" s '^^mmy\^^ i^rrAiiFOP./-. ^1 "^/sajAiNa-JWV ^^OFCAilFO/?,!^ >&Aavaan-i'^ 5: ^V !BRARY(9/: < r >i. A\\E>UNIVER% ,^MEUNIVERS/A o -n «-> -< bi ^- o %a3AiNn3v\v ^- AWEUNIVERI/a o ^OfCAIIF0% ^OFCAllFOff^ ^-TiiaoNvsoi^ %a3AiNfl]WV^ ^OAavaaiiA^ ^/. ^t-LIBRARY^/- ^jo'^ ^mmiss"^ M\ AWEUNIVERy/A ^lOSANCElfj-^ ^OFCAIIFOftj^ ^.OFCAIIFO/?^ ^ V? - AV\EI ^^lllBRARYQc ^^IIIBRARYQ<^ '^aojiivjjo'^ aWEUNIVERS//. ^lOSANCElfj^ •o %ojnv3jo'>^ ^TiiaDNvsm^ %a3AiNn]WV #•' ^,OFCAIIFO% 4? V© ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^WEUNIVERS/^ ^lOSANCElfx^ 1^1 I i=^^l 4s> f^^ EARLY HISTORY OF OMAHA: OR, Walks and Talks Among the Old Settlers : A SERIES OP SKETCHES IN THE SHAPE OF A CONNECTED NARRATIVE OF THE EVENTS AND INCIDENTS OF EARLY TIMES IN OMAHA; TOGETHER WITH A BRIEF MENTION OP THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS OF LATER YEARS. By ALFRED SORENSON, CITY EDITOR OF THE OMAHA DAILY BEE. ILLUSTRATED W£TH NL'MFROUS ENGRAVINGS, MANY OF THEM BEING FROM ORIGINAL SKF.TCHES DRAWN ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK BY CHARLES S. HUNTINGTON. OMAHA : PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE DAILY BKE. 1876. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, by ALFRED SORENSON, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. I. Bird's-Eye View of Omaha Frontispiece. II. The First Omaha Editor and his Sanctum 45 III. Postmaster Jones with his Hat for a Postoffice. 53 IV. The Monument that Mr. Jokes Desired 70 V. The First Executive Ball 74 VI. A VERY Striking Affair — A Nebraska Territorial Legislative Scene 88 VII. The Old Territorial Capitol gi VIII. An Obstinate Irishman Ducked in the River by the Claim Club -.107 IX. Two Horse-Thieves Publicly Whipped — Thirty-Nine Lashes Each 117 X. The Hanging of Braden and Daley by a Mob for Mokse Stealing 119 XL Thk Execution of Cyrus H. Tator 131 XII. Catholic Cathedral and Bishop's Residence 176 XIII. Presbyterian Church 177 XIV. Baptist Church. , 17S XV. Odd Fellows" IL\ll 17^ XVI. Thic la IK Edward Crkighton — Builder of the Pa- cific Telk(,raph 184 XVH. Unio.v Pacific Bkidcje over ihe Missouri River. ...204 XVIIL Omaha High School Building 223 XLX. Grand Central Hotel 224 XX. Posi-Ofkice a.M) L'. S. Cusiom House 225 ^.'JH57'i) CONTENTS. Chap. Pack. I. The Bottom Facts 9 ri. The Mormons 15 III. The Pioneers 18 IV. The Indians 24 V. Omaha's Birth 31 V I. First Incidents 34 VII. The Arrow 42 VIII. Omau \'s Progress — Items from the Arrow 49 IX. Omaha Wins the Capital Prize 58 X. The First Executive Bai.i. 72 XI. The First Murder Trial 76 XII. First Attempt to Remove the Capital 79 XIII. The Second Capital Removal Scheme 82 XIV. The T>asi Round in the Capital Removal Fight 86 XV. Om.mia from 1856 TO i860 93 XVI. The Doings of the Claim Club 98 X Vll. PioNEEK Justice 114 XVIII. The First Legal Execution 128 XIX. Florence 139 XX. The Pawnee War 142 XXI. The Big Indian Scare of 1864 161 XXII. Omaha and Nebraska in the War 169 X XIII. First Churches and Socieiies 172 CONTENTS. \ \ 1 \ . 1 hsTORY OK riiK Press i8o X \ \ . liiK TicLKiiKArii 184 \\\ 1. JiiK Days of SrEAMitoATiNci and Sta<;in(; 192 \ \ \ II. TiiK Railroads 196 \.\\ III. Old Landmarks and Incidents Connected There- with 207 NXl.X. Old Settlers 214 \XX. Conclusion — The Omaha ok To-day 221 PREFACE. In this centennial year, now drawing to a close, during which nearly everybody seemed to be hunting up the records of the past, so full of interest to us of the present and to those of the hereafter, it ap- peared eminently proper to me that an early history of Omaha should and ought to be written, and early in the year I concluded to under- take the task. The idea, however, was not fully conceived until after Gen. Estabrook had prepared and read his Centennial Historical Ad- dress on the Fourth of July. That address was brief and general, but good as far as it went. But it did not go very far, with all due respect to Gen. Estabrook. Knowing that Omaha had [an early his- tory full of exciting and interesting incidents — a history that perhaps is unequalled in many respects by that of any other western city — I determined then and there to at once carry out my idea of a his- tory of this city, which the reader will find embodied in this little volume. I immediately commenced the work in a systematic manner, be- ginning with hunting up the bottom facts, and building up on this foimdation. During a five years' connection with the daily press of this city I have had numerous opportunities to make and cultivate the acquaintance of the " old settlers." I have improved '.hose op- portunities, and have never neglected to make a memorandum on the tablets of my memory of whatever of interest concerning the early history of Omaha, that I may have heard during my talks and walks with the " old settlers." Those "old settlers," by the way, are a very entertaining set of persons, possessed with a charming vein of humor which runs through all their recitals of early times, and I have passed many a pleasant hour in their society, on different occasions, while in search 4 PRE FA CE. of material witli which to construct a readable history of Omaha. Thev can spin a yarn to their own satisfaction as well as to that of their audience. All that is needed to set most of them going is to draw them out, in a reportorial way. Some of them, indeed, may be said to have a little egotisrn mixed with a good deal of pride — characteristics that have been developed by the rapid and substantial growth of the beautiful city which they assisted to found and build up. Their pride is justly excusable on • this account. They have seen and watched with a tender care the infant grow from childhood to a healthy and vigorous manhood, as it were. Omaha's history is well worth handing down to posterity, and I believe it will prove of deep interest to the many thousands of people now living here and in the immediate vicinity ; to those who shall come after us ; and also to those who have removed hence to distant points, but whose memories still cling round the spot with a tender fondnes'.. Believing that there v/as a demand for such a history as this, and knowing that such a work, carefully compiled and carefully written, would meet with the hearty approval and substantial support of the citizens of Omaha, I did not hesitate in the enterprise. I have endeavored to present the facts — and facts only — in a readable shape, and I know that the style in which they are clothed, is an improvement, in some measure at, least, on the necessarily hurried, rough, and perhaps reckless writing of the daily newspaper reporter. I will say this much for myself; as to farther criticism, be it favor- able or unfavorable, I leave the reader to make it. Each chapter will be found complete in itself — a sort of sketch. Yet the chapters or sketches are so arranged that they form what may be properly termed a connected narrative of the early events and incidents in Omaha's history. I have found the writing of this history an entertaining employment of leism-e hours, and have hardly missed the time so spent. Little by little it grew to a volume of re- spectable dimensions. So it was with the city of Omaha, and so will 6he continue to increase in si/e, importance, wealth, culture and general loveliness, and never shall any envious rival snatch from her brow the laurel wreath and the title entwined therein, which she has so justly won — "The Qiieen City of the Missouri Valley." PREFA CE. 5 The early history of Omaha is to some extent the early history of Nebraska, and this is true to some degree even in the history of later years. Hence we often hear even now our city referred to, by jealous rivals in our^ State, as the " State of Omaha," and the State as its suburbs. The greater portion of this volume has never before appeared in print. Some of it, however, has been published before, but in differ- ent shape My information has been obtained from the very best and most reliable sources— from the " old settlers" themselves, from the early legislative journals, and from the early newspapers. For valuable assistance and information I am indebted to Hon. A. J. Hanscom, Hon. A. J. Poppleton, Gen. Estabrook, A. D Jones, Esq., Byron Reed, Esq., Dr. Miller, John A. Creighton, John T. Bell, Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Snowden, Mrs. W. D. Brown, Judge Porter, ' Martin Dunham, Thomas Riley, Maj. Armstrong and many other prominent "old settlers." I have drawn rather liberally on Dr. Miller, w^ose pen has at different times been employed in recording in cresting reminiscences, which, by the way, have been about the only early history of Omaha that has been given to the public. But to Byron Reed, Esq., more than to any other one person, am I indebted for the accuracy and completeness of this history. He has a wonderfully retentive memory, and can give names, dates, lo- cations, and descriptions of persons, lands, events and incidents for the last twenty years without reference to a paper, document, or book. He is a walking encyclopedia of general information [from A to Z. He has in his possession more valuable historical books, papers and documents about Omaha and Nebraska than any other man in the State. He has taken a deep interest in this work and has imparted to me a vast amount of local information and has al- lowed me free access to his newspaper files, legislative journals, books and records. He has also read the proofs from beginning to end, so it will be seen that his assistance has enabled me to pre- sent a reliable history, which without his aid would necessarily have been incomplete. No expense has been spared to make this volume attractive. Its typography will compare with that of any establishment in the East, 6 PREFACE. and spoiiks volumes of praise for the job office of the Omalia Daily Bkr. Its illustrations, engraved by the Chicago Engraving Company, espe- ciallv for this book, cost over $250, and are as fine as will be found in anv ordinarv work. The original sketches vvere drawn by Charles S. Huntington, of this city, according to the ideas given him by my- self. The binding — which is an elegant dress in the latest style — was done bv the Omaha Book Company. The entire cost of the edition was $1,275. The expense, however, was entirely covered by subscriptions before a single type was set, a canvass having been made by myself, and I cheerfully acknowledge the fact that sufficient names were secured not only to guarantee the above amount but something besides. I have endeavored to give the public their " money's worth," and I think no one can or will say that I have not done so. One thing that has presented itself to my mind, in the course of mv researches, is the need of an historical society, embracing not only Omaha but the whole State, and I here make the suggestion that such a society be at once formed. There is plenty of material, and there are enough persons who would take part in it to make it a success. I beheve that attempts have been made in this direction at different times. The defunct " Old Settlers' Association " was such an organization and it is to be regretted that it was allowed to die. Should an historical society be organized it would be a wise plan not to make it in any way exclusive. The membership should embrace everybody who can or will contribute in any way to its usefulness, to its records, and to its support. Omaha, November, 1876. ALr . b. THE EARLY HISTORY OF OMAHA. EARLY HISTORY OF OMAHA. CHAPTER I. THE BOTTOM FACTS. LEWIS AND Clark's expedition — their arrival at the fltlre SITE OF OMAHA THEIR COUNCIL WITH THE INDIANS AT THE COUNCIL BLUFF, NOW CALLED FORT CALHOUN — OLD INDIAN FORTIFICATIONS AND MOUNDS AT OMAHA SOME HISTORICAL INQJIRIES ANSWERED. ^^^' ^^^^ y^^'' 1804, which is a long ways back for a Y^ western city to go for the bottom facts of its history, Lewis and Clark, the well known government explorers, started out on their long, memorable, and adventurous expedition up the Missouri river and its tributaries, pene- trating the vast extent of territory known as the great .North West, and included in the term " Indian Territory." It was an unexplored country, and was embraced in what is known as the Louisiana purchase from the French, which was consum- mated in 1803. The expedition consisted of about thirty-five men. well armed and equipped and supplied with three boats for the un- dertaking. By reference to the journal of Lewis and Clark, published in 1S14, wc find that they arrived at the mouth of the Platte in the latter part of July, 1S04. where they laid up two or three days for repairs. HIS TORT OF OMAHA. The following extract from their journal, sliowing their approach and arrival at the spot where Omaha was afterwards located, will be found of interest to the reader : .. 1^., v j-._Having completed the ohject of our stay, we set sail with a pleasant breeze from the North West. The two horses swam over to the Southern [Western] shore, along which we went, pass- ing bv an island, at three and a half miles, formed by a pond, fed by springs ; three miles further is a large sand island in the middle of the river; the land on the South [West] being high and covered with timber; that on the North [East] a prairie. At ten and a half miles from our encampment, we saw and examined a curious collection of graves or mounds, on the South [West] side of the river. Not far from a low piece of land and a pond, is a tract of about two hundred acres in extent, which is covered with mounds of difterent heights, shapes and sizes; some of sand, and some of both earth and sand ; the largest being near the river. These mounds indicate the position of the ancient village of the Ottoes, before they retired to the protection of the Pawnees. After making fifteen miles, we encamped on the South [East] on the bank of a high, handsome prairie, with lofty cotton-wood in groves, near the river." It will be noticed that the chroniclers used the word South, when it should have been West, and North when it should have been East, with reference to the river as it runs past Omaha. This is easily accounted for by the fact that in those days the Missouri river was generally supposed to run east and west, or nearly so. The curious collection of graves or mounds, and the tract ot two hundred acres covered with mounds of different heights, shapes and sizes were undoubtedly included in that portion of the city bounded on the south by Farnham street, west by Eleventh street, and on the north and east by the river bottoms. At different periods in the history of the city, while excavating cellars or grading streets in this vicinity, HISTORl OF OMAHA. Indian graves have been discovered, and bones and trinkets and relics have been exhumed. Numerous mounds, which have long ago disap- peared, were found here in early days. About three years ago while lower Douglas street was being graded down, an Indian's skeleton was unearthed on the premises then owned and occupied by ex-coun- cilman John Campbell, at the south-east corner of Eleventh and Douglas streets. It was only a few months ago, while the workmen were engaged in excavating for the foundation of the Third Ward school house, at the south-east corner of Dodge and Eleventh streets, that they dug up two Indian skeletons, with a lot of relics, among which were numerous scalp rings, to which the hair still clung. Skeletons have also been found outside of the limit above described, but the evidence is sufficient to convince us that this is the spot mentioned by Lewis and Clark. Here then we have the bottom fact in Omaha's history— the foun- dation on which we shall proceed to construct our fabric. We shall now follow Lewis and Clark up the river for a short distance in order to snatch from Council Bluffs some of her glory — to show that she stole her name. From the journal of Lewis and Clark we learn that they pro- ceeded up stream, and on Augvist 3rd, in the morning, they held a council with fourteen Ottoe (now spelled Otoe) and Missouri Indians, who had come to the spot at sunset of the day before, accompanied by a Frenchman, who resided among them, and who acted as inter- preter for the council, which had previously been arranged by runners sent out for the purpose. At the appointed hour the Indians with their six chiefs, assembled under an awning, formed with the mainsail of one of the boats, in the presence of the exploring party, who were paraded for the oc- casion. The change in the government, from France to the United States, was announced to them, and they were promised protection. ///SJ()/n- OF OMAHA. The six chiefs replied, each in his turn, according to rank, ex- prcssint; iov and satisfaction al the ciiange. They wished to be recommended to the great father, the President, tiiat they might obtain supplies and facilities for trading. They wanted arms for defence, and asked mediation between themselves and the Mahas,* with whom they were at war. Lew^is and Clark promised to fuUill the requests of the Indians, and wanted some of them to accompany the expedition to the next nation, but they declined to do so for fear of being killed. Numer- ous presents were distributed among the Indians, and on account of the incidents just related the explorers were induced to give the place the name of the Council Bluff, the situation of which, as they record it, was exceedingly favorable for a fort or a trading post. Here we take leave of Lewis and Clark. The place of their council — the Council Blutf — was about sixteen or eighteen miles in a straight line north of Omaha, and about (oriy miles by the river — the site of old VX.. Calhoun, and now the location of the village of that name. It has been conclusively settled that this point was the historical Council Bluffs. Father de Smet, the well known Jesuit missionary, who was considered good authority concerning any ques- tion about the Missouri river country, over which he had often traveled, and who lived where Council Bluffs is now located, opposite Omaha, in 1S3S and 1S39. in a letter to A. D. Jones, dated St. Louis, December 9, 1S67, said in answer to some historical interrogatories, that Ft. Calhoun took the name of Ft. Atkinson, which was built on the very spot where the council was held by L"ewis and Clark, and was the highest and first military post above the mouth of the Nebraska or Platte river, t * The Omahas are called the Mahas throughout the entire journal of Lewis and Clark^ as well as in all other early records. The "O" is a prefix of comparatively recent date, t Ft. Atkinson was built in 1821, and was evacuated in 1827 or '28. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 13 In answer to the inquiry of Mr. Jones, as to where old Ft. Croghan was located, Father de Smet replied : " After the evacuation of Ft. Atkinson or Calhoun, either in 1S27 or '28, or thereabouts, the troops came down and made winter quarters on Cow Island — Captain Labarge states it was called Camp Croghan. The next spring the flood disturbed the soldiers and they came down and established Ft. Leavenworth. Col. Leavenworth was commandant at the break- ing up of Ft. Atkinson." Mr. Jones also asked Father de Smet if he knew who built or occupied the fortifications, the remains of which were (in 1868) on the east bank of Omaha. Father de Smet says: "The remains alluded to must be the site of the old trading post of Mr. Heart. When it was in existence the Missouri River ran up to the trading post. In 1832 the river left it, and since that time it goes by the name of ' Heart's Cut-off,' having [leaving] a larj;e lake above Council Bluff city." Right here, in the above paragraph, we are made aware of the interesting fact that the ever-shifting Missouri river ran close up to the bluffs on the west side ; whereas, now the channel has changed its lo- cation fully half a mile to the eastward — at least that far from the foot of Douglas and Farnham streets, leaving between it and the bluffs a vast tract of sandy bottoms, now occupied by lumber yards, railroad tracks, the Union Pacific Shops and the Smelting Works. These fortifications were near the junction of Capitol avenue and Ninth street, and Dodge and Tenth streets. The well defined out- lines of a fort, or some other kind of defensive works, were plainly visible until obliterated by the government corral built there during the war. This fort, as has been well maintained by A. D. Jones in opposition to different opinions, was built by the Otoes for protection against hostile tribes. Some have held that these now extinct forti- fications were none other than old Ft. Croghan, indicated upon the ,^ in a TORT OF OMAHA. early maps, hut Mr. Jones, who is the best authority in our opinion, and he is sustained by numerous other old settlers beside himself, is certain that Ft. Croghan was upon the east side of the river between Council BlulYs and Trader's Point, the latter point, the original place being no longer visible to the naked bye, having been washed away by the Missouri. Another inquiry which was propounded by Mr. Jones, who, while secretary of the Omaha Old Settlers' Association in 1867-68, evidently faithfully performed .lis duty and was frequently engaged in hunt- ing up the records of the past, was : " Do you know of either soldiers or Indians ever having resided on the Omaha plateau.?" Father de Smet's answer was : " I do not know. A noted trader, by the name of T. B. Roye, had a trading post from 1825 till 1828, established on the Omaha plateau, and may be the first white man, who built the first cabin, on the beautiful plateau, where now stands the flourishing city of Omaha." HIS TORT OF OMAHA. IS CHAPTER II. THE MORMONS. ^ FEW LINES OF MORMON HISTORY — WINTER QUARTERS — MILLER'S HILL, AFTERWARDS KANESVILLE, AND FINALLY COUNCIL BLUFFS HOW COUNCIL BLUFFS STOLE HER NAME. IGIIT here we wish to bring in a brief chapter of Mormon history. The Mormons, driven to this western country, came to Iowa, and finally, after looking around for a short time, they all, with the J^ exception of some stragglers, crossed the Missouri river durmg the years 1S45 and 1846, and located a settlement of over 15,000 people, six miles north of Omaha, calling the place Winter Quarters, by which name it went until seven or eight years afterwards, when it was changed to Florence, which it has ever since been called. The Indians in their neighborhood complained to their agent that the Mormons were cutting too much timber, and they were accordingly ordered off the land, which belonged to the redskins. A large number of them then rccrossed the river to the Iowa side, and temporarily settled in the ravines among the blufTs. An expedi- tion, consisting of eighty wagons, witli four men to each wagon, was sent westward to hunt up a permanent location. They stopped not at any point, for any great length of time, till they arrived at Salt Lake. The expeditionists were here charmed with the beauties of the spot, and were pleased with its remoteness from their religious 1 6 /f/STOItr OF OMAHA. por>fvutors. lla\iiii; iiuuic ;i scttloinent there, tliey sent back for the reinaiiuior ol" tlio NToiinons. the most of wliom proceeded on their pila;riinau;c \o ilic New Jerusalem — Salt Lake — between the years iS^^ and iS6o. Nearly all their trains were started from Florence. A few of the Mormons still reside at Florence, Omaha and Council Jilurt's, but none of them practice polygamy. While the Mormons were the principal population of Council Blufls it was called Miller's Hill tor a short time, and then changed to Kanesville, in honor of a Mormon elder named Kane, which name it retained tor several years. In 1S52 the citizens of Kanesville sent for A. D. Jones, who was a surveyor in his younger days, and was then residing at Glenwood, Iowa, to come and survey their town for them. At Trader's Point, below Kanesville, was a post-office called Council Bluffs, and every- body coming to this country at that time, would, upon being asked, say that they were going to Council Bluii's. After Kanesville had been surveyed as a tow^n by Mr. Jones, the citizens wanted a new name for the place, and agreed upon a change. The question then arose as to what it should be. Mr. Jones, it is said, suggested the name of Council Bluffs, on the ground that they ought to have a name that would catch all the mail matter as well as the emigrants — scattered all the way from Sioux City south to Sidney — to whom it was directed. As nearly all the letters for these emigrants were being directed to the Council Bluli's post-otKce at Trader's Point, the suggestion to steal that name and add to it the woi^d " City," making the new Kanesville post-office Council Bluffs Citv, was accepted. The place was accordingly called Council Bluffs City for a while, thus securing control of all the mail matter of the rival office, which was finally broken up. When Council Bluffs City got strong enough, the citizens demanded and obtained a charter, and then the "City" was dropped out, the hill being introduced HISTORY OF OMAHA. 17 by Hadley D. Johnson, who was a member of the Iowa legislature, and who afterwards became a resident of Omaha. Thus it will be seen that Council Bluffs stole her name. It has also been clearly demonstrated that she is not the original Council Bluff of Lewis and Clark. Gen. Estabrook truly says, " This, if the first, is not the only good thing tributaiy to her notoriety that Council Blufls nas stolen from this side of the river. ' iS niSTOIii' OF OMAHA. CHAPTER III. THE PIONEERS, \VM. D. brown's "lone TREE FERRY " — MR. BROWN IN 1S53 TAKES I 1> A CLAIM COVERING THE FUTURE SITE OF OMAHA ORGANI- ZATION OF THE STEAM FERRY COMPANY — OTHER CLAIMS MADE DURING THIS YEAR — A. D. JONES' CLAIM — MR. JONES APPLIES FOR A POSTMASTERSHIP AND RECEIVES HIS APPOINTMENT IN THE SPRING OF 1S54. MAMA, as it has been aptl}' said, had a history be- -e it had a name. In the opening chapter of this )rk, wc have given the history — as much as was in r power to obtain — of the spot where Lewis and Clark ided in 1S04, and on which Omaha was destined to be f^^^C? founded, fifty years afterwards. The intervening period is I y^ not known to have been marked by any other important historical incidents than those already related. Taking a jump,, as we might say, of about half a century, we come to the time when Omaha sprang into existence. The majoritv of the founders, or first inhabitants of Omaha, came over from Council Blufl:'s and vicinity, where they had resided one, two, or three or more years. The California emigration, which had been in progress for three or four years, was then at its height, and many of the emigrants who had started for the Occident with golden dreams and visions halted by the wayside in Iowa, attracted by the natural beauties and the fertile resources of that State. Coimcil Bluff's thus became the stopping place of many who aban- HISTORr OF OMAHA. 