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 COMPLETE HlSTOliY OF ITS FOlXBATlON AND 
 
 GROWTH UP TO THE PRESENT TIME, TOGETHER 
 
 WITH A FULL DESCRIPTION OF ALL THE 
 
 PUBLIC STATE BUILDINGS, SALT 
 
 SPRINGS, AND OTHER MATTERS 
 
 OF INTEREST, SITUATED 
 
 T TIF RE A T 
 
 AT'roKXKV AT LAAV. 
 
 I.r.VfUI.X. NKIUIASK.V. 
 
 1, INI 1)1. \. nkukaska: 
 S'lA'IK JOCHXAI, POWKi; I'llF.SS iMtlXT 
 
"Wm* M. SMITBCj: 
 
 liocksmith* Stencil C^wttei 
 
 Beli Ilais^eH' and GiMiei-*ai sfobber,^. 
 
 Heed's Dni^ Store, We:^! Side Market Space, 
 
 Liiieolii> Neb. 
 
 A'icnt for Buck's Hlustic Hiiiid Staiiips. Tniiik, Parasol, and all kinds i;ci)airiii-- an i 
 
 Gutlerv Work done with Neatness and Dispatch. Attenlinn paid in 
 
 Patent Model Making. 
 
 Orilers hii .Mail Promrjf/ii .Iftciidcd io. 
 
 p. (). Lt.ck l.ox :!04. 
 
 fltnerml Iiisuf aiii© Age:iit, 
 
 Corner Market Space and P Sireel, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. 
 
 The following reliable Coirip.anies ave represented: 
 
 UNDERWR[TRRS, I'lKENLY, ALBANY CITY 
 
 LOlllLLARD, LAMAR. ME IIC HANTS 
 
 1 --jr^--:':.':.sszi. 
 
 H. J"- TI^J^^^EI^, 
 
 ^■vcm', II 
 
 1 
 
 P^J^mp OYT-R rASSSOl.L A: HYATT'S, 
 
 East Side Market Sqii;ii'e, Liiieoln, Nebraska. 
 
 £j!i!sa.-a!3 »a ii irrgCT'<'Mii*<i'ig aBa.3r- 
 
 -•.^a—.rs^ - ->'!^'im^'.r.'ma a~^-'>if ^n^-^i-^MMm.'ruvi^'mr*t.ir. u ii^ ^■.Z£ia^..i^lia3XS. 
 
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 5' 
 
 .^IROHIITECT 
 
 Architect of tlie Nehroska State Penitentiary, ('oniniunications a< 
 di-esscy] ti) Lincohi Mill receive ]>roni])t attention. 
 
 ll 
 
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 WIMU.KSA I.I-; AMI KKTAll. i I !■: \ I.KliS IX 
 
 (rif/ss, Books, Station r /'J/. H'r/IJ Paj)rj\ Etc., 
 (V.nier O .-iinl Ebnentli vSls., liincoln, Meb- ' 
 
LINCOLN, 
 
 
 ri COMPLETE HISTORY OF ITS FOUNDATION AND 
 
 GROWTH UP TO THE PRESENT TIME. TOaETHEU 
 
 WITH A FULL DESCRIPTION OF ALL THE 
 
 PUBLIC STATE BUILDINaS, SALT^ 
 
 SPRINaS, AND OTHER 3IATTERS 
 
 OF INTEREST, SITUATED 
 
 THERE A T 
 
 ATTORNEY AT LAW, 
 
 MXCOr.N'. MCBltASKA. 
 
 LlXC'Ot,\, NEBKASKA: 
 
 STATE JOURNAL POWER PRESS PRINT, 
 
 1870. 
 

 J 
 
Lincoln, Nebraska, June 22nd, 1870 
 
 We the undersigned officers and Commissioners of" Public- 
 
 Boiildings of the State of Nebraska, do hereby certify that we 
 
 hime carefully examined the proof sheets of the following pamph- 
 
 fefc and that we are thoroughly satisfied that the same is a true, 
 
 ^isrrect and impartial history of the town of Lincoln, and of the 
 
 s«?ireral pablic enterprises and matters therein discussed. 
 
 ikviD BUTLER, 
 John Gillespie, Governor. 
 
 Auditor. 
 Thomas P. Kennard, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
L I ]N^ c o L :^r. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 By an act of the Legislatui'e, approved June I4tb, 1867, it va? 
 provided that the Governor, Secretary and Auditor of" State, should be 
 Commissioners for the purpose of locating the seat of government and 
 public buildings of the State of Nebraska, and they were vested with tli<fe 
 necessary powers and authority for proceeding, as soon as practicable, t© 
 effect that purpose, and required on or before the 15th day of July in the 
 same year, to select from among certain lands belonging to the State, antl 
 lying within the counties of Seward, Saunders, Butler and Lancaster^ "a 
 suitable site, of not less than six hundred and forty acres lying in oue 
 body, for a town, due regard being had to its accessibility from all portions 
 of the State and its general fitness for a Capital." 
 
 The Commissioners were also required, immediately upon such selections 
 being made, to appoint a competent surveyor and proceed to "survey, lay 
 off and stake out the said tract of land into lots, blocks, streets, alleys, 
 and public squares or reservations for public buildings;" and the act 
 declared that such town when so laid out and surveyed, should "be named 
 and known as Lincoln," and the same was thereby declared to be "the 
 permanent seat of government of the State of Nebraska, at which all the 
 public offices of the State should be kept, and at which all the sessions of 
 the Legislature thereof should be held." 
 
 The act further provided that the lots in the alternate blocks, not 
 reserved as aforesaid, in said town, should, after notice thereof had bcMi 
 given by advertisement for the time and in the manner therein prescribed. 
 be offered for sale to the highest and best bidder; and the Comniissioiior^ 
 were authorized, after having held the sale for five successive days, as- 
 therein provided, at Lincoln, Nebraska City and Omaha, to adjourn the 
 same to be held at such other place or places within or without the State? 
 as they might see proper, provided that at such sales no lots should be soI<3 
 for a less price than a minimum to be fixed on each lot by the Gommis- 
 sioners, previous to the opening of the sales. Ali moneys received for tiio 
 
sale of said lots were declared to be a State Building Fund, and were 
 directed to be deposited in the State Treasury and kept separate from all 
 other funds for that purpose. Notice was directed to be issued iramediate- 
 \j after the sale of lots, asking from architects plans and specifications 
 for a building, the foundations of which should be of stone, and the super- 
 structure of stone or brick, which should be suitable for the two houses of 
 the Legislature, and the executive offices of the State, and which might be 
 designed as a portion of a larger edifice, but the cost of which should not 
 exceed fifty thousand dollars. Provision was also made for the letting of 
 the contract for its construetion, and appointing a superintendent thereof, 
 and also for the erection at Lincoln, as soon as sufficient funds therefor 
 could be secured by the sale of public lands or otherwise, of a State 
 University, Agricultural College and Penitentiary : but no appropriation, 
 other than of the State lands and lots as above described, Avas made for 
 the aid%)f any of the enterprises herein mentioned. 
 
 What was the result of sending three men fifty miles out into an unbro- 
 ken, and at that time, almost unknown prairie, to speak into existence 
 simply by the magic of their own unconquerable, though unaided, enter- 
 prise and perseverance, a city that should not only be suitable for the seat 
 of Government of the State, but should be able, almost as soon as its 
 name was pronounced, to contribute from its own resources sufficient funds 
 for the erection of a State House and other necessary public State build- 
 ings, remains to be seen. 
 
 It appears from the report of the Commissioners, made to the Senate 
 and House of Representatives at its first regular session, held in January, 
 1869, that, having provided themselves with an outfit, and employed Mr. 
 Augustus F. Harvey, as surveyor, to ascertain the location of the lines of 
 the proposed sites, they left Nebraska City on the afternoon of the 18th 
 of July, 1867, for the purpose of making the selection required in the 
 act. 
 
 After having visited and examined the town sites of Saline City, or 
 "Yankee Hill," and Lancaster, in Lancaster county, they proceeded to 
 visit and examine the several proposed sites in each of the counties named 
 in the act, in which occupations they were engaged until the 29th of the 
 ssme month, when they returned, and made a more thorough examination 
 of the two sites above referred to, at Avhich time the favorable impressions 
 received of Lancaster on their 6rst visit were confirmed. Says the 
 report : 
 
 "We found a gently undulating surface, its principal elevation being 
 near the centre of the proposed new site. The village already established 
 being in the midst of a thrifty and considerable agricultural' population ; 
 rock, timber, and water power available within short distances ; the centre 
 of the great saline region within two miles ; and in addition to all other 
 claims, the special advantage was that the location was at the centre of a 
 circle, of about 110 miles in diameter, along or near the circumference of 
 which are the Kansas State line directly south, the important towns of 
 Pawnee City, Nebraska City, Plattsmouth, Omaha, Fremont ^d Columbus. 
 ] "^ * Under these circumstances we entertained 
 
 the proposition of the people residing in thq vicinity of Lancaster, offer- 
 
jng to convey to the State mfee simple the west half of the west half of 
 section 25, the east half and the southwest quarter of section 26, (the last 
 named quarter being saline land,) all in town 10, range 6 east ; the whole 
 embracing 800 acres, and upon which it was proposed to erect the new 
 town. In addition, the Trustees of the Lancaster Seminary Association 
 proposed to convey to the State, for an addition to the site named in the 
 foregoing proposition, the town site of Lancaster, reserving, however, 
 certain lots therein which had been disposed of in whole or in part to 
 the purchasers thereof." 
 
 After being satisfied of the sufficiency of tlie titles proposed to be con- 
 veyed to the State, and having carefully ''considered all the circum- 
 stances af the condition of the saline lands, the advantage of the situation, 
 its central position, and the value of its surroundings over a district of 
 over ttoelve thousand sqtiare miles of rich agricultural country, it was 
 determined to accept the proposition made i'V the owners of the land." 
 Accordingly on the afternoon of the 29tii of July the Commissioners 
 assembled at the house of W. T. Donavan, in Lancaster, and by a unani- 
 mous vote formally declared the present site of the Capital city of Lincoln, 
 which action was first made public by a proclamation issued on the 14th 
 day of August next following. 
 
 Since this report was delivered, and during the summer of 1869, Messrs. 
 Cahn and Evans, upon land leased from the State for that purpose, have 
 sunk a shaft to the depth of five hundred feet for tlie purpose of test- 
 ing the extent and value of the salt deposits at and near Lincoln. Through 
 the indications derived from the ranid increase in the strenffth of the brine 
 in proportion to the depth to which the well has been sunk, and from the 
 character of the rock, strata and other- formations through which thev 
 have penetrated, it is now rendered certain beyond a probable doubt, that 
 when developed the deposits will prove as rich and productive as any in 
 the L^nited States, while it is the intenti-on of parties now interested to 
 effect such development without unnecessary delay. Had the Commis- 
 sioners been as well apprised of these facts at the time, as they are now, 
 they might have made their final decision upon their first visit to Lancas- 
 ter, and saved themselves the expense and fatigue of a ten days' ride 
 through the interior. 
 
