Union
GENERAL VIEW OF THE UNION PACIFIC SHOP YARDS IN OMAHA, WHERE THE GROUND 18 BEING CLEARED FOR THE ERECTION OF A MACHINE SHOP TO COST THREE-QUARTERS OF A MIL
LION Photo by a Staff Artist.
Siu rAn DUCK mio ine eariy me 01
I Omaha doei the history of the
umuu rKiiuc NiujH exieuu im
anchoring roots that something
approaching the reverence ac
corded antiquity Is felt as one witnesses
the demolition of some of the oldest of these
buildings to make way for more pretentious
and stupendous temples of Industry.
That the hundreds of workmen who have
devoted the last three weeks to razing to
the ground structures covering some three
acres of land are Impressed with any sense
of the Indignities they are heaping upon
the associations of two score years la Im
probar.le; but the piles of debris which
these men build up and then cart away
mean to them their dally bread, and they
are excused from all censure for not ex
periencing the qualms of the onlooker who
couples sentiment even with sand houses
provided the latter can establish their
origin back through several decades and
surround their existence with a certain
halo of mechanical traditions.
The date 1864 alone does not carry with
it the ring of remoteness. True, It is only
thirty-eight years since, but at that time
Omaha was but a frontier outpost, and
only 8.500 souls flourished on this now
cosmopolitan spot. But even then, despite
that no ral'road from the east ran nearer
than Des Moines, and that all interstate
connection was by water or wagon trail,
there were pioneers who had every faith In
the promise which Omaha's location held
out, and at that early date the "Gateway of
the West" was a title commonly applied to
the town, as now.
Earliest Ambltloa of City.
It was under such conditions, when the
leading citizens of Omaha were waiting
earnestly for the time when the Northwest
ern road would build In from Boonsboro,
la., then Its terminus, that the Union Pa
cific shops were begun. So these structures
represent the earliest ambition and the
earliest progress of the city.
So while every local nerve was straining
tor the future of the town, this project of
building the railroad shops was launched.
It was a tremendous undertaking, and the
atmosphere was charged with the glory of
It. One of the minor difficulties was the
hauling of the seventy horse-power engine
which was to run the plant from Des
Molnrs by wagon, 133 miles.
In the fast flying stages the time required
for this trip was only thirty-six hours that
winter, even In the deep snow, and In the
summer time this schedule was cut to twenty-four
hours. But no such time was made
with tire many parts of the monster engine,
and a week wao consumed In bearing It
safely to Its destination. All the other ma
chinery and much of the building material
came by the same route. Not so the bricks,
however, for these were baked In the new
kiln on the Missouri river levee near the
site of the shops. It kept six steamboats
I dltlon to his name and office ad-
" 'He that loveth pleasure shall
be a poor man.' Chancellor Solo
mon. Practices in every court on this
earthly ball. Expert title perfecter and
buys and sells mortgages and makes loans.
Am the red-headed, smooth-faced, freckle
punctured legal Napoleon of the slope, and
always in the saddle. Active as the noc
turnal feline. Leonine in battle, but gentle
as a dove. Fees the sinews of war."
A Pennsylvania correspondent, referring
to the recent item relating to the notice to
Adam before adjudication against him, calls
attention to the following extract from aa
opinion of Shsrswood, J., In Palalret's
appeal, 67 Pa. St. 479, where,' in dis
cussing the question of taking private
property by the exercise of eminent domain,
'.he court says: "When the king of
Uamarla coveted the little vineyard of
Naboth hard by his palace, that be might
have It for a garden of herbe, and offered
to give him a better vineyard than it, or, It
it aeemed good to him, the worth of it ia
money, he was met by the sturdy answer:
Pacific Shops, Passing
on the river and 100 wagons on the Des
Moines road busy for many months carry
ing in the lumber and other freight.
Not Extend e Save la Name.
At that time Omaha's ambitions were cen
tered about Its one great possession, the
Union Pacific Railroad company. This
road at the time of the commencement of
the shops comprised but fifteen miles of
trackage, extending from Omaha west
around the "Ox Bow" curve. It was al
ready known as the Pacific coast connection
to be, and people were in no wise discon
certed by the fact that not one two-hundredth
part of the distance was yet spanned
by rails.
So all the talk was of this railroad, and
when the company determined to build the
ihops Joy knew no bounds. It was In 1864
that the work was Anally commenced, and
lu the next year the shops were completed.