19 doned the idea of making the long, tedious and dangerous overland trip to California, and of these there were many who afterwards came to Omaha and permanently located here. William D. Brown, a pioneer, who had from his youth always been a little in advance of civilization in its westward march, was one of the many who started for California during the years 1849 and 1S50. He had been for several years a resident of Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, of which county he was the first sheriff", having been elected to the office in January, 1S37. He stopped at Council Bluff's, and seeing that there was money to be made in the ferry business across the Missouri river at this point, to accommodate the California travel, which was being ferried at Florence, Bellevue and at other places, he embarked in the enterprise shortly afterwards, either in 1S51 or 1852. Obtaining a charter from the Pottawattamie County Commissioners, he equipped his new ferry line with a flat-boat which was rowed with oars. This ferry was for a long time called the " Lone Tree Ferry," from a solitary tree at which the boat arrived and departed, on this side of the river. The Lone Tree stood for several years, and the immediate vicinity became quite a notorious spot, owing to the ferry landing being continued there. Although it may be getting a little ahead of our narrative, it will not be entirely out of place to relate an incident that occurred near the Lone Tree in 1S60. A noted desper- ado named Bill Lane had established a saloon and dance house of very loud character there. It had become a very rough place, and was working a great deal of harm. One night a crowd of men went to his " ranche," and gave him twenty-four hours to leave town. In a few hours he packed up everything, even the lumber of which his shanty had been constructed, and putting his effects on a steam- boat he left for Leavenworth. Notwithstanding his poor facilities for transportation, the ferry HlSTO/n' (>/•' OMA/IA. »nisi.rc.s>. provci! a prolital.lc- undertakinor to Mr. Brown, the pioneer lerrvman, \vl>o was also tlie first pioneer of Omaha. He also cn- jjagfii in the hotel Inisino--; at Council RIufTs. heiny for some time .1 liair partner in the HiulV City House. Tlie heautiful ami commanding position of the future site of Oniaha ; its plateau, where now stands the business portion of the town ; its numerous hills, especially Capitol Hill, one and all now ihicklv dotted with magnificent residences and picturesque grounds ; all these attractive features combined, impressed upon the far-seeing Brown the fact that this spot was destined to he the location of a great citv at some tlay. " Westward the star of empire takqs its wav." The great tide of travel was then, as it is now, towards the Occident. The site of Omaha was west of Council Blufts, and it was a well known tact tlial for years the cities on the line of the west- ern emigration which were located on the west bank of the streams had always soon eclipsed those on the east bank in growth. The -ite was near the river, and at that time the head of navigation on the Missouri. These facts also had great weight with the men who were to found the city. Mr. Brown, while superintending his ferry, frequently came o\cr to the Nebraska shore and looked over the location of the proposed town, the idea of starting which originated with himself. He made a claim in 1S53, which about covered the town site as it was after- wards laid out. His claim was the first made, and it was located at a time before any treaty was efVected with the Indians, which im- jiortant event did not transpire till the nv'xt year. Of course many of the people of Council Bluffs, who afterwards located at Omaha, undoubtedly took advantage of Mr. Brown's ferry to visit this lovely spot, either in excursions for pleasure, or in small prospecting parties, to get an idea of the situation with a view of making claims, and of carrying out, at the earliest practic- HISTOBF OF OMAHA. able moment, the project of Mr. Brown — the idea of which he had imparted to others — of foundini,^ a town, the future great city of the Missouri Valley. Among those, besides Mr. Brown, who favorably considered the enterprise, wore Dr. Enos Lowe, Jesse Lowe, Jesse Williams, and Joseph H. D. Street, all of whom resided at Kanesville or Council Bluffs. This was in June, 1S53. and on July 23d, 1S53, a steam ferry company, under the name of " The Council Blutts and Nebraska Ferrv Companv," was organized unJer the general corporation laws of Iowa, their charter to continue twenty years. The president was Dr. Enos Lowe, and the other members were Tootle & Jackson, S. S- Bayliss, Joseph II. D. Street. Henn and Williams, Samuel R. Curtis, Tanner and Downs, and others. Mr. Brown, not having means enough to carry out his scheme alone, had previously sold si.v-eighths of his ferry interest and of his claim to most of the above persons, and the organization of the Ferry Companv was the result, Mr. Brown still retaining his interest, which consisted of two-eighths. He afterwards sold one of these eighths to S. R. Curtis, who did not comply with the terms of purchase, and the land included in this share was accordingly reclaimed by Brown. Curtis, in the course of events, set up his claim to it again, and the result was, in after years, a long and tedious law-suit, which was finally compromised. Among those who crossed llie river in 1853, to prospect, was A. D. Jones, Tom Allen and Bill Allen, who came over in November, in a leaky scow, borrowed from Mr. Brown. One rowed, one steered, and the other had all he could do to bail out the water as fast as it came in. They landed down the river in the vicinity of where Boyd's packing house is now located. They there staked out their claims, the nortii line of Mr. Jones' claim being marked out on the north side of the jin-^ent residence of Herman Kount/.e. All that ///STU/Ci' OF OMAHA. land was \ov\% ago attached to the city proper in an addition. Mr. Jonos maintains tliat iiis was tlie first claim, and that he is entitled to the honor of being called the pioneer squatter and first settler; but there is a difference of opinion on this matter, as will be shown in tlie course of this truthful history. He was notified to leave by the Indian agent, Mr. Hepner, as the Indian title to the land had not been vet extingiished. Other claimants, too, were served the same wav, we suppose, and the command was obeyed. Mr. Jones then applied for the establishment of a post-otflce here, a piece of strategy to enable him to hold his claim. The applica- tion was made through J. D. Test, of Council Bluffs, and resulted successfully in the spring of 1S54. We have seen the original do- cuments, and therefore know of what we write. The correspondence was as follows : Washington City, May 6, 1S54. Dr. Tkst : — Yours of the loth ultimo, relative to Omaha City post-otfice, has been received. I got the office established to-day, and had A. D. Jones appointed postmaster. Yours truly, Bernhart Henn. Washington City, Mav 6, 1854. A. D. J(jNKs, Omaha City, Nebraska Tcr., Dear Sir: — Yours of the 15th instant has been received, but as the post route bill has already received final action, I cannot carry out your suggestion as to the route from Council Bluffs to Omaha City at this session. Perhaps, however, it is not necessarv, as it is already covered by the route I had established, last Congress, from Council Bluffs to Ft. Laramie, and although .said route has not been let, ^ou may get that part put in operation by petitioning the De- partment to do so ; which course I would suggest be adopted at HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 23 once. If 70U do so, send me the petition directed to Fairfield, and I will forward them. Yours truly, Bernhart Henn. This then must have heen the very first letter directed to Omaha City, and that, too, at a time before there was anybody livino- here and before the town was surveyed. -4 J/JSTOJn- OF OMAHA. CHAPTER IV. T 1 1 1<: INDIANS. KXriNGriSIIMF.NT OK THE INDIAN TITLK TO THE LAND — THE FON- TEXKLLE FAMILY — LOUAN FONTENELLE, CHIEF OF THE OMAHA9 HIS DEAIII \Xn UIKIAL A MAX SKIXXKI) ALIVE HY THE IN- PI \XS. RIN(; the month of Februarv, 1S54, Maj. Gatewood, Indian at^cnt ior the tribes in this vicinity, called them tjiicther at HcUcvue, which had been for a long time an Indian mission, and there discussed the subject of tlicir making a treaty by which they would yield u]-* . ^ ^^ . the title to their land. The treaties were made in K^^^KsS^ March and April, which resulted in the passage of the enabling act of Nebraska Territory in 1S54. Franklin Pierce was then Pre-ident, and George W. Manypenny, CoiTunissioner of Indian Artairs. The lril)es who signed the treaties were the Otoes, the Missouris, and the Omahas. Tlie terms of the treaty with each were liberal and satisfactory, and little or no trouble was experienced in their re- moval to the reservations provided for thi>m, the removal being ef- fected gradually within a year or two. Slion-ga-ska, or Logan Konteneile, who was the chief of the Omahas at this time, was a very intelligent man, and the history of the Fontenelle family, in this connection, will prove an interesting chapter to the reader. HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 25 Lucien Fontenelle, born in New Orleans about the year iSoo, of French parents, was a gentleman of good education, and one that possessed everv indication of having been well raised. He came to- this western country about the year 1S24, in the employ of Major Joshua Pilcher, and took an Omaha squaw — a high-toned belle of the tribe — for his wife. He was engaged in the Indian trade in 1S35, in the vicinity of Fort I^aramie with a Mr. Drips. The building. was standing at Bellevue until a few years ago, and it may be there yet, in which they stored their goods for the mountain trade. He treated his Indian wife very kindly, and gave his children a good education in St. Louis. The children left St. Louis in 1S36 or 1837, and resided at Bellevue with their inother. There were foiu* boys and one girl. In 1S39 Lucien Fontenelle abandoned his mountain trade, and lived with his family till his death, which occurred in the spring of 1S40, and was caused by the too excessive use of liquor, which brought on delirium tremens. For the following interesting facts concerning the P'ontenelle familv we are indebted to an " Old Pawnee," who has written several chap- ters of the early history of Nebraska for the Omaha Herald., at various times, and it is from one of these sketches th at we quote : " Logan, the oldest son, was a remarkable boy ; active, with quick perception, and beloved by all who knew him, but he imbibed something of the habit of his father, and was finally killed by the Sioux, but not till he had fought bravely to the last. Albert was a fine boy, of good disposition, had partially learned the blacksmith's trade, and at his death was Pawnee government smith, with John Snuffen. lie was thrown from a mule, which caused his death. Tccumseh was killed by Louis Neal (brother-in-law) in a drunken frolic. He was an intelligent man, but not naturally as agreeable as the other children. Ilcnry and Susan (Mrs. Ncal) were still living in 1870' a6 IllS'JOJir OF OMAHA. or iS-i, whon this sketch was written. Henry served as an appren- tice to tlu" \va'j;on husiness in St. Louis, and is very handy with tools ; in lact, thov were a remarkable family, had been well raised and were gentle in their manners. The mother was a remarkable ■woman, and in 1S34 performed a brave act. ••There was an Iowa Indian who headed a party of lowas to pay the Oinahas a frienc'ly visit, who were then living at or near the present site of Omaha City. After being well received and kindly treated bv the Omahas they left the village to return home, and near Bellevue met a small party of Omahas and killed some four of Mrs. Fontenelle's relatives, and stuck a spear through a half breed Omaha bov (after killing his mother) by the name of Karsener. Thev stuck the spear through the left breast, and pinned him to the ground. Some of the Indians said 'Don't kill that boy; he is a white bov.' The Iowa Indians replied, ' A white man's blood is the same to us as an Omaha's,' and left the boy pinned to the ground. "Mrs. Fontenelle from that time sought revenge on that Iowa, and made some two or three attempts to kill him, but did not succeed. At length the time came. At the Bellevue landing stood an old trading post, in which there were several buildings, with the Otoe, Omaha and Pawnee smith-shops and the houses of the employes, and Rev. Moses Merrill and family. This same Iowa, with others, was there, and one of the assistant smiths, by the name of Shaw, had procured a keg of whisky, of which he was so extremely fond that he took too much of the article, and the lowas broke open the shop and stole his keg. They imbibed so freely that they were getting up a jubilee, when Hannibal Dougherty, the agent's brother, took an axe, and broke the keg and spilled the whisky. There was an old Frenchman, by the name of Sharlo Malice, who got dead drunk sucking up the dirt. The Iowa Indian above mentioned, lay HISTORY OF OMAHA. 27 drunk in one of the buildings of the fort that stood endwise to the river, when Mrs. Fontenelle deliberately took an axe and knocked his brains out, then jumped some ten feet out of a four-light win- dow, down the bank, and ran home. That night war was expected, but the lowas showed no fight, cowardly returning home after hur- rying him who received his just fate. " Mr. Fontenelle w^as then up at his fort, in the mountains, and Major Pilcher had her taken to the village of the Omahas, who were then living at the Black Bird hills, near where they now dwell. Some two months after Mr. Fontenelle came to Bellevue and sent an escort of Omahas for his wife, to whom he paid about $1,000 worth of presents for bringing her down." Logan Fontenelle, the son of Lucien Fontenelle, became chief of the Omahas. He was of medium height, of swarthy complexion black hair and dark piercing eyes. At the time of his death, which occured while bravely battling against the Sioux, he was thirty years of age. Concerning his death and burial S. D. Bangs' Centennial History of Sarpy County contains the following account: "In the middle of the summer of 1S55 a procession might have been seen wending its way towards the old home of Logan Fontenelle on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri river and above the stone quarries at Bellevue. It moved slowly along, led by Louis San-so- eee, who was driving a team with a wagon in which, wrapped in blankets and buffalo robes, was all that was mortal of Logan Fon- tenelle, the chief of the Omahas. On either side the Indian chiefs and braves mounted on ponies, with the squaws and relatives of the deceased, expressed their grief in mournful outcries. His remains were taken to the house which he had lefi a short time before, and now, desolate and afflicted, they related the incidents of his death. He had been killed by the Sioux on the Loup Fork thirteen days before, while on a hunt with the Omahas. Having left the main //ISTORr or OMAHA. bodv with San-po-see in pursuit of game, and while in a ravine that hid them from the sight of tlie Omalias, they came in contact with a band of Sioux on the war-path, who attacked them. San-so-see escaped in some thick underbrush while Fontenelle stood his ground, flighting desperately and killing three of his adversaries, when he fell, pierced with fourteen arrows, and the prized scalp-lock was taken hv his enemies. The Omahas did not recover his body until the next day. " It was the wish of Col. Sarpy to have him interred on the blufis. fronting the house in which he had lived, and a coffin was made which proved too small without unfolding the blankets which enveloped him, and as he had been dead so long, this was a dis- agreeable task. After putting him in the coffin, his wives who wit- nessed the scene uttered the most piteous cries, cutting their ankles until the blood r-.n in sircams. An old Indian woman who looked like the Witch of Endor, standing between the house and the grave, lifted her arms to Heaven and shrieked her maledictions upon the heads of his murderers. Colonel Sarpy, Stephen Decatur, Mrs. Sloan, an Otoe half breed, and others stood over the grave where his body was being lowered, and while Decatur was reading the impressive funeral service of the Episcopal church, he was interrupted by Mrs. Sloan, who stood by his side and in a loud tone told him that ' a man of his character ought to be ashamed of himself to make a mockery of the Christian religion by reading the solemn services ot the church." He proceeded, however, until the end. After the whites, headed by Col. Sarpy, had paid their last respects, the Indi- ans filed around the grave, and made a few demonstrations of sor- row ; the whites dispersing to their homes, and the Indians to relate their own exploits and the daring of their dead chief." As this chapter is headed "The Indians," we know of no more appropriate place than right here to relate an event that occurred HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 29 about 18^2, at a place on the military road, about five miles beyond the Elkhorn. It was the actual skinning of a man alive by the Pawnee Indians, and as it is the only act of the kind probably ever per- formed in this vicinity, it is well worth recording. Gen. Estabrook informs us that he happened to know the man, who was the victim of the Pawnees' wrath. His name was Rhines, a silversmith, who was once a resident of Geneva, Wisconsin, but who shortly previous to his coming west, en route to California, lived at Delavan, in the same State. A man bearing the same name as Gen. Estabrook, of whom he was a distant relative, was one of the party, and wrote back to Wisconsin an account of the horrible affair before Gen. Es- tabrook ever expected to reside so near the scene of its occurence. It appears that Rhines had made a foolish boast, before starting from home, to the effect that he would shoot the first Indian he saw. In due time the party arrived in Nebraska, and camped one evening on the bank of a stream, which at that time was nameless. As the train was about ready to move out the next morning, a small party of young Indians, who had come across the river from the Pawnee villa<^e on the opposite side, appaoached the encampment. These were the first Indians the party had seen, and Rhines was thereupon re- minded of his boast. He immediately picked up his rifle, took aim at a young squaw, and shot her dead. The news was carried to the Pawnee village at once, and the party of whites were soon surrounded by the exasperated Indians who demanded and obtained possession of Rhines. After stripping him, they tied him to a wagon wheel, and then commenced to skin him alive. The poor wretch piteously begged of both his own party and the Indians to shoot him and thus end his terrible sufferings, but the remainder of the whites were compelled by the Indians to stand by and witness the torture of their comrade without being able to render him any assistance except at tj^e risk of their own lives. Tiie skinning process was 30 JI IS TORI" OF OMAHA. fiiKillv cumplotoil, and the unfortunate man survived the operation but a lew moments, durini^ which he was cut to pieces by the squaws with their mattocks. The emigrants were then allowed to move on. Since that day the stream, upon the banks of which this barbarous deed occurred, has been called the Rawhide. This story is known to nearly all the old settlers of Cmaha and Nebraska to be an actual fact. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 31 CHAPTER V. OMAHA'S BIRTH PASSAGE OF THE TERRITORIAL ORGANIC ACT THE SURVEY OF OMAHA FOURTH OF JULY PICNIC, 1S54, ON CAPITOL HILL THE SIGNIFICATION OF THE NAMES OF OMAHA AND NEBRASKA. HE bill organizing and admitting Nebraska as a ter- ritory soon followed the extinguishment of the Indian title, it being passed by Congress May 23d, 1854,]^ after a fierce and angry struggle, the circumstances of which have not yet been erased from the public mind as this fight was but the forerunner of the efforts soon afterwards made to dissever the Union, the result being the great civil war. The time had now come, after the passage of the territorial or- ganic act, for the P'erry Company to lay out their contemplated town. For this purpose they employed A. D. Jones to make the survey of the site, covering the claims of the company'. Mr. Jones surveyed it from North Omaha Creek to South Omaha Creek as these small streams arc now called. The Omahas had lived along the former, originally named simply Omaha Creek, and the Otoes along the latter, which was formerly called Otoe Creek. The work of surveying occupied the greater portion of June, and tlie first part of July. Mr. C. H. Downs assisted in the work by carrying the chain and driving the stakes. The city was laid out in 3^2 blocks, each being 264 feet square ; the streets 100 feet wide, except Cap- HISTORY OF OMAHA. itol Avi'iUK'. wliicli was niaclL' uo feet wide, hut which was given no allev ill tiie blocks on each side of it. The lots -were staked out 66 bv 1 \i feet, with the exception of business lots which were made onlv jj feet wide. Two squares were reserved — ^Jefferson Square, 264 bv jSo feet, and Capitol Square, on Capitol Hill, 600 feet square. A park of seven blocks, bounded bv Eighth and Ninth, and Jackson and Davenport streets, was laid out, but was afterwards given up to business purposes, being now occupied by the Union Pacific Headquarters, Wyoming Hotel, the Cozzens House, and other buildings. During the latter part of the survey, the 4th of July, 1854, was celebrated by a picnic on Capitol Hill by a quite a party of excur- sionists from Council 151ufis, among whom were several persons who soon afterwards located in Omaha — Hadley D. Johnson, A. D. Jones and wife, A. J. Hanscom and wife, William D. Brown and wife, Har- rison Johnson, Mr. Seely and wife, Thomas Davis and wife and chil- dren, Fred. Davis and his sister, who is now Mrs. Herman Kountze, and several others. Addresses were made by Hadley D. Johnson, A. D. Jones and one or two others. It has been handed down to posterity that a general good time, as the phrase goes, was had by everybody, and the event still lingers in the memory of those who participated. The map of the survey was lithographed in St. Louis, and one of the original copies is now in the possession of Byron Reed. In one corner is the following note : " Lots will be given away to per- sons who will improve them — private sale will be made on the premises. A newspaper, the Omaha Arrow, is published weeklv at this place ; a brick building, suitable for the Territorial Legislature, is in process of construction, and a steam mill and brick hotel will be completed in a few weeks." Dated, September 1st, 1S54. Omaha was the name given to the new town ! Gen. Estabrook is our authority for saying that it was probablv HIS TORT OF OMAHA. adopted by the Ferry Company simply because it was pretty and was borne by the nearest tribe of Indians in the \icinity, tlie Mahas. It is said by some that the honor of suggesting the adoption of tlie name belongs to Jesse Lowe, now dead, while others claim that to J. E. Johnson, then of Kanesville, is due the credit of naming the town. Aside from its prettiness it has a meaning full of significance — '■'' Above all others upon a stream T Mr. A. D. Jones, when secretary of the Omaha Old Settlers' Association, now extinct, wrote in iS6S to the Rev. William Ham- ilton, who was the first missionary in Nebraska, inquiring as to the origin and meaning of the word Omaha. Mr. Hamilton says in his reply, dated Omaha Mission, March 4, 186S : "The Omahas en- camped above on the stream, E-ro-ma-ha, contracted into O-ma-ha, which means 'above" with reference to a stream, or. 'above on a stream.' To understand the word, I must add that they have three words translated 'above.'' Mangre, with reference to height, air; A- mer-e-ta, with reference to a country bordering on or near a stream ; E-ro-ma-ha, with reference to where your position is." I Hence the natural inference is that Omaha is " E-ro-ma-ha — above all others upon a stream." * "And so we were," said Gen. Estabrook, in his Centennial his- torical address on the Fourth of July, 1S76, "and so we have been from that day to this, and so we are now, above all other towns in importance, on the stream, and so, aided by the same good genius, we shall ever remain." In this connection it will not be out ol place to give the mean- ing of the name Nebraska. The Platte river was also called Nebraska, which is an Indian word signifying Ne, water, and braska, wide or shallow. So we have "shallow-water" as the meaning, which is very appropriate as applied to the river referred to, and from which the Territory took its name. 34 HIS TOR 2' OF OMAHA. chaptp:r VI. FIRST INCIDENTS. TH^ FIRST BRICK-YARD — COMMENCEMENT OF THE STATE HOUSE FIRST ACTUAL SETTLERS — FIRST BUILDING, THE "CLAIM HOUSE" — FIRST PREACHER AND I-IRST RELIGIOUS SERVICES FIRST SAW- MILL FIRST HALF-DOZEN HOUSES FIRST DANCE FIRST WHITE CHILD FIRST MARRIAGE FIRST GRAVE FIRST WHITE BURIAL FIRST CASE OF DELIRIUM TREMENS FIRST PHYSICIAN FIRST LAWYERS FIRST STEAM FERRY BOAT FIRST DRY GOODS STORE. ;\.VING laid out the town site of Omaha, the Ferry Company's next move was 'to give it the other im- portant features of a town, namely, people and build- ings. They induced Benjamin Winchester, of Kanes- ville or Council Bluffs, to start a brick-yard — which was the first on this side of the river — for the pur- pose of supplying the brick for the already contem- plated building of the State House, for the Ferry Company felt pretty confident, even then, of having their embryo city designated by the first territorial legislature, as the capital of Nebraska, and they did not go amiss, as after events 43roved. Winchester, being overcome by misfortunes, was not able to carry on his contract, and soon sold his yard to the Ferry Company, who were afterwards obliged to obtain the necessary brick for the State House from Kanesville, from which place they were hauled by Harrison Johnson, who is now a prominent citizen and an honest granger in this county. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 35 It was on the morning of the nth of July. 1S54, that Mr. and Mrs. Newell came over from Kanesville. Mi". Newell had been engaged to work in the brick-yard, and his wife to cook for the laborers. William P. Snowden and wife followed them over in the afternoon of the same day. Both parties crossed the Missouri river on William D. Brown's flat-boat ferry, a fact that both Mr. and Mrs. Snowden distinctly remember, as the steam ferry boat had not then begun running. Mr. and Mrs. Newell remained only three weeks, which left to Mr. and Mrs. Snowden the honor of being the first • actual settlers in Omaha, a fact that no one can deny. They had come to stay, and stay they did, even unto this day, being both honored and respected citizens and the parents of a large family of children. Let it be borne in mind by the reader, that previous to the arri- val of the above mentioned persons, there had been no one living here at all, although there were many who had claims staked out. Cam. Reeves and family came next, then P. G. Peterson, and then others followed rapidly. Many of our old settlers, however did not locate permanently at Omaha till late in the fall of 1855, and many did not come till 1856 and 1857. Although they had been on the ground before, more or less frequently, they had lived at Kanesville in the meantime. Some, who are nevertheless consid- ered old settlers, did not come till after the above dates. The Ferry Company built the first house in Omaha. It was a rude log structure, and was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Snowden, who kept it as a sort of hotel or boarding house during that sum- mer and fall, more especially for the employes of the company. It was located on Twelfth and Jackson streets, and was called by the high sounding name of the St. Nicholas, but was better known as the "Claim House." Besides being the first house, this was the first hotel in Omaha. 36 HIS TORI' OF OMAHA. The I'lrst reliiifious scr\ices in Omaha were held at the St. Nicholas hotel, the residence of Mr. Snowden, at whose solicitation the Rev. Mr. Cooper came over from Council Bluft's to preach. He was a Methodist preacher, and hence that churcli can justly claim the honoi of being the Hrst religious organization represented on the ground. The first services were held Sunday, August 13th, 1854. There was a small hut appreciative congregation, there being not over twentj-five persons in attendance, and they mostly resided at Council Bluffs, intending, however, to remove to Omaha in a short time. Among those present were Mr. and Mrs. Snowden, A. D. Jones, who led the singing, Mr. Leonard and wife, and "Aleck" Davis and daughter, the latter two gentlemen being brothers-in-law of Samuel Bayliss, of Council Bluft's. Rev. Mr. Cooper labored in the vineyard of the Lord on Sun- days, and worked in Mr. Jones' stone quarry, now owned by John Green, on week days, having obtained permission to open it, and the stone was used in the foundation of the Western Exchange building, now occupied by Caldwell, Hamilton & Co.'s bank. Mr. Davis, in company with Mr. Bayliss, built and owned the first saw-mili, which was located in the vicinity of where John Green's flour mill now stands. Mr Thomas Davis, the father of Fred. Davis of this city, afterwards became the owner of this mill. The second house in Omaha was built by Mr. Gay lord, at Burt and Twenty-second streets; the third was the "Big 6," a sod-house or " dug-out," which was occupied as a grocery and saloon by Lewis and Clancy, north side of Chicago, between Thirteenth and Four- teenth streets. The fourth house was the log dwelling erected by Mr. Snowden, on the west side of Tenth street, just south of Thiele's garden, the brick house of Mr. Crowell now covering the spot. The lot was given to Mr. Snowden by the Ferry Company on condition that he would HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 37 build on it. It was the first private dwelling house that was com- pleted, and Mr. and Mrs. Snowden moved into it after having kept the St. Nicholas for three months. The pioneers had a grand house- warming there, tripping the light fantastic toe with more grace and agility than they do now, and some of them have not yet forgot- ten their fancy steps or ho\v to cut the " pigeon's wing." The first dance was at the house-warming held in this house, under tlie auspices of Mr. and Mrs. Snowden. Quilts and aprons answered the purposes of doors and windows, and for seats they had rough boards. It was a very primitive affair, Quite a goodly number of persons assembled to join in the festive dance. Among those in attendance besides Mr. and Mrs. Snowden, were A. D. Jones, Ed. Burdell, who afterwards built the "City Hotel," at the south-west corner of Eleventh and Harney streets, Alex. Davis and daughters, and Mr. Leonard and wife. Mr. Leonard, who was an amateur fiddler, furnished the music for the occasion and did the "calling oft"." The ball opened with the "French Four." a popular figure in those days, and it was led b}' Mr. Snowden and Mr. Jones, and all went merry as a marriage bell, there being no sleep till morn. Mr. and Mrs. Snowden lived in this house for tAvo years, and the building was standing up to 1870. The F'erry Company had offered a lot to the first lady who settled in their new town, and Mrs. Snowden in due time secured tiie prize, and afterwards disposed of it. The next iiouse put uj) was built by P. G. Peterson, on tiie west side of Tenth street, between P'arnham and Harney. It stands there yet, and is occupied as a laundry by some colored people. The sixth house was erected by Samuel E. and William Rogers, south side of Douglas, between Tenth and Eleventh streets. L»;JH5'71) 3S II IS TORI' OF OMAHA. The old State IU)use on Ninth, between Farnham and Douglas, ■was the first brick structure. Other buildings followed, and many of the old landmarks remain, to which we shall refer in another chapter. The first white child born in Omaha was Miss Margaret Ferry, who came into the world in the month of October, 1854. ^'^^ "^^'^^ the dau^'hter of James Ferry, who laid the first stone for the foun- dation of the old State House. It is claimed by some, however, that the honor of being the first white child born in Omaha belongs to William Nebraska Reeves. He was born in that portion of the cit}- known as Park Wild — Herman Kountze's place — and which spot is still indicated by Park Wild avenue. Reeves is now a young man and lives with his mother out on the Elkhorn. The first marriage was that of John Logan to Miss Caroline Mosier. Mr. and Mrs. Logan still reside in Omaha, at present at the northeast corner of Fourteenth street and Capitol avenue. The first grave in Omaha was dug by William P. Snowden, where Turner Hall now stands, for the remains of an old Otoe squaw, who had been abandoned to die by the roadside. How ap- propriate are the words of Whittier : " Behind the scared squaw's birch canoe The steamer smokes and raves ; And city lots are staked for sale Above old Indian graves." The first burial among the whites was that of Mr. M. C. Gay- lord's child, at a spot on Capitol Hill some little distance north-west of where the High School building now stands. The first case of delirium tremens was that ot Mr. Todd, who erect- ed in the vicinity of the St. Nicholas the first frame house or rather shanty, and stocked it with groceries, " dry and wet," principally the latter, whiskv being his chief article of trade. Todd used to say, in HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 39 a rather pompous style, that he " went East " for his goods — and so he did, for he purchased them in Council Bluffs. He was his own best customer, and he drank so much of his own whisky, that his nose soon became as red as the red flag that he hung out for a sign. He drank early and often and late. The "ardent" soon got the better of him, and gave him the "'shakes" so fearfully that it shook the life out of him so that one day he had to lie down and die. He was buried near where the Union Pacific track crosses Thirteenth street. To him belongs the honor of being the first drunkard in Omaha, as well as the first man who died here — and his memory is entitled to some respect as he exhibited some decency in ceasing to exist under the circumstances. The following obituary poetry was written by George W. Childs, of the Philadelphia Ledger, at our special request in a letter to him stating the circumstances, and that we wanted something in his best style to honor the memory of Mr. Todd in this history : "Poor old Mr. Todd,— he Loved too well his " toddy ;" 'Twas the intoxicating cup That made him turn his toes up ; 'Tis sad to think He died of drink ' And was buried 'neath the sod. Gone to meet his God." Dr. George L. Miller was the first physician. He came here in the fall of 1854, from Syracuse, N. Y., accompanied by his father, Col. Lorin Miller. Dr. Miller's first patient was an Omaha Indian pappoose, and it is said that the child died. The Doctor upon being summoned to attend the case, answered the call with alacrity, being guided to the camp on the bottoms by the redskin who had been sent for that purpose. The Doctor gives his reminiscence of the aflair as follows : "Exactly how the afore- said brave jumped from the path and disappeared in the grass without 40 JUS TORT OF OMAHA. a word of explanation, not even so much as a grunt ; how moments seemed hours that we stood, speechless and motionless, ' each partic- ular hair" sadlv agitated at the roots, waiting for his return, or for death, or for whatever else might come ; how he did return, and with the wave of the hand beckoned us to follow on among the wigwams, and how we followed accordingly, not daring to run, until we reached the right one ; how Mr. Indian shot through the tri- angular door, like the arrow from the bow — and how diligently the medicine-man struggled to get through the little opening, by main strength and awkwardness, and finally did it ; precisely how powerful was the sense of relief from ugly, creeping sensations around the head and throat, when a unanimous grunt from two squaws and the three Indians gave him welcome, with smiles, to a cushion on the ground, as a seat of state ; how the inevitable pipe and kinni- kinick was passed from the mouths of the aforesaid Indians (who had just dined on dog- soup,) to our own ; and how sweet was the taste of friendship through its fumes, we cannot stop to particularize. It was the case of a young physician, just out of city life, practicing among the Indians tor the first time." A. J,. Poppleton and O. D. Richardson were the first practicing lawyers, and they both took an active part in making the first laws of the Territory, as they were members of the first legislature, in which they did good work for Omaha. Gov. Richardson arrived here in October, 1S54, and was soon followed by Mr. Poppleton, both coming from about the same vicinity in Michigan. They roomed together during the first winter in Omaha, and therefore have been called the first law firm. A. D. Jones, who was a little of everything in those days, was also a lawyer, and was here' before either of the above gentlemen, but as we understand the matter, he was a lawyer more in name than in practice. The first steam ferry boat put in operation here by the Ferry HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 41 Company was the "Gen. Marion," which they had purchased at Alton, Illinois, and which superseded Brown's flat-boat ferry. It was not until late in the fall of 1854, that it began running. It was "of ample power and dimensions to clear the track from day to day " as we learn from an old newspaper advertisement. The first dry goods store in Omaha was that of Tootle & Jackson ; among the other general stores that followed were those of James Megeath and John R. Porter. 