 On the 15th of August, Messrs, Harvey and Smith, Engineers, witli a 
 corps of assistants, commenced the survey of the town, the design being 
 calculated for the making of a beautiful city. The streets are one hun- 
 dred and twenty feet wide, and all except the business streets capable of 
 being improved with a street park outside the curb line ; as, for instance : 
 On the one hundred feet streets, pavements twelve feet wide and a park or 
 double row of trees outside the pavement, and planted twelve feet apart 
 so as to admit of a grass plat between, may be made on both sides the 
 street. This will leave on the one hundred feet streets a roadway fifty- 
 two feet wide ; with pavements as above, and parks fifteen feet wide, will 
 leave a roadway on the one hundred and twenty feet streets of sixty feet ; 
 while on the business streets a ninety-foot roadway was thought to be 
 amply sufficient for the demands of trade. 
 
Heservations of about twelve acres each were made for the State House 
 State University, and a City Park, these being at about equal distances 
 •from each other. 
 
 Reservations of one block each were made for a Court House for Lan- 
 caster county, for a City Hall and Market Space, for a State Historical and 
 Library Association, and seven other squares in proper locations for public 
 schools. Reservations were also made of three lots each in desirable loca- 
 tions for ten religious denominations, upon an understanding with the 
 pa,rties making the selections on behalf of the several denominations, that 
 the Legislature would require of them a condition that the property should 
 only be used for religious purposes, and that some time would be fixed 
 within which suitable houses of worship, costing not less than some reason- 
 %blc minimum amount, should be erected. One lot each Avas also reserved 
 for the use of the Independent Order of Good Templars, and Odd Fellows 
 and the Order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. These reserva- 
 tions were afterward confirmed by the Legislature, with conditions recom- 
 mended by the Commissioners, and religious denominations were required 
 ?^> build on their reserved lots previous to or during the summer of 1870. 
 
 In anticipation of the completion of the survey, due advertisement 
 *?kcrcof was made as provided by law, and a sale of lots opened at Lin- 
 coln on the 17th day of September, for the purpose of raising the neces- 
 sary funds for conmiencing the construction of the State House. 
 
 Owing to an unpropitious state of the weather ])ut few bidders were 
 present, and the results of the first day's sales Avere light and dishearten- 
 ing ; during their continuation, however, circumstances were changed for 
 ahe heMsTj and at the end of five days $34,000 had been realized. Sub- 
 sequent siiies were held at Nebraska City and Omaha, which by the 4th 
 if&y of October had increased that amount to the sum of $53,000. Sales 
 were subsequently held at Lincoln on the I7th of June and September, 
 1868, from which were realized the sum of $22,580. 
 
 On the 10th of September, 1867, the Commissioners issued their notice 
 TO architects, inviting, for a period of thirty days, plans and specifications 
 for a State House ; and upon the 10th of October, after having considered 
 the merits of the several plans presented, they concluded to accept that of 
 Prof. John IMorris, of Chicago, whom they thereupon appointed superin- 
 tendent of construction, and issued notice to builders, inviting proposals 
 for a term of three months, for the erection of the work ; Prof. Morris in 
 the meantime commencing such preliminary work, as excavations for foun- 
 dations, delivery of material for foundation, and other arrangements as 
 a'iiould tend to facilitate the progress of the work after the contract was 
 let. 
 
 On the 10th of November the superintendent caused the ground to be 
 broken in the presence of a number of the citizens of Lancaster, the 
 removal of the first earth bemg awarded to Master Frele Morton Donavan 
 the first child born in, and the youngest child of the oldest settler of 
 Lancaster county. 
 
 On the 11th of January, 1868, the bid of Mr. Joseph Ward, proposing 
 to furnish the material and labor, and erect the building contemplated in 
 ;:he contract for the sum of $49,000, was accepted, and from that time 
 
forward the work steadily progressed, with the exception of a few unavoid- 
 able delays, until its completion. 
 
 On account, however, of the increasing w"ants of the State, the difficul- 
 ties attending, the changes of material and increased amount of work and 
 additional accommodation found necessary and advisable, the Commis- 
 sioners deemed it expedient to exceed the amount of expenditure contem- 
 plated in the statute ; the additional expense being defrayed from the 
 proceeds of the sales of lots and lands appropriated for that purpose, and 
 the cost of the State House in its present state of completion will fall little 
 if any, short of one hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 It was originally intended that the walls of the building should be built 
 of red sand stone, and faced with blue limestone, but upon proceeding Avith 
 the work the architect and builder found that the difficulties attendino- the 
 procuration if the last named material would, unless that object \\v.s 
 abandoned, result in an impossibility of the completion of the work at 
 contract prices ; and in so far retarding its progress as to prevent its erec- 
 tion in time for the use of the next session of the Legislature. Its use, 
 therefore, was accordingly abandoned, and it was decided to substitute in 
 lieu thereof the Magnesian lime-stone of Beatrice, which the experience 
 of the architect had proved to be of far better character for building pur- 
 poses than the blue lime-stone, it being less liable to Avear or damage from 
 frost or fire or any other action of the elements. 
 
 This change having been made the work was pushed vigorously forward, 
 and on the third day of December, 1868, was so far completed as to be 
 ready for the occupancy of the State officers, and the Governor, therefore, 
 on that day issued his Proclamation announcing the removal of the seat 
 of government from Omaha to Lincoln and ordering the transportation of 
 the archives of the State to the new Capitol; and as a result for which we 
 are in 2;reat decree indebted to the faithful and diligent labors of Mr. 
 Ward, the contractor, and the careful oversight of Prof. Morris, it is be- 
 lieved that the State House is at the same time the cheapest and the most 
 substantial building of its size west of the Mississippi river. 
 
 The building as originally designed and to be ultimately completed, is 
 to be of the Roman Italian style of architecture ; one hundred and twenty 
 feet in height from the ground to the top of the main tower, covering an 
 area, including the intervals between the wings and central portion of the 
 building,^ of one hundred and seventy-five feet in length by one hundred 
 feet in breadtli, and costing in the acrgreorate not less than one-half mil- 
 lion of dollars. 
 
 The portion already completed consists of the central portion of the 
 building which, in accordance with the design, will extend fifty feet in 
 width by one hundred and tweaty-one feet in length between and uniting 
 the two wings, there being a projection on either side, in the center, fifteen 
 feet outward from the main walls and twenty-six feet in width, giving the 
 building the form a transept and making the entire width within the pro- 
 jections eighty feet. 
 
 The building as it now stands contains a basement nine feet in hight 
 and eighty feet in length by twenty-six feet in width ; and, on the first 
 floor, six Executive rooms for the use of the Auditor and Secretary of 
 
10 
 
 State ; six Committee rooms, and four other small rooms for the use of 
 assistants or others, seventeen feet in length by eleven in width : a Libra- 
 ry room twenty-four feet in length by twenty-two in breadth ; and a Cen- 
 tral Hall twenty-two feet square, the distance in height between the first 
 and second floors being fourteen feet. 
 
 On the second floor are contained the Representative Hall, forty-six feet 
 square and thirty feet in height, including galleries ; the Senate Chamber, 
 forty-six feet in length by twenty-eight in width, also thirty feet in height, 
 including galleries ; the Supreme Court room and Armory, of the same 
 dimensions as the Library room below, and an Entrance Hall, Governor's 
 room and Adjutant General's room, each twenty-two feet square. 
 
 The wings, when added will be one hundred feet in length by twenty-six 
 feet in breadth, and will be attached, at equal distances from each end, to 
 the ends of the longer portion of the central structure running at right 
 angles therewith, and will contain on the first floor of each, four additional 
 Executive rooms ; on the second floor four rooms in each for the use of the 
 Officers and Clerks of the Legislature'; and on the third floor eight addi- 
 tional rooms in each for the use of officers, assistants, and special legisla- 
 tive committees. On the corners of the wings fartherest removed from the 
 center of the building will be constructed four towers rising to the height 
 of seventy feet, which will be built continuously from the basement of the 
 building and of such material and in such a manner as to be entirely im- 
 pervious to fire, and will be divided off into apartments suitable for the 
 safe keeping of the State archives, public documents and statutes. 
 
 The building stands in the center of the square reserved for that pur- 
 pose in a pleasing situation at the summit of a slight eminence on the east 
 side of the town-site, of the whole of which it commands a view. 
 
 Measures have been taken for improving the grounds, which are sur- 
 rounded by a neat and appropriate piquet fence — by the planting of shade 
 trees — the building of walks and avenues, and the additions of other em- 
 bellishments (the sum of three thousand dollars having already been ex- 
 pended for these purposes and in grading the grounds,) so as, that the 
 building and its surroundings may be in keeping, and altogether the most 
 elegant and imposing of any State buildings in the Western States. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE STATE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 That selfish propensity in human nature which induces individuals and 
 associations of men to adopt and sustain policies which result directly in 
 their own injury and inconvenience, for the sole purpose of monopolizing 
 the use and benefit of gifts bestowed by Providence alike upon all, is not 
 better exemplified than in the history of the cause of popular education. 
 
 Had not God rendered it impossible, men would have been eager to live 
 in dark and ill-ventilated apartments, in the midst of nauseous and deadly 
 odors, for the sake of depriving their fellows of an equal participation with 
 
11 
 
 themselves in tlie enjoyment of the genial sun-light and the pure air of 
 Heaven. This inference is at least rendered probable by the fact that 
 there once was a society of i-nen who sought by every means in their pow- 
 er to confine all the learning and mental culture in Christendom to mem- 
 bers of their own body, although they were fully aware that by so doing 
 they were withholding the only efiectual means by which the masses of the 
 people could be reduced from a state of anal-chy and confusion in which 
 the rights of life, liberty and property were continually violated, to a state 
 of peace, order and prosperity. It would be both interesting and profitable 
 to pursue the history of the conflict that ensued between privileged bigot- 
 ry on the one hand and defrauded humanity on the other, and to ascertain 
 the times, manner and degree in which mankind have gradually recovered 
 their inalienable right — each to cultivate his own mind by the acquisition 
 of such knowledge and in such degree as his tastes and ability will permit. 
 But time and space are limited and the story is long, for the cause has 
 been hotly contested, and many appeals have been argued, some in legisla- 
 tive assemblies and some at the point of the bayonet, and in the Old World 
 the final decision has not yet been rendered. 
 
 It was provided by the act to which reference has been already made, 
 that the State University and State Agrictural College should be united 
 as one educational institution, and should be located upon a reservation 
 selected by the Commissioners, in Lincoln, or upon lands belonging to the 
 State and adjacent thereto, and that the necessary building should be 
 erected as soon as ^funds could be secured from the sale of lands 
 donated to the State for that purpose, or from other sources. By a sub- 
 sequent act, approved February loth, 1869, provision was made for the 
 establishment and organization of " The University of Nebraska." declar- 
 ing the object of the institution to be '■ to afibrd the inhabitants of this 
 State the means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branch- 
 es of literature, science and the arts ;" the Board of Regents, in whom its 
 general government was vested, to consist of the Governor — to be ex-ojjicio 
 President thereof, — the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Chan- 
 cellor of the University, all of whom should be members by virtue of their 
 offices, and three other persons from each of the three Judicial Districts 
 of the State, to be appointed by the Legislature in joint session. 
 
 It was provided that the L^niversity should consist of six departments, 
 as follows : 
 
 First. A College of Ancient and Modern Literature, Mathematics and 
 the Natural Sciences, to contain thirteen professiorial chairs, for the teach- 
 ing, among other things, of ancient and modern languages, theology, logic, 
 metaphysics and natural and moral philosophy. 
 
