Editing Huntley, Wyoming (section)

==History==
Around 1900, a fund established by the wealthy [[Europe]]an [[Philanthropists|philanthropist]] [[Baron de Hirsch|Baron Maurice de Hirsch]] to promote farming in the United States, sponsored about 50 families by supporting them in establishing a new community around what is now Huntley, {{convert|8|mi|spell=in}} south of the [[North Platte River]], and {{convert|5|mi|spell=in}} west of the [[Nebraska]] border.

The new residents came mostly from [[New York (state)|New York]] and [[Pennsylvania]], as well as some from [[Europe]]. On July 6, 1906, six men from the community first filed claims for {{convert|160|acre|ha|adj=mid}} homesteads located in and around present-day Huntley. Most of the homesteaders and their families started out there living in [[Dugout (shelter)|sod dugouts]] that they built for use as dwellings.<ref name=Zimmer>Zimmer, Vickie - "Goshen County, Wyoming", WyoHistory.org: The Online Encyclopedia of Wyoming History, Wyoming State Historical Society.[https://web.archive.org/web/20130326064841/http://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/goshen-county-wyoming ] Retrieved 2015-06-30</ref>

Among the challenges for the new residents was that the nearest water was about half a mile away in the [[Canal (disambiguation)|Katzer Canal]], and obtaining needed supplies was difficult, as the closest general store was in [[Mitchell, Nebraska]], about {{convert|15|mi}} to the east.  Most of the settlers did not originally own horses, and walked to Mitchell to purchase supplies—carrying flour, sugar, beans, rice and salt back to their homesteads in knapsacks. About a year later, however, Baron de Hirsch's fund sent $500, a huge sum in those days, to each family. With this financial support from de Hersch, the settlers were then able to purchase horses, wagons, machinery, a milk cow, and tools. Before long,{{when?|date=June 2024}} Huntley had a post office, a church, a grocery store, and a lumber yard.<ref name=Zimmer/>

In 1908, de Hirsch sponsored another 40 or 45 more families coming to Wyoming, who settled in an area a few miles northeast of present-day the Huntley, known as the community of Allen, and a school and a synagogue were established.<ref name=Zimmer/>