42 HISTORY OF OMAHA. CHAPTER VII. THE ARROW, THE FIRST OMAHA NEWSPAPER — THE PROCESS OF MAKING A WEST- ERN TOWN — THE FIRST EDITOR — HIS ROMANTIC MARRIAGE HIS SANCTUM — ILLUSTRATION — HIS DREAMY PREDICTION: "A NIGHT IN OUR SANCTUM." &C., &C. JMONG the institutions that aided greatly to give Cmaha a more than local notoriety in her infancy, was the Omaha Arrorv^ the first newspaper published here, the first number of which is dated July 28, 1854, soon after the survey had been completed. It was a four page, six column sheet, the columns being rather ''^^^ky^$^ wide, and we are informed in a line immediately under the head, that it was " a family newspaper, devoted to the arts, sciences, general literature, agriculture, and politics ;" its politics being Democratic. It took in a wide field certainly, and if these general features are any criterion the Arrow was a paper that cir- culated among people of social refinement and literary culture even at that early day. The Arrow was printed at Council Blufts at the office of the Bugle, probably with the same type, and hence we find a large number of Council Bluffs items and advertisements in it. It was distributed to the few persons in Omaha on the day of its publica- tion, and sent abroad as an advertisement of the place. We notice that it is dated " Omaha C//y," which reminds us,_in this connection, of HISTORY OF OMAHA. 43 a* paragraph \i' Hon. J. M. Woohvorth's volume, " Nebraska in 1S57." He savs : "The process of making a town, and forming a company is very simple. Three, four, or half-a-dozen men form a company, claim a tract of vacant land, whenever they can find it, give the spot some name w-ith ^ city'' attached to it, as a tail, fill up one, two, three hundred, or any number of certificates of stock, and then enter upon their traffic in them. This forms a fancy stock which is worthy of Wall Street itself. Not that there are not towns gotten up in this way, which will have merit. How true is this of Omaha City, and Bellevue and Nebraska City and many other towns, where lots are of great value, and of towns like Omaha, whose stock is yet in market. We speak of these towns, called ' kiting ' towns, and which out here, where land is abundant, answer the same purpose as the coal companies of New York." So it is with nearly all new western towns. In their infancy they fly "their kite," to which is attached the w-ord "c//y" as a tail ; but when they grow to some size and importance, when they can speak for themselves, they cut oft" the tail. Omaha retained her tail even up to 1S57, and probably a year or two later. But let us return from our little digression to the subject in hand, the Arrow. J. E. Johnson and J. W, Pattison were the editors and proprietors. Johnson was the business man of the concern. He was a Mormon and had three or four wives. He lived in Council Blufts and was engaged in several kinds of business at the same time. He practiced law, ran a blacksmith shop, was an insurance agent, and carried on a general merchandizing business, by all of which he was enabled to support his three or four wives and their poor re- lations. He was a lively man on general principles. He left this part of the country in 1S56, and went to Salt Lake, where he now resides. Pattison remained in Omaha for some two or three years, and 44 II IS TORT OF OMAHA. then disappeared from the scene. lie was married to a Miss Hen- rietta Redner, and the marriage took place during a heavy rainstorm under a large tree on the Elkhorn, the Rev. Silas J. Francis tying the knot. Another couple, P'rank Fox and Harriet Whittier, were married at the same time and place. This programme was in ac- cordance with the Meas of the romantic Pattison, but the double wedding was not quite so romantic an affair as it might have been had it been all sunshine instead of clouds and soaking rain. The last heard of Pattison was that he was editing a paper somewhere in Missouri. There were only twelve numbers of the Arrow published, covering the period from July 28th to November loth, 1S54, which shows that it occasionally skipped a week, probably when the supply 01 paper ran out, which is not an unusual occurrence in a pioneer printing office. Mr. Byron Reed has in his possession the whole series, with the exception of No. 6. He purchased them of a gentleman now residing in Salt Lake, formerly living in Omaha, pacing the high price of $30 for them. He has had them bound into a volume, and prizes them very highly as being among his most rare and valuable historical records. He has allowed us free access to them, and we have thus been enabled to obtain a great deal of interesting history. The first number of the Arrow contains on the first page a portion of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which is concluded in the second issue. Turning to the editorial page we find the motto, " The people — the sovereigns of the soil," at the head of the column. Pattison, who was the real editor of the Arrow, was a lawyer and general business agent. His card in the Arrow informs us that he was located at Omaha, but the fact is that he then lived at Council Bluffs. We have every reason to suppose that his practice did not in the least interfere with his editorial duties, to perform which he HIS TOR r OF OMAHA. 45 evidently had ample time. He was a vivid and entertaining writer, as some of his articles in the Arrozv prove. Pattison was a fanciful writer, as will be seen bv his salijta- tory editorial, as follows : " Well, strangers, friends, patrons, and the good people generally, wherever in the wide world your lot may be cast, and in whatever clime this. Arrow may reach you, here we are upon Nebraska soil seated upon the stump of an ancient oak, which serves for an editorial chair, and the top of our badly abused beaver for a table, we pur- pose editing a leader for the Omaha Arrow. "An elevated table land surrounds us ; the majestic Missouri just oft' on our left goes sweeping its muddy course adown towards the Mexican Gulf, whilst the background of the pleasing picture is filled up with Iowa's loveliest, richest the first omaha editor and his scenery. Away upon our sanctum. left, spreading far away in the distance lies one of the loveliest sections of Nebraska. Yon rich, rolling, wide-spread and beautiful prairie dotted with timber looks lovely enough just now as heaven's free sun-light touches oft" in beauty the lights and shades to be literally entitled the Eden land of the world, and inspire us with flights of fancy upon this antiquated beaver, but it won't pay. There sticks our axe in the trunk of an old oak, whose branches have for years 46 HIS TOR 2' OF OMAHA. been I'aiuioil bv tlie breezes tliat constantly sweep from over the oft-times flower-dotted prairie lea, and from which we purpose making a loji for our cabin claim."' Pattison's editorial, " A Night in our Sanctum," is a well written article, and is well worth reproducing, in order to show by way of comparison how truly the predictions concerning Omaha in his "dream" have been fulfilled. The article is as follows: "A Night in our Sanctum. — Last night we slept in our sanc- tum — the starry decked heaven for a ceiling, and Mother Earth for a flooring. It was a glorious night and we were tired from the day's exertions. Far away on different portions of the prairie glim- mered the camp fires of our neighbors, the Pawnees, Omahas or that noble and too often imappreciated class of our own people known as pioneers or so'.iatters. We gathered around our little camp fire,, talked of times of the past, of the pleasing present, and of the glo- rious future which the march of civilization would open in the land whereon we sat. The new moon was just sinking behind the dis- tant prairie roll, but slightly dispelling the darkness which crept over our loved and cherished Nebraska land. We thought of dis- tant friends and loved ones who stretched upon beds of downy ease little appreciated the unalloyed pleasure, the heaven-blessed comfort, that dwelt with us in this far-oft' land. No busy hum of the bustling world served to distract our thoughts. Behind us was spread our buffalo robe in an old Indian trail which was to serve as our bed and bedding. The cool night wind swept in cooling breezes around us, deep laden with the perfume of a thousand-hued and varied flowers. Far away upon our lea came the occasional howl of the prairie wolves. Talk of comfort ; there was more of it in one hour of our sanctum camp life and of camp life generally upon Nebraska soil, than in a whole life of fashionable, pampered world in the settlements, and individually we would not have exchanged HISTORY OF OMAHA. 47 our sanctum for any of those of our brethren of the press who boast of its neatness and beauty of artful adornment. "The night stole on and we in the most comfortable manner in the world — and editors have a faculty of making themselves com- fortable together — crept between art and nature — our blanket and buffalo, to sleep and perchance to dream, ' of battles, sieges, fortunes and perils, the imminent breech.' To dreamland we went. The busy hum of business from factories and the varied branches of mechan- ism from Omaha city reached our ears. The incessant rattle of in- numerable drays over the paved streets, the steady tramp of ten thousand of an animated, enterprising population, the hoarse orders fast issued from the crowd of steamers upon the levee loading with the rich products of the State of Nebraska and unloading the fruits, species and products of other climes and soils greeted our ears. Far away from toward the setting sun came telegraphic dispatches of improvements, progress and moral advancement upon the Pacific coast. Cars full freighted with teas, silks, &c., were arriving from thence and passing across the stationary channel of the Missouri river with lightning speed hurrying on to the Atlantic seaboard. The third express train on the Council Bluffs and Galveston R. R. came thumdering close by us with a shrill whistle that brought us to our feet knife in hand. We rubbed our eyes, looked into the darkness beyond to see the flying train. They had vanished and the shrill second neigh of our lariated horses gave indication of the danger near. The hum of business, in and around the city, had also vanished and the same rude camp fires were before us. We slept again and daylight stole upon us refreshed and ready for another day's labor." Pattison's dreamy predictions have been more than fulfilled in the building and completion of the great trans - continental railroad, the Union and (."cntral Pacific, and half a dozen or more other lines; 4S HTSTOHl' OF OMAHA. and in the rapid growtli of Omaha to an important and beautiful citv and commercial metropolis of 25,000 inhabitants. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 49 CHAPTER YIII. OMAHA'S PROGRESS— ITEMS FROM THE ARROW. THE NEWSPAPER AS A HISTORIAN DEMANDS OF THE INDIANS SULPHLR SPRINGS — THE "BIG 6" COUNCIL BLUFFS AND OMAHA STAGE— POSTMASTER JONES AND HIS HAT— ILLUSTRATION— DIS- TINGUISHED ARRIVALS, GOV. BURT AND SECRETARY CUMING DEATH OF THE FORMER — ARRIVAL OF BIRD B. CHAPMAN AND DR. MILLER. )^T is a fact that the best historian of the events of any particular period in these modern days is the newspaper _it is the mo>t faithful chronicler of daily occurrences— and therefore no apology is needed for our frequent reference to the Arrow as authority, nor for the repro- duction of interesting items from its local columns, ■ y, showing the progress of the town during the publication """"^^ of the paper in the summer of 1S54. Among other interesting items which are found in the first number of the Arrow, July 28, 1854, is the following : "Delegate to Congress— It is expected that H. D. Johnson and Major Gatewood will be the two opposing candidates for delegates to Congress." But the coming man proved to be Bird B. Chapman, who came all the way from Ohio to be elected as Nebraska's first delegate to Congress. "The Indians," says the Arrozv, "require $10 from each settler for the right to build and make improvements upon the lands for which 50 HISTORY OF OMAHA. thcv have not yet received pavment nor rclinciuished their rights. \Vc consider tliis a just demand, and for ourselves have complied. The amount should be paid only to Logan Fontenelle (the chief), 11. D. Johnson, or ourselves." I'he survey of Omaha City, as made by A. D. Jones, is noticed at considerable length A. D. Jones was a lawyer as well as a sur- vevor, and we find his "shingle," in the shape of a card, hung out among the advertisements in the Arrow. He was not, however, regularly admitted to the Nebraska bar until there was a bar to be admitted to, which was not till some time afterwards, when he got his certificate on motion of Gen. Estabrook, who did a great deal of such motioning in those days. However, we apprehend that Mr. Jones was never called to account for practicing without a certificate of admission, as there was not so much " red tape " then as there is now. In the second number of the Arrotv we find the editor "again seated upon the green sward, 'neath the tent of his friend W. Clancy, whose hospitality he is enjoying, with an inverted nail keg for a table, and feeling as comfortable as if seated upon a soft cushioned sofa, with all the comforts of a fashionable life surrounding him." Pattison, it seems, could easily accommodate himself to circumstances. Rev. Peter Cooper is announced to preach at the residence of Mr. Snowden on Sunday, the 13th inst., [July] at 2 o'clock, p. m., to which the citizens of Bluft" City are respectfully invited to attend. James A. Jackson advertises for "bids to be received until the 15th of August, for furnishing 175 perch of stone for foundation to be delivered in Omaha, the quarry being about one mile from the place of delivery." The Atroxv of September ist, 1S54, in its "leader" on Omaha City, says that it will be and deserves to be the future capital of of Nebraska, as a Territory and State. HISTORY OF OMAHA. Even at that early day Sulphur Springs had been discovered, and was visited by the " old settlers " then as frequently as it is now by the citizens of Omaha, and its water was imbibed with an appreci- ble relish, as we should infer from the Arro'ivs notice of it. A fair idea of the activity and progress of Omaha, at this par- ticular period, may be obtained from the following extract from the Arro'v of Sept. Sth, 1S54 : '"The sound of axe, hammer and other tools are daily heard in and around this eligible city site. Two stores both doing a good business, are in successful operation, and in a few weeks one of the best steam saw-mills in the west will be in full blast by us here. In connection therewith, the enterprising company purpose starting a good flouring mill ; the engine ordered for the saw mill will be of suiflcient power for both. A good sub- stantial hotel will soon be ready for the reception of visitors and boarders. The work on the other prominent buildings is progressing rapidly. It really does one's heart good to see the young American progress and go-aheaditiveness which characterize Omaha City." The ^ame paper informs us that " Mr. J. A. Jackson will in a few days be in reception of a large amount of good lumber for building purposes ;" also, " some ten or twelve buildings are going up in Omaha City next week. Hurrah ! for the march of civ- ilization is playing wild with this glorious country. But we need mechanics prodigiously to push along with railroad speed," says the sanguine and enthusiastic editor, who in another place goes into ec- stacies over Mr. Winchester's brick. He had seen a good many brick in his day, but none better than those manufactured by Win- chester. "Our friends, the Omahas," says the Arro-v, "express a willing- ness to be removed to their new hunting ground and we sincerely trust steps will be immediately taken to secure the much-desired object." 52 HIS TORT OF OMAHA. T. JelVcrvs & Co. announce that theii- "steam saw-mill, two and a half miles from the city, on the bottom, is now in successful operation." William Clancy, in a card, respectfully informs the settlers w^ and around Omaha City, that he is prepared at the sign of the " Big 6," near the j :M-ing, to accommodate them with any article, provisions, &c. — we suppose the " .Sec." meant liquid refreshments — at as reasonable rates as may be secured elsewhere, and as a special inducement he adds that " a good fresh drink of sulphur water, from his celebrated spring, can at all times be obtained there." We sup- pose the sulphur water was bottled and brought down from the spring, as the "Big 6" was located on the north side of Chicago, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, and was a popular resort for the pioneers of Omaha who met there to discuss matters of public importance and interest, to hold public meetings, and to sample Mr. Clancy's liquids, especially the sulphur water. It is said that the sulphur water in those days was so strong that it had to be diluted with " fire-water," as the Indians called it, but better known among the whites as Bourbon, or rye, or plain corn-juice. They generally drank the "fire-water" first, and the sulphur water afterwards, thus allowing the process of dilution to take place after the liquids had reached the receptacle commonly called the stomach. And it is a fact that a few of the citizens of Omaha follow this practice even unto this modern day. Such, alas ! is the force of example. The Arrozv of September 22A notices the arrival of " W. N. Byers, formerly of Muscatine, Iowa. He is an old stager on the Oregon frontier and brings with him one of the best solar compasses for field surveying in the West. He purposes making our soil his home." In 1856 or 1S57 we find Mr. Byers associated with Hon. A. J. HIS TORI' OF OMAHA. 53 Poppleton as a lawyer, the firm being Poppleton & Bjers. It was in 1S59, during the Pike's Peak excitement, that Mr. Byers departed for Colorado. Mr. Poppleton still resides in Omaha, and is one of the ablest lawyers in the country. From the Arro-v of September 29th we learn that M. W. Rob- inson had put on a tri-weekly line of stages between Council Bluffs and Omaha ; and we are informed " that persons may receive the Omaha City mail matter fo^- the present from the P. M., A. D. Jones, at Mr. Clancy's provision establishment every Tuesday, Thurs- day and Sunday evenings, shortly after the arrival of the Council Bluffs and Omaha Citv stage." POSTMASTER JONES WITH HIS HAT FOR A POST-OFFCE. Mr. Jones, our first postmaster, be it remembered, used to carry the mail in his hat, and was a sort of walking post-office. He was liable to be stopped at any moment by some person inquiring 54 HIS TORT OF OMAHA. for a letter, and then oft" would come his capacious stove-pipe, and he would examine the letters contained therein. Mr. Jones often reverts to this fact with a great deal of pleasure, especially when he compares the stove-pipe post-office of 1S54 with the magnificent four-story stone edifice, costing about $400,000, that now stands at the southwest corner of Dodge and Fifteenth streets, and W'hich was completed about two years ago.* " The new and excellent steam saw-mill of Mr. Samuel S. Bayliss & Co., will be in operation in a very short time near the city site," says the Arrozv of this date; also, that "the foundation of the new State House will be completed in a few days ;" and that the "new brick hotel will also be finished as fast as brick can be put together. — Other buildings are progressing finely. — Some two or three fine brick house" will ere long be started upon the site." Tlie Arro7u of October 6th contains a full report of the citizens' meeting at the " Big 6," September 20th, to prepare a reception for Gov. Burt, and just beneath this report, it has the following personal item : "Distinguished Arrival. — We stop the press to announce the arrival of the Hon. Secretary. Mr. T. B. Cuming arrived to-day. His Excellency, Gov. Burt, is also expected to arrive to-day." The next number, October 13, says : "His Excellency, F. H. Burt, Governor of Nebraska, reached Bellevue on the 6th inst., in a feeble condition, and since that time has been under careful medical treat- ment," and in the same item the paper announces the postponement of the contemplated reception at Omaha. The next number, October 20, is draped in mourning for the * Hon. A. J. Poppleton, in his speech December 3d, 1863, at the breaking of the ground for the Union Pacific, referred, by way of comparison as to Omaha's growth, to the time when A. D. Jones used to carry the pi.st-office in his hat. Mr. Poppleton thus first gave the fact a notoriety which has increased with the progress of the city since that date. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 55 death of Gov. Burt, and contains a long obituaiy article and resolutions, both of which had appeared in an extra on Wednesday, October iSth, the day on which the sad event occurred. The following item from this number, will interest our Methodist readers : "M. E. Church ix Omaha City. — In the late session of the Iowa Conference, a new district known as the Nebraska and Kansas Missionary District was established, at present under the Presiding Eldership of Rev. M. F. Shmn, of Council Bluff City, Iowa. The stations are as follows : Omaha City, Old Ft. Kearney, Waukaressa and Ft. Leavenworth." Two proclamations by Acting-Governor Cuming are also found in the Arro-Vi< of this date — the first being in respect to the Governor's death, and the second ordering the taking of the census, &c. The Arro-v of November 3d announces the arrival of B. B. Chapman thus : " A few days since with pleasure we met with B. B. Chapman, Esq., from Lorian county, Ohio. A staunch Demo- crat of the right stamp, and one in whom the administration has placed implicit confidence. His talent, eneigy and gentlemanly de- portment will make him scarce of friends, &c." Whether the gentleman considered this a complimentary notice or not, this historian has not been able to ascertain. But we imagine that he felt like making that editor very scarce about that time for not having seen the error and corrected it by putting in the word "scores." Notice is made of the sale of the "Big 6" by Mr. Clancy to Mr. Goodwill, "lately from New York." The arrival of Dr. G. L. Miller, Omaha's first physician, is mentioned in this number as follows : " We were agreeably surprised to see the sign of Dr. G. L. Miller hanging out at Mr. E. Buddel's residence, in this place a few days since. Although but little sick- 56 HIS TORT OF OMAHA. ness pervades our prairie land, we can but congratulate our citizens upon the acquisition of a joung and apparently well qualified phy- sician to our society. lie comes kindly recommended from his late practice in the city of Syracuse, N. Y." "The work on the State House goes on briskly," says the Arrozv, "and but a tew da_, s more will elapse ere the entire wall and roof will be completed. It will be ready for the accommodation of the body for which it was intended, before the middle of next month." " The large brick hotel commenced here a short time ago by Jesse Lowe, Esq., will now go rapidly on to completion," says the Ayrorv. The Arrow of November loth asks, in a long editorial, "who will be appointed Governor of Nebraska ?" It also notices the de- parture of Marihal Izard for his family in Arkansas, and thinks he would make a good sucessor to Governor Burt. The Arro'M is assured by Mr. Davis, the contractor, that the State House will be ready December ist, and in the same connec- tion says, "Our fiiend, J. M. Thayer, is erecting a neat dwelling near by, and to the society of Omaha City his agreeable family will shortly be a pleasant addition. Friend Parker is putting up an ex- cellent house for his family, and a host of others are doing likewise." The Fontenelle House receives a good notice : " This is the name of the large and beautiful brick hotel, now in process of erection at this place. It is appropriately named after the head chief of the Omaha Indian tribe, whose hunting grounds, by purchase on the part of the United States, we now occupy, and after whose tribe this prosperous place is named." " We hope to lay before our readers in the next number of the Arrow,'' says the editor, " the full census returns of the Territory, also the arrangements of the districts and the amount of representa- tion to wliich each is entitled." HISTORY OF OMAHA. 57 But the next number never appeared ; for what reason this his- torian knows not. The Nebraskian succeeded it and was run in the interest of Bird B. Chapman, who w\as elected as Nebraska's first delegate to Congress. qS HIS TORT OF OMAHA. CHAPTER IX. OMAHA WINS THE CAPITAL PRIZE. FIRST TERRITORIAL OFFICERS ARRIVAL OF GOVERNOR BURT AND SECRETARY CUMING — DEATH OF GOVERNOR BURT — CUMING BECOMES ACTING-GOVERNOR HE CALLS AN ELECTION AND DESIGNATES OMAHA AS THE PLACE FOR HOLDING THE FIRST LEGISLATURE — THE CAPITAL FIGHT — OMAHA VICTORIOUS SCENES AND INCIDENTS OF THE SESSION — THE MEN WHO COMPOSED THE LEGISLATURE — TOUGH STORIES — " SCRIP-TOWN " — A JOKE ON A ^' sharp" — JAMES C. MITCHELL LOCATES THE CAPITOL BUILDING — AN INDIGNATION MEETING AT GLENWOOD, IOWA OMAHA's CHAM- PIONS WILD-CAT BANKS A JOKE ON JONES IZARD BECOMES GOVERNOR — ARRIVAL OF U, S. ATTORNEY ESTABROOK. ^^^^^^^RANCIS H. BURT, of South Carolina, was the first Territorial Governor of Nebraska, he having been ap- pointed in the place of William O. Butler, who had declined the honor. The other first territorial officers were : Thomas B. Cuming, of Iowa, Secretary ; Fenner Ferguson, of Michigan, Chief Justice ; James Bradley, of Indiana, and Edward R. Hardin, of Georgia, Associate Justices ; Mark W. Izard, of Arkansas, Marshal ; and Experience Estabrook, of Wisconsin, Attorney. It was on the 6th day of October, 1S54, that Governor Burt and Secretary Cuming arrived in the territory and stopped at Bellevue. The other territorial officers came at difi"erent times during the fol- lowing few months. HIS TORI OF OMAHA. 