 Second. A Colleo;e of Ao;riculture, containino- seven chairs, for the 
 teaching of chemistry, botany, meteorology, etc 
 
 Third. A College of Law, containing five chairs, for the teachino; of 
 law and equity. 
 
 Fourth. A College of Medicine, containing seven chairs, for the teach- 
 ing of the different branches of that science and medical jurisprudence. 
 
 Fifth. A College of Practical Science, Civil Engineering and Mechanics, 
 containino: thirteen chairs : and 
 
12 
 
 Sixth. A College of the Fine Arts, containing six chairs, for the teach- 
 ing of music, painting, sculpture, and the history of art. 
 
 Ninety thousand acres of land having been donated to the State by act 
 of Congress approved July 2d, 1862, for the benefit and endowment of an 
 Agricultural College, the Governor was required to set apart two sections 
 of any of such land, or of any saline land belonging to the State, for the 
 purpose of a Model Farm, as a part of the College of Agriculture, which 
 land when so set apart shoultl not be disposed of for any other purpose. 
 The several buildings of the six Colleges of the University were required 
 to be created within a radius of four miles of the State House, and the 
 plans for the superstructural work of each of the University buildings were 
 required, before any v/ork should be commenced thereon, to be submitted 
 by the Commissioners to the Board of Regents, and the architect was re- 
 quired to make such alterations in his plans and specifications as a major- 
 ity of the Board might suggest, to the end that the buildings might have 
 the best possible adaptation to the purposes for which they were intended. 
 
 The Regents were directed in the organization of the University to fill 
 only such chairs in the first, second and fifth Colleges as the wants of the 
 institution should demand, and the several professors chosen may be re- 
 quired to perform duties, in their respective departments of education, in 
 more than one department or College until the number of students shall 
 so increase as to demand exclusive attention in their own departments. 
 The Regents may, when the number of students in any one particular 
 branch of study requires, elect one or more tutors to give instruction in 
 such branch of study ; but such tutors will not be considered as belonging 
 to the Faculty of the College in which they are employed, nor can any 
 new professorship be established without legislative authority. 
 
 The Board of Regents have exclusive authority to confer degrees and 
 grant diplomas, but no student will be entitled to receive any diploma or 
 degree, at the time of his graduation, unless he shall have been recom- 
 mended for such honor by the Faculty of the College in which his studies 
 have been pursued. A fee of five dollars is prescribed for admission to 
 uny College of the University, the standard of acquirements being left to 
 be fixed by the Regents ; provided, that any person producing a certifi- 
 cate from a County. Superintendent of Common Schools, that he has 
 passed honorably through the course of study prescibed in a High School, 
 under the Common School laws of the State, may be admitted without fur- 
 ther examination. 
 
 All persons residing within the State who paj^, or, being non-residents, 
 whose parents or guardians pay, not less than thirty dollars annually rt 
 school taxes to the State, and who shall fulfill the reqiiirements above 
 mentioned, may be admitted to any organized College of the University 
 without the payment of any other than the matriculation fee during the 
 course of four years. 
 
 No person because of age, sex, color, or nationality, can be deprived of 
 the privileges of the University, and the Regents may, upon proper and 
 sufiicient evidence of the good character of any person who desires admis- 
 sion to the University, and who is ambitious of acquiring an education, 
 but Ayho is unable to procure the necessary means therefor, donate to such 
 
IS 
 
 person all necessary text-books ; and upon a two-tliirds vote may appro- 
 priate money to pay his or her expenses, provided sufficient surety be 
 given for reimbursing the Regents within five years. 
 
 By an act, also approved February 15th, 1869, the Governor, Secreta- 
 ry and Auditor of State were appointed Commissioners for the purpose of 
 selling the unsold lots a,nd blocks on the town site of Lincoln, and of the 
 erection of the State University and Agricultural College and a State 
 Lunatic Asylum. Other duties were also imposed upon the Commission- 
 ers, of which mention will be made at a future time. 
 
 From the proceeds of such sales the sum of one hundred thousand dol- 
 lars was appropriated and directed to be expended, under the supervision 
 of the Commissioners, for the erection of the building herein described, 
 upon lands previously selected for that purpose. Considerations of pub- 
 lic policy, however, and a desire to erect a building better adapted to the 
 present and future wants of a commonwealth rapidly increasing in wealth, 
 population and developed resources, than they were enabled to vrith this 
 amount of money, induced the Commissioners in this instance, as in the 
 case of the State House, and of the State Lunatic Asylum to be hereafter 
 described, to exceed the amount of expenditure contemplated in the stat- 
 ute. It is needness to say that this action subsequently received the hear- 
 ty concurrence and approval of the Legislature. 
 
 The endowment fund of the institution is to consist of the one hundred 
 and forty-six thousand acres of land (including the ninety thousand acres 
 before mentioned,) donated to the State by acts of Congress approved 
 April 19th, 1864, and July 2d, 1862, and the proceeds of such lands when 
 sold ; and to the funds received from these sources are to be added all 
 monies and the proceeds of all lands Avhich may be acquired by any dona- 
 tion or bequest in which no other object is stated. In addition to this will 
 be the Regents' Fund, to consist of all monies received from the proceeds 
 of the investment of the Endowment Fund ; the proceeds of the annual 
 rental of University and Agricultural College land leased ; the tuition 
 and text-book fees of the students : and of an annual tax of one mill on 
 the dollar to be levied on all the taxable property of the State at the val- 
 uation fixed'in the grand assessment roll. The proceeds of this tax for 
 the year 1869 were in round numbers $40,000, and it is estimated that in 
 the year 1870 the amount derived from that source will fall little if any 
 short of 160,000. 
 
 Being satisfied from the results of the sales already made, and the rap- 
 idly-growing appreciation of property in and about Lincoln, caused by a 
 constantly-increasing influx of capital and population, that sufficient funds 
 would be realized from the sales of the unsold lots and blocks to defray 
 the expenses of the enterprise, the Commissioners issued their notice to 
 architects on the first day of April, 1869, inviting, for the term of sixty 
 days, plans and specifications for the State University and Agricuctural 
 College ; and on the first day of June, having carefully considered the 
 merits of the several plans proposed, decided to accept that of Prof. J. 
 McBird, of Logansport, Indiana. 
 
 On the 18th day of August, previous notice having been issued to build- 
 ers as required by law, the contract for erecting the superstructural por- 
 
14 
 
 tion of the work, for the sum of one hundred and twenty-eight thousand 
 four hundred and eighty dollars, was awarded to Messrs. D. J. Silvers & 
 Son, competent and efficient workmen, also of Logansport, Indiana, with 
 whom a stipulation was made for the completion of the building on or be- 
 fore the first day of December, 1870. 
 
 For the purposes of expediting the work, the contract for making the 
 excavation and building the basement had been let to Messrs. Silvers k 
 Son, on or about the 10th of June, for the sum of twenty-three thousand 
 five hundred and twenty dollars, and work thereon immediately com- 
 menced ; making the entire cost of the building when completed, one 
 hundred and fifty-two thousaud dollars ; and on the 23d day of Septem- 
 ber, 1869, the corner-stone of the edifice was laid with appropriate Mason- 
 ic ceremonies. 
 
 The building as designed by the architect is to be of a modern style of 
 architecture, in the form of a Greek cross, and ornamented with a tower 
 and Mansard roofs ; its extreme length bein'i; one hundred and ten, and 
 one hundred and fifty-six feet, and its height from ground line to the top 
 of the tower, one hundred and twelve feet ; from ground line to top mem- 
 ber of the cornice, sixty-five feet. 
 
 The basement, which is now completed, is built of brown sand-stone, 
 faced with rock-work finish, and presents at the same time an appearance 
 of elegance, firmness and durability. It is of the form and dimensions of 
 the buildino- above described, is nine feet in height, and is divided cfi" into 
 apartments suitable for seed-rooms, store-rooms, etc., for the use of the 
 Agricultural College, and a Laboratory for the use of the department of 
 Natural Science and Chemistry. 
 
 The superstructure is to be built of brick ; the roofs of the extensions 
 to be covered with slate, and of the central and superior portion with tin ; 
 door and window-dressings, quoins, belt courses and entrances to be of 
 brown sand-stone ; the approaches, steps and landings of hard white lime- 
 stone, the steps to be cut with six and one-half inch rise and fifteen-inch 
 tread. 
 
 The building when completed will contain in all forty-eight rooms, of 
 of which there w^ll be ten on the first floor for the use of the officers and 
 members of the Faculty, besides the Geological Museum and Library, the 
 last two to be each twenty-two feet in width by sixty-four in length. The 
 second story is to be divided oif into music, ex-amination and recitation 
 rooms, and Avill also contain the Chapel, which will be forty-six feet in 
 width by sixty-four in length, and twenty-eight feet in height, including 
 galleries. The third story will contain, besides the galleries of the Chap- 
 el, suitable rooms for the use of College societies ; and in the fourth story 
 there Avill be two Gymnasiums, each twenty-three feet in width by sixty 
 feet in length. In the rear of the building a well forty-eight feet deep 
 and five feet in diameter in the clear, furnishes an abundant and inexhaus- 
 tible supply of fresh water. 
 
 The results of the public sales of lots and lands held at Lincoln in June 
 and September, 1869, fully met the anticipations of the Commissioners, 
 the amount realized therefrom exceeding three hundred thousand dollars, 
 and furnishing sufficient funds for the completion of all the public works 
 
15 
 
 commenced at Lincoln. All work connected Avith the University which 
 coul(«l be carried in-doors has been continued during the winter months, 
 and as a result the door and windoAV-dressings, steps, landings, AvindoAV- 
 sashes, frames and mouldings and nearly all Avorks of the above descrip- 
 tion arc now completed. Three hundred and forty thousand bricks are 
 now on hand, and the brick-yard is furnished with one thousand cords of 
 wood and two improved brick machines capable of moulding 28,000 bricks 
 per day, with which bricks may be made as fast as needed in the construc- 
 tion of the building. A sufficient amount of sand and lime is also on hand 
 for the completion of the work, Avhich is to be commenced on the walls 
 during the present week, and it seems that only inevitable casualty can 
 prevent the completion of the contract within the time stipulated. 
 
 The builders thus far are certainly deserving of credit for the faithful and 
 workmanlike manner in which they have discharged their obligations un- 
 der their first contract, and the diligent efforts they have made in pushing 
 forward preliminary work and procuring appliances and material to ensure 
 the early erection of the building ; while the liberal endoAvment Avhich the 
 institution has received both from the General Government and the State, 
 and the approved plan adopted for its organization, will enable it to take 
 the first rank amonn; the best aducational institutions of the country. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 
 
 By the act providing for the sale of the unsold lots and blocks in Lin- 
 r In, and the erection of the State University, the Commissioners were 
 directed to locate on or near the site of said town a site for a State Luna- 
 tic Asylum, and from the proceeds of such sales the sum of fifty thousand 
 dollars was appropriated and directed to be expended under the supervis- 
 ion of the Commissioners in the erection upon such plan as they should 
 adopt of thfe necessary building. Accordingly a site containing about 160 
 acres, and situated about two miles south-west of the town, Avas set apart 
 for that purpose ; and after having issued the notices required by laAV and 
 adopted the plan of Prof. D. Winchell, architect, from Chicago, the con- 
 tract for the construction of the building was let, on or about the 15th 
 day of August, 1869, to Joseph Ward, Esq., also formerly of Chicago, who 
 stipulated for its completion on or before the first day of December, A. D, 
 1870 ; the contract price of the work being one hundred and tAventy-eight 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 The structure as described in the contract for its erection will be of a 
 modern style of architecture, and will consist of a main or central building 
 seventy-seven in length, containg four stories, which will be ornamented with 
 a tower and Mansard roofs ; its height from ground-line to the top of the 
 tower being one hundred and tAventy feet, and from ground-line to top 
 member of cornice sixty-five feet : to which a wing will be attached on the 
 north forty-five feet in Avidth by sixty-nine in length, containing three 
 
16 
 
 stories, and being fifty-six feet in lieiglit from the ground line to the top 
 member of the cornice. A basement nine feet in height, extending under 
 the entire buihling, will contain a kitchen thirty-six feet in length by 
 twenty-two in width, besides fourteen other rooms of various sizes and uses 
 arranged on either side of two corridors fourteen feet in width, bisecting 
 respectively the basements of the main building and wing. 
 
