Conservative.
There ha °
GOOD Wom > . !
many words that
have applied for admission to the Eng
lish language which have failed to se
cure a foothold , and some of them good
and useful words , too. Among these is
the word "arbory" or "arbery" used by
Sir John Maundeville to designate vege
tation of the rank of trees , and also ap
parently in place of a clumsier word of
later manufacture , arboriculture. Sir
John for instance says that such and
such a potentate "hath plentyfous ar-
berye , " or that in such another Con-
tree "is but lytille Arberye , ne Trees
that beren Prnte , ne othere. " It ap
plies to trees collectively , in an aggre
gate ; arbory would be to one tree as
shrubbery to one shrub , though the ap
parent resemblance of the two words is
all on the surface , for their etymology is
quite diverse.
This week the last number of the first
volume of THE CONSERVATIVE is issued.
With this number a great many subscriptions
expire. From week to week the date of
expiration is indicated on the paper opposite
the name of the subscriber.
Unless we receive a renewal the expiring
subscriptions will be taken from our mailing
list after this issue.
Among THE
AIGOSTCAUSE.
CONSERVATIVE'S
collection of antiques , there is nothing
of more peculiar interest than a frag
mentary file of The Wyoming Telescope
for the years 1857 and 1859. Those
were the days when prosperity was in
the air , in a special sense ; men knew
that a metropolis , of which their imag
inations made a second London at the
least , must soon begin to materialize
somewhere on the Missouri river , and as
sudden and easy wealth was the prize
offered to the owner of the fortunate
townsite , the eagerness with which
they sought to attract the shy fugitive
to this and that embryo settlement can
easily be understood. Of course , only
one could be supremely successful ; of
the others it was a fortunate commun
ity that survived Omaha's victory with
even a trace of the breath of life ; the
greater number have perished utterly
from off the map. Wyoming is one oi
these , for the station on the Missour
Pacific road which now bears thai
name is several miles distant from the
river-landing where once stood a hope
f ul aspirant for the premiership of the
West , and was probably christened only
out of respect to the memories of the
vicinity.
The Wyoming of 1857 was , however
as promising an infant as any the terri-
boasted. 1 1
, , .
. . .
Old Wyoming. . ,
was not until the
year following that its nearest neighbor
Nebraska City , scored the one point thai
it gained in the great race i by"se'ouring
thelbcation of the Military Depot
whence army supplies , brought thus far
by steamboat , wore forwarded across
the plains by the government contract
ors ; the thing that infused vitality into
Nebraska City's veins for a brief ton
years , when the opening of the Union
Pacific railroad snuffed out her little
ight in the twinkling of an eye. Wyo
ming , N. T. , in 1857 was a lively place ;
the issue of The Telescope for June llth
contains a half-a-column of "Arrivals at
the Port of Wyoming , " no less than
seven steamboats having passed up in
that week ; the Regular St. Joseph ,
Omaha & Council Bluffs Packet "Wa-
tossa" is a steady advertiser , and will
positively make weekly trips during the
season of 1857 ; the editor notices with
much pleasure the rapidity with which
S. F. Nuckolls' largo stone Store House
progresses ; instruction in the use of the
Scriptures and the singing of church
music are advertised ; Wni. J. Hughes ,
M. D. , tenders his professional services
to the citizens of Wyoming City ; F. S.
Haffa respectfully announces to the cit
izens of Wyoming City and the sur
rounding country , that he has opened a
Coach and waron manufactory ; The
Telescope has advertisers in St. Louis ,
Chicago , Minneapolis and Sioux City ,
besides a good number from Nebraska
City , Plattsniouth , Florence , Clinton ,
Cassville , Lewiston and Kanosha , as
befits the organ of the "place formed by
Nature , " as the editor explains , "for the
depot of the Weeping Water valley. "
But who can now tell where Clinton
and Lewistou , N. T. , and those other
places , stood ?