59 A grand reception had been arranged at Omaha for the Gov- ernor and Secretary. The committee of reception was composed of Charles B. Smith, A. D. Jones, W. R. Rogers, R. B. Whitted, Michael Murphy, Wm. Clancy, S. A. Lewis, C. H. Downs, Wm, N. Byers, and Wm. Right ; and the committee of arrangements consisted of T. Allen, C, B. Smith, David Lindley, Alex. Davis and C. H. Downs. But the reception never came off, owing to the illness .and death of Governor Burt. He came here in poor health, and continued to fail rapidly until on the morning of Wednesday, October iSth. 1S54, at half-past three o'clock, he died at the old Presbyterian Mission House at Bellevue, of which the Rev. William J. Hamilton was the missionary in charge. The sad event cast a deep gloom over the entire territory. Governor Burt was a native of Pendleton, South Carolina, and was about 45 years of age. He left a wife,, two sons and four daughters. His remains were sent back to South Carolina, being accom- panied thither by his son, Armsted Burt, and an escort of four pall-bearers. Secretary Cuming, by virtue of his otfice, became Governor, and at once took hold of the executive reins. His first act was to issue a proclamation in reference to the death of Governor Burt, ordering that the national colors be draped in mourning, and that the territorial officers wear crape upon the left arm for thirty days. His^second act was the issuance of a proclamation on the 21st day of October, 1S54, for a census or an enumeration of the inhabi- tants of the Territory, to commence October 24th, 1S54, under officers instructed to complete the same, as nearly as possible, within four weeks, after which notices were to be distributed for the election 6o //IS TORT OF OMA/iA. of a delegate to Congress, and of a territorial legislature to con- vene that winter. The object of the proclamation was to give notice to persons who had removed temporarily from the Territory, to return in time for the census, as " in no case would names be enrolled except of actual and permanenc residents of the Territory." Governor Cuming next issued a proclamation, November 21st, for an election, which took place December 12th. It was the duty of the Governor to convene the legislature at some point of his own selection, and the first legislature was to fix the location of the capital. He designated Omaha as the place for the holding of the first legislature, notwithstanding the opposition of the representatives of other points, all of whom were straining every nerve and using »very means to induce him to designate their own favorite town. A deep resentment towards the Governor on the part of ttie disappointed applicants was the natural consequence. The legislature met at Omaha on the i6th of January, 1854, in the State House, which had been built by the Ferry Company in anticipation of this event. A large number of men who had been disappointed in their en- deavors to secure this first meeting of the legislature at other towns, in which they were interested, flocked to Omaha at this time in an angry and revengeful mood. Hon. J. M. Woolworth, in his " Nebraska in 1S57," in referring to this first legislature, says in regard to this mob, that " they ar- rayed themselves in the red blankets of the savages and loudly proclaimed their design of breaking up the Assembly. At the hour for the convening of the Houses, their halls were filled with these excited and desperate men. But before they were aware of it, reso- lutions assembling the ^two Houses in a joint session were passed ; and the moment they had met, the Governor entered, and, without HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 6i prologue, delivered to each member elect the certificate of his elec- tion, pronounced his message, and declared the Assembly organized, directed each House to withdi;a\v to complete its organization, and vanquished, in half an hour, every design either upon himself or the legislature. It was a time when anything less than the executive energy of Andrew Jackson would have involved the Governor in inextricable difficulties, and the Territory in anarch v." The location of the territorial capital was the principal and most important business before the legislature, occupying a large portion of the time that that august body was in session, which was from the i6th day of January to the 17th day of March, 1S55. The remain- der of the session, after the settlement of the capital question, was devoted to the organization of counties, the location of the county seats, the granting of toll-bridge and ferry privilegfes, and the passage of a complete code of laws for the Territory. The difficult capital question caused even more bitter feeling than had Acting-Governor Cuming's designation of Omaha in the first instance, as the point at which the legislature should assemble. The scenes and incidents that ensued during this session were exciting as well as amusing, and often, at this present day, form the most in- teresting portion of the reminiscences of some of the old settlers, who took a most active part in everything that then transpired. They entered into public aflairs with a spirit that was bound to win. Their brains and hands were diligent and active — the former in hatching up schemes to thwart the designs of the enemy upon Omaha, and the latter in going down into their own pockets and handing out both money and town-lot stock to those who were willing to receive such favors and reciprocate for the same by voting for Omaha. The legislature was largely made up of men who, although claim- ing a residence here, had their homes elsewhere, and who had ac- 62 HISTORY OF OMAHA. quired their residence by one night's sleep in the district they represented. Such men talked the loudest about their fidelity to their beloved and confiding constituents, whose interests were ever dearest to their hearts. They thus amused themselves as well as others, for their constituents were scattered all over the United States. On the other hand there were a few, and only a few, who actually did reside in the Territory. Mr. D. M. Johnston, of Ohio, who was the " member from Archer," had a political ambition that knew no bounds. Elated with his suc- cess in Nebraska — and wishing to ride two legislative horses at the same tune — he obtained ten days' leave of absence, and going down to Kansas he ran for representative there, and was only defeated by a very close vote. But the fact t'..at non-residents largely made up the first legislature was only one of those incidents which are witnessed in all new countries. The following gentlemen composed the first legislature — the Italics show the places represented, while the original place of residence fol- lows the name of each member in Roman letters : CoLNciL — ArcJ/er, Richardson county, J. L. Sharp, President, Tennessee. Nebraska City, Pierce now Otoe county, A. H. Brad- ford, Maine; H. P. Bennet, Maine; C. H. Cowles, New York. Broivnville, Forney now Nemaha count}', Richard Brown, Tennessee* Fontenelle, then in Dodge, but now in Washington county, M. H. Clark, New York. TekamaJt, Burt county, B. R. Folsom, New York. Omaha, Douglas county, T. G. Goodwill, New York ; A. D. Jones, Pennsylvania ; O. D. Richardson, Michigan ; 8. E. Rogers, Ken- tucky. Plattsmouth, Cass county, Luke Nuckolls, Virginia. Floretice, then in Washington county, J. C. Mitchell, Florence. Officers of the Council.— Dr. G. L. Miller, chief clerk, Omaha; O. F. Lake, assistant clerk, Brownville ; S. A. Lewis, Omaha, ser- geant-at-arms ; N. R. Folsom, of Tekamah, door-keeper. HIS TOR 2' OF OMAHA. 63 House of Representatives. — OmaJia, Douglas county, A. J. Hanscom, speaker, Michigan ; W. N. Bj-ers, Ohio ; Wm. Clancy, Michigan ; F. Davidson, Virginia ; Thomas Davis, England ; A. D. Gojer, Michigan ; A. J. Poppleton, Michigan ; Robert Whitted, Ten- nessee. Fort Calhoun, Washington county, A. Archer, Vermont, Florence, Washington county, A. J. Smith, Pennsylvania. Nebraska City, in Pierce now Otoe county, G. Bennett, Virginia ; J. H. Cowles, Ohio ; J. H. Decker, Kentucky ; W. H. Hail, Virginia ; Wm. Maddox, Indiana. BroivnviUe, in Forney now Nemaha county, W. A. Finnev, Ohio ; J. M. Wood, Kentucky. Fontenclle, then in Dodge, now in Washington county, E. R. Doyle, South Car- olina; Wm. A. Richardson, New York. Archer, Richardson county, D. M. Johnston, Ohio ; J. A. Singleton, Pennsylvania. Rock Bluff, Cass county, Wm. Kempton, Pennsylvania. Plattsmouth, Cass county, J. M. Latham, Virginia. De Soto, Burt county, J. B. Robertson, Ohio. Tekamah, Burt county, A. C. Purple, Massachusetts. Kenosha, Cass county, J. D. H; Thompson, Tennessee. Officers of the House. — J. W. Paddock, chief clerk, Council Blufts and Omaha ; G. L. Eayre, assistant clerk, Glenwood, Iowa ; J. L. Gibbs, sergeant-at-arms, Nebraska City ; B. B. Thompson, door- keeper, Omaha. Excitement ran at fever heat all the time that the capital con- test was being fought. The contestants tor the prize were Omaha, Fontenelle, Florence, Bellevue, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, Brown- ville, and in fact all the embryo towns south of the Platte. These southern towns, one and all, were opposed to Omaha for the reason that she would be a less formidable rival to Plattsmouth without the capital than with it. The whole South Platte country was bitterly hostile to Omaha. Thus it will be seen that Omaha had a big fight on hand. It was only the clear foresightedness of the founders of the town, and their precautionary measures which they had taken to 64 HISTORT OF OMAHA. meet tlio anticipated struggie, that enabled Omaha to come out vic- torious in the fierce contest for supremacy. The joint resolution locating the capitol building at Omaha was passed February 22d, 1855- Some of the incidents of the fight are worth i-epeating. " Scrip Town " had been la.d out by the owners of the original town site of Omaha, as one of the " precautionary measures," alluded to above. It was about a half-mile wide, and adjoined the north and west sides of Omaha. The stock was used to " induce '' members of the legislature. Gen. Estabrook, then Territorial Attorney, who arrived in the Territory January 21st, 1855, and knows all about it, is our au- thority for the word " induce," which in this connection had a pe- culiar signification. This "scrip" was the salt that was sprinkled on the bird's tail, figuratively speaking, but it seems to us that the term " sugar " would be more appropriate, as it certainly " sweetened" some of Omaha's bitterest enemies. However, whether '• suo-ar " or "salt," it was generally put where it would do the most good. But in one case, however, it was not so applied. One very "sharp" man, a leading member of the Council, had been given a number of shares, amounting to about one-twelfth of the " Sci-ip-Town " site, to " induce " him to vote for Omaha, such being the understanding. He, however, indiscreetly revealed the fact that he was going to vote against Omaha, and, as is usually the cj*;, it soon leaked out. Now, Omaha wanted just another vote to make up for this one. which she was going to lose. A certain gentleman of Omaha, who was the leading champion of the city, said he could obtain the necessary vote, if they could regain possession of this stock, which was to be used for that purpose. A plan was accordingly laid and carried out. A shrewd and cool man, now a prominent St. Louis merchant, proved himself equal to the emergency and lescued the "scrip" from the treacherous hands into which it had fallen. He HISTORY OF OMAHA. 65 met the "sharp" individual, as if by chance, and said to him, "I forgot to number those papers on the books. Let me have them and I'll attend to it at once." The papers were accordingh- handed over, and that was the last evtr seen of them by the " sharp," as the person to whom he had given them put them in his pocket and walked off, remarking to him that he might help himself if he could. It IS safe to say that that •' sharp " felt rather flat at this sudden, unexpected and unprofitable turn of aftairs. Of course he immediately comprehended the meaning of the transaction, and it is pretty certain that he did not vota for Omaha. The "scrip" was put into the hands of the gentleman who had agreed to secure the vote to make up for this desertion, and we have it on good authoriv that that much- wanted vote was obtained inside of twenty-four hours. Towards the close of the capital fight James C. Mitchell, of Florence, who had been an exceedingly' bitter enemy of Omaha, was " induced" to abate his hostility by the usual means, which were not then thoroughly known or appreciated by the general public. Mitchell's influence, be it remembered, was sufficient to fix the capital at Omaha, or take it away, and as he had been pursuaded to favor Omaha, he was appointed as a reward and by agreement, the sole commissioner to locate the capitol building within some portion of the city, and the northern boundary of Dougias county — the county then embracing an extent of territory reaching from a ravine on the north side of the city south to the Platte river, and west to the Elkhorn — was extended, by proclamation of the Governor, so as to take in the whole of "scrip-town," in order to give Mitchell plenty of room. When the vote was about to be put in the Council, he ex- plained that, as others, with the same interest as himself, had gone back on him, it would now be every man for himself, and that he would therefore locate the capitol within the city limits of Omaha, 66 HISTORT OF OMAHA. $omeNvhcre on the line between the Clancy chiim and the Jeftery claim. The line between these two claims ran from the Sulphur Springs back to the high ground. He was favorably impressed, he gaid, with the location near the Sulphur Springs, and also with that of the high ground turther back. But he would not determine until further examination. A short time thereafter Mr. Mitchell stuck his stake for the cap- itol building on Capitol Hill, where it was afterwards built. In the summer following Mr. Mitchell advertised about sixty lots in the city of Omaha for sale at auction, and the lots sold for about $60 each. Whether there was any connection between Mitchell's location of the capitol and those lots, we leave the reader to draw his own inference. A member from a certain covmty, in which he had never lived, was given some shares in order to " induce'' another mdlnber from the South Platte country to go for Omaha. This man, whom we shall call P., for convenience sake, wanted the shares himself, and he accordingly advised the South Platte gentleman, Mr. T., to take noth- ing but money. T., acting on this advice, demanded $1,000 for his vote. One of the ferry company's chief manipulators, Mr. J., told T. to go in and vote and it would be all right, as he would get the money. Next day J. went over the river, and T. never got any money or shares either. Mr. P., who had retained the shares, said they had been given to him to use to the best advantage, and as he himself was the most doubtful man he knew of, he had concluded to purchase himselt'. Several of the members of the legislature were residents of Glenw-ood, Iowa, where a very deep interest was felt in having the capital located at Plattsmouth. Some of the members who came from Glenwood failed to vote for Plattsmouth, and at the close of the session an indignation meeting was actually held at Glenwood HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 67 to call lo account " their representatives for misrepresenting them in the Nebraska legislature." Col. J. L. Sharpe, president of the Council, resided at Glenwood, and represented Richardson County. He had promised, owing to the usual inducements, to vote for Omaha, but he went for Plattsmouth after all, having intended to do so from the first. Luke Nuckolls, representing Cass county, and Bennett and Brad- ford, representing Pierce, now Otoe county, all lived at Glenwood. In the House, Glenwood sent Kempton and Latham to represent Cass county, 'and Thompson to represent Nemaha county. Latham, originally a lawyer from Virginia, having gone back on Plattsmouth, never dared to go back to Glenwood, for they would have lynched him. He died the following summer at Council Blufts ; whether he died from grief at the indignation of Glenwood, or not, this historian has not been able to ascertain. Thompson, on his return to Glenwood, narrowly escaped a flagellation from his out- raged constituency, whom he had misrepresented. Omaha's cause was ably and shrewdly championed in the Coun- cil by O. D. Richardson and T. G. Goodwill, and by A. J. Pop- pleton and A. J. Hanscom in the House. Hanscom, who would as soon fight as eat in those days, was always called on when there was likely to be any trouble, and either in fisticuff's, debate, or " tactics," he generally succeeded in coming out of the aff'air on top of the heap. Many good stories are told of him, some of which we shall refer to hereafter. It was he who had been selected to undertake the job of getting the control of the House of Representatives, and he did it. He was elected speaker, and thus secured tlie appointment of committees, which gave Omaha considerable advantage. The following para- graph from the pen of Dr. Miller, editor of the Omaha Herald, illustrates to perfection the early legislative days of Nebraska : 68 nrSTORT OF OMAHA. " Hanscom and Poppleton carried the art of winking to its highest perfection in those days. The latter was always first recognized by speaker Hanscom when he wanted tlie floor. The speaker was particular about keeping order. An\ rciVactory member, opposed to Omaha, who refused to take his seat when ordered to, was emphati- cally notified that if he didn't sit down he would get knocked down. The result was usually satisfactory to tin- speake.f. The excitement over the capital question was, at times, very great. The lobbies, we remember, were once crowded with the respective parties to the contest, armed with bludgeons, brick-bats, and pistols. A fight was thought to be imminent, bu.t it did not occur." Among the members of the first legislature were two Missourians who claimed to represent some county in Nebraska, both claiming the sa\jie seat. One of them was a preacher named Wood, who, as chaplain, did the praying for the House of Representatives. When the contest for his seat came up, he promised to an Omaha man that he would vote for Omaha on the capital question, if they would give him his seat. He got his seat in that way, thus knocking his opponent out of the ring. A day or two afterwards he met the Omaha man to whom he had made the promise, and putting on a very long face he said, "Mr. H., I am very sorry, indeed, to be obliged to inform you that I shall, owing to the force of circum- • stances, be compelled to vote against Omaha!" "The devil you say !" exclaimed Mr. H. " You're a infernal lying old hypocrite !" "Those are hard words, my dear Mr. II., but " " I reiterate it, that you are an infernal lying old hypocrite. You're a wolf in sheep's clothing. And, by gracious ! you've said your last prayer before this legislature. If there is any more praying to be done I will do it myself. That's the kind of a man I am." Mr. H. kept his word, and fixed it so that Mr. Wood's services HIS TORI- OF OMAHA. 6g as chaplain ^vere dispensed with from that day forward, but Wood went on and served out his term as a member of the House in the seat that he obtained by his promise. The Omaha men, however, made it so warm for him during the remainder of the session that he passed anything but a pleasant term in office. After the settlement of the capital fight, the legislature transacted its other business in a comparatively quiet way. Among the numer- ous bills passed was one making William P. Snowden auctioneer for Douglas county. Several amusing incidents occurred during the remainder of the session, one of which we shall here relate, as it is too good to be lost. For the main points we are indebted to " M. -I. -Grant," whose other name is J. Sterling Morton, who, in "A pen Picture from the Pioneer Legislature," published in the Omaha Herald a few years ago, gives a graphic account of the episode. Mr. A. D. Jones made a rather " hifalutin " speech in opposition to the char- tering of certain banks in the Territory, the bill being called the Territorial Bank Act. Mr. Jones denounced the whole scheme as savoring too much of a "wild cat" nature. He appealed to the honorable body to guard their reputation ; to consider the esteem in which posterity would hold the founders of this commonwealth ; he begged of them not to entail upon the people of the Territory a financial measure that would lead to distress and ruin, and for which they would be cursed by their constituents for many years to come, Mr. Jones soared aloft in his flights of rhetoric, and declared that "when he (Jones) should be gathered to his fathers, and an humble monument had been erected to his memory, upon the site of his beautiful home in Park Wild, it would gratify his soul, to look down from the high battlements of heaven — the regions of the blessed — and read upon that monument the simple and truthful inscription : 'Here lies an honest man — He voted against "wild-cat" banks in Nebraska.' " 70 HIS TORI' OF OMAHA. Mr. Jones resumed his seat, and wiped the perspiration from his brow with his bandan- na pocket handkerchief, while an expression of satisfaction at his elo- quent eflbrt seemed to rest upon his features. A deep silence en- sued in the Council chamber, which was soon broken, however, j^. by Allen H. Bradford, who represented Otoe county. Bradford was a short and fat man with a broad face and big round head. But his voice was not at THE MONUMENT THAT MR. JONES DESIRED. all in accordance with his general appearance. It was a thin, high-toned, cracked voice. In fact, it was more of a squeal than anything else, and whenever he spoke he attracted considerable attention on this account. Brad- ford was in favor of the bill, to which Mr. Jones had just alluded to as being of a feline character. Bradford rose to his feet, and in his squealing tones of voice replied to Mr. Jones about as follows : " Mr. Pres-i-tfew/ .• The gentle-;«rt« from Park Wild says he is hon-ist ; I sup-fosc he is. I don't s\.xY>-pose he would lie about so small a mat-ter. He speaks of dy-itig ; but if he is as hon-ist as he says he is I don't think he'll ever die. No, sir ; he'll be trans- HISTORT OF OMAHA. 71 lated ; he'll go up in a char-/o/ of f-i-r-e, like Eli-jah and the other old fellows. I can almost see him agoing up; higli-ev \ fiigI/-Qv \ Jiigh-er ! "For mv part, Mr. Presi-f^cw/, I wish he'd go nozv. He talks about the time when he shall be a-look-/«^ down from the high battlements of heav- but rents it to other parties as a dwelling. The description of that ball was graphically given by Dr. Miller, in the Herald, in January, 1S67, and as he knows all about those early times, we have taken the liberty of quoting his account of it nearly in full, as follows : " Izard was a stately character physically, mentally rather weak, and accordingly felt a lively sense of the dignity with which the appointment clothed him. He had never known such an honor be- fore, and it bore upon him heavily. To the few persons who then constituted the principal population of the city, the Governor was careful to intimate a desire to have his gubernatorial advent suitably Hisronr of omaha. 73 celebrated. The facetious and wary Cuming suggested the idea of giving Izard an executive ball. The larger of the two rooms which then constituted the building was the theatre of a scene perhaps the most ludicrous that was ever witnessed in the history of public re- ceptions. The rooms had a single coat of what was then called plastering, composed of a frozen mixture of mud and ice, a very thin coating at that. The floor was rough and unplaned, very trying to dancers, and not altogether safe for those who preferred the upright position. It had been energetically scrubbed for the occasion. The night being dreadtully cold and the heating apparatus failing to warm the room, the water froze upon the floor and could not be melted by any then known process. Rough cotton-wood boards on either side of the room were substitutes for chairs. " The hour of seven having arrived, the grand company began to assemble. Long before the appointed hour His Arkansas Excellency appeared in the dancing hall. He and Jim Orton, 'The Band,' of Council Blufts, reached the scene at about the same moment. The Governor was very polite to Jim, who was just tight enough to be cor- respondingly polite to the Governor. Gov. Izard was the guest of nine ladies who were all that could be mustered even for a state oc- casion iti Omaha. They were Mrs. T. B. Cumings, Mrs. Fenner Fer- guson, Mrs. J. Sterling Morton, Mrs. C. B. Smith, Mrs. Fleming Davidson, Mrs. A. J. Hanscom, Mrs. A. D. Jones, Mrs. S. E. Rogers and Mrs. G. L. Miller. Two of the ladies could not dance, and ac- cordingly their places were supplied by the same number of gentle- men. The Governor had a son by the name of James. He was His Excellencv's private secretary, and wisliing to present a high exam- ple of style, he came in at a late hour escorting Mrs. Davidson. His bearing was fearfully stately and dignified. He ware a white vest and white kids, as any gentleman would do, but these were put in rather discordant contrast with the surroundings. Paddock, Popple- 5 74 HISTORY OF OMAHA. HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 75 ton, Cuming, Smith, Morton, Ferguson, Goodwill, Clancy, Folsom, besides a large assemblage of legislators attended. The latter crowd- ed around gazing with astonishment upon the large number of ladies in attendance. "Jim Orton was the solitary fiddler, occupying one corner of the room. The dance opened. It was a gay and festive occasion. Not- ■withstanding the energetic use of green cotton-wood, the floor con- tinued icy. During the dancing several accidents happened. One lady, now well known in Nebraska, fell flat. Others did likewise. The supper came oft' about midnight and consisted of coffee with brown sugar and no milk ; sandwiches of peculiar size ; dried apple pie; the sandwiches, we may observe, were very thick, and were made of a singular mixture of bread of radical complexion and bacon. " The Governor, having long lived in a hot climate, stood around shivering in the cold, but buoyed up by the honors thus showered upon him, bore himself with the most amiable fortitude. "There being no tables in those days, the supper was passed 'round. At the proper time, the Governor, under a deep sense of his own consequence, made a speech, returning his thanks for the high honors done him." "* Thus does Dr. Miller describe the first and last executive ball that ever took place in Omaha as it came off" over twenty-one years ago when the town did not contain a dozen ladies all told. 76 HISTORY OF OMAHA. CHAPTER XI. THE FIRST MURDER TRIAL. DR. C. A. HENRY SHOOTS HOLLISTER AT BELLEVUE — HIS TRIAL AT OMAHA BEFORE JUSTICE FERGUSON — O. P. MASON PITCHES INTO' JUDGE FERGUSON FOR HIS HARSHNESS TO THE PRISONER — AN ACtOMODATTNG SHERIFF HENRY IS FINALLY DISCHARGED. ^^N the afternoon of the 20th of April, 1S55, a mes- 'senger came up to Omaha from Bellevue with a message from Judge Ferguson to Gov. Izard, requesting him to send down Gen. Estabrook, the Territorial Attorney, and Sheriff' P. G. Peterson, to investigate a murder. Gen. Estabrook, Sheriff' Peterson, B. P. Rankin, and Joe Strickland, one of the printers of the Nebraskiati, arrived at Bellevue, on horseback, at midnight, and there learned that Dr. Charles A. Henry had shot and killed a young man named George HoUister, who was in the employ of Col. Sarpy. Henry was imprisoned in the Indian blacksmith shop, where he was safely gviarded from the men who had threatened to lynch him. Henry was a cool, shrewd fellow, and a town lot speculator; and the fatal aft'ray had arisen out of a difficulty about a boundary line. Next morning Rankin called, by request, on Henry, and in three- quarters of an hour came out laughing. In reply to an inquiry, Rankin said he was laughing at the force of habit as displayed in Henry's case. Rankin had found him studying a map of Iowa, and HISTORY OF OMAHA. 77 he had asked Rankin if he didn't think that such and such a spot was a good place to lay out a town. The coroner's jury acted under the laws ot Iowa, as no laws cov- ering the case had yet been passed by Nebraska. Henry was held tor examination, w^hich took place before Judge Ferguson, who com- mitted him to imprisonment, with shackles and handcufts, and also ordering that he should be chained to the floor. Sherift" Pet- erson took charge of the prisoner, and carried out the order of the Court. Henry was confined in Peterson's own house, a small one- story frame structure, which then stood at the southwest corner of Farnham and Tenth streets. Peterson lived in the rear part and rent- ed the front portion of it for a saloon and gambling hell, which was well patronized. This was the fifth house erected in Omaha, and is standing yet, but on a different location, having been moved from the corner south on Tenth street, next to the present City Hotel.* At the first term of the United States District Court held in the Territory a grand jury was specially called for this case. In the meantime a local U. S. attorney had been appointed, and there- upon Gen. Estabrook abandoned the suit. The grand jury failed to indict Henry. Judge Ferguson instead of discharging him, said as he had examined the case himself, he was satisfied that the murder had been committed and he shtnild re-commit the prisoner with the same order— shackles and handcufts ; and at the same time order a new jury to be called. A. J. Poppleton and O. P. Mason were the attorneys for Henry. This was the first public appearance of O. P. Mason in Nebraska. He had known Henry in Ohio, and he felt that the treatment that Henry was receiving at the hands of the Court was an unwarranted out- rage. Mason was then a seedy looking individual, weighing about 130 «See page 37, and also the chapter on "Old Landmarks, and IncidenU connected therewith." 7$ HISTORY OF OMAHA. pounds ; but his appearance was no criterion of his ability. He ad- dressed the Court on the subject of the order as to the shackles and handcuffs, and the chaining of the prisoner to the floor, in terms of the most terrible and vvitliering invective that ever proceeded from the mouth of a lawyer. Instead of committing him tor contempt, the Judge yielded to him and modified the order. About that time a flotilla of steamboats, one of which was com- manded by Capt. Wilcox, now of the dry-goods firm of Stephens & Wilcox, came up the river with a lot of government troops on board for Ft. Pierre. The cholera, which was then raging through - • out the country, had broken out among the soldiers, one of whom had already died. The surgeon was in a boat below, and everybody asked for a doctor. Dr. Miller was selected to attend the cases, and taking his wife along with him, he proceeded up the river with the troops, and was absent all summer. The house then occupied by him, which yet stands on Dodge street, just back of the Jones House, was turned over, all furnished, until he should return, to Gen. Estabrook's family, who had just arrived. The departure of Dr. Miller proved a fortunate circumstance for Henry, who was himself a physician, and during the absence of Miller he was the only doctor in Omaha. The accommodating sheriff", Mr. Peterson, accompanied him in his professional visits. Dr. Henry, with his shackles on, thus made many warm friends, and the consequence was that the next grand jury did not indict him. This ended the case, which was the first regular murder trial in Nebraska. Dr. Henry afterwards became a very active and enterprising citizen of Omaha. In the summer of 1S56 he built the first portion of Pioneer Block, which was then called Henry's Block. He also built in company with another man the building in which the first drug store was located and run by hiinself. HIS TOR 2' OF OMAHA. 79 CHAPTER XII. FIRST ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE CAPITAL. BELLEVUE WANTS THE CAPITAL SARPY, MORTON, CUMING, AND OTHERS AT THE HEAD OF THE FIRST CAPITAL REMOVAL SCHEME A PLOT TO SEND GOV. IZARD TO WASHINGTON, SO THAT HE WOULD NOT INTERFERE A SUCCESSFUL COUNTERPLOT DEATH OF DOYLE RANKIN SUCCEEDS HIM. T the second session of the legislature during the win- ter of 1S55-56, a scheme was started to remove the capital to Douglas City, as it was called on paper, the objective point being in reality Bellevue. Gen. Sarpy, J. Sterling Morton, Secretary Cuming, and a host of South Platte men, all of whom were hostile to Omaha, were interested in the project, to which they had committed nearly every man in the Territory outside of Omaha, and they were accordingly sanguine of success. However, to make it more sure, they thought it necessary to get Gov. Izard out of the way, so that Secretary Cuming, as Acting-Governor in his ab- sence, could sign the bill. To accomplish their design on Izard they resorted to a little strategy. The capital removers had up to this time greatly abused the Governor, and had frequently called him "granny" or "grandmother Izard." 