 The superstructure will be built of the hard brown sandstone, on orna- 
 mental and durable building material of Avhieh there are numerous and in- 
 exhaustible quarries in the vicinity of Lincoln and throughout the State. 
 The Avindow-caps, quoins, approaches, etc., to be of the pure white lime- 
 stone of Ashland, which will form a pleasant and attractive contrast with 
 the brown stone of the walls. 
 
 Each of the first three stories will be bisected by two corridore of the 
 same size and relative poisitions as those of the basement, except that the 
 corridor running; through the wins' will extend into the main buildino- and 
 will be ninety feet in all. On the first floor there Avill be a dining-rooiti 
 twenty-five feet in length and twenty-two in width ; two parlors each nine- 
 teen feet in length by fourteen in width : a sitting-room eighteen feet by 
 eleven ; a dispensary fourteen feet by twelve, and fourteen smaller rooms 
 or wards for patients, besides eight other rooms of various sizes and uses — 
 water-closets, bath-rooms, etc. The second and third stories will be divi- 
 ded off into rooms of the same number and size of those on the first floor 
 and which are intended for similar uses. The Chapel will be on the fourth 
 floor of the main building, and will be fifty-six feet in length by twenty- 
 six in width. The building is so designed and to be constructed as to ad- 
 mit of the annexation of a Avins; on the south end of the main buildins; 
 Avhenever the necessities of the State shall require, AA'ithout incurring any 
 other additional expense by reason of such annexation. 
 
 The basement is already nearly or quite completed, and an efficient corps 
 of about seventy-five men, soon to be doubled, at Avork in the quarries 
 and on the building, are pushing the Avork rapidh' forAvard to its completion. 
 
 The building is situated upon Avhat Avas formerly a favorite Indian camp- 
 ing-ground, at the summit of the most considerable eminence Avitbin many 
 miles, Avhence it commands a vieAV of an immense tract of rolling prairie 
 rapidly being subdued by the arts of husbandry and converted into a rich 
 and prosperous farming country. A full view of Lincoln on the north- 
 east, and the Avell-timbered banks of Haines' Branch and the famous Salt 
 Creek within a short distance, serve to vary and enliven a scenery by far 
 the most beautiful of any in this part of the State. 
 
 No provision has yet been made for manner of conducting the institu- 
 tion Or the mode of treatment to be adopted for the patients. It is safe 
 to conjecture, however, from the spirit that has heretofore been manifest- 
 ed by our Legislature and other public ofiicers in the inauguration and 
 prosecution of enterprises of internal improvement and benefit, and in 
 providing for the organization of the State University, that the most ap- 
 proved and well-tried policy will be adopted in this instance, and that 
 after the present season the State, instead of being obliged to ask her 
 sister State to care for her insane patients, AA-ill be enabled to provide for 
 them the best of care at home. 
 
17 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 STATE PENITENTIARY. 
 
 The act providing for the location of the seat of government of this 
 State and tlie erection of public buildings thereat, directed that a State 
 Penitentiary should be located upon a reservation selected by the Commis- 
 sioners for that purpose, in Lincoln, or upon lands belonging to the State 
 and adjacent thereto, and that the necessary building should be erected aK 
 soon as funds could be secured. 
 
 The laws already in force provided that until the erection of a State 
 Penitentiary, State convicts should be confined within such county jails, in 
 any of the counties of the State, as the judges before whom their convic- 
 tions should be had should designate. 
 
 At the time the Commissioners had in coi sideration the selection of a 
 site and the location of the Capital, Messrs. W. T. Donavan, of Lancaster, 
 Nebraska, and the Hon. G. H. Hilton, of Cincinnati. Ohio, as an induce- 
 ment to the Commissioners to select the present site, offered to donate to 
 the State forty acres of land situated about two and one-half miles south 
 from the town of Lancaster (now a part of the town of Lincoln,) upon the 
 express condition, however, that said land should be reserved by the Com- 
 missioners, and used by the State, as the site of the proposed State Peni- 
 tentiary. Upon the final decision, therefore, locating the seat of go?v^ern- 
 ment, this grant Was accepted and the reservation and location made ac-^ 
 cordingly ; it being understood that in case the State Penitentiary should 
 not be erected upon such site, the same should revert to the Hon. Gr,. IL 
 Hilton, in whom its legal title was at that time tested. 
 
 Confident that the interests of the State, and a humane consideration for 
 the well-being of the prisoners committed to its care, demanded that more 
 commodious and healthful enclosures should be provided for their confine- 
 ment, by which at the same time their own condition might be improved 
 and the State might be saved a considerable expense and inconvenience : 
 and confident also that a suflScient sum might be realized from the sale of 
 the thirty-two thousand acres of Penitentiary lands belonging to the State 
 to defray the expenses of the enterprise, the Governor, among the su'fc^actF 
 submitted for legislation to a special session of the Legislatui^e held at Lm- 
 coin in February and March, 1870, included those of providing for the 
 erection of a State Penitentiary and providing for the care and custody of 
 State prisoners. 
 
 Accordingly an act intended to provide for both of those objects was 
 passed at that session, and received the approval of the Governor on the 
 fourth day of March, 1870. 
 
 By the second section of that act provision was made for the election of 
 three State Prison Inspectors by a ballot of both branches of the Legisla- 
 ture, and subsequently to its passage and approval that body met in'joint 
 session, and Messrs. W. W. Wilson, W. W. Abbey and F. Templin were 
 duly chosen as such Inspectors. 
 
 The Inspectors were directed to proceed immediately in the construc- 
 tion of a suitable building for a State Penitentiary, which it was declared 
 
18 ■ 
 
 should be erected and continually maintained for the care and custody of 
 convicts in Nebraska, upon the forty acres of land set apart for that pur- 
 pose and already referred to, and in such position as to be accessible to 
 railway tracks ; the Inspectors, however, having power, upon the happen- 
 ing of certain contingencies not necessary to be herein mentioned, to 
 re-locate the building upon any other suitable grounds, of not less than 
 forty acres, within a radius of five miles of Lincoln ; provided, among 
 other things, that such re-location should not occasion additional expense 
 to the State. 
 
 After having caused to be inserted, from the first week in April to the 
 first Monday in June, 1870, in such newspapers as they should designate, 
 a notice of that event, the Inspectors were directed to proceed, at public 
 sales to be held at the Capital, to sell a sufficient quantity of the Peniten- 
 tiary lands from which to realize funds sufficient for erecting the necessary 
 building. The sales may be continued from day to day, and at the discre- 
 tion of the Inspectors may be adjourned for a length of time not exceed- 
 aix months, but no lands can be sold for a less sum than five dollars 
 per acre. 
 
 The funds arising from the sales of said lands were appropriated to the 
 building of a Penitentiary, and were directed to be paid into the treasury 
 and kept separate from all other funds subject to be drawn out and expen- 
 ded for that purpose. 
 
 At the time of advertising for such sales, notices are directed to be is- 
 sued to architects inviting the submission of plans and specifications for 
 the structure, Avhich arc to be continued to be received until the first day 
 of the public sales, at which time one of such plans as may be presented 
 shall be selected and adopted and placed on file in the office of the Secre- 
 tary of State, where it vrill be kept open by him for inspection for the 
 space of one week, during which time proposals from builders for the erec- 
 tion of a building in accordance therewith will be received, and on the 13th 
 of June, 1870, the contract therefor will be awarded to the lowest respon- 
 sible bidder at the Representative Hall of the Capitol. 
 
 The walls of the building containing the cells and of the prison yard are 
 to be constructed of good substantial stone masonry, and those of the cells 
 will, if thought necessary, be provided with a suitable iron lining. The 
 material used will be subject to the examination and approval of the In- 
 spectors, who may reject any which they may deem unsuitable. 
 
 The contract for its erection stipulates that the walls shall be construct- 
 ed of stone of a suitable size and of firm texture ; that the cement and all 
 other material used shall be of a good quality, and that the work shall be 
 completed in a good and workman-like manner within one year from the 
 time of the letting of the contract. 
 
 The act also provides for the appointment and election of a Warden, 
 Chaplain, Physician, and other necessary officers of the Penitentiary, and 
 the salaries Avhich they shall receive and the discipline which they shall 
 observe and enforce in the govern ment of the prisoners intrusted to their 
 care. 
 
 The shops connected with the Penitentiary and such vacant ground as 
 they may deem proper may be leased by the Inspectors and Warden for 
 
19 
 
 such term as they see fit, not exceeding five years in any one term, to par- 
 tics from whom they can obtain the highest price therefor ; and to the 
 lessees of the shops and fixtures they may, subject to similar restrictions, 
 let the services of all able-bodied convicts : all or any of such contracts 
 requiring for their validity the approval of the Governor and Auditor of 
 State. The rents, revenues and profits derived from the leasing of the 
 shops and grounds and from the letting of convict labor are to be paid 
 into the State Treasury. When any convict is discharged from prison the 
 Warden is required to furnish him, at the expense of the State, (if not 
 already provided therewith,) with a decent suit of clothes and ten dollars 
 in money ; and he is also required to fui'nish, at the expense of the State, 
 a Bible to each convict who can read. 
 
 The Govei'nor, members of the Legislature, and all State officers and 
 regularly authorized ministers of the Gospel may visit the Penitentiary at 
 pleasure, but no other person will be entitled to admission thereto without 
 the special permission of the Warden and the payment of such fee as the 
 Inspectors may see fit to establish. 
 
 The Inspectors at their first meeting under the act were required to 
 make such arrangements for the safe keeping of the convicts then in the 
 State as to them should seem wise and prudent, and provide for the safe 
 keeping of all other State prisoners ; and as soon as such arrangements 
 had been made they were directed to receive and transport the convicts to 
 the State Penitentiary, and were empowered to use their labor in its 
 erection. 
 
 By an act, " to provide for the temporary care and custody of the State 
 prisoners of the State of Nebraska, and to provide a temporary peniten- 
 tiary for such prisoners," also approved March 4th, 1870, the sum of five 
 thousand dollars was appropriated from the State Treasury for those pur- 
 poses, and the State Prison Inspectors and "Warden Avere directed to pro- 
 vide a temporary State Penitentiary at or near Lincoln, and to transfer 
 thereto all the prisoners confined in the county jails or elsewhere in the 
 State, to be there put at work upon the public buildings, and in the stone 
 quarries, for the use and benefit of the State. 
 
