By the fall of 1883 an irrigation system was constructed on the Wheatland flats including a 2,380 foot long tunnel to divert water for irrigation into Bluegrass Creek and the first two of the system's canals. The Cheyenne and Northern Railway line reached the Wheatland flats in July, 1887, eventually extending to the Wyoming Central Railway at Wendover. The line was eventually sold to the Colorado and Southern Railway, controlled by the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, and operated at Wheatland station. Lots in the town of Wheatland were auctioned in 1894. By 1915 many farms were established in the irrigation district and the population of the flats was 5,277.