Wheeler County, Nebraska: History
Wheeler County was created on February 17, 1877 and organized on April 11, 1881, The county was named for Major Daniel H. Wheeler, longtime secretary of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture.
Following the establishment and rapid growth of the town of Cumminsville, in anticipation of a Union Pacific Railroad line through that town. Cedar City (now disbanded) was the site of the first seat of government for the county, which covered an area of 48 miles west to east and 25 miles north to south. On November 25, 1884, this area was halved, with the western portion becoming Garfield County, leaving the remainder as Wheeler County with its present boundaries.
The county's government was overseen by three commissioners, two from two districts in the more heavily populated southern half of the county, the third from the North. In 1885, the government was deemed to be outgrowing its small courthouse in Cedar City and two men, Cumminsville school superintendent Begelow and Ezra Bartlett Mitchell offered land options outside of Cedar City to build a new courthouse. In a heated election, Mitchell's site was chosen over Begelow's by a vote of 193 to 90, and the new courthouse led to the establishment of a surrounding town, named Bartlett (Mitchell's middle name), to serve as the seat of government. Cedar City collapsed shortly after the government offices there were abandoned.
In 1886, a spur line of the C.B.& Q. railroad was built into the county, ending at a point where the town of Ericson was established.
In 1895, while attempting to construct a ditchway to irrigate farmland between Ericson and Spalding, a dam was built across Clear Creek. Though the ditch construction was ultimately not successful, the dam created present-day Pibel Lake.
Wheeler County's population began to wane after the turn of the 20th century, but in 1904, with the enactment of the Kinkaid Act, a new round of settlers reinvigorated the population.