Trego County was organized on June 21, 1879, by Edgar Poe Trego; Albert F. Warren; and James Keeney. The county was
 named for Edgar Poe Trego, and contains the cities of Collyer and  WaKeeney.

 The WaKeeney Presbyterian Church was founded in 1878. The first county fair was held in 1910, and the first school district
 was formed in WaKeeney in 1884. The district was organized in 1882 five miles south of Colby.

 In 1878 an alarm over the Cheyenne Indian outbreak in the area curtailed settlement; however, in 1879 a great influx of
 settlers arrived from Chicago increasing the population from minimal to over 3,500 allowing for county organization. It’s
 said that during the last Indian raid in the county, an Indian was killed. The body was discovered much later and his skeleton
 was dressed in a suit, placed on the stage to Hill City by some fun-loving men, and sent on his way. When the stage driver
 discovered who his passenger was, he departed the stage without hesitation. Also, supposedly gold was discovered by some
 men in the shale along the Smoky River. After a considerable exchange of currency, the men who discovered the gold
 disappeared never to be seen again.