A local print of Friday, March IS, 1865, dis
closes the following brief description of the
place:
"Last October the site of these buildings
icoked very little like being a hive of
human Industry. On that once desolate
spot Is now a magnificent Stationary Steam
Engine, puffing and panting, breathing life
PULLING DOWN THE OLD UNION
Lights and
'The Lord forbid it me that I should give
the inheritance of my fathers- unto thee.'
Would any one be hardy enough to stand
up in a republican country and claim for
Its government a power which an eastern
monarch dared not to assume T"
General Collins, now mayor of Boston,
has often said that in the law be has
found that there has been hardly an inci
dent of his early days but has proved of
service to him in his profession. An in
stance of tnls occurred not so very long
ago, relates the Saturday Evening Post,
and ia still fresh in many minds. He was
appea-ing before a high court In a caie
In which a large amount of upholstering
was In question.
The contention of his clients was that
the work hsd been Improperly done and
that therefore they should not be called
upon to take the goods.
The case went along at usual length,
with no evidences of extraordinary exer
tion on the part of General Collins until
the exhibit was put in evidence, when
with perfect confidence he announced that
he proposed to make his demonstration
and thereon rest his case. Swinging one
and activity into some halt a dozen shops
In its vicinity. These buildings are sub
stantially built of brick and are remark
able for their economy of arrangement.
They are capacious and well ventilated, and
aa machine shops more healthily located
than such Institutions gent rally are. There
is a large tankhouse from which, by means
of a force-pump, water Is sent through all
the buildings. There Is a large well com
municating directly with the engine house.
A splendid blacksmith shop and machine
shop standing side by aide the blacksmith
shop containing twelve forges blown by ma
chine blast. The machine shop la fairly
supplied wth machinery for lathelng, turn
ing screws, cutting bolts, nuts, etc. The
building of cars and engines is progressing
with and not impeding the perfection of
the buildings themselves.
"Besides these, there are a roundhouse,
an engine house and a depot. The depot
will soon be replaced by a large and mag
nificent building, worthy of the connecting
point of the great Atlantic and Pacific rail
road. Materials are on the ground to build
a carshop Immediately. The but. ding is to
be a two-story brick, 150 feet long by 70
feet wide. From the present chop a very
PACIFIC ROUNDHOUSE, TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW SHOPS Photo by a Staff Artist.
Shadows of Bench and Bar
of the chairs to the table in front of him
he began to tear it to pieces till the dis
jointed frame lay naked before him.
Judge, Jury and lawyers were watching
blm with open eyes. Then with all the
ease of a trained mechanic he began .to
assemble the parts and within half an
hour he displayed the chair finished and
complete as he thought It should be.
The difference was apparent at once, and
the case was won. When the questlouers
came about htm, with Inquiries as to how
he had been able to acquire so thorough a
knowledge in so short a time as the case
allowed, he replied that when almost a boy
he had served his time at the trade.
Not many years ago, when he was a
young lawyer, Congressman Watson of In
diana was one of the attorneys in a suit
over a pig. Judge Goodrich, subsequently
chairman of the republican state commit
tee, was on the other side, and the case
was before a portly magistrate of the name
of Reverdy Puckett, who was running aa
a candidate for mayor of Winchester.
"Puckett," said Mr. Watson to him one
afternoon, before the case came up tor
trial, "I must win this suit. It I don't I
and Prospective
comfortable car has been sent out this
morning.
"Much credit Is due to Mr. James A.
Hough, the superintendent, for the Judg
ment and dispatch he displayed In bring
ing this mammoth undertaking to Its pres
ent advanced condition, and through his
diligence and enterprise all the depart
ments of engine and car building will be
open for artisans and laborers."
Nacleaa of Twenty Balldlnaa.
This half-dozen buildings, then, was the
extent of the shops aa first built, a nucleus
for the twenty structures that could bo
counted in the group till four of them were
torn down recently to make room for a new
one.
But the development since that time has
been a sturdy one. No mushroom growth
has characterized the expansion of these
shops. As the demands of progress com
pelled the furnishing of additional floor
space it was added, and each new building
was built better than the last. The en
largement has been gradual and steady
from the first.
Starting with the tank house, machine
shop, car shop, round house and black
smith's shop, the next step was the erection
will fight you for mayor; I'll fight you to a
finish."
