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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1900)
8 'Cbe Conservative. I K A UINIQUB OUD MAP. From rVKSSHHASK A C'3'ffV to thols'oith 1'ork of the Little JS'wnuha G ) miles ; up the Little NomuliaM 5 B to Jkowiu-ll Cr.'ek 7 in. ; JJrownell Creek to LiUUs Nomaha 4 m.- ' ; from Little NemaJia to tlio head 21 irt. , timber S Antl v/nJL'r within one-liif : ! mik ; licart of Little Nomaha ' to Salt Crick 11 m. ; Salt Crock to Eafat Fork of 3Jig W JJluo 17 in. ; ami vat-r oni'-fpnrth mile North7 m. ; fiom Suit Crock ; from East Fork of IJig JJluo to a of timlift17 . timber and water witliin ono-fonrtli mil south nt jtrove in. ; - any point ; to hotul of Bijf Ulne fiver .V. ) m t ijnod camping it , any poin ; to 1'latto rivur 17 n ; watftrnt 0-m ; to Ft. Kearney 39 milcq Total ' " "We feel great pleasure in being able to reproduce herewith a contemporan eous map of the routes across the plains , as they were traveled previous to the advent of railroads. This map first ap peared in the Nebraska News ( of Nebraska City , N. T. ) of March 3d , I860. It was printed without comment , the nearest reading matter being the following paragraph , itself characteristic of the times : " ) f Our friend Harry , at the Morton House , has a supply of most excellent Porter. All lovers of that beverage will bear this ill ruind. " Thereafter the map was a weekly feature until the 12th of May of the same year , when the town was burned up and the printing office with it. The map itself needs no explanation. There are Kansas and Nebraska , reach ing from the Missouri river to the Rockies ; there is the Hannibal & St. Jo. Railroad , the one outlet to the "States ; " there are the eight river towns and the eight principal routes to Gold Regions on Cherry Greek. All the routes shown converge at Fort Kearney ; there were other roads oc casionally traveled , as for instance the Smoky Hill route , known at that time as the Starvation Route , from a horrible occurrence in 1859 , despite which the Leaveuworth papers attempted again to boom it in the spring of 1860 , as we see by some notices in their contemporaries. There are other details not shown. Shinu's Ferry , by means of which Omaha travelers effected an early cross ing to the south side of the Platte , does not appear ; neither does a route adver tised in March , I860 , which ran south west from Nebraska City to a junction with the Leavenworth road , passing through Tecnmseh and Beatrice , and crossing the Nernaha at an extinct town called Warralltou , which was even a postoffice for a time. Still the map conveys at a glance a full idea of how all but a small fraction of the immense plains traffic was transported , and we submit it as a curious and valuable document to those who are interested in : hese matters. Its publication was a bid for patronage for the Nebraska City line. Gold hav ing been reportedin October , 1858 , to exist iii the neighborhood of Pike's Peak , the spring of ' 59 witnessed an incredible rush of emigrants to the mining country. Where this stream of men crossed the Missouri river , there as a rule they purchased supplies for the remainder of their journey , as "well as for their operations when they should reach their goal. The money thus ex pended in the river towns inaugurated an era of unheard-of prosperity ; and as a repetition of the story was looked for with the opening of travel in I860 , all these towns took steps to secure the great est possible amount of it for themselves. "Other points" says The News of April 7th , "have already flooded the Eastern country with circulars , hand bills , posters , papers , &c. , &o. Leaven- worth , St. Joseph and Omaha have done it , and they are now reaping the ad vantages of it. Ought not something , on a larger and more liberal scale , yet to be done by our citizens ? " Literature was therefore industriously circulated in the older settlements , ad vising all hands to take the route described in the following , which was meant for travelers originating east of Detroit ' 'If take the : you come by cars , Michigan Central Railroad to Chicago , then the O. B. & Q. to Qnincy , on the Mississippi , then the H. & St. Jo. to St. Joseph , on the Missouri , then the Rail road Packets to Nebraska City , then the great Central route to the mines , over as fine n road as you ever traveled in your lives. " The experience of the preceding year had , however , demonstrated that there were two sides to this immigration mat ter , and while the papers urged people to come through Nebraska City in one paragraph , they were making reserva tions in the next. A few quotations "TT will make plain the mixed state of mind of the editors in the spring of I860. 'We fear the same insane rush to the mines has actually commenced that was witnessed last March and April. Already teams are crowding daily through the streets. " % < If that mad rush to the mines is again witnessed this month ( March ) that was seen twelve months ago , two months hence will witness it swelling and surging back upon this City , cursing and swearing , breathing threatenings and slaughters and hang ings for the Editors of Nebraska City. We hate a fool * * * " "It all de pends upon the character of those emigrating. If the shiftless , lazy , lousy , scurvy , profane , insane and idiotic herd of rapscallions , nincompoops and ninnies , make their way up the Platte * * * we think the gold product will be small. " But this is a digression. As to maps , it must not be supposed that Nebraska City was alone in the field with this class of solicitation. The map which we reproduce , it must be admitted , is fairly accurate , whereas many of those gotten out by rival towns were distorted and mutilated , with evident design to hinder Nebraska City's threatening supremacy. A certain railroad map , issued in the interests of St. Jo. es pecially aroused the indignation of both the local papers ; it not only showed the lower town as being on the same level as Pike's Peak , and much the most direct route thither , but ignored the ex istence of Nebraska City altogether. This latter policy , it may be mentioned , has not wholly been abandoned by rail road managements to this day. Other forms of misrepresentation were practiced by rival settlements to a scan dalous degree , and these things , con stantly coming to light , kept the editors always irritated and quarrelsome. There was a "Guide to the Gold-fields , " published by E. D. Webster , Omaha , on which they poured out their bitterest and most scornful sarcasms. They