 Pursuant to these directions the Insi')ectors, on the 4tli day of April, 
 1870, issued their notice to builders, inviting, until the 28th day of April 
 next following, sealed proposals for the erection of such temporary Pen- 
 itentiary, the walls of which will be constructed entirely of stone of a suit- 
 able size and firm texture. On the first day of April, 1870, the Inspec- 
 tors caused to be inserted, in such papers as they deemed advisable, an 
 advertisement to the eff"ect that on the sixth day of June next following 
 they would oflFer the above mentioned Penitentiary lands for sale at a 
 public auction : the said lands to be appraised by them previous to tlic 
 sales and sold for cash to the highest bidders over the amount of such ap- 
 praisements. A full and minute description was inserted of the lands to 
 be offered, the total amount of which is 31,044 acres. These lands were 
 donated to the State for that purpose by an Act of Congress approved 
 April 19th, 1864, and are many of them among the finest in the State, 
 and situated within a radius of ten miles from Lincoln. 
 
 At the same time notice was issued to Architects and Builders, inviting'^ 
 
20 
 
 until the sixth day of June next following, plans and specifications for the 
 erection of the State Penitentiary, and reciting that the building will be 
 erected at or near Lincoln, at a cost unlimited by law ; and that it will be 
 constructed entirely of stone, and in such a manner that additions may be 
 made thereto as the future wants of the State may require. Architects sub- 
 mitting plans and specifications for the building were requested to accom- 
 pany the same with proposals of the sums for which they or some respon- 
 sible builder will perform the work ; it being recited that the contract 
 therefor will be awarded to the lowest bidder on the .I3th day of June, 
 1870, as required by law. 
 
 The Temporary Peniteniiary has been erected on the forty acres of 
 land donated and reserved for the site of the State Penitentiary as above 
 mentioned. It is eighty feet in length by forty in width and one story in 
 height, and contains, besides two large cells for the confinement of con- 
 victs, the necessary rooms for the temporary use of the Warden and other 
 offiers of the prison, a kitchen, store-rooms, ect., and meets, in its depart- 
 ment, all the immediate necessities of the State. Upon the completion of 
 the State Penitentiary, which it is now determined to erect on the same 
 reservation, this temporary prison will be converted into shops in which 
 the labor of the convicts will be employed under the direction of the pris- 
 on authorities. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SALT BASIN AND WELL. 
 
 'Mention has already been made of the famous Salt Basin near the cen- 
 ter of which the Capital of this State is situated. Concerning the value 
 of the salt deposits contained therein, as is usually the case in similar in- 
 stances, various conflicting opinions have been expressed by tAvo classes of 
 persons who were confident that they possessed information sufficient to 
 form a positive belief, on the one hand that it was real, and on the other 
 that it was illusory. 
 
 In the following remarks an eilbrt will be made to furnish a knowledge 
 of the facts and circumstances, established by experience, upon which it 
 may be safe to base a final judgment. So far as known no similar eS'ort 
 has previously been made ; and while care will be taken that any informa- 
 tion that may be contained herein shall be authentic, yet it must of neces- 
 sity be less full and complete than may be desirable, or than it might be 
 made if there had been any through and detailed official investigation and 
 report thereon. 
 
 In the absence of any such assistance recourse will be had to parties 
 who are engaged in the business of making salt by solar evaporation and 
 in sinking the well for the purpose of testing the strength and value of 
 the brine to be obtained beneath the surface at this place, any information 
 derived from which sources may be relied upon as being entirely authen- 
 tic and trustworthy. 
 
21 
 
 In a pamphlet published by Mr. Augustus F. Harvey in 1869, and en- 
 titled "Nebraska as It Is," the follow passages occur : 
 
 " In Lancaster county, averaging forty-five miles from and west of the 
 Missouri river, lies a great Salt Basin. Within an area of twelve by 
 twenty-five miles, through which Salt Creek runs in a north- 
 easterly direction, are found innumerable springs of salt water, contain- 
 ing 28.8 per cent of salt by weight ; the product itself containing ninety- 
 five to ninety-seven parts of chloride of sodium (pure salt,) and three to 
 five parts of chlorides and sulphates of magnesium, calcium, lime, &c. 
 
 "' There is no question of the vast wealth which will some day be de- 
 rived from this region. The absence of fuel for the purpose of manufac- 
 ture is more than compensated for by the excessive dryness of the atmos- 
 phere and the consequent rapidity of evaporation. From the 1st of April 
 to the middle of November scarcely a day passes without a warm, dry 
 wind. During the months of June, July, August and September the 
 Avinds are almost constant." 
 
 [Mr. Harvey afterwards demonstrated by actual experiment that the 
 average evaporation during the months last named is at the rate of ten 
 inches of saturated brine in sixty hours, of fresh water in seventy-two 
 hours.] 
 
 " The salt made by boiling or washing tli^ deposits around the spring 
 crystallizes like the finest table salt. That from solar evaporation, or 
 Over slow artificial heat, forms largo crystals from 1-16 to ^ of an inch, 
 and is more translucent and snowy than the Syracuse or Kanawha salt. 
 
 " The location of the salt region is an evidence of that wisdom and 
 goodness of the Creator which men are slow to acknowledge, but upon 
 which all human welfare must rest. It is a curious fact that, as far as we 
 know, all the principal deposits of this one absolute necessity to the pres- 
 ervation of animal life are situated about equal distances apart, and with 
 an apparent forethought of the commercial relations of the territory be- 
 tween them. This will be aparent Avhen one marks upon the map the 
 New York, Michigan, Virginia, Missouri, Wisconsin, Tennes see, Texas, 
 Nebraska, Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona salt 
 regions, and notes the nearly uniform spaces between them." 
 
 Usually during a laige portion of the summer but little rain falls in any 
 part of the State, such droughts, however, seldom occurring until after 
 the grain crops are fully developed and beyond the reach of any injury 
 therefrom, the deep and porous soil having a singular power of retaining 
 the moisture received by it in the earlier portion of the season. For this 
 reason vegetation is found to thrive, unaffected by drought, long after the 
 surface of the ground has become so excessively dry that the water on the 
 surfaces of streams or in other exposed situations becomes almost the only 
 considerable source from which the atmosphere is supplied with the aque- 
 ous vapor necessary to prevent nocturnal chills. As Mr. Harvey ob- 
 serves in his pamphlet, the atmosphere is so excessively dry that " dead 
 animals upon the prairies do not rot ; they dry up." This accounts for 
 the previous-mentioned rapidity of solar evaporation. 
 
 Previous to the time that the above passages were written nothing like 
 an extensive manufacture of salt at this place had been attempted. Some 
 
92 
 
 parties, however, had evaporated considerable quantities of the surface 
 brine both by means of soh^r and artificial heat, and the product obtained 
 had been carefully analyzed by eminent chemists from New York Citj 
 and other places, and the result declared by them was as above stated. 
 But it is thought that the statement of Mr. Harvey in regard to the 
 strength of the surface brine, although no doubt intentionally correct, is,, 
 nevertheless, inaccurate. 
 
 During the summer months, and when a considerable interval of time- 
 has elapsed, characterized by an absence of rain and the prevalence of 
 the warm, dry winds which he mentions, the constant evaporation from 
 the surface of the wide, shallow basins or pools of salt water often suffices 
 to reduce the brine contained therein to the strength of 28.8 per cent. ; 
 and in fact when such a state of the atmosphere has prevailed for a long 
 time the recession of the water from the edo-es of the basin not unfre- 
 quently leaves thereon an incrustation from a half an inch to an inch in 
 thickness of almost pure salt ; but the brine as it oozes from the soil has 
 not been found to exceed 15 per cent-, in strength. It has been found 
 that the rapidity of evaporation at Syracuse and other Eastern springs is 
 in the proportion of 2 in the summer to 1 in the winter. Owing to the 
 absence of heavy falls of snow and the considerable prevalence of dry 
 winds at this place during the winter months, it is believed that the pro- 
 portional evaporation during this time will be greater. 
 
 Early in the summer of 1869, Messrs. Cahn and Evans, having leased 
 six hundred and forty acres of land from the State Government for that 
 purpose, commenced work preparatory to sinking a well in the immediate 
 vicinity of one of these salt springs, and at a distance of about one and 
 one-half miles from the IMarket Square of the city : and having erected a 
 derrick and procured an engine and the necessary machinery they pro- 
 ceeded early in autumn to eiFect this purpose, keeping an accurate record 
 of the rock and other formations through which they penetrated. By 
 means of this record, with the aid of such knowledge as is obtainable of 
 the ledges exposed in different localities, an approximate and reasonably 
 definite conclusion may be formed as to the location of the center of the 
 basin. 
 
 At a depth of about sixty feet tbey came upon the strata of blue shales 
 which crops out at the surface on the Blue river about twenty-five miles to 
 the westward, showing that the dip of the rock is to the east and towards 
 the well. Mr. Evans states, howevevcr, that he is not informed whether 
 or not any of the strata through Avhich he has penetrated aj^pears in any 
 of the ledges to the eastward. x\t a depth of about seventy-tv^o feet they 
 struck a thick bed of soft yellow sandstone which appears at the surface 
 three miles south of the well and near the southern limits of the town, 
 and also seven miles to the north, showing a sharj), almost abrupt inclina- 
 tion from each direction, and indicating that the well is situated at or 
 about the center of the basin so formed. This indication is strongly 
 corroborated by the fact that at a depth of about two hundred and fifty- 
 two feet they came upon the strata of magnesian limestone of which the 
 State House is constructed, and which is worked in the quarries of Beat- 
 rice and Ashland, places respectively at about equal distances to thes»uth 
 
23 
 
 aud northeast. These facts also indicate a' much larger available area 
 than is found at the eastern springs ; the group of productive wells at 
 Syracuse being comprised within a tract of land not exceeding in all 
 fourteen acres, and the Salina group within an area of about thirty-three 
 acres, outside of which limits no productive wells have been sunk. 
 
 At the depth of three hundred feet the bed-rock of red sandstone was 
 struck, in which, after having penetrated it to the depth of forty feet, the 
 work has been suspended for the purpose of procuring pumps and tubing 
 with which to exhaust the well of fresh water. 
 
 To those who are not familiar with the process of salt manufacture by 
 means of solar evaporation, a brief consideration thereof may not be un- 
 interesting ; and at the same time a partial comparison will be attempted 
 between what is now being done at the Eastern salt springs and what it is 
 reasonable to expect will be done here in the future. 
 
 The ground near the wells is usually divided off into blocks or squares 
 of several rods, between which are spaces or streets of convenient width, 
 a map of the whole resembling the plat of a town. Across the squares 
 in one direction are constructed vats or troughs sixteen feet in Avidth and 
 about eight inches in depth, in which the brine is exposed to atmospheric 
 action. Covers sixteen feet square and adjusted with grooves or rollers 
 are provided with which to prevent the brine from being diluted by fall- 
 ing rain. For the purpose of calculation these covers may be taken to 
 represent the number and size of the vats, and accordingly this is the size 
 meant wherever the word vat is hereinafter used. 
 