Just as two or three could not be gath
ered together on the prairie in those
, , , , days without or-
The Kullroiul.J . .
gamzing them
selves into a City , so no cluster of
shanties was happy without its railroad ;
for it was foreseen rightly , as wo now
know that where the Pacific road
planted itself , there would bo the city
of the future ; so all were ambitious to
have "the ferruginous equine quadruped
wisk his tail in our midst , " as one early
editor neatly put it. Probably nothing
in the history of Wyoming City , N. T. ,
is more curious reading than the story
of the Wyoming , St. Peters and Fort-
Kearney Railroad Company , which was
organized at a great mass meeting con-
veued in Malnui Hall on the evening oi
September 15 , 1857. A notice , signed
"many citizens" had boon published a
mouth beforehand , calling 011 the inhab
itants of the surrounding country and of
Civil Bend , Iowa , to come out "for an
interchange of sentiment ; " and in the
interval the "Telescope" had contained
several interesting articles by Amicus
and others pointing out why the railroac
should bo built from Wyoming and no
other point. H. Hurst , Esq. , presided
over the meeting ; a code of rules and
regulations , prepared by J. G. Tread-
way , Esq. , was adopted ; a committee
was appointed to memorialize congress
A , .
"the meeting was then addressed in an
eloquent and forcible manner by Charles
Van Wyck , Esq. , and others , " and ad
journed.
It was pointed out that railroads wore
no longer an experiment , as was demonstrated -
_ . . onstrated by "the
DutnllH. , J
„
successful opera
tions of the railroads of Michigan , New
York , Pennsylvania and other states. "
These had shown that the "inconveni
ences of snow and cold" were not insur
mountable obstacles , and had also proven
that railroading paid , for they were all
"declaring largely increased annual div
idends. " And if this was the case in -
those effete civilizations , what could not
be expected in this favored section ,
"with a climate peculiarly favorable to
the production of the grape , the straw
berry , the raspberry , the wild plum and
the apple ? " Why , the "hardy New
Englandor" would rush in by trainloads -
loads , to a spot whore , "in the geograph
ical center of the United States , ho may
proudly reflect and watch with con
stantly increasing interest upon the
giant growth which as a people , wo are
so rapidly attaining. "
But without waiting for the hardy
New Euglander to embrace this privilege ,
, . just give "the
A o .
Sure Thing. , ,
wealthy companies
that are not organizing to our West" a
railroad outlet to the Atlantic for "the
millions of bushels of excellent salt
which will be there manufactured ( on
Salt Creek , no doubt ) and you at once
perceive , that a sure and never failing
source of revenue is immediately so-
cured. The heavy dividends which the
stock-holders would realize , would give
to this road a character , equal to those
which lead from the great coal works of
Pennsylvania into the wealthy manu
facturing and commercial marts of Phil
adelphia and Pittsburg. " This ought to
have been conclusive ; but there was yet
more behind. Figure up the sums to be
earned by hauling coal to the ' 'furnaces
of the manufacturers of your city" and
other points , "and some idea may bo
drawn of the value of the stock. " Nor
was this all ; the bold statement is ad
vanced that the country between Wy
oming and Fort Kearney is of value for
the growing of cereals , "while as a
stock-raising country , it is not surpassed
by the niusquotto country of Texas , or
the roods of Michigan. "
The Wyoming , St. Peters and Fort , jjl |
Kearney Railroad Company was accordingly - ) \ \
ingly organized , with a capital stock of \
four million dollars , "with power to in
crease the same to fifty millions ; " a
committee was appointed to see that
subscription books wore opened in Bos
ton , Now York , Philadelphia , Chicago ,
St. Louis , New Orleans , Cincinnati ,
Pittsburg "and such other places as $ f. '
said committee may think proper ; " and - t * ,
the rest of the story , as Mr. Kipling
says in concluding one of his tales , is not '
worth the telling. ,