s water engineer firm, said development of the city’s new water well field, located about 20 miles northwest of Sidney, is testing above expectations.

“The water quality is better than that in the Brule,” Hogg reported. “Not only will that solve the water problem, it will improve the quality.”

Bids to build a pipeline to bring the water into Sidney should be let by early summer, and plans are for the well field to begin to supply the more than two dozen businesses located at the former Sioux Army Depot by this fall, and reach Sidney by spring or early summer of 2004.

Hogg said 11 test wells have been drilled on the well field site. Five of those wells, he said, have been identified as “good”. Two observation wells have been drilled and water samples taken from those wells will be known in two to three weeks. Chemicals found in the preliminary samples are all far below guidelines.

The council also heard that the city’s Ed Kilham well field northeast of Sidney has sufficient water for another 10 to 12 years, if pumping continues at the present rate. That time frame is about what was estimated when the Killham field was first developed about nine years ago, Hogg said. That field has been used to blend with the city’s main water source, the Brule Aquifier. Hogg said when the new water field begins to supplement the city’s Brule water supply, the use from the Killham field can be reduced, extending the life of that source another seven or eight years.

City Manager Gary Person cited the cooperation the city has received in the project. Cheyenne County Commissioners have agreed to let the city use county right-of-way for pipeline, the United States Air Force has offered no opposition and will have a representative on site when the pipeline is near missile sites. Part of the well field will be located on state school land and that board has given the city unanimous approval to drill wells there. Grants have also been applied for and there seems to be no objections to those being awarded, Person said.

The pipeline will eventually connect with the city’s 1.5 million gallon storage tank and blending station north of Sidney atop Haskell Hill.

“There are a lot of different projects going on simultaneously,” Hogg said. “ We are on track.”