 As shown by the result of Mr. Harvey's experiment, six inches in 
 depth of saturated or SM- per cent, brine, that being the usual amount, 
 exposed in one of these vats would under ordinary circumstances 
 evaporate in thirty-six hours, or twice that quantity would be 
 evaporated every three days, leaving as a product 147,456 cubic inches, 
 or over 68.36 bushels of salt. This process repeated seven times every 
 three weeks for twenty-one weeks during the summer months, would re- 
 sult in the manufacture of 3,349.64 bushels, and repeated seven times every 
 six weeks for thirty of the remaining thirty-one weeks in the year would 
 produce 2,392.60 bushels, which added to the former would make a total 
 amount of 5,742.24 bushels or 1,148.44 barrels of salt annually from one 
 vat. Multiply this number by one thousand, the usual number of vats 
 supplied from one well, and from the products subtract one-fifth of itself 
 as an allowance for the difference in the amounts of salt contained in 
 saturated brine and brine of eighty degrees strength, and from the bal- 
 ance subtract one twenty-fifth of itself as an allowancs for the smaller 
 quantity of the weaker brine evaporated within the same time, (a calcu- 
 lation sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes,) and the entire 
 amount of salt which may be manufactured annually from one well will 
 be seen to be 882,001.60 barrels. 
 
 Supposing, what is not at all probable, that the brine should prove to be 
 possessed of only sixty degrees strength, the rapidity of evaporation being 
 the same, we will subtract from this amount one-fourth of itself as an al- 
 lowance for the difference in the product between equal quantities of the 
 two brines, and from the balance subtract one twenty-sixth of itself as an 
 
24 
 
 allowance for the smaller quantity of the weaker brine evaporated within 
 the same time* and it shows a result of 636,058.84 barrels annually. 
 Change the supposition so that the strength of the brine will remain at 
 eighty degrees and the rapidity of evaporation will be reduced one-half, 
 and we have only to divide the first product obtained by two, which will 
 leave us an annual yield of 441,000.80 barrels. Uniting these contingen- 
 cies, that is, supposing the strength of the brine not to exceed sixty de- 
 grees and the rapidity of evaporation to be only one-half as great as it 
 has been demonstrated to be by experiment ; we will divide the second re- 
 sult obtained by two and there will still be shown an annual product of 
 318,029.42 barrels. Making a deduction of one-fourth from each result 
 obtained, as an allowance for loss of time consequent upon injuries to or 
 breakage of machinery, and bad weather, and they will be left, in the 
 order named, as follows : 
 
 1st - - 661,501.20 barrels. 3d - - 330,750.60 barrels. 
 2d - - 477,044.13 do 4th - - 238,522.60 do 
 
 While the railways now being constructed and those projected will give 
 us direct connection with the Eastern markets and enable us to compete 
 with Eastern salt manufactories upon their own ground, it is certain that 
 we shall be called upon to supply all the vast territory lying between the 
 Mississippi river and the rocky mountains, so that three dollars per barrel 
 may be safely considered as an extremely low estimate for the minimum 
 price at the wells. The cost of the empty barrels furnished at the wells, 
 due allowance being made for the cost of transportation, it is estimated 
 cannot exceed forty-five cents each; to this we will add ten cents per 
 bushel as the cost of manufacture, and deducting the whole from three 
 dollars, it leaves two dollars and five cents as the net value of a barrel 
 of salt at the manufactory. This calculation exhibits the net value of 
 the three annual yields as above supposed, in their order as follows: 
 
 1st - - $1,356,077.46. 2d - - - 977,940.46. 
 
 3d - - - 678,038.73. 4th - - - 488,970.22. 
 
 The foregoing statement, in which every allowance is made for which 
 any reason can be imagined, compares very favorably with any that can 
 be made concerning the Eastern manufactories. The brine obtained 
 from the wells in the Syracuse group varies in strength from sixty-four to 
 seventy-four degrees, the average strength obtained from them all being 
 sixty-eight degrees. The brine obtained from the wells in the Salina 
 group varies in strength from thirty-two to seventy-six degrees, the aver- 
 age strength from all being fifty-nine degrees. The average annual pro- 
 duct of the wells at Saginaw is seventy-two thousand barrels, while the 
 rapidity of evaporation as proved by experiment is from two to three 
 times as great here as at any of the places mentioned. 
 
 The purity of the salt obtained is also worthy of great consideration ; for 
 while it will be remembered that until means of refining it were adopted 
 the salt from the Eastern manufactories contained so large a propor- 
 tion of impure and foreign substance as to render it nearly unfit for meat- 
 packing and other similar uses, it will not be forgotten that analyses of the 
 
25 
 
 salt obtained here prove it to be free of any deleterious substances, and, 
 with the exception of from three to five per cent., pure chloride of sodium. 
 It would seem, then, that no further doubt need be entertained of the 
 extent and value of the salt deposits at this place ; and when it is consid- 
 ered that less extensive territory and less productive wells than 
 that which has been sunk here have been, by reason of the number of men 
 and the amount of capital employed in the manufacture and commerce of 
 the salt, sufficient to build up and maintain considerable Eastern cities 
 such for instance as Syracuse, which depends in a great degree upon her 
 salt wells for the sources of her prosperity ; these developments may be 
 looked upon as at least a very favorable augury for the future of the city 
 of Lincoln. 
 
 Vats and troughs for the conveyance of the brine have been erected 
 quite extensively at one of the largest of the salt springs near this place, 
 and considerable quantities of merchantable salt are being manufactured 
 from the surface brine. As was above stated this brine when it oozes 
 from the soil is of about 15 per cent, strength, but the action of the at- 
 mosphere soon reduces it to the strength of 20 per cent., or about 60 de- 
 grees, and in case of continued drought even as high as seventy or eighty 
 degrees may be found. If the supply were in-exhaustible and it were not 
 subject to dilutions in case of heavy rains or freshets, the foregoing calcu- 
 lations might be used as an estimate of the salt which might be made 
 therefrom. But unfortunately considerable difficulty has heretofore been 
 experienced from this source, especially in spring and fall when the rains 
 are most frequent. But doubtless this difficulty may be obviated either 
 by the diversion of the stream of Salt Creek, the building of dykes, or by 
 some similar expedient ; and even if it be not. during the summer months, 
 and at times when there is little rain, sufficient quantities of salt may be 
 manufactured to render the occupation very lucrative to those engaged in 
 it and a source of wealth to the town. Most men would be satisfied with 
 an annual income no larger than is indicated by dividing the fourth of the 
 sums above named by three or even four. It is certain, then, unless the 
 old maxim "figures won't lie" can be successfully controverted, that the 
 people of Lincoln have a valuable interest in the salt basin, vested and in- 
 defeasable except by some unusual providential dispensation. 
 
 * To render tbe calculation strictly accurate l-27th should be deducted in this instance 
 and l-26th in the former. The estimate used allows a longer time for evaporation than 
 the experiment shows to be necessary. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The task, such as it is, which we proposed at the outset has already 
 been completed, but perhaps a few words may yet be profitably said con- 
 cerning the town at which the enterprises therein described hare been, and 
 are being, promoted. 
 
26 
 
 Since the last of the serries of articles comprised in this pamphlet was 
 published in the Statesmaji, about six months have elapsed, and in that 
 time no inconsiderable changes have taken place both in the town itself 
 and in the condition of the public works. The population which was then 
 estimated, perhaps a little more than it would bear, at two thousand souls, 
 has now increased to from two and one half to three thousan souls. More 
 than three scores of buildings have been erected for residences and busi- 
 ness houses, nearly all of which are of good size and substantially built. 
 
 Pursuant to the statutes of which mention is hereafter made, the States 
 Prison Inspectors and Commissioners of public buildings opened their 
 public sales on the 6th and 9th days of June 1870, respectively ; the for- 
 mer offering for sale over thirty thousand acres of choice lands lying in 
 the immediate vicinity of the capital, and the latter offering, besides about 
 twelve thousand acres of lands of a saline description, six hundred and 
 seventy-six valuable city lots The sales continued during one week and 
 resulted in the disposal of about fifteen thousand acres of land and four 
 hundred town lots, from all of which was realized not less than one hun- 
 dred and forty thousand dollars. 
 
 At the formnr date also the Inspectors selected from the several plans 
 proposed for the contemplated Penitentiary buildings, that of Mr. Wm. 
 Foster, of Des Moines, loAva, which was adopted and placed on file in the 
 office of the Secretary of State. Of the plan so adopted the following is 
 a general description : 
 
 Commencing with the Warden's house, we have a building 75x86 feet, 
 with basement and four stories. The basement contains kitchen, dining 
 room, cellar, bath rooms, force pump, pantry and closets. 
 
 On the first floor are fifteen rooms, embracing Warden's reception 
 room's. Warden's private room and office, clerk's office and room, armory, 
 reception room and store rooms. 
 
 On the second floor are sixteen rooms among which are the parlor, sit- 
 ting and bed rooms, a suit of four rooms for the Physician, and of five 
 rooms for the Inspectors. 
 
 The third floor is devoted to the use of the guards, and contains four- 
 teen rooms and eleven closets. 
 
 The fourth floor contains four bed rooms and four store rooms and 
 water tanks. 
 
 On each side of the Warden's house is a wing 14x50 feet. The first 
 floors of the wings are used for guard houses. The second floors for hos- 
 pitals, the third floors for the female prisoners. 
 
 Extending right and left from these wings are the buildings containing 
 the cells. These are each 50x223 and there are two rows of cells in 
 each, 40 cells in a row and five tiers high, making 400 cells each, 800 in 
 all. Each cell is constructed of stone and can accomodate two prisoners. 
 Each tier of cells is surrounded by a balcony three feet wide, protected 
 by an iron railing and connected by stairs at the end of the building. In 
 the rear of the prison proper, are eight workshops, each 40xl60feet. 
 
 There is also a building 58x203 feet, the first floor of which is occupied 
 by the prisoners' kitchen, dining room and bakery, and the second floor 
 by the chapel, library, hospital kitchen, physicians' office, hospital nurses' 
 
27 
 
 rooms and baths. A wing 40x72 feet affords a wash room and laundry. 
 
 A prisoner locked in his cell has three doors to pass before he gets out- 
 side the building, and the Warden's house is shut off completely from the 
 prison proper by six iron doors. 
 
 Around the whole, distant forty feet from the buildings is a stone wall, 
 six feet thick at the base and four feet at the top, and twenty-two feet 
 high. xVt each angle of the wall is a guard tower, thirty-six feet in 
 height. The space enclosed is 600x660 feet. 
 
 On the thirteenth of June, one Aveek thereafter proposals from builders 
 for the erection of the Warden's house, one wing containing two tiers of 
 forty cells each and certain portions of the walls, a workshop, and in all 
 about three-fourths of the building and appurtenances Avere receiA-ed and 
 publicly opened and read by the Inspectors at the Represcntati\'es Hall 
 and the contract therefore awarded to the Hon. W. H. B. Stout, of Blair 
 Nebraska. A stipulation being entered into Avitli sureties to the satisfac- 
 tion of the Inspectors for the completion of the work cntemplated in the 
 contract AA'ithin one year from the letting thereof. 
 
 The sales haA^ng been adjcurued on the 11th, AvordAvas giA'en out by the 
 Commissioners and Inspectors that early in September, or soon after the 
 Burlington & Missouri Railroad, then rapidly being pushed toAvards this 
 place, should ha\'e reached here, a further sale of lots and lands AA'ould bo 
 opened, at which time over tAA'enty thousand acres of the choicest lands in 
 the State, lying within a short distance of the Capital, and the balance of 
 the unsold lots and blocks situated in desirable locations, AA'ould be of- 
 fered. 
 
