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VOLUME i
LINCOLX, H EBR ASK A,"1 JUNE 21, 1912
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LINCOLN'S "BUSINESS SECTION," 1868.
LINCOLN'S "BUSINESS SECTION," 1868.
Lincoln was surveyed and designated as the capital of Nebraska
in 1867. When the capital site was designated there was not a
house within miles, and the nearest railway station was upwards of
fifty miles away and on the east bank of the Missouri river. At
that time Nebraska had less than 40,000 people, four-fifths of whom
lived within fifty miles of the Missouri river. The great trails from
the river westward missed Lincoln many miles, one passing through
Fremont fifty miles to the north, the other leading out of St. Joseph
one hundred miles to the south. .During the decade immediately
following the founding of Lincoln occurred the great panic of '73,
and the grass-hopper plague that followed two or three years later.
As a result of these discouragements the growth and development
"of Lincoln and Nebraska were slow. But beginning with the early
SO's new hope and confidence were imparted, and from that time
on the growth of city and state has been remarkable. In the short
span of forty years Nebraska has grown in population from 40,000
to 1,300,000, and Lincoln has grown from a barren plain to a city
with a population approximating "48,000, with upwards of 00,000
people within five miles of the postofliee.
The men who formed the commission empowered to locate the
, capital of Nebraska one of whom is still living and active in the
business life of the city never dreamed that the time would come
when Lincoln would have a population in excess of 20,000; nor did
they dream that the city would ever become a great business center,
v a great industrial center. Seldom are the hopes of a city's founders
realized ,and still less seldom are those hopes realized during the
lifetime of the founders. Lincoln is the one great exception to this
general rule.
Located in the converging valleys of the Salt and Antelope
creeks, Lincoln is the center of the most productive agricultural
legion in the United States. Because of its topography Lincoln has
become the greatest railroad center between Chicago and San Fran
cisco, the chief eastern lines touching Lincoln, and their main and
branch lines radiating in every direction, to the Puget Sound coun
try in the northwest, the Texas Gulf Coast country in the southwest,
the Southern ports and the Great Lake regions of the north. There
has not been a year since 1880 that Lincoln has not registered a
substantial growth in population and business, and growth in both
these respects has been little short of marvelous during the past
decade.
LINCOLN, ITS CLIMATE AND HEALTH.
Upon the broad upper plains of the west, at an elevation of
1,199 feet above sea level, Lincoln is admittedly one of the most
healthful cities in America. No other city of Lincoln's class has so
low a death rate per thousand of inhabitants. Lincoln's standing
as a health resort is evidenced by the presence of a number of sani
tariums, to which come people from all parts of the United States.
Artesian wells flowing medicinal waters are numerous, affording
bathing facilities that are highly recommended by physicians. The
climate is superb. No other country&cels Nebraska -in-the beauty
of her autumn seasons, and her spring seasons are worthy of the
best efforts of the poets. Because of the dryness of the atmosphere
the exeremes of heat and cold marked by the thermometer are not
felt as they wrould be at lower elevations or in a damper climate.
The winter season is always short and seldom severe, and the sum
mers are always pleasant.
LINCOLN AS A CENTRAL MARKET.
Of the 914 railroad stations in Nebraska, 774 are nearer to Lin
coln than to any other jobbing center in Nebraska. Railroads
radiate from this city like spokes from a hub, and there is a freight
or passenger train arriving or departing from Lincoln depots on an
average of every eight minutes during every twenty-four hours.
The passenger facilities are unexcelled. People within a radius of
100 miles of Lincoln may leave home early in the morning, do prac
tically a day's buying in Lincoln, and reach home by early bed
time. Prompt freight shipments from Lincoln are possible because
of splendid freight facilities. Time and lowness of freight rates are
essential factors in building up a wholesale market. The freight
rates from Lincoln are lower than from any other wholesale point
capable of taking care of the buyers of the middle west. In the
matter of time Lincoln jobbers are able to fill orders from points
west, northwest, southwest and in northern Kansas twenty-four
hours earlier than other upper Missouri river points, and from
thirty-jsix to forty-eight hours earlier than lower Missouri river
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KRDSEYE VIEW OF LINCOLN FROM DOME OF CAPITOL, 1912 .
points. Special merchandise trains are operated daily from Lincoln
throughout Nebraska, northern Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, the
Black Hills country, the Rosebud Reservation district of Sooth
Dakota, Montana and the Pacific cosat states. The largest feeding
station in the world is located at Lincoln, and the new packing
house now in course of erection promises soon to make Lincoln a
cattle market of large dimensions. '.
LINCOLN'S SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIAL.
The early development of Nebraska's great water powers will
make Lincoln a great manufacturing point, consuming the wealth of
raw material now raised in this section, and largely shipped east for
manufacture. The center' of the great wheat, corn and oats belt,
Lincoln is the natural location for immense cereal and flouring mills.
A paper mill for the manufacture of strawboard could secure an un
limited supply of raw material. Being in the greatest market garden
ing country in the central west, Lincoln could secure an abundant
supply of vegetables and fruits for canning purposes. These indus- .
tries are bound to come in good time, and Lincoln energy and capital
could be enlisted by the proper parties. 1 .
' LINCOLN'S INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.
The industrial expansion of Lincoln during the last decade has
been little short of marvelous. The total value of products manu
factured during 1911 exceeded $12,000,000, an increase of more than
100 per cent over 1902. In butter and cream, products and milling
products the annual output of Lincoln institutions now exceeds
$5,000,000 a year. The industrial institutions of the city are many
and varied, and constant additions to the number and kind are being
made. The total volume of Lincoln's manufacturing business in,
1911 is summarized:
Butter and Cream . Products $4,750,000
Printing and Book Manufacturing. 975,000
Harness and Saddlery. 700,000
Confectionery, Ice Cream, etc 560,000
Paints and Oils........... ... 625,000
Sash Doors, Mill work, etc ........ 490,000.
Flour, Meal and Feed , 975,000
Brick and Artificial Stone 800,000
Silos ......... . ; ...... .100,000
Shirts, Overalls, etc . 440,000
Cigars and Bottled Products . . . 200,000
Ironwork, Roofing, Cornices, etc ..... 275,000
Coffee, Spices, Extracts, etc ................. . . 135,000
Monuments, Marble and Granite ; 180,000
Motors, Foundry Work, etc 160,000
Farm Implements 175,000
Artificial Ice . . . . . .' '. , 250,000
Broms, Dusters, etc. 300,000
Manufactures in smaller lines ' 400,000
Total $12,490,000
LINCOLN'S INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT.
Few cities are so fortunate as Lincoln in the matter of in
dustrial sites. The railroads so enter Lincoln as to afford unexcelled
switching facilities, a most important item in all matfufacuring and
wholesale industries. Not only are these sites supplied with switch
ing facilities, but they are so situated as to be easy of access from
all parts of the city through a system of street railway lines that
penetrate to all parts of the municipality. The water supply and
the drainage facilities are all that could be desired. The removal
of the Burlington yards to West Lincoln opens up a splendid area
suitable for wholesale and manufacturing establishments in a section
where railroad facilities are beyond compare. The wholesale district
is well built up, splendid fire proof establishments looming up on
all sides. During the last five years the grown of Lincoln's indus
trial district has been immense. The paved streets, the splendid