'I'hey changed their tactics now, and J. Sterling Morton and other members of the legislature intro- duced some very complimentaay resolutions concerning him with the view of thus inducing him to go on a mission to Washington to So HISTORY OF OMAHA. procure some appropriation or attend to some other kind of busi- ness. These resolutions greatly pleased His Excellency, and he prom- ised to visit Washington if they were passed, he being entirely ignorant of tiic plot at the time. Dr. Miller, who was a member of the legislature, and faithful to Omaha's interest, had been posted in regard to the whole business. He got up and pitched into those resolutions in a vigorous manner, causing considerable commotion thereby. Izard was somewhat dis- turbed by Miller's remarks, which did not fully reveal the object of the resolution, and in a whisper that was heard all over the house, he said, to a certain prominent citizen of Omaha in order to have him go to Dr. Miller to ask him to desist, " For God's sake let that pass. It's a good endorsement for me." Izard was called out into the hall, where he talked the matter over with the gentleman mentioned above, and it was then that Izard first learned of the soft soap game that was being played on him. It was then agreed that the resolutions should be allowed to pass, but that Izard should not go to Washington. The resolutions were passed, and Gov. Izard remained at Omaha according to promise. This defeated this scheme. But the whole winter was spent in attempts to remove the capital to some point, it didn't make much difference where, if it could only be taken from Omaha. But Izard stayed right here, thus preventing the carry- ing out of the plans ; and Cuming finally agreed not to have any- thing further to do with the various schemes. It was during this the second session of the legislature that Leavitt L. Bowen was one of the representatives of Douglas county, and his seat was contested by Silas A. Strickland on the ground that he lived at Council Bluft's, being in fact a partner of lawyer A. C. Fold, who was afterwards killed by the \igilantes out in Colorado. Gen. Estabrook was attorney for Strickland in the contest, which re- HIS TOR 2- OF OMAHA. Si suited in favor of Bowen. It was while Gen. Estabrook was making the closing argument in the evening that it was announced that United States Marshal Eli R. Dovle, who had succeeded Izard, had fallen down stairs in the Western Exchange building, receiving fatal injuries, and dying in a few minutes afterwards. Benjamin P. Rankin was the successor of Doyle, and held the office of marshal for four years, residing in Nebraska till iS6i. niSTORr OF OMAHA. CHAPTER XIII. THE SECOND CAPITAL REMOVAL SCHEME. BAD OUTLOOK FOR OMAHA TWO-THIRDS OF THE LEGISLATURE PLEDGED AGAINST HER — m'cOMAS COMMANDS THE CAPITAL RE- moval brigade the mythical douglas city the members of the legislature bought up with its stock — an expose Omaha's tactics to gain time — hanscom and seeley talk THE legislature NEARLY TO DEATH THE ATTEMPTED ARREST OF HANSCOM " GRANNY" IZARD GIVES THE LEGISLATURE SOME ADVICE A VERY SCARED MAN THE PASSAGE OF THE BILL PRE- VENTED. l'RING the next session of the legislature, in the win- ter of 1S56-57, the capital removers again came up smiling with two-thirds of the legislature pledged against Omaha, so that they could suspend the rules and pass the capital removal bill over the Governor's veto. They proposed to send the capital up Salt Creek, by relocating it at a mythical place to be called Douglas City, which was to be located about where Lincoln, the present capital, was afterwards fixed. This scheme was princi- pally engineered by ex-Governor McComas, from Virginia, who was a very sharp wire-puller and manipulator in such affairs. These 'fellows had their new town site all laid out into shares, which they had issued to the members, who had their pockets lined with the scrip. Nearly everybody had been seen and sweet- HISTORY OF OMAHA. 83 ened with this scrip, and it is said that even some of Omaha's own men accepted some of it. Jones, of Dakota county, had a fist full 01 it, and told Hanscom about it, who at the proper time persuaded him to expose the whole business. Jones walked into the legislative halls and told his little story, showing up his scrip, which he said he had taken to use as evidence of the exposure he had made. A verj' great excite- ment was thus created for a short time, but it was soon forgotten in the tumult of the subsequent proceedings. The capital removers elected their speaker, Isaac L. Gibbs, and tried to ride roughrshod over everybody, but eventually failed. Omaha had only eight votes out ot thirty-five in the House. This number, however, was in- creased by one vote, which was secured from Dodge county ; but at no time did Omaha have enough votes to prevent a suspension of the rules. Gibbs, the speaker, paid no regard whatever to parlia- mentary laws, and it is a fact that it was a very rough legislature in every sense of the word. The enemies of Omaha were determined to pass the capital removal bill, and Omaha was equally as deter- mined to prevent it, as everything was at stake with the citizens of the place To gain time was the main object Omaha had in view, and to do it they " talked against time" on every possible occasion, consum- ing several days in trivial arguments. Jonas Seeley and A. J. Hanscom did most of the talking. Hanscom had control of the campaign for the defense, and arranged nearly all the tactics. A man named Brown, from Plattsmouth, was chief clerk, and as the Omaha men didn't like hiin very well, and wanted to oust him, they took occasion to kill time by taking up his journal every morn- ing, whether it was right or wrong, and literally picking it to pieces on the slightest pretenses. It thus frequently happened that half a day or more was consumed in correcting the journal. Brown was $4 HISTORY OF OMAHA. afterwards forced to stepped down and out, and Sterritt M. Curran, of Omaha, stopped up and in. Gen. Strickland, now a resident of Omaha, but then of Bellevue, was a recognized leader and champion of the South Platte folks, and whenever he would move anything to bring on a direct fight Ilanscom would make some dilatory motion — to la}' on the table, to postpone to a certain day, or indefinitely postpone — thus consum- ing time, all of which was a part of the tactics. It was a very stonn\' session all the way through. At one time the speaker ordered the sergeant-at-arms to arrest Hanscom, who blufted him oft' by saying, "Come no further. You are safer there than you will be if you come anj- nearer." The officer evidently saw that he meant what he said, and the arrest was not made. After the intense excitement that was caused by Planscom's bluff" had some what subsided, the champions of Omaha availed themselves of every opportunity to pitch into the speaker, until they actually made it so warm for him that he dared not occupy the chair. They made him sick ; at least he pretended to be sick, and Strickland was ap- pointed by him to fill the chair in his absence. The question then arose whether he could appoint him from day to day, or for a longer' period, and a whole day was thus consumed in argument. The South Platte party asked the Governor to call out 300 militia to protect them from the Omaha crowd, which was com- posed of eight men. The next morning Gov. Izard, whom they had called "grandmother," assembled both branches of the legislature together and made them a speech. It was short and pointed. Said he : '• Gentlemen, it is entirely unnecessary for me to call out the militia. Go on and attend to your legislative business. Behave yourselves, and your ir rand mother will protect you." Every eftert was made to induce members of the opposition to HISTORY OF OMAHA. 85 flop over in favor of Omaha, but they were all avaricious, and a sum total of $20,000 was demanded for votes. One man, hailing from a South Platte county, was so scared and apprehensive of the results of the excitement and turbulence that prevailed, that he wished to go home and tell his friends that he was really afraid of his life. But he wanted from Omaha $5,000 as as a compensation for his absence. "We have not got anv money to give to men to pay them to go home and slander us," said one of Omaha's leaders, who did'nt think his being afraid of his life was a very good recommendation for the city. Of course he did'nt get a cent, and he soon got over his scare. However, enough votes were secured — but exactly how, this historian is not aware — for Omaha to prevent ths passage of the bill over the Governor's veto, which virtually defeated the enemy. Parties from the South Platte country had come here resolved to '•bust up" Omaha, and even tiied to divide Douglas countv and re- move her county seat to Florence. Omaha had her hand full and running over with fights, and she had nothing else to do that winter but to act on the defensive. The South Platters tried for a while to tire out the Omaha squad by holding night sessions, but finally an Omaha man "satis- fied" several parties that they were doing wrong, and they came over and voted with Omaha. That ended the capital removal business for that session, more than one half of which was taken up by this fight. The resf of the session passed ofl:' quietly. Just before the final vote was taken on the capital removal bill, Seeley, of Dodge county, was turned out of his scat for having pre- viously voted for Omaha. S6 HIS TORT OF OMAHA. CHAPTER XIV. THE LAST ROUND IN THE CAPITAL REMOVAL FIGHT. THE SCHEMERS COME UP SMILING AGAIN — HANSCOM APPEALED TO, TO CHAMPION OMAHA's CAUSE HANSCOM THROWS THE SPEAKER UNDER THE TABLE AN EXCITING SCENE BLACK EYES AND BLOODY NOSES — HOW STRICKLAND WAS SILENCED — THE LEGISLA- TURE BREAKS UP IN A ROW, AND ADJOURNS TO FLORENCE ARRIVAL OF GOV. RICHARDSON, THE SUCCESSOR OF IZARD THE CAPITOL BUILDING — THE CAPITAL FINALLY REMOVED TO LINCOLN IN 1867, WHEN NEBRASKA WAS ADMITTED AS A STATE. HEN the next session of the legislature convened in the winter of 1857-5S, the same old gang of capital removers assembled at Omaha, resolved as before to make a desperate effort for the success of their old scheme. Hanscom, who was not a member of the legislature, except as a lobbyist, was appealed to as usual to do all in his power to resist the attack on Omaha, whose recognized leader he had become in such important affairs. The matter was pretty thoroughly discussed among the most prominent citizens, who wanted to ascertain whether it was best to pay out any money, as usual, to retain the capital. Some of the old settlers tell it that Hanscom said that he, for one, had been paying out money long enough, and that now he proposed to " whale " somebody. Soon afterwards they sent for Hanscom and told him that the speaker, named Decker, an avowed enemy of Omaha, had armed HIST OBI' OF OMAHA. 87 himself with a revolver, and that his party were likewise prepared for any emergency that might arise. A very lively row soon ensued. One morning the house went into committee of the whole, elect- ing as chairman Dr. Thrall, the present United States Marshal at Cincinnati, Ohio, and who is a cousin to Mr. George Thrall, land- lord of the Grand Central Hotel of this city. Dr. Thrall thereupon at once stepped up and fiilled the speaker's chair. The Omaha men immediately resorted to their old tactics of talk- ing against time, and it is a fact that George Clayes kept the floor until the middle of the afternoon, when a message was received from the clerk of the council. Under the joint rules of the legislature no message could be received by one branch when the other, that sent it, was not in session at the time. The council had adjourned and left their room. When the clerk of the council appeared in the house the question was at once raised whether the message which he bore could be received. Mr. Decker, the speaker, walked up to the speaker's stand, with the intention of resuming his seat, which Thrall refused to let him have. Decker grabbed for the gavel in Thrall's hand, announcing at the same time that the committee of the whole would rise and receive the message from the council. That was en- tirely out of order as it was known that the council was not in session. Hanscom, uiider the usual resolution passed at the beginning of the session inviting ex-members of the legislature within the bar, had spent pretty much all of his time there. He had taken a seat on the step near the speaker'.? stand to quiet any difficulty that might arise, or to take a hand in it if it were necessary. When Decker came up and endeavored to snatch the gavel, Hanscom yelled out to Thrall, "Hit the rascal over the head with the gavel." Decker was on the opposite side of the speaker's stand, and was attempting not only to seize the gavel but to push Thrall out of the seat, while ss IIISTOm' OF OMAHA. HISTORT OF OMAHA. S9 Hanscom, who had jumped to his feet, pulled Thrall back again, and thus he was kept going back and forth for a short time between Decker and Hanscom. J. W. Paddock and Mike Murphv, who were both members of the legislature, jumped up to prevent Decker from further interfering with Thrall. Paddock got hold of Decker's hand and pulled him down from the stand, and- while they were scuffling, Hanscom sprang forward and grabbing him b}' the back of the neck and the seat of the pantaloons laid him away or rather threw him under the table, so that Paddock and Murphy would not hurt him. It was indeed a very kind and considerate act. This historian has been reliably informed that it was in no gentle manner that Decker was " chucked " under the table. About fifty persons sprang to their feet. All was excitement and uproar, and when it gradually subsided it was found that several persons had been badly licked. Bloody noses and black eyes were too numerous to mention. It was hard to tell which were in the majority — the ayes or the noes. The Omaha men thus gained possession of the field, and as soon as the fuss was over, and the speaker was out of the chair, the enemy was cleaned out in every other way. Judge Kinney, of Nebraska City, who was opposed to Omaha, was called on for a speech. He mounted one of the desks and began to talk. Thrall was told by Hanscom to call him to order, as Kinney was not a member. Strickland jumped up on one of the tables and sang out, *' I have the right to talk, I am a member," Thrall ordered him to sit down, but he would not do it. Hanscom told him if he did'nt, he would knock him down. "Well," said Strickland, cooling oft' a little, "I guess I can go out of doors and talk." As there was no objection made to that, that ended the fuss for that day. The legislature met next morning, and instead of passing a joint 6 qo II IS TORT OF OMAHA. resolution to remove to another point, each house passed a resolu- tion adjournini; to F'lorence, thus virtually breaking up in a row. Dr. Miller was president of the council, and refused to put the motion to adjourn to Florence. The gentleman from Otoe who made the mo- tion, put it himself and declared it carried, whereupon the council adjourned. In the house a similar resolution was carried unanimously, the Omaha men not voting. To Florence they went, but their action did not amount to anything. They were not recognized as a legis- lature bv the Governor, and they did not get any pay for the time that they spent at P'lorence. This legislature, as well as its predecessors, reminds one very much of the Douglas County Republican Conventions of late years. The engraving accompanying this chapter — which, by the way, may be called a very " striking picture " — illustrates very faithfully not onlv this particular session of the legislature, but also the three previous sessions, in each of which some very animated and boisterous brawls and tumultuous disturbances occurred. A knock-down was no unusual thing, as the war o( words generally resulted in a set-to at fisticuffs. The persuasive revolver also played an important part at times in the spirited debate, and whenever it was presented, it generally proved a very convincing argument, for the time being at least. Gov. W. A. Richardson, of Qunncy, Illinois, the successor of Gov. Izard, who had gone back to Arkansas, arrived at Omaha shortly after the legislature broke up and went to Florence. He re- mained here till February, 1S59. The next governor was Gov. Black, of Nebraska City, originally from Pennsylvania, who had been promoted from a judgeship. Gov. Saunders, appointed by President Lincoln, succeeded Black, coming here in 1861 from Iowa. This (the fourth) session of the legislature was held in the Territorial Capitol, an illustration of which is herewith presented. HIS TOR 2' OF OMAHA. 91 THE OLD TERRITORIAL CAPITOL. The engraving, how- ever, does not do justice to the building, as it was made from a photograph taken after the colonnade, ■which surrounded it, had been torn down, having- "mS been pronounced unsafe. ^|| When the columns were standing it is said that the structure presented a very handsome appear- ance, excelled by but very few other build- ino-s in the country at that time. It stood on Capitol Hill on the spot now covered by the High School building. It was erected by Bov'ey & Armstrong. George C. Bovey was a practical builder, and Major Armstrong was the monied man of the firm as well as the superintendent. The contract was made the 29th of November. 1855, the time of completing the structure being the 15th of Septem- ber, 1856. It was not finished, however, till some time in 1S57. They employed 150 men and horses in their brick-yard while erect- ing this and other buildings. The cost of the capitol was $100,000. The capital removal question was never again agitated after 1S5S, to any great extent, until Nebraska became a State in 1S67. Congress passed the enabling act for the admission of Nebraska as a State on the 21st of March, 1864. Under that act the electors of the Territory held an eIc(::ion and adopted a State constitution, at the same time electing State officers under that constitution, which prohibited the right of suffrage to :ie negroes. Congress afterwards passed another act to the effect that Nebraska 92 niSTOR2' OF OMAHA. could only he admitted by a change of her constitution so that the right of siiflVage should not ever be denied to any man on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was under this revised constitution that Nebraska came into the Union as a State in 1867. It was provided in the constitution that the first State legislature could locate the seat of government. Gov. Butler, the first elected governor, called the first State legislature by proclamation to rreet at Omaha on the i6th day of May, 1867. At that session the capital was removed to Lincoln without any opposition from the citizens of Omaha. The railroads were center- ing here then, and it was seen that Omaha's prosperity did not de- pend on the capital. She had now got other and richer resources. Flush times had set in at the close of the war, and the people had come to the conclusion that it was not much of a benefit to them after all. Upon the rem^>val ot the capital to Lincoln the people of Omaha acquired the title to Capitol Square, as it had been donated to the State for legislative purposes only, provided that it should revert to the donors in case it should ever be used for any other object. The legislature, in granting Omaha's petition, donated it for school purposes, and the magnificent structure that now stands thereon and overlooks the city, was built during the years 1870, '71 and '72, the capitol having been torn down to make room for it. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 93 CHAPTER XV. OMAHA FROM 1S56 TO iS6o THE GOOD TIMES OF 1856 INFLATION OF THE CURRENCY — OMAHA LOOMS UP A SEVERE WINTER OMAHA GETS A CITY CHARTER IN FEBRUARY, 1857, AND PUTS ON METROPOLITAN AIRS — REAL ESTATE BEGINS TO WEAKEN THE GREAT FINANCIAL BREAK- DOWN WILD-CAT BANKS GENERAL DEPRESSION CITY SCRIP THE pike's PEAK EXCITEMENT HELPS THE CITY — LIVELY TIMES AGAIN. " jURING the year 1S56 there was an inflation ot the currency all over the country, fully equal to that im- mediately succeeding the close of the civil war in 1S65 and 1S66. Times were good everj-where, and partic- ularly so in Omaha. Everybody considered himself rich or likely soon to be. This state of affairs con- tinued all through 1S56. Real estate sold at high pi ices, and corner lots were in great demand at almost any figures. Speculation ran wild in Omaha, as it did in many other new western towns at that time, and everybody dabbled in real estate. Money was made easily and quickly. The motto was " quick sales and big profits." Omaha grew rapidly in population, and a large number of build- ings were put up during that year. The winter of 1856-7 was a very severe one and has ever since been considered the hardest season ever experienced in Omaha. The weather was fair through the fall, but on the 30th of November, a 94 HISTORY OF OMAHA. snow-storm coniinenced and continucti until the morning of the 3d of Decemher, having fallen to the depth of three feet on the level. The weather was exceedingly cold after the storm, and remained so all winter, with tlie exception of a few days in February, 1857. The snow that had fallen at the very opening of winter did not begin to iro oft' till some time in the month of March. Omaha, having reached a population of from 1,500 to i,Soo, asked permission of the legislature to put on city clothes, and a charter was accordingly granted to her in February, the first election occur- ring on the first Monday in March, 1S57. The result was as follows : Jesse Lowe, mayor ; L. R. Tuttle, recorder ; J. A. Miller, city marshal ; Charles Grant, city solicitor ; Lyman Richardson, city as- sessor ; A. S. Morgan, city engineer ; A. Chappel, health officer ; A. D. Jones, T. G. Goodwill, G. C. Bovey, \\. H. Visscher, Thomas Davis, Wm. N. Byers, Wm. W. Wyman, Thomas O'Connor, C. II. Downs, J. 11. Kellom, James Creighton, councilmen. The Council met and organized on the 5th of March, and the first ordinance passed was " to prevent swine from running at large." The first warrant w-as issued to secretary Thomas B. Cuming for books and stationery furnished to the council. In May, 1857, an ordinance was passed dividing the city into three wards, as follows : ist ward — all that part of the city lying south of Farnham street ; 2d — all that part of the city lying between the north side of Farnham street and the south side of Capitol avenue ; ■ 3d — all that part of the city north of Capitol avenue.* The spring of 1S57 opened auspiciously for Omaha in every re- spect. Real estate was held at as fancy figures as ever and was about as active as in the previous year. But in a short time, however, real estate began to get a little heavy and did not sell * Omaha became " a city of the first-class " by legislative enactment February yth, 1869. The city was divided into six wards, by ordinance, May 15, 1869. HISTORT OF OMAHA. 95 quite as readily. But there was more building during the spring and early summer of 1S57 than in any previous year since the founding of the city. A large number of good houses were erected, which are still standing. The ever memorable financial break-down of that year commenced with the suspension of the Ohio Trust Company, which was followed by the failure of the Illinois banks and others all over the West. There were numerous " wild-cat " banks in the territory of Nebraska at that time, as there were elsewhere in the new West. Two or three of these banks were located at Omaha, and one or more at every little village through the river counties. The bank that did the largest business in Omaha and Nebraska was the Western Ex- change Fire and Marine Insurance Company. L. R. Tuttle was the cashier, and A. U. Wyman, afterwards cashier of the Omaha National Bank, but now the treasurer of the United States, was the teller. Mr. Wyman has risen by his own exertions, step by step, to his present position, which is one of the highest and most responsible offices in the United States. The people of Omaha feel proud of his success, as he was "an old Omaha boy." His father was the late W. W. Wyman, one of the old settlers here, who, during his residence in Omaha, was one of her most prom- inent citizens. Mrs. Wyman, his widow, and mother of Mr. A. U. Wyman, is still a resident of Omaha. The Bank of Nebraska, Samuel Moffat, cashier, was also located at Omaha. The Western Exchange Fire and Marine Insurance Company failed in October, 1857, and nearly all the other banks in the Territory fol- lowed suit. Within a few months every Nebraska bank had closed its doors, with the exception of two or three. One of these banks that withstood the general pressure was called the Bank of Dakotah and was operated by Augustus Kountze, who is one of the 96 HIS TORT OF OMAHA. Kouiit/e Bros., wlio now rank among the most prominent bankers in the country, doing business in New York, Omaha and Denver. This bank redeemed its entire circulation at par, which was consid- ered quite a noteworthy circumstance at that time. Of course the bursting of the speculative bubbles temporarily checked the rapid advancement that was being made by Omaha, and men who had been flush soon found themselves financially distressed. Business dragged heavily, the bottom was knocked out of real estate, and a general spirit of depression and despondency prevailed. It w-as 90 everywhere. During the summer of this year the city of Omaha issued $50,000 in city scrip for the purpose of completing the capitol, and when that amount was exhausted another $50,000 was issued, making $100,000 in all. This scrip passed current at par during the time it was being issued, and until the capitol building was enclosed and a few rooms were made read}' for occupancy. After that this scrip gradually fell until the discount was greater than the sum for which it would pass. A large amount of this scrip was either lost or vir- tually repudiated ; at least it was never redeemed except in the payment of taxes, for which some of it was used. The financial depression continued through 1S58, and in a still greater degree than ever. It is a fact that the population of the city decreased during 1S5S and 1859, when it is said to have contained 4,000 people, and that it did not begin to increase again until i860 and 1861. The rich gold discoveries in Colorado now gave a stimulus to western travel, from which Omaha derived a substantial benefit from the time it began till it ceased, and it was this that gave her another start. It was in 1S5S that the first discovery of gold in Colorado was made by a small party of men on a stream which is now called HISTORY OF OMAHA. 