A sharper image of the Whitney Depot

Thanks to Mike Cartwright for sharing this sharper image of the photo that was posted earlier (see below).  Notes on the photograph indicate that folks were waiting for a special Chicago & Northwestern train to take them to the Dawes County Fair in Chadron.  Believed to have been taken in 1912.

The boom before the bust...

We came across this clipping in an old family photo box; alas, we don't know when it was published -- or in what publication -- but we're guessing it was in a Chicago and North Western magazine or newsletter.  Rail service first came to Whitney in 1885 when the old Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley line extended its service from Chadron to Fort Robinson and then on to Lusk, Wyoming.  Needless to say, we wish we had the "story below" as a source of further information about what appeared to be a very happy day in Whitney.