 In the mean time, the other public enterprises affecting the interests 
 and prosperity of the city have been pushed rapidly forward. A tele- 
 graph line hns been extended thither in advance of the B. & M. R. R., 
 and was put in operation in time for use during the public sales. The 
 State University and Agricultural College and State Lunatic Asylum 
 are nearly completed. 
 
 As yet, except that the Aveli has been sunk to a depth of oOO feet, no 
 develoiDments have occurred requiring a modification of Avhat is said of 
 the Salt Basins and well in another place. 
 
 Except such as are incident to its continued, and almost marvelous 
 groAA-^th and prosperity, no impoi'tant changes affecting the interest of the 
 city, other than those above mentioned, occured to me ?.s having taken 
 place. 
 
 Only about tAvo and one-half years have elapsed since the Commission- 
 ers, by official proclamation, called the toAvn of Lincoln into existence. 
 The Aillage of Lancaster, Avhich was included Avithin its site, contained in 
 all less that a half-dozzen of buildings of every description. xVt the pres- 
 ent time that numljcr has been increased to over three hundred and fifty, 
 and the number of inhabitants in the toAA-n Avill not fall short of tA\-enty-fivc 
 hundred souls. The appreciation of real property, Avhich AA'as so low at 
 the time of the first public sales that the Commissioners nearly despaired 
 of being able to make sufficient sales of lots to defray the expenses of 
 building the State House, has risen to such an extent that means have 
 been obtained from that source sufficient not only for the building of the 
 
28 
 
 State House, but also for building the State University and Agricultural 
 College and the State Lunatic Asylum, and about six hundred lots be- 
 longing to the State yet remain to be sold. 
 
 The cash valuation of the real property of the town belonging to private 
 individuals, as ascertained from the assessment roll, is $456,956. Nine 
 of the church societies for which reservations of town lots were made, as 
 has been stated, have erected neat and commodious houses of worship, and 
 ediflices will be erected by the remaining societies early in the present 
 autum. Six societies, viz.: the Methodist Episcopal, Protestant 
 Methodist, Christian, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Catholics, have 
 been duly organized for some time past, maintain pastors, and observe the 
 regular stated services. There are three schools in town in which the or- 
 dinary branches of common school education are taught by an able corps 
 of teachers. Advantage is being taken of the facilities oflered in the 
 width of the streets for the setting out of trees for park rows ; two large 
 hotels, in addition to the one large, and many smaller ones now in use, 
 have been constructed ; while the business of building substantial resi- 
 liences and business houses is being engaged in to an extent diflficult of be- 
 lief to one who has not seen it; and one thing at least is evident ; that is, 
 that every one in Lincoln is confident that he has cast his lines in pleas- 
 ant places, and where there is to be within a few years a large, prosperous 
 and beautiful city. The question is ; do the facts vf arrant these conclu- 
 sions ? It is thought that they do. The location, size and organization 
 of the public buildings and institutions have been as far as possible de- 
 scribed ; and it has been shown to be in the highest degree probable, if it 
 is thought too much to say that it has been demonstrated, that an inesti- 
 mable value has been brouf'ht to lisht in the results obtained from the 
 sinking of the salt well. An abundance of durable building material is 
 accessible, To quote again from Mr. Harvey : 
 
 "In Lancaster [this] county there are found inexhaustible quarries of a 
 dark reddish free-stone, some^vhat ranging in color, the most of it resem- 
 bling the Senaca or Potomac stone, of which the aristocratic brown-stone 
 fronts of the Fifth Avenue and Washington are made. It is so soft 
 when quarried that it may be crumbled between the fingers, but a few 
 weeks action of the atmosphere hardens it so that it can scarcely be 
 marked with a knife. It has been used sutflciently to prove its valuable 
 qualities. 
 
 "4round the upper tributaries of Salt Creek there are great quarries of 
 a bluish limestone, of fine fracture, and presenting all the characteristics 
 of the Trenton stone. Some of the outcrops expose a face of rock in 
 seams oi' three inches to six feet thick, of twenty five feet vertical, and 
 can be traced for may miles along the blutfs. 
 
 It will be remembered that the State Lunatic Asylum has been con- 
 structed solely of the above mentioned " dark-reddish freestone " or sand- 
 stone, which has also been freely used in the erection of the State Univer- 
 sity. Its durability and value as a building material have been abun- 
 dantl}^ proven. It contains a considerable admixture of iron, and its dark 
 reddish or brown color presents a rich and beautiful appeai*ance when 
 worked into ashlar and laid into the walls. 
 
 The Penitentiary is being constructed of a beautiful gray magnesian 
 limestone found in inexhaustible quantities about 9 miles south of Lincoln, 
 
29 
 
 oa the line of the Midland road. This quarry is of recent discovery and 
 the material is nearly as hard and susceptible of fine polish as Italian mar- 
 ble. 
 
 The climate is mild and healthful, and physicians have recommended a 
 residence here for persons afflicted with lung diseases and rheumatism. 
 Apples, pears, grapes, currents and berries have been sufficiently tested to 
 prove that they can be easily and profitably cultivated ; in some parts of 
 the State cherries and peaches are also successfully grown. 
 
 The surface of the surrounding country is rolling prairie, and the soil is 
 a rich black vegetable mould, from two to ten feet in depth. It is slightly 
 impregnated with lime, contains just enough of sand to keej) it friable, and 
 is entirely free from stones and gravel. It does not cake after rain, is 
 easily plowed to any depth required and, has proven itself adapted to the 
 profitable growth of nearlj' every crop cultivated north of the mouth of 
 the Ohio river. The subsoil is generally a yellow clay not impervious to 
 water, like most of the blue aluminous clays in the Eastern States. 
 
 It has been proved by experience that the average yield of grain and 
 ■other crops is as follows : Wheat, from twentj^-tive to thirty bushes to 
 the acre; corn, forty to sixty bushels; oats, forty-five to fifty; potatoes, 
 seventy to one hundred; onions, one hundred and fifty; and of all farm 
 crops a greater production is attained than any of the -North-western 
 States. 
 
 It is believed b}' many whose experience has rendered them competent 
 judges, that the wild grasses which grow at the rate of from one and a half 
 to thiee tons per acre, both upon the table-lands and bottoms, are more nu- 
 tritious, and that sheep and horned cattle thrive better upon them, than 
 the cultivated grasses of the East. Cultivated grasses may be raised, 
 however, to any extent desired. 
 
 Owing, it is presumed, to prairie fires the timber in this localit}- is not 
 plentiful, and is confined to the banks of streams, along the entire length of 
 which it grows in raOre or less continuous lines on each side, except, as is 
 frequently the case, where fhe streams suddenly change their course, or 
 crook, forming peninsulas sometimes thirty or forty acres in extent densely 
 covered with trees. The native trees are cottonwood, a light, porous, 
 yellowish-white wood, resembling in appearance the cucumber tree of New 
 York; the red and white elm; cedac, hickory, hackberry, willow, black- 
 walnut, "black-jacket," red and burr-oak. 
 
 In Lancaster county there are no longer any government lands subject 
 to homestead or pre-emption, although there are hundreds of thous- 
 ands of acres of such lands in the State ; many of them, as fine as any 
 lands in the State ; manj- of them, as fine as an}- londs in the world, are 
 situated on the Blue river, only about twenty-five miles from the Capital. 
 Excellent farm lands, situated within a radius of ten to twelve miles of 
 the Capital, ma}' be purchased both from railroad corporations and individ-. 
 uals at prices ranging from five dollars an acre upwards, according to loca- 
 tion and the nature and extent of improvents. 
 
 The cars are now running on four railroads which are surve3'ed and in 
 all likelihood will be built to Lincoln. The Burlington and Missouri River 
 Railroad is now completed to Lincoln, and will take a westerly direction 
 to Fort Kearny, with the Union Pacific, thus placing us at nearly the cen- 
 ter of a great trans-continental thoroughfare. The Omaha and South- 
 western is completed to the Platte, and connects with the B. ifc M. R. R; 
 from this place, it will probably take a southwesterly direction, forming a 
 junction with the Kansas Pacific and intersecting the Central Branch of 
 
30 
 
 the Union Pacific and St. Joe and Denver City railroads. The Midland 
 Pacific railroad is now graded to this place and a considerable portiom of 
 the track is laid. It will form a junction at Nebraska City with the Coun- 
 cil Bluff's and St. Joe, S. L. and B. and M., and Quincy and Nebraska 
 City railroads. The Nemaha Valley railroad is being built thither froBi 
 Eulo, near which place it forms a junction Avith the Council Bluffs and St, 
 Joe & Atchison & Nebraska li. E., and a considerable portion of it has al- 
 ready been completed. Both the last mentioned roads will form junctions 
 with the Union Pacific. Several other roads have been projected arid 
 some of their lines have been surveyed. A glance at the map will show 
 that we shall soon be connected with all the most important thoroughfares 
 east and west, and at a point where many of them will intersect each other. 
 As a railroad center it is believed that we possess great advantages over 
 any other town in the State. 
 
 The produce of stock and grain-raising and of butter and cheese manu- 
 facture; which can be carried on as successfully here as in any State in the 
 Union, can never fail of commanding a good price and finding a ready 
 market. 
 
 Nearly ever}- description of mechanical, mercantile and professional 
 business is represented here, the two former by from one to a half-dozzen 
 places of business for each, about fifty in all, besides hotels, restaurants^, 
 &c,, and the latter by from fifteen to twenty individuals each. Manufac- 
 tures have not yet been attempted, although the demand for manufactured 
 articles, always prevalent in a new countr}', Avould doubtless afibrd to many 
 branches of that business an entirel}' satisfactor}' support. 
 
 Mechanics find here ready emplojMuent and good wages ; to the capitalist 
 opportunities are presented for the easy and profitable investment of his 
 funds; and to the poor men and others who cultivate our broad and fertile 
 prairies the earth yields an abundant increase. As for the scholar and the 
 student, the one will find a cultivated and appreciative societ}', and to the 
 other will soon be offered the privileges of one of the best of educational 
 institutions. Members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Good 
 Templars and of the Order of A. F. and A. Masons will find each of these 
 societies established here and in a flourishing condition; for the benefit of 
 each, as has been said, city lots were selected and reserved at the time of 
 the location of the town. The Order of the Grand Army of the Republic 
 has also an encampment at this place. A State Historical and Library 
 Association has been organized and the nucleus of a librar}' has been ob- 
 tained. It is proposed as soon as sufficient funds are secured to erect upon 
 their lots a suitable building provided Avith lecture and reading rooms, etc. 
 
 Theie are three well regulated newspapers published in this city, the 
 Nebraska State Joxmial, daily and weekly, (Eepublican). The Nebraska 
 Statesman, weekly, (Democratic), and the IntdUijencer a real estate 
 monthly. 
 
 The people are characterized by sobriety, intelligence, industry and per- 
 severance, and the}- will make the most of the advantages which Provi- 
 dence has thrown in their way ; and, if it is true that their fiiith in the fu- 
 ture of their citv is unbounded, it is equally true that, upon a careful sur- 
 vey of the whole situation, it is impossible to say that that faith rests. 
 upon insufficient foundations. 
 
Jl'fUtlll Sftfi©'^? 
 