97 Cherry Creek, at a point where Denver was afterwards located. During the summer of 185S there was considerable emigration to that region, and when enough men had gathered together they laid out a town and called it Auraria. Afterwards a town was built up on the opposite side of the creek and called Denver, in honor of the then Governor of Kansas In the spring of 1859 the emigration to Colorado greatly in- creased, and a large share of the travel and trade to and from the gold regions passed through Omaha, which gave a decidedly hopeful and cheerful turn to affairs. Business began looking up at once, and Omaha soon became an important outfitting and starting point. Hundreds of wagons arrived at Omaha from the East every day, and after taking a rest here for a short time to replenish their supplies and outfit in good shape, they would resume their journey, with the words "Pike's Peak or bust" painted on their white wagon covers. Omaha merchants kept their stores open night and day, and every day in the week, Sundays not excepted, being determined to make hay while the sun shone. Those were busy times, and our merchants coined money right along. This Colorado emigration lasted till 1S64, and Omaha was greatly benefited thereby. It was in the summer of 1S59 that William N. Byers, having se- cured a printing office, a wagon and teams, left Omaha for Denver. On the side of his wagon he had painted the name of his contem- plated newspaper, "The Rocky Mountain News," which he established at Denver. It has been the leading newspaper of Colorado from that time to this. 9$ HISTORY OF OMAHA. CHAPTER XVI. THE DOINGS OF THE CLAIM CLUB. Sqi'ATTER TITLES THE FIRST NEBRASKA CLAIM MEETING PASSAGE OF LAWS — OMAHA CLAIM CLUB — ARBITRARY AND OPRESSIVE PRO- CEEDINGS THE CASE OF DOC. SMITH GRAND MASS MEETING OF THE CLCB RESOLUTIONS — JACOB SHLLL DRIVEN OFF HIS CLAIM AND HIS BUILDINGS BURNED AN OBSTINATE IRISHMAN DUCKED IN THE RIVER THROUGH THE ICE ILLUSTRATION SENTENCE OF « DEATH PASSED UPON ZIEGLER, WHO SAVES HIS LIFE BY YIELDING TO THE DEMANDS OF THE CLUB — MURPHY'S STORY A MAN STRUNG UP TO A TREE, AND AFTERWARDS STARVED INTO SUBMISSION DISSOLUTION OF THE CLAIM CLUBS — FIRST ENTRY AND FIRST PUB- LIC SALE OF LAND, ETC. ^r^— « l^rids upon which they had located or had staked out their claims. The title was still in the govern- ment of the United States, the land not then having been thrown upon the market. The only title the settlers had was what they called the "claim" or "squatter" title, and which they conveyed to each other by quit claim 'deeds. These titles were generally respected by everybody, and especially when the claimant had made valuable improvements on the land. The " claim club " was one of the first institutions established here. It was gotten up by the settlers as a sort of higher law, and also for the purpose of giving themselves an advantage over HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 99 those who came here afterwards. It soon became evident to them that Omaha would, at some day, become a large and prosperous city, and they accordingly undertook to secure the lion's share of the plunder. Under the laws of the United States in force at that time, any settler could take one hundred and sixty acres of land, and by sta^'ing on it, he was in no danger of his title ever being disputed, though it was necessary for him to wait till the land came into market before he could acquire a full and valid title. The early settlers thought the limit of one hundred and sixty acres was a little slow and not extensive enough. They wanted to do better than that. So they formed themselves into a " Nebraska Claim Associa- tion," or, as it was soon afterwards better known, " The Omaha Claim Club," comprising all settlers in Omaha and Douglas county, which then included Sarpy county. A "Nebraska Claim Meeting" was held at Omaha on the lid day of July, 1854, almost immediately after the survey of the town site was completed. It was composed of a respectable number ot the claimants of the public lands in the vicinity of Omaha, as the first number of the Omaha Arrotu, July 2S, informs us. S. Lewis was called to the chair, and M. C. Gaylord was ap- pointed temporary secretary. A complete code of laws was enacted providing for the manner of marking claims, and that no person could hold more than three hundred and twenty acres,* but that it could be in two parcels. No person could hold more than eighty acres of timber, but that also could be in two separate parcels. Marking the claim and building a claim pen four rounds high in a conspicuous place would hold the claim for thirty days, at the expiration of which a house had to be built thereon. Transfers of claims were to be made by quit claim deeds. All dllferences were to be settled b}- arbitration. "See Omaha Arrow, No. 1, July 28, 1854. HIS TORT OF OMAHA. Alter the passaij^e of these laws the association proceeded to the election of its officers, as provided for in the claim code, the result being as follows : A. D. Jones, Judge ; S. Lewis, Clerk ; M. C. Gay- lord, Recorder ; R. B. Whitted, Sherift". So it will be seen that A. D. Tones was our first Judge, and fully entitled to the honorable pre- fix, although he is never called Judge now. New oflicers were elected from time to time, and these laws were slightly amended at different periods, forming the model for similar clubs which were organized all throughout the territory. The Omaha Claim Club made a regulation that each member should hold against all claimants provided he made improvements on the land to the value of $50 per year. Under this regulation all the land within five or ten miles of the city was gobbled up by the settlers, each one taking 320 acres. Two or three years afterwards when new settlers began to ar- rive pretty fast, this regulation gave rise to a great deal of serious ditTiculty, and in some cases bloodshed resulted. The claim club was very arbitrary, and in some cases oppressive, in enforcing some of its regulations, and those of the "old settlers," who still reside here, do not like to say much about the matter. We will, however, mention a few well authenticated incidents of their action in respect to the adjustment of difficulties arising from disputed claims. Mr. George Smith, better known as " Doc." Smith, the veteran surveyor of Douglas county, was one of the many victims of the wrath of the Omaha Claim Club. He had taken up a claim — in the vicinity of his present residence in the northern part of the city — on the 15th day of May, 1856, and by the iSth instant he had his house half completed, when an armed party of seventy-five or one hundred men, under the direction of the Omaha Claim Club, came up and in a few minutes leveled the building to the ground, and threatened to put an end to the existence of Mr. Smith, who saw it HIS TORI' OF OMAHA. was useless to resist against such overwhelming odds. He had re- treated to a small clump of trees and bushes, where he held a brief consultation with the captain of the men, who advised him to leave at once. Mr. Smith acted on this advice, and going down under the bluff, he quickly departed and crossed the river to Iowa, going to Glenwood. where he remained most of that summer, occupying his time in cultivating a small piece of ground that he had there. Pie visited Omaha occasionally, but he made no attempt to recover his land. In the summer of 1857 Mr. Smith returned to Omaha, and soon after, early in 1858, employed a Washington lawyer, Richard M. Young, to present his case to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, who had replied in De- cember, 1857, to the letter of the register and receiver of the land office at Omaha in reference to the matter, that as Smith was absent from the land claimed for more than one year ; that as there was no evidence that he attempted to return and take possession of his claim, or that he resorted to legal proceedings to obtain possession or to protect himself, the General Land Office could not take the place of the local law, and its officers, to protect him ; and further, that not having complied either with the letter or the spirit of the pre-emption law, his claim was rejected. Young went at the case with a will, notwithstanding this adverse ruling of the Commissioner, and gathering all the facts and testimony, he presented the matter in a clear and convincing man- ner, and finally recovered Smith's land for him. Young had the facts and testimony of the case printed in pamphlet form, and distributed throughout Nebraska at the time, and we have now in possession a copy, from which wc have gathered considerable information. John A. Parker, who was register of the land office at the time Smith was driven off his land, was one of the main witnesses for Smith. In his affidavit he testified as follows: HIS TORT OF OMAHA. '• That he was present at Omaha in May, 1^5''), at which time the said Georsje Smith had erected a house on the above mentioned land, and which was the only house or other improvement on said land ; that soon after said house was erected on said land he saw a large and excited mob, fully armed, proceed to said house and pull the eame down, and gi^'e notice to said Smith to leave the Territory immediatclv, under pain of being placed itt the river if he failed to do so ; that the said Smith did, in fact, leave. "On or about the ist of February, 1S57, the land office opened at Omaha, and the 'Claim Association' held a a meeting, and passed resolutions, that no man should be permitted to pre-empt land with- out the consent of said association ; and a committee of vigilance was appointed to see that no person violated said resolution, and to pun- ish and 'dispose of all who did make any effort to comply with the laws of the United States. Some were summarily dealt with, and have not since been heard of. An efibrt was made to find Smith, for the purpose of making him abandon his claim, and it is within the personal knowledge of this affiant that threats were made, if he could be found and refused to comply, he should be hung ; and this affiant has no doubt that said threats would have been executed. " Some time in April the said Smith wrote to this affiant asking if he could, in his opinion, safely appear at his office to consummate his pre-emption. He replied, that he did not think he could -do so, and any attempt on his part would forfeit his life. "Again, in the sunnier, he was written to on the same subject ; and he was then advised to come down to the oflfice at night, and bring his witnesses with him, so that the facts should be sent to the Commissioner of the Land Office — all of which was done. " During the whole period there was no bona fide settlement on said land, nor was there any such settlement up to the time said Smith came to the office. The only real claimant to the land was HIS TOR 2' OF OMAHA. 103 Omaha, and it constituted a portion of the 3,500 acres which was set apart and claimed for the town, but constituted no part of the area entered, or built on, and occupied for town purposes. It does not appear that there was any laches on the part of Smith, nor was there any law in existence to which he could appeal to place him in possession of the land, (even if such a law could have been en- forced against a mob.) The legislature, at its session of 1S57, had repealed all civil and criminal laws, and had not substituted any others. "This affiant is in doubt whether, at this time, the said Smith could safely enter on the land ; but, if it is entrusted to him, he has no doubt he will make the effort. (Signed) John A. Parker, Late Register Land Office, Omaha, N. T." A grand mass meeting of the Omaha Claim Club was held in Pioneer Block on the 20th day of February, 1S57. The meeting was called to order by the President, when it was announced that dele- gations were present from Bellevue, Florence, Elkhorn and Papillion, readv to offer aid and counsel of their respective districts, to assist the people of Omaha in the protection of their rights. The delegations were admitted by acclamation, and a committee of five was appointed to draw up resolutions expressing the sentiments and intentions of the squatters. The resolutions were as follows : " Whereas it appears that evil disposed persons are giving trouble, in different parts of this vicinity, in attempting to pre-empt the claims and parts of claims held by bona fide Claimants, to the great annovance of the rightful owners : Therefore, " Resolved, That we have the fullest confidence in the power of the claim associations to protect the rights of the actual settler, and we pledge ourselves as men, and as members of the dift'erent . laim associations in Douglas antl Sarpy counties, to maintain the claim I04 11 IS TOR 2' Op OMAHA. title as the highest title known to our laws, and we will defend it with our lives. " /?Mo/f <• The Baptist church, a brick edifice at the southeast corner of Davenport and Fifteenth streets— Rev. E. II. E. Jameson, pastor— was built in 1870. The Eighteenth street M. E. cluncli, in cli:ir-c of Rev. I. N. Par- dee, was moved from North Omaha to its present location, and recon- structed in 1873. 17S HIS TOR 2' OF OMAHA. There are numerous other church edifices, of small size, in Omaha, of recent erection, and there are about twenty-five dif- ferent church organizations. The oldest of the secret societies in Omaha is the Odd Fellows, the the first lodge having been estab lished in January, 1856. The order in this city is now composed of four or five lodges, who in common built the Odd Fellows' Hall, a handsome three story brick structure, at the northwest corner of Fourteenth and Dodge streets, about two years and a half ago. at a cost of $iS,ooo. The Ferry Com- pany when laying out the town BAPTIST CHURCH. gavc a lot to the Odd Fellows, and it is on this identical lot that their hall stands. The next oldest secret society is the Masons, Capitol Lodge having been instituted in 1S57. There are now about a half-a-dozen or more lodges and orders of this flourishing fraternity, and they are erecting a three story brick hall, to cost $15,000, at the northwest corner of Sixteenth street and Capitol avenue. The corner stone was laid on the 2 1 St of October, 187^'.* Besides the above orders there are several other secret, as well as benevolent societies of more recent birth, prominent among which are the Knights of Pythias, who are in a flourishing condition. '■•The first 72 pages of this history, which was then in the hands of the printer, was (deposited, with other articles, in the corner stone. HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 179 OUU KKI,LOWS BLOCK. iSo HISTORY OF OMAHA. CHAPTER XXIV. HISTORY OF THE PRESS. THE FIRST NEBRASKA NEWSPAPERS THE ARROW AND THE NEBRAS- KIAN THE WEEKLY TIMES THE OMAHA REPUBLICAN THE TRIB- UNE THE FIRST daily: THE TELEGRAPH THE HERALD THE DAILY TIMES — THE DAILY BEE — DAILY DISPATCH — DAILY UNION — OTHER PUBLICATIONS. 5LTHOUGH the ArroiM has been mentioned as the first Omaha newspaper, it was not strictly an Omaha in- stitution as it was printed in Council Blufts.* The first paper that was set up and printed with its own type and press was the Nebraskian, a Democratic sheet, which was established in the fall of 1854, shortly after the twelfth and last number of the Arroiv had been published. Bird B. Chapman, who lived in Ohio, and who made it his business to come to Nebraska to run for office at every available opportunity, brought with him a complete newspaper outfit and started the Nebraskian with John Sherman as editor and Joe Strickland as printer. This paper was published in the interests of Chapman, who was Nebraska's first delegate to Congress. Its office for two or three years was in a building put up for it by A. J. Hans- com, where the Grand Central now stands, which was afterwards rented to John R. Porter for a store After Chapman stopped run- ning for office, the paper had a precarious existence in its passage '■'See chapters VII and VIII. HIS TOR }• OF OMAHA. iSi through different hands until 1S64, when the sheriff choked out of it the little life there was in it. The Weeklv Times, a Democratic paper, was established in 1S57 by William \V. Wyman, who made a very respectable paper of it, both in size and appearance. He erected during that year the brick building at the northwest corner of Thirteenth and Douglas streets, for the Times office and for a postoffice, he having been sometime pre- viously appointed postmaster. Me arranged the basement with the idea of putting steam presses therein at the proper time, but this idea was not carried out till some years afterwards, and then by other parties. This fact, however, shows that he comprehended the importance to which the press would soon attain in Nebraska. He disposed of his office to the Ncbraskian being compelled to abandon journalism on account of his poor health. The Omaha Democrat, started in 1S5S by Hadley D. Johnson, struggled along for a few months, and then died. The first number of the Omaha Republican, a weekly paper, started by Ed. F. Schneider and Harrison J. Brown, was issued on the 5th of May, 1S58. In 1S59 it was sold to E. D. Webster, E. B. Taylor and E. A. McClure — the second gentleman now dead, and the last now of the cracker manufacturing firm of McClure & Smith — pur- chased the Republican, and in 1863 began issuing it as a daily. In 1866 St. A. D. Balcombe bought it, and on April i, 1S71, it was consolidated with the Trlhnne, an opposition Republican paper, which had been started on the 25th of January, 1S70, by J. B. Hall and others. It then became a stock company and sailed unilcr the double head of Tribunr and Republican until 1S73, when it resumed its old name of Rrpublican. Mr. Balcombe withdrew from the paper in 1875. It '^ "O^^' ^"^'t^'^' '^'1^' managed by D. C. Brooks, under whose supervision it has been greatly improved during tlie past year. The first regular daily newspaper was The Tvlrnraph, the first iS2 HISTORY OF OMAHA. number being issued December 5th, i860. It was a small four-column paper, and was " published simultaneously at Omaha and Council Bluft's." H. Z. Curtis was the editor and proprietor, and W. H. Kinsman, associate editor. It was short-lived, not running more than a year. The Omaha Daily Herald was established in 1S65, by Dr. George L. Miller and D. W. Carpenter, the former being the editor. Lyman Richardson and John S. Briggs published the Herald for a short time in 1S68, and upon Mr. Briggs retiring, the firm became Miller & Richardson, Dr. Miller resuming the editorial pen. The Herald was published till 1S74 in the building now occupied by Eberhart's Bazar, northwest corner of Douglas and Thirteenth streets, which, as already stated, was erected by W. W. Wyman, the former proprie- tor of the Tittles. In the above year Miller & Richardson built, and moved into, the office now occupied by the Herald, next to the Grand Central Hotel. The Herald is, and always has been, the leading Democratic paper of the Northwest. The Daily Evening Times, an independent sheet, was started by Peter F. O'SuUivan, William E. Cook, John Howard, Ern W. Cald- well and Charles Collins, in i868, and after being run here a short time was removed to Sioux City. Julius Silversmith's Journal of Commerce, started in 1869, was a failure and lived but a few days. The publication of the Daily Bee was commenced in June, 1S71, by Edward Rosewater, and it has grown step by step, from a small sheet, to a large and influential journal, extending in circulation and wieldino- a powerful influence throughout the entire trans-Missouri country. It is an independent, fearless Republican paper, and as such meets with a hearty and substantial support. The Daily Bee is the only Nebraska journal that has had the enterprise to enter the broader field of journalism — the publication of two editions daily — morning HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 1S3 and evening — the former for outside circulation and the latter for the city. It is the only paper in Nebraska that had enterprise enouo'h to inautnirate the expensive luxury of issuing illustrated annual supplements, and its supplement of 1S75 was taken as a model by several other western papers for their New Year's supplement of 1876. The Daily Dispatch, established in 1S73, by J- C. Wilcox, soon subsided, not living more than two' or three months. The Daily Union was the outgrowth of a printers' strike in Jan- uary, 1874. The striking printers combined and started it with high hopes of success, but the enterprise was consigned to an early grave, in the fall of the same year. The Agriculturist, after an existence of five or six years, finally died in October of the present year. There are several other papers and periodicals, of comparatively recent birth, which are all doing well. The Omaha High School, a monthly by J. F. McCartney ; the monthly Nebraska Journal of Commerce, bv Tavlor Bro's.; the Weekly Post and Beobachter, a a German paper by Dr. A. Sorel ; the Weekly Pokrok Zapadu, (Progress of the West) a Bohemian paper, published by Mr. E. Rosewater ; the Weekly Daiiske Pioneer, by Mark Hansen ; tlie Weekly Folkets Tidning, a Swedish paper ; the Cotiductor's Monthly Magazine, by W. II. Morse ; the monthlv Excelsior, a juvenile sheet by Clcmie Chase ; the Jolly Joker, also a monthly jiivonilc publication, by Chas. Bunce ; All Sorts, a similar monthly by W. R. Bartlett ; and the Midland Monthly, a literary periodical, which, by the wav, is a magazine of considerable lilerary ability, being con- ducted bv Hcnrv D. Estabrook and T. M, Ross. 1S4 HIS TORT OF OMAHA. CHAPTER XXV. THE TELEGRAPH BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD CREIGHTON, WHO BUILT THE FIRST LINE TO OMAHA, AND WHO EREC^TED THE PACIFIC LINE ACROSS THE PLAINS HIS NUMEROUS TELEGRAPHIC UNDERTAKINGS AND BUSINESS ENTERPRISES — HOW HE BECAME A MILLIONAIRE — THE PRESENT IMPORTANCE OF OMAHA AS A TELEGRAPHIC POINT. f^^*-j^^iHE history of the telegraph, in connection with that of ^^-iJxiU^,-— et of Omaha, will prove an interesting chapter, and it cannot be told without relating the history of the late Edward Creighton, who built the first line for Stebbins to Omaha, from Missouri, and soon afterward the Pacific line across the plains, thus acquiring a national fame and a princely fortune. Mr. Creighton was born August 31st, 1S20, in Belmont county, Ohio. His youth and young manhood were spent first as a laborer and afterwards as a contractor in building railroad and telegraph lines. He drifted to the Southern States, and steadily pursuing this business, he there accumulated some $12,000 or $15,000. In 18^6 he paid a short visit to Omaha, his brothers, John A. Creighton, Joseph Creighton, and James Creighton, and his cousin James Creighton, who were residing in Omaha at that time. In the fall of 1S56 he was married in Dayton, Ohio, to Miss Marv Lucretia Wareham, and in 1S57 he removed to Omaha, which THE LATE EUWAKD CKKK^H luN. BuiltUr of the /'aci/ii. leUgrtph. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 185 became his permanent home. He built the brick house on the north side of Chicago street, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth, soon after his arrival, and occupied it ever afterwards. He engaged in the lumber business for a short time, obtaining his stock from Pittsburg by steamboat. During the year 1S58 and a portion of 1859, he was in Arkansas building a telegraph line from Jefferson, Missouri, to Ft. Smith, Arkansas, for Stebbins, the tele- graph contractor, who had certain territory in which to construct lines. After finishing this job, Mr. Creighton returned to Omaha, and in i860 built the Missouri & Western line for Stebbins from St. Louis to Omaha, the first one to reach this city, the second line arriving here being the Illinois & Mississippi Valley line in 1S61. Mr. Creighton had already conceived the idea, in 1S59, o^ build- ing a telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean. He soon afterwards went to Cleveland, Ohio, and there consulted with Jephtha H. Wade, a rich man and a heavy stock-holder in the Western Union line, about the undertaking. Mr. Wade directed him to communicate with Gen. Carpentier, of California, who was pres- ident of the California State Telegraph Company, then running a line between San Francisco and Sacramento. After some considerable delay, however, the Western L'liion Com- pany, through the efforts of Mr. Wade, agreed to furnish Mr. Creighton with the means for a preliminary survey of the route between the Missouri river and the Pacific ocean. This was during the winter of 1860-61. A trip across the plains in tiiose days with- out an escort was a very perilous feat, and one whicli very few had the courage to perform, as the whole country swarm cii witli Iiuiians, and settlements were few and far between. But Mr. Creighton, then in the prime of his manhood, did not hesitate to start out on tliis dangerous trip. He went from Omaha to Salt Lake by stage coach. He remained at Salt Lake some little time making the acquaintance 12 iS6 niSTORl' OF OMAHA. of Brighain Young and getting him interested in the overland tele- graph project. He not only succeeded in this, but he made a warm friend of Brigham Young, who ever after continued so. Wade, in the meantime, had gone to Sua Francisco by steamer, and he sent for Mr. Creighton to come on from Salt Lake to Sac- ramento to assist him in making arrangements with the California parties. He then pushed on for the Pacific coast, making his prelim- inary survey on horseback by the way of Virginia City, following the pony express route to Sacrainento. It was a fearful ride, and he suffered intensely, his face being severely frost-bitten. This south- erly route was considered more practicable than a route farther north, where it was feared the heavy snows would interfere with the tele- graph lines. An agreement was made that Creighton should build a line from Julesburg to Ft. Laramie, thence through the South Pass to Salt Lake, to connect there with a line from the Pacific coast, which was to be put up by the California parties. The Missouri and Western line, the reader is reminded, had been extended from Omaha to Julesburg. Mr. Creighton and Mr. Wade came back by steamer, and soon after his return, early in the spring of iS6i, Mr. Creighton engaged a very large number of men and teams, and began the work at once. One great stimulus to the rapid completion of the work was the passage ot a bill by Congress, granting a subsidy of .$40,000 per an- num for ten years to the Pacific Telegraph Company, as the cor poration, which had been organized for the undertaking, was called, and in which company the Western Union owned the controling stock. It was a lively race between Mr. Creighton and Mr. Street, who had the superintendence of the construction of the California line, as to who would reach Suit Lake first, and tliev made a wager that HISTORY OF OMAHA. 1S7 the victorious line should take the earnings of the other until it reached Salt Lake. Thev also made other wagers. Mr. Creighton got there first with his line. He reached Salt Lake on the 17th day of October, 1S61, beating the California line just one week, when the lines were connected and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were united by the electric current. As an inducement for Mr. Creighton to undertake this enterprise, the company gave him the privilege of taking $100,000 in stock, and allowed him a certain length of time to accept or reject the offer. He did not hesitate a moment, but accepted the stock. So sanguine was he of success that he invested all the money he had, besides hypothecating his interest in a New Orleans line, which he had built some years previously. For the $100,000 stock that he pur- chased of the Pacific Telegraph Company as an investment, he paid only about eighteen cents on the dollar. He thus became the pos- sessor of one-tenth of the company's stock, which was $1,000,000. Soon after the Pacific line was completed, the Western Union doubled their stock, and the Pacific company tripled theirs, thus in- creasing Mr. Creighton's shares to $300,000. The Pacific Company's stock then rose from twenty cents to eighty-five cents. Mr. Creit^h- ton then sold $100,000 or one-third of his stock, for $85,000, and then had the snug sum of $200,000 left. Mr. Creighton was general superintendent of the construction, and was general manager of the line from Chicago to Salt Lake from the time it was completed till 1S67. A line was in process of con- struction from Chicago to Omaha, and Mr. Creighton, as a piece of strategy, ran the Pacific line over to Council Blulls, making it the terminus temporarily, and thus forcing the Chicago company, who thought he was going to push right on to Chicago, to lease their line to the Pacific Telegraph. Mr. Creighton invested a large portion of his profits, arising from ,SS HIS TORT OF OMAHA. his telegraph speculations, in the freighting husiness from Omaha across the plains to Denver and Salt Lake, and afterwards to Mon- tana, before the days of the Union Pacific railroad. In 1863, when Montana was first invaded by the gold hunters, he fitted out several large wagon trains with merchandise for that territory, upon which immense sums were realized. The first of those Montana trains was composed of thirty teams, in charge ot James Creighton, who in thirty days' sales made $33,000, which he brought back to Omaha with him. The next year he took a train of forty mule teams to Montana, where Mr. John A. Creighton had remained as salesman, and the amount realized from this trip was $52,000. There were others of Mr. Creigh ton's freight trains that turned out equally as well. In 1864 Mr. Creighton ventured into the cattle business in Ne- braska, and the Indians ran oft" all his herds. He started again, this time on Laramie plains, he being the pioneer cattle man in that section of the West. He had immense herds of cattle roaming the plains, from which he supplied the Union Pacific construction trains with beef while the road was being built from Cheyenne westward. He continued in the profitable business of raising cattle, as well as horses, sheep and mules, until his death. When the First National Bank was started in 1863, Mr, Creighton became a heavy subscriber to the stock, and was elected president, and he ever afterwards i-etained that position. In 1866 Mr. Creighton built a telegraph line to Montana from Salt Lake, his brother John A. Creighton superintending the work, and about the same time he erected a line from Julesburg to Denver, While the Union Pacific railroad was being constructed, he took large contracts for grading, and also put up the company's telegraph lines. It is a fact that Mr. Creighton conceived the idea of securing HISTORY OF OMAHA. 189 telegraphic communication with Europe by running a line "up the Pacific coast to Behring's Strait, across which he intended to throw a submarine cable, and then extend a line through the Russian pos- sessions. He induced the Western Union company to make the coast survey, and the scheme no doubt would have been carried out, had not the successfal laying of the Atlantic cable rendered such an undertaking unnecessary. It was the Atlantic cable that stopped the work, and had that failed we would to-day, through the eftbrts of Edward Creighton, have had telegraphic communication with Europe via Behring's Strait. Mr. Creighton was also heavily interested in the Omaha & Northwestern railroad, and did considerable towards building up Omaha in various other ways. He erected the handsome three-storv brick block called after his nam?, and with others he loaned $100,000 to the Omaha Hotel Company, with which they completed the Grand Central. During his residence in Omaha he amassed a fortune of over ^1,500,000 by his numerous enterprises and undertakings. He made sev- eral liberal donations during his life-time to the Catholic church, of which he was a member, and also to St. Mary's Convent, and Mercy Hospital. He died on the 5th of November, 1-874, aged 54, from the effects of a second stroke of paralysis. His wife, a most estimable, amiable and charitable lady, followed soon afterwards, she dying on the 23d of Jan- uary, 1876. By her will the vast property was divided among the rel- atives of her husband and herself, and the sum of $200,000 was provided for the erection of a Catholic college at Omaha to be called after Mr. Creighton's name. This last bequest was made in accordance with a wish often expressed by Mr. Creighton during his life-time. Omaha has much to thank Edward CreigiUon for. In making Omaha the initial point of tiic Pacific telegraph, he virtually made this city the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific; and it was his influence that attracted to Omaha various enterprises, as I90 II I STORY OF OMAHA. well .ifi capftal, as he made this city his base of operations. In 1863 Omaha had three wires — one tVoin St. Louis, one from Chicago, and one to San Francisco. The Western Union consolidated with the Pacific telegraph and the two lines have since been operated as one. In 1870 the Great Western Telegraph was built from Chicago to Omaha, connecting with the I'acitic coast over the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad wires. The Atlantic A: Pacific Telegraph Company established their lines west from Omaha to San Francisco in 1869, and in 1873 con- structed a line between Omaha and Chicago to connect their western and eastern systems. Twenty-three wires now enter Omaha, each one terminating here. There are now in Omaha fifteen telegraph oflices, of which the Union Pacific has nine, located at their headquarters, train dis- patchers' offices, depots, shops, bridge offices, etc. The others are those of the Western Union and Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Companies, the Chicago, Burlington & Qiiincy, the Chicago & Rock Island, Chicago cS: Northwestern, B. & M. in Nebraska, and the Kansas City, St. Joe & C. B. railroad companies. In -these various offices are employed no less than forty opera- tors, besides the clerks, messengers, line repairers, battery men, etc. The commercial lines, namely, the Western Union and Atlantic & Pacific, make Omaha the relaying station for all the telegraphic communication between the East and West, every message passing through Omaha being repeated. This involves considerable labor and requires a large force of operators. It is estimated that the com- mercial telegraph companies here handle about 1,500 messages daily, including local and through business. They also handle from 15,000 to 20,000 words of press dispatches. The Union Pacific railroad offices in this city send and receive probably one thousand messages daily, including train orders. HISTORY OF OMAHA. i^, Thus it will be seen that nearly 2,500 telegrams are sent and re- ceived in this city daily, and estimating the press report at a basis of twenty words to the message, will swell the number to 3,500 messages, which will amount to 70,000 words or 350,000 letters. In 1S63 a message of ten words from Omaha to New York, cost $5,65 ; from Omaha to Chicago, $3.55 ; from Omaha to St. Louis the same ; and other points in the same ratio. Now a message of ten words from Omaha to New York costs %2.co ; to Chicago, 75 cents ; to St. Louis, 75 cents ; night messages, half rates, with privilege of twenty words. This great reduction has been brought about by competition. Frank Lehmer is the manager of the Omaha office of the West- ern Union line, and Mr. L. M. Rheem has charge of the Atlantic & Pacific office, Mr. J. J. Dickey being the superintendent of the latter line, 192 HISTORY OF OMAHA. CHAPTER XXVI. THE DAYS OF STEAMBOATING AND STAGING. A PROFITABLE BUSINESS WHILE IT LASTED HOW A COUPLE OF PILOTS MADE A BIG STAKE ON ONE TRIP PORTER AND DEUEL, STEAM- BOAT AGENTS — "there's MANY A HOLE IN A SKIMMER." •TEAMBOATING on the Missouri was a large and profitable business from the time Omaha was located up to the year 1867, when the railroads reached here. A very large amount of money was invested in river transportation during the years that Omaha re- mained the principal head of navigation on the Missouri. Freio-hts were sometimes very high, and to show what was occasionally realized on a single trip, we will relate a little incident. In the fall of i8:;6 a couple of adventurous river pilots bought an old stern-wheel steamer in St. Louis, and loaded it with goods, putting on all it could possibly carry. They made the trip to Omaha, reaching here about the middle of November, and delivered their frei«-ht at five cents per pound from St. Louis. They then returned to St. Louis with their steamer before the river closed, clearing on the venture enough money to not only pay for their boat, but to have a surplus of a few thousand dollars beside. The principal steamboat agents during the period previous to the railroads were John R. Porter and H. P. Deuel, under the firm name of Porter & Deuel. Judge Porter came here in the spring of 1856 and went into the commission business with Riddler. and HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 193 shortly afterwards with Bremen, with whom he continued in business two or three years. The first fire in Omaha was the one that de- stroyed their store in December, 1S56, by which $y,ooo was lost.