TTTE HEE: OMATIA, WEDNESDAY, 'AUGUST 31, 1010.
Railroads
OVERLAND THE .
PIONEER ROUTE
General Dodge Tells of the Start of
the Great Transcontinental
Route.
TO CONNECT THE TWO COASTS
President Lincoln Favored the Road
as a War Measure.
MILLIONS FOR BETTERMENT
During Last Seven Years Harriman
Has Been Lavish. ..
ROAD MEANS MUCH TO OMAHA
Growth Haa Been Coincident with the
Growth o This Cltr Has Meant
Great Ural to Omaha in
Muny War.
From the itandpolnt of railroad accom
modations Omaha la one of the. country's
most favored cities. Every day ten great
trunk lines operate a multitude of trains In
and out of the city and each of these great
railroad lines holds a warm place In the
hearts of Omaha's citizens. But for sev
eral reasons the Union Paclflo has always
been Just a bit closer to the hearts of
Omaha people than have the other roads
and haa always seemed to Omahans a bit
mora their road than has any of the others.
This feeling Is largely accounted for by
two facts, one the prominent place which
Omaha occupied in the events Immediately
preceding and connected with the building
of this first-great transcontinental railway
to make this city a center for administering
the Immense business of the road and for
building, equipping and repairing much of
the vast accumulation of rolling stock
which Is the road's property.
The history of the Union Paclflo railroad
Is Interwoven with that of the country It
Self and for each step In the development of
the United States Is found a corresponding
development In the Union Pacific. The Idea
of building a rail: ad to connect the two
coasts of the United States was not a late
development, the project having early been
proposed by Dr. Eumuel Bancroft Barlow of
Granville, Mass., who In 1834 first advoi
2Z
3p
catcd the construction of a road from New
Tork City to the mouth of the Columbia
river.
Robert Mills, however. In a speech In
congress In 1840, In which he advocated ths
construction of the road, called attention to
his design for connecting the Atlantic and
Pacific with steam carriages which has
been published, with other suggestions, in
a work which he had compiled In 1919. In
all probability the honor of having first
suggested the road belongs to him, chi
merical as It may seem, coming at a time
when not a mile of railroad had been laid
In the United States.
Transcontinental Line Proposed.
For many years this Idea of building a
great line of railroad from Altantlc to Pa
cific was talked about and alternately advo
cated and opposed. Ijanlel Webster, who
never believed that any good could come
from the Pacllio coast, was one of Us
strongest opponents, while Senator Thomas
H. Benton of Missouri never lost an op
portunity to ssy a good word for the plan.
It Is probable, however, that a majority of
the men In the public eye at that time were
opposed to the scheme.
General Grenvllle M. Dodge It was who
surveyed the line upon which the' Union
Pacific was built. He commenced' hi ex
plorations In 1S53 and continued 'Jo make
them until 1861. Mr. Dodge had been con
nected In earlier days with the Rock Island
railroad as It was built westward from
Chicago and had assisted In establishing
the terminals of the road In Council Bluffs.
When these terminals were established
General Dodge purchased eight acre upon
which they .were located and subdivided
the tract, a portion being taken by the
Hock Island Interests and - a portion by
the citizens of the town. A part, of the
Bock Island's share of this tract fell Into
the hands of N. B. Judd, the general at
torney for the road, a prominent Illinois
republican and a personal friend of Lin
coln, who purchased from him a portion of
this Interest.
In 1869 Mr. Lincoln visited Council Bluffs,
then a frontier town of some 1,600 inhabi
tants, to Inspect his holdings there, and it
was while on this trip that he rnet General
Dodge, Just then returned from' one of his
surveying trips into .the country west of
the Missouri, and after a dinner at the
old Paclflo hotel sought out the clever sur
veyor and engaged him in earnest con
versation about the western country, in
which the Illinois statesman showed a
marked Interest. ' , .
The next time the two gentlemen met
was in 186S. Meantime Lincoln had become
chief executive and two years -if the bloody
civil war had been fought Mr. Dodge at
his country's call had given up the transit
for the sword, and at this time was a
brigadier general of volunteers and In com
mand at Corinth. While there he received
IP
Tlie Union Pacific Country
'Omaha is the gateway to this wonderfully rich territory; it occupies the strategic position as a distributing
point and is served by large, well equipped railroad systems,
There are millions within reach of the business men who recognize and take advantage of this condition,
for there are millions of prosperous people in this new and flourishing section who are willing and anxious to
buy what Omaha has to market not only the necessaries, but the luxuries and comforts of life.
In 1909 the business handled through Omaha's financial institutions amounted to more than a billion of
dollars.
How Much Will It Be In 1910?
It Depends On You
y.
an order from General Grant to report to
the president In Washington. When he
reached there he found that the president
had not forgotten the conversation on the
porch of the Pacific hotel In Council Bluffs
and had called General Dodge to Wash
ington to consult him as to the proper lo
cation for the eastern terminus of the
Union Pacific railway, which under the
act of congress of 1862 ha was empowered
to select. i
Competition for Itoad.
