The Evansville journal., 1866-06-27
coRREsP PoNDENcE.
Letter from Omaha.
OMAHA, NEB., june 20. 1856.


1 e OMAHA, NEB., June 20, 1866.
Editor Journal: - a
i Presuming that few words from
the borders of civilization may not
prove altogether uninteresting to the
citizens of Evansville and vicinity |
| avail myself Of your invitation to ad
| dress them through the columns of
| the JOURNAL. l shall sendeayor to
1 give them few reliable2facts in sre-
gard to this thriving city. Omaha Is
beautifully located on the west side of
the Great Muddy oriMissouri Riv-
|; ;er, by some named the Nile of Amer
1iica3 no handsomer, site for a city can
be found anywhere The Capital'
Building, OF the Territory, is beauti-
fully situated On high ground, COM
.....s. go atfs areune.
m
Tie Hrst house was erected mere
twelve years ago. and now i contains
a population Variously estimated from
COCO to 10000, and is rapidly increas-
ing in population and business. The
Improvements are not what many
might expect to see, judging from the
reputation of the place abroad; they
mostly consist Of frame dwellings and
business houses, although there are
some very fine brick dwellings as well
as business houses. There is one very
fine (the Herndon House, brick hotel.
The First National Bank have recently
completed very fine building for the
use of their bank. There are quite a
large number Of buildings going up
this season. The dwellings are mostly
frame, but the business houses are
chiefly brick. There are at this time,
100000 of bricks contracted for.
Rents are enormously high, and it is
impossible to procure a business house
under any circumstances without buy
ling, and then at high figures Busi-
ness is said to be dull at present, yet
the streets are daily crowded with
wagons. a business man told me yes
Iterday that he sold "a bill of goods for
{ Powder River tributary Of the Up
per Missouri far on the way to Mon
3 1ana, gs % 9syjs of afDGw sqaod esd
This place is destined to become the
the country north and west. 4 ne Town !
is quiet and orderly, and the Sabbath
APPEARS to be mnch better observed
than in many eastern 5cities--theD , sa-
looms and drinking houses are closed
Nearly every den6nination of Chris
tians, are represented here, and the
churches are welhattended. 3om
|, Less than a year ago, there was not
rail laid on the w r. r, r., now
there is ZIP miles oofd the road com
Ppleted, and the contractors are laying
the track at the rate Of II miles per
day; and they talk Of, putting on
double set of hands to keep, it
going night and day The road
viii be completed to Fort, Kear
ney, sometime in August, which
is 200 miles west of this place.
The regular passenger trains com
mence running on the 1st Of July,
and the calculation is to have the
road completed to San Francisco in
five years. The Western Pacific Rail
road have already quite a number of.
substantial brick buildings erect
ed here, and others are now being
built. 1t is calculated that they viii
spend half a million of dollars. more
this season in erecting buildings at
this place. The railroad connections
with the East have not yet been made,
The calculations are that there will be
two within a year, and eventually four.
The climate in the summer is splen-
did. The weather is seldom oppress-
lively hot. While the citizens Of Evans
vile are nearly roasting, we have fine,
] pleasant breezes, and the nights are
cool and invigorating. The winters, |
am told, are rather severe, principally
owing to the prevailing high winds Of
this latitude. a 81
1 The country for agricultural pur-
poses is not excelled by any in the
! Upion The prairies are high and
rolling, and generally well watered,
1 and in some places plenty of timber
for ordinary purposes, but generally
the great want of this country is the
lscarcity of timber for fencing, build
hing, and FIRE wood, but all of this viii