 This Orgauizatlou was perfected at Lincoln, on the 24th day of May, A. D. 18G0, the 
 following flamed resident menbers of the profession, being present, and at that time adopt 
 ing a Constitution and By-laws and electing officers for the ensuing year, vi/.: 
 
 D. W. TiNGLEY, M. D. 
 
 F. G. Fuller, M. D. 
 J. M. Evans, M. D. 
 
 H. D. Gilbert, M. D. 
 L. H. EoBBiNs, M. D. 
 Geo. W. French, M. D. 
 
 Subsequently the following named gentlemen became member, viz: 
 
 J. W. Strickland, M. D., November 3d, 1870. 
 JnO. W. NORTHRUP, M. D., " " " 
 
 Geo. A. Goodrich, M. D., " " " 
 
 C C. Eadmore, M. D., January 3d, 1869. 
 
 Subsequently the following named gentlemen liecame members of the 
 
 Hel&raste ifmtd Ksitoal §oci©fF> vl^* 
 
 F. G. Fuller, M. D. 
 L. H. RoBBiNs, M. D. 
 
 Geo. a. Goodrich, M. D. 
 
 D. W. TiNGLEY, M. D. 
 
 On the l(5th of July 1870, the County Society, lost one member l)y the death of Geo. 
 A. Goodrich. The remaning members reside in the citv. 
 
J". HI. j^Xj:foi?.id. 
 
 Manufacturer of 
 
 A full and complete assortment always on hand, made b}' COMPETENT WORK- 
 MEN and of the Tery best Oak Tanned Leather. No Shoddy. 
 
 Dealer in 
 Ijeatlier of ^11 Kinds, 
 
 FINDINGS, PLASTSRING HAIR. etc. 
 
 Agent for the American Whip Comjiany, Boston, also, for the sale of Messrs G. W. A- J. 
 L. Collins celebrated '■' Concord Harness" Harness Oil. A-c. Harness Repairs a^peciali- 
 iy. COME ONE! COME ALL!! 
 
 J. D. BURlNrS, M. D. 
 
 ■Ititli Ply iiiiamt Smrg ©•»' 
 
 A.]SrD ^CCOXJOHETJH, 
 
 South East Corner and 10th Streeets. Up Stairs- 
 
 Discard what is worthless and supply what is wanting, in the various systems of Medi- 
 cal Practice. 
 
 A<ftW 
 
 i#J 
 
 Tenders his services to the people of Lincoln and vicinity. 
 Office and residence on St. cor. of Wth in the Sherwood Building, 
 
 LIINTCOLN, - - - ISTEBR-A^SK-A.. 
 
Ai:^T0RBi]; 
 
 
 S. B. GALEY. 
 
 W. S. MARSHALL. 
 
 ^MJI^- %AM^ 
 
 IslKC*©!*!! ,. ,lf BBKASMJl,, 
 
 ID <3r. XaiTJLI 
 
 V 7 
 
 JLTTOBNEy AT %MW 
 
 NOTARY PUBLIC. 
 
 i^iif cta&M ^ iramaAPKA* 
 
 f f illllf 11 iiw 
 
 Offlre, 2d door IJa.^f of J'onf Office, 
 
 MmmiM,^ mmBMMm 
 
 ■ ■■■■■iHiMinmiau 
 
 KNOX & BURR 
 
 iifiiMifi 
 
 - -IIW 
 
 
 0/^<?, lO^A Street, 2nd door north of Tingleys Row, 
 
 LIPCCOLN. NEBRAskA. 
 
 racial uttentioii given to cas(;s in the Siiprome Court on error and appeal. 
 
 Attorney &; Counsellor at Laxr, 
 
 East side Market Space, 
 
ROBINSON & WEBSTER, 
 
 :fttl|f:.etWf* 
 
 f '^ 
 
 m 
 
 Offii'f, CoriK-r <> fnnJ ] \tk Sfi-ft'ts. up^tnirs. 
 
 hm^mM, NBBEtSEA. 
 
 Office, East Side Market Square, over Cassell tt Hyatt'.s. 
 
 llei'crs by penairfsioii. to Gov. David Butler,. Lincoln ; Hon. 11. ]■'. Feiiton, ['. S. Sena- 
 tor, Jamf.stown, N. Y.; ami Me.ssr.M. Pardee, Baies & Co., N. Y. City. 
 
 JAMEB SWKKT. 
 
 .\EJ,SoN 0. JUIOCK. 
 
 James Smreet 6l Brock, 
 
 B j^ isr IC E I^ s , 
 
 LINCJOL^, ^EB. 
 
 Real estate Dealers and Agents for Insurance* 
 
 Connected with Jame>'< Sweet & Co., Jlankers, Nebraska City, Nel). 
 
 ; .. 
 
 F. W- HOHMANN, 
 
 Staple and Fancy Dry Goods, 
 
 CARPETS, OIL-CLOTHS, WALL-PAPER, 
 
 Groceries, Boots, Shoes, Notions, Etc., 
 
 StrceU between l\th and 12th LINCOLN. NEBBASKA. 
 
 Pianos, Organs, Melodeons, and all kinds of :MnHieal Merchandise. 
 W90 Sewiticr Maehinep. 
 
Hardenbergh & Linderman, 
 
 m^- 
 
 # 'w^'^^Wi Wssss^i^^^ M«-N^># "^^ '^^• 
 
 I m 
 
 im,"mfm\ '^m- 
 
 1 ^'S'^' -H^-' 
 
 Uilice, East. Side Market Square. Lincoln. Neb. 
 
 Land Warrants Bought and Sold, or Located on Choice Government Lands. 
 
 4tiy "A uuuibcr of t'inc Farmt! lowifi-ii witliiii i liiciiit of Ten Miles ul' ilie Oiijiital for salo i.n reaisoiialile tcrnii». 
 Also City Ldts ill Mncolu iMthir for livisini'ss nt ivsidencos, ami (iwtllings for sale or to rent. All Imsiii'S!' in 
 tlio Koiil Knt;it'' line atteudeii to witij dispfttcli auil eorrespomieiits pro!i\])tly :iiisv,. rrd. 
 
 II. J. \V.S!.>n. 
 
 "WALSH Sd PUTNAM, 
 
 General Land Agents, 
 
 So. 5 J^ast Side Market Square. 
 
 LJNtUiLN, NEB HA SKA. 
 
 i?i'!il Kslate iK.ttirlit :\w\ sold. Titles t-xainiiied aiiil Ahstracts turnisherl. Prompt atten- 
 tidii iriveu to pttviuf^ut of taxes I'or non-resident.s. 
 
 A Ch(»ice Selection of" Town Lots and Fanning Lands for Sale, 
 
 F. A. BEIYON, 
 
 0Sf 
 
 ,4, 
 
 Auenf for State Board of Innnigratlon, 
 
 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. 
 
 Homestead and Pre-Kiiiptioii Ri^^lits Jiiecured* 
 
 Agent for the best 
 
 STEAMSHIP 1. E 1^ E S 
 
 Between Europe and America. 
 Tickets for Sale to and from all European Ports 
 
 AT TJIK LOWKSX HATES. 
 
 The Scandinavian and German langut\<ge« spoken. 
 
Ahstraet.s of Title for all Lincoln Loh and LamLs in, 
 LaneaMer Coind/j Fuvnished hij 
 
 J. N. PARKER & SON, 
 
 Real Estate Brokers 
 
 Ail'l> €OiYI]VIIN!Sif<»]% A€-^l!:T%'rS. 
 
 REAL ESTATE BOUGHT AND SOLD 
 
 ONLY ON COMMrSSlON, 
 
 Taxes Faid^ Bents Collected, &c. 
 
 Wo linve tlic only Ooinjilotc Pt-t of 
 
 ^BSTI^^OT Q-^ TITLES 
 
 Tn Lancnstor OonntT. 
 
 For i'urthei" imlbrnuvtion, call upon or addvcss, onclosing stanip, 
 
 * 
 J. N. PARKER .^- SON, 
 
 Lincoln, Nedr ajjk a . 
 
iiJ^',0. W. liAl.l..\\TI\'K. 1). C. I'.AI.I.ANTIXi:. 
 
 ilMBEE HilClAlfS, 
 
 Corner of J If 1/ aiul A' Sfircf, 
 
 Coiistiintly on liaiid h lai-f^o Assortniciit of 1 )iy Pine and Cottonwood ijnnil)i'r, Floor- 
 inpf, Sidinir, Joists, ScaJTTlini;-, Lutli, Sliiniik'S, Dooi's, Sasli, l}lin<Ls, Hair, l>iuio and Co- 
 me"!. All (iri'.crs I'rumiitlv Anciidnl fo. 
 
 i:\] 
 
 tM* Identis 
 
 .4ls(K J)('(ilerin (rroreries cvncl J'rorisions, Woorlej? and 
 Sfoj/r V'ffjr, Snulli I Oflt Sfi-ecf. 
 
 |)i'al('cs ui 
 
 BIRDSALL & PIKE, 
 
 •iji 'i9 wiping, 
 
 JEEats, Cap^^, I^oot?^, Slioe.^. and 
 
 nr/'OS/TM r.AXK. O STIiKKT. 
 
 Lincoln, Nebraska. 
 
 IS; 
 
 O Hind },rl„vni Vllh i.iiil mii, "^ 
 
 LFNCOIA, NK15JJASKA. 
 
 ./ conr/rlclc Stock of .MiHiuvrij a ml Ladies Furiiish- 
 I ii'J (loads kcpl caiisia irllij an liand . 
 
 ^laiiut'iK-turcr of ;iiiil Denlcv in 
 
 Bridles* HaWei*^* WMp^ & E«a^lie«* 
 
 AVest Si.l." A[;n-k(>t S.)uinv. LINCOLN, NKBIiASKA. 
 
1). H. (MJOHSKV 
 
 P 
 
 I'APvKX i:.\(i[..\Xl). 
 
 A. M. M, I'.i.lllNXI-V 
 
 . « jBillff ifLW 
 
 ^1 it/^ /#' 
 
 
 
 nmm. 
 
 ^SEast Cor. Market Spm©6, 
 LIMCOI.M, N^BBR ASKA. 
 
 Special attrutioii li'iveii to 
 
 Government Lands Selected and Entered. 
 
 lIoinestedcLs <iiul J^rc-ciuptioits Selcctcfl and Secured. 
 Iiivestsnien fs Made for ?s 'oii-residrnts. Titles E. v- 
 a,nu}ied, Ta^es Paid, aiul .lOstraets Fur- 
 nished. Loans A'eootiafed and 
 ('oUections Made. 
 
 W'e offer Dur services for tbo tr;ins;i(.-tuiii ot ;niv Imsiiiess coniicctiMl uiili Krji! l-lslalr. 
 Our facilities in this line we tbiiik tire not surjiiissed in Soutboi'U ^s'ebraska. 
 
 We bave a birnje variety of Lots in Lincoln, varvin;2r from $100 to $;),00() per lo ; sonic 
 of the choicest five, ten, and forty acre lots adjoining and near lown ; also a good list of 
 choice pieces and liirins near town, (^f large Iracts of cheap Inntls. we certainly liave 
 some of the cheapest — some of them we can sell at from ^l to $;s per acre, and within a 
 mile of proposed railroads — ihai will hi' hull I. 
 
 For reference as to (nir responsiliilitv. we wouM i-efer Ic onr bankers, .lames Sweet A' 
 Brock: to anv of onr State or Connlv otticers; to onr Congressional Delegation, ur any 
 l)usine.-s man in this part of the eoiintry. Jg^^We can loan large amounts of money at 
 good interest, on the best real estate securil v. Address