* The building stood on the lot now covered by the Grand Central Hotel. In 1S59 Mr. Deuel succeeded Bremen, and the firm be- came Porter iv: Deuel. They were the agents for the packet line and the Hannibal & St. Joe railroad. Mr. Porter was the first railroad ticket agent in Omaha, and used to carr^- the tickets in his hat, something after the style of the first postmaster, Mr. A. D. Jones. He continued in the steamboat and railroad ticket business for fifteen years, Mr. Deuel being connected with him for the last ten years of that period. The arrival and departure of steamers was from two to seven per week, and their arrival was always regarded as quite an im- portant event. When the dull sonorous wliistle of a long expected boat was heard far off to the south there would be a grand rush, pell-mell, of nearly all the people in town, on foot, on horseback, and in vehicles of every description, to the landing place and there they ■would impatiently await her arrival. It was customary in those days, while a boat was unloading her freight, to havp a grand dance on board, bv the citizens. The first boat up in tlie spring was always considered the great event of the boating season, as it brought up a fresh sup- ply of goods of every description to replenish the stocks of the mer- chants who had sold out pretty much of everything during the long winter. The Western Stage Company ran eastward from Omaha through * Omaha now has a fire department which is without doubt the best one in the West. The Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company was organized May ist, i86o, as an independent institution, the members owning the property The first engine was a hand machine the " Fire King," which arrived here in the Spring of i866- Steamer No. i arrived in the fall of 1867, steamer No. 2 in 1868, and No. 3 in 1S70. The Union Pacific h.-»s also a steamer, the " Durant," at the railroad shops. The discipline of the Omaha fire depart- ment is excellent, and their success in extinguishing fires has been remarkable so far. •94 HIS TOR 7' OF OMAHA. Iowa, ami between tins line and the packets there existed a great rivalry to catch the passengers. The overland stages also ran from Onialia to Kearney, connecting there with the main line for Califor- nia and Colorado. Porter .S: Deuel would, without being, certain as to the arrival or departure of boats, nevertheless sell all the tickets possible to pas- sengers who wished to go down the river to travel east bv the Hannibal & St. Joe ailroad. Of course they would say that the boat would be up by the next day, or that it was expected every hour. Two or three days and nights might elapse, and no boats would appear, probably having been stuck on a sand-bar or detained by heavy wind. The passengers would become uneasy and turbulent. The Western Stage Line men would solicit them to go east by their coaches, and advise them to get their money back. Then the men would go to Porter & Deuel and ask for their money. The reply would invariably be, •' Gentlemen, don't get restless, we expect a boat up every hour. We can't refund your money, as we have already remitted it to headquarters, and we don't propose to take it out of our own pockets." The disappointed passengers would wait an- other day, and becoming more restless than ever, they would call again on Porter & Deuel, who would finally be obliged to pay for their meals and furnish them with blankets to sleep in the warehouse rather than refund the money. When affairs got to this crisis men began to swear and make threats, and Porter & Deuel would con- sequently keep out of the way till a boat did arrive, and even then the craft might be too small to accommodate all, or the passenger capacity might be sold ahead, and then there would be more trouble. But the agents always managed to get out of these little scrapes, for *' there's many a hole in a skimmer," as Deuel used to say then, as he does now. Porter & Deuel continued in this business until iSCty. Judge Porter HIS TOR}- OF OMAHA. built the office at the northeast corner of Farnham and Tenth streets for the St. Joe road, the second one to reach Omaha, soon after the Chicago & Northwestern. Mr. Porter was the agent for this road, and resigned upon his being elected Police Judge in 1S69. In 1S68 the Chicago. Burlington & Qviincy railroad was completed. Harry Deuel became the agent, and has ever since been connected with the road. John A. Horbacli was also engaged in the steamboat ticket and freight business in those days, and Capt. \V. P. • Wilcox, of the dry -goods firm of Stephens & Wilcox, was one of the early steam- boat captains on the Mis.souri. being engaged for manv years in navigating the stream. 1 1)6 firsTOur OF omaha. CHAPTER XXVII. THE RAILROADS. THK CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN THE FIRST TO REACH OMAHA THE KANSAS CITY, ST. JOE AND C. B. CAME SECOND THE CHI- CAGO AND ROCK ISLAND THIRD THE CHICAGO, BURLINGTON AND C^LUNCY FOURTH THE OMAHA AND NORTHWESTERN THE B. AND M. IN NEBRASKA THE BUILDING OF THE UNION PACIFIC AND SOME INCIDENTS CONNECTED THEREWITH GRAND CELEBRATION AT OMAHA UPON ITS COMPLETION THE BRIDGE ILLUSTRATION THE INITIAL POINT FIGHT THE OMAHA AND REPUBLICAN VALLEY RAILROAD A PLEASANT REMINISCENCE OF GEN. SHERMAN. 58 long ago as 1855 the Mississippi & Missouri Ri\LT railroad, now known as the Chicago & Rock Islanti, was pushing its way slowlv westward from Chicago, and Omaha and Florence were tiien rivals for the ter- minus. Of the two routes — one down the Pigeon Creek Vallev, and the other down the Mosquito Val- 'oC^'vf-^^ lev — the company selected the latter, thus disappoint- ing the high hopes of Florence, but the road was not completed till the spring of 186S, the financial crash of 1S57 having had a tendency to retard its progress. The Chicago & Northwestern railroad was the first to reach Omaha, the first train coming in from the East on Sunday, January 17th, 1S67. Next came the St. Joe Sl Council Blufts road — now called the HISTORr OF OMAHA. 197 Kansas City, St. Joe «& Council Bluffs, or as it is more popularly known, the Omaha & St. Louis Short Line. Frank Moores is the Omaha ticket agent of this road. The Burlington & Missouri, now called the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, was completed in 186S. Harry Deuel is the Omaha ticket agent of this road as well as ot the Chicago & North- western and Chicago & Rock Island railroads. The Omaha & Northwestern was begun in 1S69, and was built to Herman, a distance of forty miles. During the present year it was extended seven miles further to Tekamah. The first president of this road was Mr. James E. Boyd, who was greatly instrumental in or- ganizing the company. Had it not been organized just at the time it was, Omaha would not have the road. The proposition to submit the voting of bonds for the Omaha & Southwestern road was then being agitated, and the Omaha & Northwestern company' was hurri- edly organized so that their bonds could be submitted at the same time. The stock in the Omaha & Northwestern went rather slow after a certain amount had been disposed of. Then James E. Boyd took three-twentieths, or one-sixth of the whole amount, William A. Paxton two-twentieths, and John A. Morrow two-twentieths. The Other stock-holders were John A. Redick, Herman Kountze, Edward Creighton, Jonas Gise, John A. Harbach, C. H. Downs, Frank Smith, G. M. Mills, and the Millards. The Omaha & Southwestern was commenced in 1S69 and built to Lincoln, the capital, a distance of fifty miles. The president was S. S. Caldwell, and among the stockholders were John Y. Cloppcr, Clinton Briggs, Henry Gray, Frank Murphy, A. S. Paddock, and Frank Smith. In 1872 this road passed into the hands of the Chicago, Bur- lington & C^iincy railroad, which corporation extended it to Kearney, where it unites with the Union Pacific, about one hundred and ninety miles from Omaha. This line is now called tlie Burlington igS HIS TORT OF OMAHA. Si Missouri in Nebraska. The general olViccs are located at Omaha, havin" been moved here from Plattsmouth about a year ago. Mr. William Irving is the general superintendent. It is over the B. & M. in Nebraska, the Atchison & Nebraska and the Missouri Pacific that Omaha now has a through line to St. Louis on the west side of the Missouri river. This line was estab- lished in the early part of this year, and is called the Omaha & St Louis Cut-otr. H. D. ShuU is the Omaha ticket agent. Omaha now has six passenger trains daily to and from Chicago, four to and from St. Louis, besides the Union Pacific trains, and those of the Omaha & Northwestern and B. & M. in Nebraska. Omaha has also direct railroad communication with Sioux City and St. Paul. The historv of the Union Pacific railroad — the grandest and most important enterprise of the kind that was ever undertaken — is still fresh in the public mind, but nevertheless that history, however briefly related, will ever prove of great interest to the reader, especially if he be a resident of Omaha. We shall speak more es- pecially of the facts and incidents relating to Omaha, as this is a local history. The project of a railroad to the Pacific ocean had long been agitated, in a vague and indefinite way, until in 1853, the government sent out four difterent parties to the West to investigate the practi- cability of such a road, and upon their making a favorable report, the scheme was discussed at various times. At last, in the year 1862 Congress passed an act authorizing the building of a trunk road from the one hundredth meridian, which was two hundred miles west of Omaha. There were to he three branches, one from the western boundary of Iowa, one from Sioux City west and the other from the western boundary of Missouri, all of course to con- nect with the main line. The routes of the Sioux City and southern branches were afterwards changed. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 199 The initial points were to be designated by the President of the United States, and on the 17th of November, 1S63, he fixed the initial point of the main branch, by an order, as follows : " At a point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa, opposite section ten, in township fifteen, north of range thirteen, east of the sixth princi- pal meridian, in the Territory of Nebraska." The act for the con- struction of the road provided that the branch reaching the one hundredth meridian first should build the remainder of the line and receive a donation of 13,875,200 acres of land. A company for the undertaking of this stupendous project was soon organized, and on the morning of December 3d, 1863, a dispatch came from headquarters to the engineer at Omaha directing him to begin work at once. The good news soon circulated all over the city and created the most intense enthusiasm, and in the afternoon over one thousand people collected in the vicinity of the old telegraph crossing on the bottoms, and " broke ground " with great ceremony. After a prayer for the success of the undertaking, the first earth was removed by Governor Saunders and Mayor Kennedy, of Omaha, and Mayor Palmer, of Council Bluffs. Guns were fired, and deafen- ing cheers arose from the assemblage. Governor Saunders, Mayor Kennedy, Dr. G. C. Monell, Hon. A. J. Poppleton, and A. V. Lari- mer each made a speech full of what was then considered extravagant predictions. George Francis Train, the great enthusiast, was present, and in his speech predicted that the Union Pacific railroad would be completed before the year 1870. His audience considered that a little too extravagant and laughed at him, but he was correct. President Lincoln and many prominent men sent telegrams to Omaha in regard to the auspicious opening of the project, and they were received with great enthusiasm by the crowd, to whom they were read. The next spring. 1864, the work of grading was begun. After about one hundred thousand dollars had been spent on the due westerly HIS TOR 2' OF OMAHA. course, it was abandoned, because it was too hilly to allow the road to be completed to the one hundredth meridian in time to save the charter, as it was claimed, and two new routes were then surveyed. One was to the north and thence west. The other was to the south, nearly to Bellevue, and thence northwest. The latter was called the "ox-bow," and was chosen by the company, notwithstanding the violent opposition of the people of Omaha, who had great fears that the com- pany intended to cross the Missouri river at Bellevue and leave Omaha out in the cold. The greatest anxiety existed at Omaha at this time. Everything was finally harmoniously settled, however, and upon the abandonment of the idea of starting from Bellevue, Omaha breathed easy once again. The grading was then rapidly pushed forward, and the laying of the track followed almost as fast. Every twenty miles was duly- inspected by the proper persons, appointed for that purpose, and numerous excursions were made to the end of the track, as it was moved from point to point. Fifty miles of the road were completed and in running order by the ist of January, 1866. The ties for the road from Omaha to the Platte valley were obtained from the Mis- souri river bottoms. Being of Cottonwood they were put through the " Burnetizing Process," which made them impervious to either animal or vegetable parasites. The ties for the remainder of the road were of hardwood and were obtained from Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other distant states, and frequently cost as high as two dollars and a half per tie laid down in Omaha. There was a break in railroad communication between Omaha and Des Moines, a distance of one hundred and thirty-thi-ee miles, and consequently everything had to be transported by teams from that point or by steamboats up the Missouri. The seventy-horse-power engine of the railroad shops at Omaha was transported in wagons from Des Moines to Omaha. The company started their extensive shops soon atler beginning the work of build- HISTORT OF OMAHA. ing the railroad, and they were completed in the fall of 1S65. The shops consist of a dozen or more large and substantial brick struct- ures, covering an extensive area of ground. They give employment to between six and seven hundred men, among whom over half a million of dollars is paid out annuallj-. Mr. J. H. Congdon. is super- intendent of the locomotive department, and Mr. George E. Stevens is the superintendent of the car department. There were two hundred and sixty miles laid during the \ear t866 ; two hundred and forty miles in 1867 ; and from January ist, 1868 to May 10, i86g, five hundred and fifty-five miles were laid, completing the road. The great work was finished in three years, six months and ten days from the time it was started. This was about seven years sooner than the limit fixed by Congress. In the construction of the road there were used 300,000 tons of rails, 1,700,000 fish-plates, 6,800,000 bolts, 6,126,375 ties, and 23,505,500 spikes. The Casement brothers, contractors, frequently laid the track at the rate of five miles per day. During the building of the road, and afterwards, the Indians oc- casionally molested the employes, and on one occasion, in August, 1867, they attacked a freight train near Plum Creek. The fireman and engineer were instantly killed, and the body of the fireman was thrown into the fire-box of the locomotive and burned to a crisp. One of the brakemen escaped, and running along the track saved an approaching train from the same fate. The celebration at Omaha in honor of the completion of the road and its junction with the Central Pacific was a grand afiair. It was a general holiday for everybody. Private and i)ublic i)uiki- ings were ornamented with decorations of all kinds — flags, festoons, banners and mottoes. \ telegraph line was run to a 13 HISTORY OF OMAHA. buildim^ on Capilol Hill, and direct communication was had with Promontory, where the golden spike, at the junction of the two roads, was being driven into the last tie — of" laurel wood — with a silver hammer. When the last blow was given at Promontory it was instantly known at Omaha, where one hundred guns were fired in rapid succession when the announcement was made. A procession was formed in the afternoon on Farnham street, and with flags and banners flying, marched to Capitol Square where the meetino- was presided over by Gov. Saunders. Eloquent speeches were made by Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, of Missouri, and Gen. Manderson and Judge Wakeley, of Omaha, amidst the most unbounded enthu- siasm. The illumination in the evening was a brilliant spectacle. The city was one blaze of light, while the display of pyrotechnics was very beautiful. It was the grandest day that has ever been recorded in the history of Omaha. While the Union Pacific railroad was in process of construction and for some time afterwards, Omaha was a very busy city, and during those few years she made rapid strides, both in acquiring population, in general improvements, and in wealth. The next thing necessary was a railroad bridge at Omaha over the Missouri. This structure was not commenced until after the Union Pacific had been finished, although the initiatory steps had been taken in 1866 by getting an act passed through Congress. A fight arose as as to its location, whether it should be a low bridge at the " Telegraph Poles," or six miles down the the river at "Child's Mills." Council BluflFs objected to the " Telegraph Poles," and both Council Bluff's and Omaha opposed "Child's Mills." The location where the bridge now stands was finally agreed upon. Omaha voted $250,000 in bonds as aid to the bridge, in consideration that she, should have the main transfer depots, general offices, machine shops. HIS TORT OF OAfAHA. 203 etc. Conncil Bluffs voted $200,000 in bonds on the same condition but the company never received them, and of course Omaha obtained the principal benefits to be derived from the enterprise. The Bridge Company was authorized by special act of Congress to issue bonds to the amount of $2,500,000, and these bonds were sold in England. The Boomer Bridge Company, of Chicago, on the 4th of Septem- ber, 1868, secured the contract of building the bridge for $1,089,500, the time of its completion to be November 10, 1869. They were greatly delayed and did not get the first cylinder ready for sinking until Mapeti, 1869. In July following the Union Pacific took hold of t'^^>f6rk, the contract having been annulled with the Boomer Bridge jmpany. The structure was completed on the 25th of March, 1873, It is two thousand seVen hundred and fifty feet long — eleven spans of two hundred and fifty feet each — and is composed entirelv of iron. The superstructure is supported by piers, each formed of two iron pneumatic tubes, sunk in sections, and filled with cement masonry, each tube eight and a half feet in diameter. About five hundred m • ' vv'cre employed constantly in the construction of the bridge, will: Jie exception of seven or eight months suspension of work ; ftnd ten steam engines were used in hoisting material, driving piles, excavating, and otherwise putting the different parts of the bridge in posi- tion. The elavation of the bridge above high water mark is fifty feet. The bridge is approached from the Iowa side by a grade about one mile and a half long, thirty-five feet rise to the mile, and on the Ne- braska side theie is a trestle-work, now filled in with earth, about fifty feet in height and al)out seven hundred feet long. This bridge, one of the largest in the country, is said to have cost over $2,ooo,ooq It is a masterpiece of engineering and mechanical skill. When the work was finished, the transfer of passeuff^r^ by boats was done away with of course, and the old wooden dcjiots .'04 HISTORY OF OMAHA. on the bottoms and on Ninth street were abandoned as soon as the present hirge brick depot, uitli iron truss roof, was completed, at a cost of over $100,000. UNION PACIFIC I5RID(;E OVKR THK MISSOL'RI KIVKK. Upon the completion of the bridge a fierce struggle arose between Council Blutls and Omaha as to which place should be the initial point of the Union Pacific railroad, the real question being whether the Union Pacific should cross its trains over the bridge to Iowa, or the Iowa roads come over to Nebraska. Both parties were obstinate, and as the Iowa roads held out, they being obliged to under the Iowa laws which gave them existence, the Union Pacific resorted to a little strategy. They organized a " Bridge Transfer Company," and operated it as a separate institution, thus making a transfer at Omaha, and conveying passengers and freight over the bridge by transfer trains. Council Bluffs had always maintained that the eastern terminus of the road was in Iowa, according to President Lincoln's order, and thev finallv brought a mandamus suit against the Union Pacific HIS TORI' OF OMAHA. compelling them to show cause why thej should not operate their road as a continuous line to and from the Iowa side of the Mis- souri river. Judge Dillon decided the case in favor of Council Bluffs, compelling the road to run its through trains to and from the Iowa side of the river, and allowing them to still charge the usual toll on the bridge. This decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Union Pacific began rimning their through trains to and from Spoon Lake station, in compliance with this order, in May of the present year. The general offices of the Union Pacific railroad are located at Omaha. Mr. S. H. H. Clark is the general superintendent ; Mr. Thomas L. Kimball is the general ticket agent ; E. P. V'ining, gen- eral freight agent; J. W. Gannett, auditor; O. F. Davis, land com- missioner. The Union Pacific company is now building a branch road called the Omaha & Republican Valley railroad. It is being constructed from Valley Station to Wahoo, in Saunders county, and the cars will be running from Wahoo to Omaha by the ist of January, 1S77, Saunders county recently voted $i40,cxx) in bonds to aid this road, which is to be pushed on through Butler, Polk and other counties to the Republican Valley. This new route opens up to Omaha the richest agricultural section of the state. This brief sketch cannot be more appropriately closed than by quoting the following extract from a chapter of Dr. Miller's " Home Gossip," which appeared in the Omaha Herald three or four years ago: " We may have told the story before, but it will bear telling again as apropos in this connection, besides being a good thing in itself. When Durant took a locomotive and baggage and flat car for the first excursion over the Union Pacific railroad. General Sher- man was the chief character in a party of fifteen or twenty gentle- 2o6 HIS TOR r OF OMAHA. men ^s lio rode out to the first ' end of the track,' Sailing's Grove, about fifteen miles distant. Mr. Poppleton and others were in the party. There was no passenger car in the ' train.' The flat car, with boards placed on nail kegs and covered with robes, answered as a substitute. The baggage car contained a great many baskets and bottles, which were not empty. Durant seldom had such vehicles and vessels empty in those days. The party was jolly in going out, and hilarious in coming in. The inspiration of riding over fifteen miles of completed Pacific railway inspired all, and particularly the hero of ' the march to the sea.' Speeches were in order as the ' train ' halted, and everybody was anxious for a speech from Sher- man. Loud calls and shouts succeeded the usual preparatives, and the soldier arose to the full heighth of the occasion. He recounted his own experience in sinking five or more thousands of dollars, long years ago, in California, in an effort to start the Pacific railroad, reviewed the dream of other days, and wound up with the expression of a hope, half in despair, ths^ he might live to see the day, but could scarcely expect it at his age, when the two oceans would be connected by a complete Pacific railroad. In thirty-six months from that time the distinguished soldier scaled the Rocky Mountains in one of Pullman's Palaces at the rate of thirty miles an hour, over one of the best constructed and best managed railways in America.' " HISTORY OF OMAHA. 207 CHAPTER XXVIII. OLD LANDMARKS, AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED THERE- WITH. THE OLD STATE HOUSE AXD TERRITORIAL CAPITOL NUMBERED AMONG THE THINGS OF THE PAST THE OLDEST BUILDING IN OMAHA PIONEER BLOCK SOME OLD RESIDENCES THE OLD DOUGLAS HOUSE THE OLD CITY HOTEL — THE FIRST POST OFFICE BUILDING AND THE POSTAL SUCCESSION — THE COURT HOUSE — THE HERNDON HOUSE : ITS UPS AND DOWNS AND THE WAR BETWEEN J. T. ALLAN AND MRS. BRONSON — HOW GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN CAME TO BUILD THE COZZENS HOUSE. ' ANY of the old Omaha landmarks have drsappeared, . having given place to more stately buildings. Among the buildings that have long been numbered among the things of the past are the old State House and the Territorial Capitol, of which no trace now remains. Without doubt the oldest building now standing in Omaha is the one-story frame house now standing just norTh of the City Hotel on Tenth street. It was the fifth house erected in Omaha, and was built in 1S54 by the first sheriff, P. G. Peterson. It was in that house that Dr. C. A. Henry was chained to the floor as a prisoner.* Peterson sold it to A. J. Poppleton and W. N. Byers, the latter of whom lived in it for two or three years. It was afterwards occupied by John H. Sahler ; and Mr. Poppleton himself lived in it for over two years. ^ '■■See page 77. 