"There was great competition from all
the towns along the Missouri for fifty
-miles above and below Council Bluffs,"
ays General Dodge 1n his own narrative
of the building of the road, "for the dis
tinction ' of being selected as this Initial
point. I found Mr. Lincoln well posted In
all the Controlling reasons oovering such
a selection, and we went Into the matter
at length and discussed the arguments pre
sented by the different competing locali
ties. "It Is a singular fact ' that while the
United States had spent a great deal of
money In exploration for a feasible line for
the 1'eciflc railroad, the government never
had examined the natural route along the
forty-second parallel of latitude. I All the
surveys had been made and all the data
obtained by private citizens connected with
the Rock Island railroad, at the head of
which was Henry Farnam of Connecticut
President Lincoln, after going over all the
facts that could be presented to htm, and
from his own knowledge; finally fixed the
eastern terminus of the Union Pacific rail
road where our - surveys determined the
pioper locality at Council Bluffs, la.
. Lincoln Intersted.
."After this discussion of the location 'he
took up with me the question of building
the road. The law of 18G2 had failed to
bring any capital or men to undertake the
work, and I said to him that in my opinion
private enterprise could not build the road.
Mr. Lincoln said that the government had
its hands full and could not undertake the
work, but was ready to support any com
pany to the fullest legal extent, and amend
the law so as to enable such company to
Issue securities that would furnish the nec
essary funds.
"From Washington I went to New York,
where I met the parties then connected
with the Union Pacific railway, John A.
Dlx, Henry Farnam, T. C. Durant, George
Francis Train and others, ; and . informed
them of the result of my visit and what
President Lincoln had, said. They were
greatly encouraged, and Immediately went
to work on the preparation of the measure
which was afterwards presented to con
gress and passed as the. Union Pacific bill
of 1864. Under this the road was built in
some four years, although congress had
allowed ten years for Its construction, and
Arc
' :'
The richest, most resourceful and most
west is that which lies on and
umiom iPAcniFnc
"STANDARD ROAD OF THE WEST"
Mr. 'Business Man: It's up to you to come out and see this
country and get acquainted with itbesides it's the season'
to think of a vacation, and a vacation spent looking over a
field so promising will prove both profitable and interesting.
Electric Block Signals Up-to-Date Equipment Perfect Track
Fourteen Electric Lighted Trains Daily
Excellent Dinlog Caps
For information relative to fares, routes, stop-overs, side-trips, etc., call on or address
CITY TICKET OFFICE. 1324 FARNAM STREET, OMAHA, NEB. PHONES-BELL DOUGLAS 1825 AND IND. A-3231.
I feel that It was Lincoln's faith, energy
and comprehensive grasp of what the
building of the road meant to the United
States that Induced congress to pass
liberal laws and made It possible to raise
the funds to accomplish the work.
Military Neceei.lt y.
"President Lincoln regarded the building
of the road as a military necessity for the
purpose of protecting and holding Cali
fornia In the union. The task of Its con
struction proved too much for private In
dividuals and the government gave help;
It was too much of a task for one company
and so the work was divided, the Central
Paclflo railroad 'to build eastward from
Sacramento, Cal., and the Union Pacific
westward from Omaha. Ground was first
broken at Omaha on December 2, 1863, and
the golden spike Joining the two roads at
Promontory Summit, Utah, was driven on
May 10, 1869. Of the entire road, the Union
Pacific had laid 1,186 miles of track and
the Sentral Pacific 638 mites. In later
year) the western terminus of the Union
Pacific was fixed at Ogden, Utah, 1,003
miles from Omaha, but the entire line
from Omaha to San Francisco Is now one
route, controlled by 'the Harriman
System.' "
The story of the trials and triumphs
White Rose Gasoline
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KANSAS CITY OMAHA SIOUX FALLS
lot
Tine West
connected with the building of this first
transcontinental road are filled with In
terest and dramatic quality, the weary,
tedious work through a hostile country,
the exceeding' difficulty of obtaining sup
plies, the marvelous engineering skill
which was exhibited and the multitudes of
discouragements and disappointments un
til victory finally crowned the efforts of
these pioneer road builders at Promontory
are Incidents from real life which exceed
the most brilliant efforts of the most
skilled novelist
The line of the Union Pacific proper,
that old line which was first built from
Omaha to Ogden, messures 1.003 miles and
traverses that territory which, before the
modern days of Irrigation and dry farm
ing was ofttlmes known as "The Great
American Desert" This was the desert,
the home of wild beasts, of sage brush
and of cactus. Some idea of what Irriga
tion has done for this land may be gath
ered from the fact that millions of acres
of land, apparently worthless, have ad
vanced to $1,000. and In some cases, as high
as $4,000 an acre. This Increase la, of course,
due to the astonishing ylold of crops.
And It Is a curious fact that where
tnere Is sufficient water for Irrigating
purposes, better results are attained than
3
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