Goodrich also got the magistrate's ear
with a similar appeal and threat, he and
Watson having arranged the matter be
tween them to get some fun out of the
situation.
"The day before the primary," says Mr.
Watson, in concluding the story, "Good
rich and I thought we would go around
to Puckett'a office and ascertain - bow wc
stood. He was absent when we called, but
his docket lay wide open on the desk. We
couldn't help looking at It. There in the
boldest characters he could write were
the words:''
" 'Disagreed, by thunder.'
"There was no s Jury in ths esse, but
that little matter hadn't bothered Puckett."
"Contrary to eastern Impressions," said
Judge Heyburn of Wallace, Idaho, to a
Washington reporter, "we are developing
quite a high state of civilization In Idaho.
It is not so very long ago, however, that
conditions were rather crude In our parte.
We had a Judge on the bench out there who
was an unterrlfied product, I assure you.
He had never read law, but had picked up
of another car shop, and then the former
car shop wss at once transformed Into a
second machine shop. With these two the
company has run along till now, when it
will build a new one larger than both to
gether. Gradually a sheet Jron shop and a
tin shop were Introduced between the ma
chine shops and the round house, and then
a foundry was built Just north of the black
smith shop. The capacity of this place was
also increased, so that Instead of the twelve
forges with which It started there are now
forty In full blast
Then a pattern storehouse was set be
tween the foundry and the car ahop, and a
detached office building was built south of
the blacksmith shop. Away up north of the
machine shops were added a paint shop and
a locomotive carpenter' shop. Then a losg
storehouse, an Icehouse, a . heating plant
and a Dillon shed were built along the east
aide of the yards, near the river."
A sand house bsd been placed near the
south point of the round house, and an oil
house was built, south of .the offices,' The
last structure erected was the boiler shop,
which now stands the furthermost south
shop of all, and In excellent condition.
Work Now la Procresa.
. The change now In progress involve the
ripping out bodily of all the four buildings
between the boiler shop to the south and the
second machine shop to the northt" The
buildings were the shetlron shop,..the tin
shop, the round bouse end the sand bouse.
Praotlcaliy every vestige of them, save the
tracks of the round house is now removed.
So old were tbea buildings and so de
cayed their walls that they crumbled like a
sugar loaf when attacked. The actum of
the smoke and various gutes had -6. disin
tegrated the mortar between the bricks that
all Its adhesive powr was gone, 'ajjd the
bricks tell to the ground separatelylnstead
of In chunks of ten or twenty as is usual
when a wall is torn down.
Ia the place of these four decrepit build
ings will now be reared a monster new ma
chine shop. Of steel frame and Immense
piers, it will be modern in every way. The
dimensions are 250x400 feet, giving a floor
space twice as large as that of all tour de
stroyed buildings combined, and far larger
than that of the two. machine shops still
standing.
This Immense structure will be supplied
with modern machinery and tools to the
value of many hundreds of thousands of dol
lars. At the same time I he old shops are
to be remodeled and ttelr arrangement and
facilities bettered. The new building, with
Its fittings, will cost $750,000. It will be
finished by January 1 next. If unlimited
forces of men can accomplish the work In
that time.
This will be the extent of this year's
work. Much more la planned to come. It
Is said that $2,000,000 additional will be put
Into a complete revlson of the yards and
more new buildings soon.
in some mining camp a copy of the statutes
of British Columbia, and he adjudicated
cases by that code, and some of his rulings
were bizarre. One day a chicken peddler
drifted that way from another state and
was promptly arreeted.
" 'You are fined $C0 for selling chickens
without a license,' said the Judge, when he
had heard the evidence.
" 'But I haven't that much money,'
walled the defendant.
" 'Make It twenty-five, then,' declared
the Judge.
" 'I haven't even that amount,' faltered
the peddler.
" 'How much have you gotf demanded
his honor.
" 'Just thirteen dollars and 60 cents, ' re
plied the defendant.
" "The prisoner is ordered to pay a fine of
$13.50 exclaimed the Judge, 'and his chick
ens are confiscated to the court.' '
"That night a penniless peddler went sob
bing out of the village and aa unworthy
Judge regaled himself and his friends on
the appropriated fowl. I am glad to add
that a higher sense of Justice now prevails
in Idaho."