2o8 HISTORY OF OMAHA. Pioneer Block was the first brick block, comprising two or more stores, that was erected in the city. It is known as Nos. 178 and iSo P'arnham street. One of the stores was built by Dr. C. A. Henry and the other bv II. II. \'ischer and Allen Root, both of whom are still residents of Omaha. Jones & Wood kept a drug store in 1856 and 1857 in the building now occupied by C. F. Goodman, the whole- sale druggist. The only brick building now standing in the city, built as long ago as 1S55, is the Caldwell, Hamilton & Co. bank building. It was erected by three or four gentlemen connected with the Ferry Company for a business house, and was rented and occupied as soon as com- pleted, which was in 1856. The brick house on the block bounded by Webster and Burt, and twenty-first and Twenty-second streets, was put up in 1856, and was the first brick house erected in the northern part of the city. It was built by Governor ^zard for a residence. The frame residence at the southwest corner of Dodge and Eighteenth streets was built by Secretary Cuming in 1855 or 1856, and his widow, a most respected lady, still resides there with her brother, Hon. Frank Murphy. Dr. Lowe's brick residence, southwest corner of Harney and Six- teenth streets, was built in 1857. Gen. Thaver built the brick house at the northeast corner of Davenport and Sixteenth streets, and T. G. Goodwill erected the brick house just east of it, both in 1S57. Maj. George Armstrong built the brick house on the north side of Dodge street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth, in 1857, and the next year he built the brick house on the south side of Dodge, be- tween Sixteenth and Seventeenth, now owned and occupied by A. Cahn. The brick house at the southwest corner of Capitol avenue and HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 209 Ninth street, now fast going to decay. \va^ built bv George W. Crowell in 1S56. The brick house on the north side of Dodge, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, now owned by James (J. Cliapnian, was built in 1856. George A. McCoy, who still resides in Omaha, kept a boarding house there during the summer and tall of \S^(^. The old Douglas House, a frame structure, now standing at the southwest corner of Thirteenth and Harney streets, was built early in 185^, and was kept for a while by Mr. Goodwill, now dead, and was the best hotel in the Territory at that time. The steward was Mr. I-'nace Scherb, who still resides in Omaha. The Fourth of July 1855, was celebrated at this house by a grand barbecue, of which Mr. Scherb had ch irge. Several speeches were made, one of them being bv Secretary Cuming, aud a regular programme of exercises was carried out. The celebration ended with a grand ball in the evening. The Douglas House was the first regular hotel opened in Omaha. George M. Mills has owned the building from 1S56 to the present time. The building at the southwest corner of Harney and Eleventh streets was in 1S56 one of the leading hotels in the country, and was called the City iIo':el, the second one opened in Omaha. It is now occupied as a residence, and is owned by Ezra Millard. There were in 1856 not enough buildings to define the outlines of the streets. It was thought at that time that Harney street would be the leading thoroughfare. In the spring of 1S56 the post-olhce was established in the Iniilding on the south side of Harney street, between I-:ic\enlli and Twelfth, the mxil having increased to such proportions that it could no longer be carried in a stove-pipe hat as postmaster Jones had been in the habit of doing. A man named Lindley had acteil for a while as Mr. Jones' deputy, and had promised to take the oirne if Jones HISTORY OF OMAHA. would resign. This was done, and Lindley then put the office into the hands of a Mormon named Frank. Lindley had used an axe box for the post-office, and Frank improved on this by utilizing a bushel basket. W. W. Wjinan finally got the office, and after a while moved it into his own building, northwest corner of Thirteenth and Douglas streets, and held the position until 1864, when George R. Smith was appointed, He was succeeded in 1S70 by Mr. John H. Kellom, who was soon superseded by Joel T. Griffin. Caspar E. Yost, the present incumbent, stepped into the position in 1S72. The old frame building, mentioned above, in which Frank did business and had the post-office for a while, stood between Judge Lake's residence and the cracker factory, and was burned down a few months ago. In the spring of 1857 the City Council deeded to the county a block then known as Washington Square, bounded by Fifteenth, Farnham, Sixteenth and Douglas streets, on condition that a court house should be built thereon. All the lots, except the ones now occupied by the court house, were sold and the proceeds applied in the erection of the building, which was begun in 1857 and finally completed about 1859 or 1860. Armstrong & Bovey did the stone and brick work, and John Davis the carpenter work. The Herndon House was built in 1857 by George Bridge, Dr. George L. Miller and Lyman Richardson. The city authorities had made a proposition in the summer of 1857 to give a site for a hotel of the size and character of the Herndon to any person who would bid to erect such a building for the smallest lot of land. Bridge, Miller and Richardson secured the bid and the city gave them a block and a half of lots in the vicinity of where the Herndon now stands. They sold all the lots except two, on which they began the hotel with the money thus obtained. They then borrowed sixteen thousand dollars from the city in scrip, which was also used in the construction of the building, which when completed was HIS TORI' OF OMAHA. named "The Herndon House," after Lieutenant Herndon, who wa8 lost on the steamer, " Central America," which was on her way up from Panama to New York, about that time. The house was opened and run in magnificent style by M. W. Keith, and was the finest and largest hotel west of Chicago. It was considered a mammoth undertaking in those days, especially for a place the size of Omaha. After passing from landlord to landlord* it finally went into the hands of the sheriff" on account of the failure of the original builders and owners to meet their obligations incurred in its erection. Mr. J. T. Allan then took hold of it while it was in the hands of the law, and ran it for a while as a sort of bon ton boarding house and latterly as a hotel. Mr. Allan was succeeded in the fall of 1866 by Mrs. Bronson who leased the house from Dr. Monell, who had become the owner of it. In a little volume entitled " Western Incidents connected with the Union Pacific Railroad," published in 1S67, Silas Seymour, the author, gives the following amusing bit of history in connection with the Herndon House, the incident happening in October, 1S66, upon his return to Omaha from the West : "We found that the Herndon, which has long been regarded as one of the most prominent institutions of Omaha, was in a sort of transition state, and its guests, as the farmers say, ' between hay and grass.' Our long time friend and distinguished host. Mr. Allan, had been called upon by Dr. Monell, the landlord, to surrender its use and occupation into the fair hands of Mrs. Bronson, who had recently leased it, and stood ready to enter upon the duties of hostess as soon as Mr. Allan could find it convenient to evacuate the *D. W. Hitchcock, of Chicago, the general passenger agent of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, was one of the old timers of Omaha, and was the cleik of the Hern- don House when the late Frank Coffman was the landlord. HISTORT OF OMAHA. premises, all of which the said Allan seemed in no haste to do. An entire week had been spent bv the parties in strategy and legal skirmishing, during which it was not unusual lor Mr. Allan, on visiting the kitchen in the morning, to find Mrs. Bronson's cooking stove standing in the place of his own, which had been thrown over the adjoining fence during the night ; and not unfrequently were the guests of the house stopped in the middle of a meal (while waiting, perhaps, for more warm cakes) by intelligence from the waiter that the stove had just been thrown out of the kitchen. P^ortu- nately for us, however, Mrs. Bronson's stove was outside of the fence when we arrived, and remained so during the following day, Sunday. * * The difficulties at the Herndon House were amicably arranged on the Monday following our arrival from the Rocky Mountains, and Mrs. Bronson, the new lessee, was fully in- stalled in quiet possession.'" About the year 1S70 the Union Pacific railroad company rented it for its headquarters, and moved into it from the old State House which was then just opposite on Ninth street. They have occupied the Herndon House ever since, and in 1875 they purchas- ed it for $42,000 from Dr. Monell, who had finally become the owner of it. It is known now as the Union Pacific headquaarters. George Francis Train was stopping at the Herndon House in 1867, while an editorial excursion was visiting Omaha. One day in the dining room he sat at a table near a broken window, through which the wind was blowing at a lively rate. He complained about it, and after every expedient, except putting in a new glass, had been tried unsuccessfully to stop up the hole, he paid a darkey ten cents a minute to stand in front of the window between it and himself until he had finished his meal. He then vowed he would build another hotel immediately, and that very afternoon, sure enough, he purchased two lots and had men at work digging the cellar, and in sixty days HISTOR2- OF OMAHA. 213 he had the Cozzens House completed, at a cost of $40,000. Before it was finished he had it rented to the Cozzens, of West Point, New York, from whom it lakes its name, for ^10,500 per vear. Thev ran it for a year, and then Philo Rumsej took it at a rental of $5,000 per year, and kept it for three years, closing out in the fall of 1S71, since which time it has stood vacant as a hotel. !i4 HISTORT OF OMAHA. CHARTER XXIX. OLD SETTLERS. THE OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATION ITS OBJECT A NOTABLE RE- UNION OLD settlers' ball AT THE HERNDOJST A PARTIAL LIST OF OLD SETTLORS DEATH OF WILLIAM D. BROWN, THE PIONEER OF OMAHA AND ORIGINAL CLAIMANT OF THE TOWN SITE. 'N Januarj', 1866, the old settlers of Omaha formed the "The Old Settlers' Association," it being composed en- tirely of those men who located at Omaha previous to the year 1S58. One of its objects was social intercourse, and another was to collect and preserve important statis- tics and interesting facts of the past history of Omaha for future reference for the historian. The officers of the association were : Dr. Lowe, President ; Dr. G. L. Miller, vice presi- dent, A. D. Jones, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Jones as secretary faithfully performed his duties as long as the association existed. He did considerable correspondence with different persons who had resided here in the vicinity at an early day, and thus obtained many historical facts. He has now in his possession, in the defunct society's '•little tin trunk," a vast mass of letters, newspaper clippings, and manu- scripts of his own, all relating to the earlj^ history of Omaha, and from which we have been allowed to extract considerable information. Soon after the organization of the society Dr. Miller had a re-union of the old settlers at his residence. It was a notable gathering. There were present, Wm. D. Brown, the first terryman and the man HIS TORI' OF OMAHA. who first claimed the town site ; A. D. Jones, the first postmaster and surveyor ; Wm. P. Snowden, the first actual settler, and the first auctioneer ; A. J. Poppleton, the first lawyer ; John Logan, the first man married in Omaha ; Dr. Lowe, one of the original founders of the town ; Dr. Miller, the first physician ; John Withnell. who assisted in laying the first brick in Omaha, in the old State House; O. B. Selden, who fired the first forge ; Col. A. R. Gilmore, the first U. S. land officer in Nebraska ; James Megeath, one of the first mer- chants in Omaha; H. D. Johnson, who was one of the first men to run for Congress ; Capt. McPherson, who ran the first steam ferry ; Capt. Downs, who assisted A. D. Jones to survey the town ; Gen. Estabrook, the first United States District Attorney for Nebraska ; Joseph W. Paddock, the first clerk of the first House of Represen- tatives ; Col. Miller, father of Dr. Miller; R. N. Withnell, and many others, the names of whom we have been unable to ascertain. On the evening of Tuesday, January i, 1867, a grand " Old Set- tlers' Re-union" was held at the Herndon House. The honorary man- agers were : Dr. Enos Lowe, Hon. A. S. Paddock, Hon. A. J. Poppleton, Col. Lewis Merrill, J. II. Lacey, Francis Smith, Hadley D. Johnson, Hon. John I. Redick, Maj.-Gen Philip St. George Cook, Brig.-Gen. Myers, James M. Woolworth, James Megeath, Thomas Davis, Dr. G. C. Monell, Maj. J. W. Paddock and Augus- tus Kountze. The floor managers were : J. F. Coft'man, George Wallace, Reuben Wood, A. S. Patrick and George M. Lloyd. The "Old Settlers' Society," we regret to record the fact, had but a brief existence, and died for the want of breath sometime in 1868 we believe. The following is a partial list of old settlers, taken from an old publication, the dates representing the time that they first stepped on Nebraska soil : Wm. D. Brown, June 3, 1850; Enos Lowe, June 25, 1S53 ; II. I). 2i6 J US TOR 2- OF OMAHA. Johnson, October, 1S53 ; A. I). Jones, November, 1853; C. II. Downs, April 23, 1854; A. R. (iibnore. May 24, 1S54 ; Win. P. Snowden, July u, 1S54 ; O. B. Sclden, September 23, 1854; J. W. Paddock, September 24, 1S54; Wni. Gray, September, 1854; John Withnell, October, 1S54; S. V.. Rogers, October, 1S54 ; A. J. Poppleton, October, 13, 18^4 ; Lorin Miller, October ly, 1S54 ; Geo. L. Miller, October 19, 1854; James G. Megeath, November, 1854; E. Estabrook, June 23, 1855 ; John Davis, March 16, 1855 ; John Evans, March, 1855 ; II. H. Visscher, April 3, 1S55; David Richards, April, 1855; R. N. Withnell, May 2, 1855 ; Edwin Patrick, May 7, 1855 ; E. H. Warner, May 10, 1855 ; John Logan, July 9, 1855 ; O. P. Ingalls, September 7, 1855 ; John P. McPherson, October, 2z„ 1855 ; Rev. R. Gaylord, December 25, 1855; M. Shinn, April, 1S55 ; J. M. Marston, November 18, 1855; W. W. Wyman, June 5, 1855 ; Allen Root, May 16, 1855 ; A. B. Moore, April 22, 1854 ; D. C. Sutphen, September 4. 1857 ; W. B. Paris, November 15, 1857; M. B. Riley, August 11, 1857; Daniel Gantt, May 12, 1857 ; J. W. Pickard, December 19, 1S55 ; S. A. Orchard, November 15, 1855; J. H. Sahler, August 29, 1856; R. S. Knox, January 3, 1856. This list is very incomplete and we regret that we are unable to fill it out as it should be. The number of first actual settlers is very small, but if we draw a distinction between first settlers and old settlers we can name quite number of persons who may be regarded as among the latter. Any person who came to Omaha previous to 1S60 ought to be and is regarded as an old settler. Among those whom we can call to mind as old settlers at Omaha or in the vicinity besides those mentioned in the above list, and who reside here at the present time are the following — and several of those here mentioned may be numbered among the Jirst settlers of the town : A. J. Hansco?n, the Creightons, C. W. Hamilton, Herman Kountze, HISTORT OF OMAHA. 217 James G. Chapman, Dr. J. K. Ish. O. F. Davis, John Green, Peter Windheim, the Beindorfs, Cam Reeves, the Reeses, Richard Kimball, St. John Goodrich, C. S. Goodrich, Ezra Millard, J. H. Millard, the Barkalows, the Durnalls, Timothv Kellej, Dr. Plummer, Peter Frenzer, Joe Frenzer, J. M. Clark, the McAuslands, 11. O. Jones, Tom Murray, Capt. Marsh, Harrison Johnson, James Smith, Geo. Smith, M. Hellman, A. Cahn, Wm. Sexauer, the Demarests, John A. Har- bach, G. M. Mills, H. R. A. Pundt, Vincent Biirklev, Judge Lake, Hon. James M. Woolworth, Mrs. Frank Coliman, the Patricks. S. R. Brown, Randall Brown. J. J. Broun, Wm. F. Sweesv. A. J. Simpson, E. F. Cook, F. A. Schneider, J. F. Sheely, John M. Sheely, John R. Porter, Harry Deuel, J. R. Mereditli, Dr. Peck, the Roeders, Edwin Loveland, Fred. Davis, John McCormick, Josiah S. McCor- mick, the Homan family, Fred. Court. Peter Hugus, Eb. Dallow, Senator P. VV. Hitchcock, Senator A. S. Paddock, John Yerger, S. M. Curran, George Silvester, Byron Reed, John Campbell, E. L. Eaton, J. W. Tousley, Rev. W. N. McCandlish, Joel T. Griffin, Fred Drexel, Joe Redman, David Harpster, Henry Grebe, Charles Kar- bach, Frank Murphy, J. T. Allan, E. A. Allen, Major George Armstrong, Judge Briggs, Gen. J. M. Thayer, (removed to Wyoming, of which Territory he is Governor) the Dees, Mrs. W. W. Wvman, Mrs. Cuming, Mrs. W. D. Brown and family, Mrs. Jesse Lowe and family, F. L. Rut", Levi Kennard, G. A. McCoy, Charles Pow- ell, Ignace Scherb and brother, the Sluill family. J. S. Gibson, the Barkers, Wiley Dixon, Hon. John I. ReJick, now .Vssociate fustice of New Mexico, tiie Yates famrly, D. Sullivan. Tom Riley, John Riley, Frank Dellone, Fred Dellone, James M. Winsliip, John H^vans, Dr. J. P. Peck, W. .V. Gwyer, W. H. S. Hu,'hes, IJ. E. B. Kenne- dy, the llartmans, James E. Hoyd, Win. .V. Paxlon, (J. \V. Doane, Frank Kleffner, A. .\. Frick, D. Whitney, iC. B. Chandler, the Med- •ocks, P'ather Curtis, Peter Malone, Michael and jerry Linahan, Paul 2iS HISTORY OF OMAHA. and A. J. Harmon, Charles P. Birkett, Samuel E. Rogers, ferry Ma- honev, Ed. F. Tennery, D. S. Parmelee, John Lutz, E. V. Smith, Silas A, Strickland, Pat and Michael Connolly, Thos. O'Connor, J. W. Van Nostrand, A. N. Ferguson, Pat Dinan, M. Lavin, Pat. Mc- Donough, Geo. I. Gilbert, Milton Rogers. Martin Dunham, Thomas Martin, Joe Fox, Dr. Wm. McClelland, W. J. Kennedy, John Ken- nedy, John Kennelly, John Petty, the Forbes family, Henry Livesey, Thomas Swift, Luke McDermott, the Lehmer family, Charles Turner, C. M. Aumock, Fred. Kumpf, J. C. Wilcox, E. S. Seymour, Mrs. C. W. Koenig, the Misses McCheane, Charles Childs, Fred. Krug, B. P. Knight, James McArdle. William D. Brown, the first pioneer and the original owner of the spot where Omaha now stands, died February 3d, 1S68. Dr. Miller, the editor of the Herald, paid the following tribute to his memory : " Another old settler is dead. Not only an old settler, but we may add, perhaps the eldest among the early settlers ot Omaha and Nebraska. William D. Brown, the original founder of Omaha, died at his residence in this city on Monday evening last in the fifty-fifth year of his age, leaving a wife and four children, three daughters and one son, to mourn his loss. The circumstances of Mr. Brown's death are as follows : "On Monday, a week ago, Mr. Brown visited Council Blufts for the purpose of arranging some property interests, and, among other things, to pay some taxes. He is known to have had about ninety dollars in his pocket. He was met by several old friends in his usual health, which, by the way, was somewhat broken, when he first arrived, but having been there a day or two, he was subse- quently found on the streets in a condition which called for the active assistance of old friends, which he received, being as well known in the neighboring town as he is in Omaha. He had been badly beaten and bruised in his face and over his person by some imknown ruffian, HISTORT OF OMAHA. and, as he alleged, robbed of his money, lie took the stage for Omaha on Saturday. Upon arriving on the corner of Thirteenth and Douglas, he undertook to walk to his residence, but he fell two or three times in the effort, and was finally taken home by kind friends in a carriage, where he arrived in a very exhausted state, suffering much from the injuries which undoubtedly hastened his death. "Mr. Brown stood emphatically prominent in this and neighboring communities as the veteran of all pioneers in Nebraska. In a career of nearly forty years in the West, we find him known through all the chief towns from Galena to Ft. Des Moines and Omaha in this character. Always just in the advance of civilization to the west- ward, he was guided by an intuitive judgment, based, of course, upon his strong common sense, upon that line of latitude, and to those points which mark the channels of commercial intercourse and development. In 1S54 we found him upon this very spot, the first " claim " to the soil upon which this city now stands being his. He was an equal owner in the original Omaha Town and the Council Bluffs and Omaha Ferry Company, a large property holder and a prominent man. He was almost as much a part of Omaha as the ground on which it has been built up, a sort of land mark by the side of the broad path which city he assisted to map out to all the older residents, as well as to many of the new. In his more vigor- ous life he was a man of unsullied integrity and sound intelligence, of a genial heart and nature which engaged all who knew him in warm sympathy with him, and, in expressing our own, we know we express the regrets of all who knew him at his loss. "The old settlers are rapidly passing away. Two years ago this class of our citizens who had been in the Territory in iS^v met in social gathering at the residence of the editor of this pajK-r. William D. Brown and Andisoii R. fiilmon-, since dead, were there. The J/IS7'Oin' OF OMAHA. idea of an Old Settlers' Association took shape in that, to us, the most interesting gathering we ever enjoyed, which has since been shanietully neglected — an idea that ought to receive practical atten- tion if we would preserve in proper permanence of form the rich incidents of the early life of our growing city and state." HIS TORT OF OMAHA. CHAPTER XXX. CONCLUSION. THE OMAHA OF TO-DAY — HER WHOLESALE TRADE, BANKS, MANU- FACTURES AND RAILROADS HER SCHOOLS ILLUSTRATIONS : HIGH SCHOOL, GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL, AND POST-OFFICE — HER FUTURE PROSPECTS. HE Omaha of to-daj is a beautiful city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Her growth for the last few years has been gradual and substantial. The people who have settled here during this latter period came with a determination of permanently locating. Her numerous ^-J^j^'^ costly and handsome public and private buildings, the '^i'^X^ large majority of which were erected within the last six years, are evidences of the city's substantial character. Omaha, owing to her location, has liecomc an important railroad and commercial cciiLre. Her railroads — eight in all — reach out in every direction, and her wholesale trade covers a vast extent of ter- ritory. The annual sales of her wholesale dealers foot up nearly $10,000,000. Omaha is fast becoming quite a manufacturing town. Ten years ago she did not have a single manufacturing establishment. To-day she gives employment to over 2,000 men in her factories and work- shops alone. She has the largest Smelting and Refming Works in America, employing about one hundred and seventy-five men and doing an annual business of $5,000,000 ; she has five or six iircwcries, mak mSl'ORr OF OMAHA. ing fifteen thousand barrels of beer per annum. She has one distil* Icry doing a business of $700,000 and paying a government tax of $316,000 per year; one linseed oil mill manufacturing annually i, 500,000 pounds of oil cakes, and 120,000 gallons of oil ; one large cracker factory ; two large machine shops ; about a dozen cigar fac- tories, turning out nearly 2,000,000 cigars every year ; three soap factories, making nearly 100,000 pounds per month ; two broom fac- tories ; one extensive carriage factory and several smaller ones ; four brick yards, making 5,000,000 brick annually ; one cigar box factory, making 100,000 boxes per year ; a baking powder factory ; a fence factory ; two vinegar factories ; one grist mill ; a safe factory ; several pork-packing establishments, together with numerous other industrial and manufacturing establishments too numerous to mention, all con- ducted by private capital, besides the Union Pacific machine shops, employing nearly seven hundred men and paying out in Omaha a vast amount of money. Omaha's manufactures are growing steadily in importance and in number from year to year. Omaha's banks rank among the very best and soundest in the country, and are institutions of which our city may well feel proud. There are four banks in all — the First National ; the Omaha Na- tional ; Caldwell, Hamilton & Co. ; and the State Bank of Ne- braska. The educational facilities of Omaha both in her public and pri- vate schools are unsurpassed by any other western city. She has the largest and finest school houses of any city of like size in the country, and her High School building is probably not equalled in size or cost, or beauty of architecture or location by any other high school building in the United States. It was completed in 1872 at a cost of $250,000. The system of instruction in the public schools is of a thorough and systematic cliaracter from the lowest to the highest grade. HISTORY OF OMAHA. 223 Among the private schools Brownell Mall, a young ladies' sem- inary and school for young boys, is fast attaining a popularity equal to some of the older institutions of the East for its excellent educa- tional and moral training. It is vmder the auspices of the Episcopal Church. Mt. St. Mary's Academy, a Cath- olic school, is an- other educational ^ institution which is a credit to Omaha. The Nebraska Institute tor the Deaf and Dumb, located at Omaha, was organized and a school opened in April, 1869, in a rented building in the southwestern part of the city. In tiie fall of 1S71, a substantial brick building, three stories and an attic, was completed at the e.\pense of the State, the location being about two miles and a half northwest from the northern limits of the city. Another building, an addition, is now in jirocosN 01 erection, and will cost $ivOOO. This institution is in a very prosperous coiulilion. OMAH.\ HIGH SCHOOL lU ILOIXC;. 224 HIS TORT OF OMAHA. The Great Western Business College is an institution that has flourished in Omaha for several years, and has met with good suc- cess, owing to the lad that it is in every way worthy of patronage. It was started in 1873, hy Prof". G. R. Rathbun, who is the present principal. GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL. Omaha's hotel accommodations are commodious and first-class in every respect. The Grand Central Hotel, built during the years 1871, 1872 and 1873, by a joint stock company, was opened by Mr. Thrall, the present landlord in the tall of 1S73, and it has attained a national reputation as being one of the finest hotels in the country, and the best house between Chicago and San Francisco. It is a five story brick strucrure, one hundred and thirty two feet square, costing nearly $300,000, and is one of tlic institutions of the city. The Metropolitan is also an excellent hotel, and is liberally pa- tronized. It is a home-like, cosy house, is first-class in every partic- HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 2^5 ular, and is kept by a gentleman, Mr. Van N'amee. who " knows how to run a hotel."' There are several other hotels, of the second class, that afford fair accommodations. As Omaha is an important railroad centre and located on the great highway of the nation, the hotels are all doing a thriving businees. The . Postoffice and United States Court House, a four-story white stone structure, completed in 1873. at a cost of about $450,000, is one of the most substan- tial as well as one of the handsomest government build- ings in the United States. Omaha is the headquarters of the military department of the Platte, and as such derives considerable benefit ^.^^^^ ,,, 1 n 1 \.M) i s iIEH' TJNDEKWEAXl DEPA.TIT1VIE7VT Is complete, and every garment is of the m st perfect make. Babies' French Embroidered Robes and Dresses, and Embroidered Cashmere Cloaks for Children, ChiU/reris Hoods and Sacks. ^ephyr ^abias, ^ ^loaks, ^adies' Sleeveless Jackets # ^aidigan Jackets with Sleeves, Ties, Ruchlngs, Collars and Cuffs ; Neckwear of every description. X^adiles* ]\£erino TJn i^x^. Especial attention given to the Buying, Selling and Exchanging of all kitids of Real Estate, in both Cily and State, Collection of Rents, Payment of Tares Loaning of Money, Conveyancing, Secnring Lands for No n- Residents, etc. «®" Alt business entrusted to us will receive prompt and careful attention. "S* HIS TOR r OF OMAHA. 237 ^ ^ ? ^ ^ The largest and beat hotel between Chicago and S^n Francisco, opened new Septem- ber 30, 1873. GEO. THRA-I^L, Pi'oprletor. C H. FREDERICK, ' ffae luttor e£ imaka ! Farnham Street, Opposite the Grand Central Hotel. niTEST FICTTJFIE HOTJSE 11^ THE "WEST. A. HOSPE, Jr. & CO., GOLD AND WALNUT PICTURE FRAMES, WINDOW cornicp:s, ciiromos, i:n(;ravin(;.s, etc 234 Dodge Street, Bet. 15th and 16th Sts., Omaha, Neb, »»"Kegilding done to ordrr,~«»« 238 HISTORT OF OMAHA. {Established 1856.) Fancy Groceries, I TOBACCO AND CIGARS 212 Farnham Street, Omaha, Neb. A. R. DUFRENE, Architect^ OMAHA. NEB. Hisronr of omaha. 239 _ &m M idj i s U x^ 'Umi&!^M^ D. A. VAN NAMEE, Jr., Proprietor. The Metropolitan Hotel is centrally located, and is first-class in every respec-t kaving recently been entirely renovated. The public will find it a conifoi table and homelike house. Frank Murphy, President. Ben. B. Wood, Cashier. STATE BANK OF NEBRASKA CAPITAL, - - $100,000. TRANSACTS A GENERAL BANKING BUSINESS. Six per cent, compound interest allowed on time deposits. The Oldest Established Banking House in Nebraska. LJif ^al^'fr ©lip HiibiQilM^n. m C® # BANKERS. Business transacted same as that of an incorporated Bank. Accounts kept in currency or gold subject to sight check without notice. Certificates of deposits issued payable in three, six and twelve months, bearing interest at six per cent, per annum, or on demand without interest. Advances made to customers on approved securities at market rates of interest. Buy and sell gold, bills of exchange, Goyernment, State, County and City bonds. Draw sight drafts on England, Ireland, Scotlacd, and all parts of Europe. Sell European Passage Tickets. COLLECTIONS PROMPTLY MADE. 240 11 TS TORT OF OMAHA. XT. S. I>E:POSITOKir. m M M'^^ SI Corner Farnham and Thirteenth Sts, II THE OLDEST BANKING ESTABLISHMENT IN OMAHA. {Successors to Kountze Brothers.) Established in 1856. Organized as a National Bank August 20, 1863. CAPITAL AND PROFITS O VER $300,000. IDIPIECTOPIS I H. KOUSTZK, President. I JNO. A. CRKIGHTON, > p . • AUGUSTUS KOUNTZE, Vice Presi-lent. | H. VV. YATES, |v.asu.ci.. A. J. POPPLETON, Attorney. This Bank receives deposits without regard to amounts. Issues time certificates bearing interest. Draws drafts on Saa Francisco and principal cities of the United States, also London Dublin, Edinburg and the principal cities of the continent of Europe. Sells pas.sage tickets lor em grants t! i the Inman line. EZRA MILLARD, President. J. H. MILLARD, Cashier. Cor. Douglas and 13tli Sts., Omaha, Neb. Capital and Surplus, - $250,000 FINANCIAL AGENT FOR THE UNITED STATES, AND DESIGNATED DEPOSITORY FOR DISBURSING OFFICERS. This Bank deals in Exchange, Government Bonds, Vouchers, Gold Coin, BULLION AND QOLD DUST. Drafts dravj7i payable in Coin or Currency on San Fancisco, California. 8®" Tickets for s.ile to all parts of Europe, via National Steamship Company, and the Hamburg American Packet Company. HIS TORT OF OMAHA. 241 C. C. HOUSEL & CO., Storage, Forwarding and Commission, 491 TiiiK ricrNTii SrRi,i:r, Omaha, Nkh. ^ R. DeDARL fS g7 47a TWELFTH STREET, Between Kanihaiu aiicJ Harney. OMAHA, IVlClt. Ladiet' Shoes nnjil>- to nnUr Rfpniring neatly and promptly •illrinleJ to. A trial it tolirilrd. 242 JIISTORl' OF OMAHA. Port Packer i Cirer of Clioice Siar-Ciroft Hans AND ALL KINDS OF SMOKED MEATS, LARD, &c. rgackittg ^ouse, South Chestnut and iecoitd gtreets, §maha, ^eb. C. S. GOODHZCII <& CO., lOinSERS OF WOODEN WARE, Toys, Cutlery and Fancy Goods, MORGAN & GALLAGHER, (Successois to CREIGHTON & MORGAN,) AGENTS FOR HAZARD POWDER COMPANY. 205 Farnham Street, Omaha, Neb. HISTORT OF OMAHA. 343 F. STUBBENDORF. C. IIERHEK1/,. H. NKSTOK. Cor. Douglas and 11th Streets, Omaha, Neb. BYRON REKD. I,. S KEKD. BYRON REED & CO., THE OLDEST ESTAHI.ISII KI) Keep a complete abslract of litlf to ;tll r«'nl cstntf in Oimtlin and Oougl.TK County. *44 HISTORY OF OMAHA. ARTISTIC AND PREMIUM PHOTOGRAPHER, 235 Douglas Street, Omaha. " JOHN S. CAULFIELD, Wholesale and Retail B«®t»ell©p @ St®tl©m©rf Dealer in Wall Papers, Clotli anil Paper WMow Shades and Shale Flxtnres, No. 2*^2 Farnham Street, Omaha, Neb. TAKE THE "CUT-OFF!" FOR ST. I.OTJIS A.]srr> THE EAST AND SOUTH. HISTORT OF OMAHA. 345 B^" TO TRAVELERS GOING EAST ! mmi THAT T}IE CMcap, Burlington MuiiicyBailroa J S THE ONLY ROAD RINNINO THE M O O P P o o C/3 P Making 'DiriT^cT coiin.-riiMh will, n.i.n- , ., N.-w \'«»rU:, rJoHton, l*liIlii Clarlt ©treet, Clilcagfo, and THOS. L. KIMBALL, General I'ah.>-cii;^"T uml 'I i( kit Agent, OMAMA, NEB. 24S in ST OR 2' OF OMAHA. OMAHA & ST. LP SHOIT LIE! 160 Miles Saved to St. Xiouis! IS THK ONLY DIRKl'T ROUTE TO ST. LOUIS AND THE EAST, NO CHANGE of cars betweea Oiuaha and St. Ix)ui8, and but one between Omaha and New York This is the only line running a PULLMAN PALACE SLEEPING CAR AND DAY COACH East from Omaha via St. Joe and Kansas City to St. Louis on arrival of the Union Pacific Express Train. See that your ticTets read VIA KANSA<=! CITY. ST. JOE & COUNCIL BLUFFS RAILROAD VIA OMAHA AND ST. LOUIS. Tickets for sale at 253 Farnham Street, under Grand Central Hotel. FRANK E. MOORES, JOS. TEAHON, GEO. L. BRADBURY, Ticket Ag't, 253 F rnham St. Pass Ag't. Gen'l Ag't. J. F. BARNARD, Gen'l Sup't, St. Joseph. A. C. DAWES, Gen'l Pas. Ag't, St Joseph. G-EI«"EBJk_Ij AMERICAN, GUION, NORTH GERMAN LLOYD, ANCHOR, HAMBURG. ROTTERDAM, ALLEN, NATIONAL, STATE, CUNARD, RED AND WHITE STAR LINE. COnnESPOXDENCE SOLICITED AND PROMPTLY ANSWERED. FRANK E. MOORES, Ticket Agent. OFPTCE : 253 Farnham Street, Under Grand Central Hotel, -lJ> i^i v:«r o UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 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