Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1866-12-27
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27. 1865.


sightseeing so much Of task, that de-
serve some credit for seeing anything be-
| yond what the hotel windows allowed.
| In the pleasant company of Gov. Saunders
and Mr.. Frost, Of the Pacific Railroad, 1
visited the hight on which the Capitol
stands, the sulpher springs. and the ex-
lepsive shops and works which, the rail-
read company has erected within the past
six monIhs. What the latter has accom-
Iplshed is really amazing. There is now
rail enough on hand to reach Cottonwood,
100 miles beyond Fort Kerney, several
splendid locomotives are waiting to be
called into service, the manufacture of
cars has commenced, and the grandest
basis is already laid for carrying on the
business of the road. The ties, mostly
brought down from the Upper Missouri
l-whether Of pine, elm or cottonwood,
are burnetized to render them durable.
Some idea of the enormous expense Of
building the road may be obtained from
the statement. that each tie. when put
down in its place, has cost the company
from one and a half to two dollars !!
The cost of bringing railroad iron, loco
motives and machienry to Omaha is also
very great, as there is no rail cOnnection
with the East. None of the lines through
Iowa will be completed before next Sum
mer.
The same process which had noticed
| in Kansas-lhe gradual restoration of
fOres.s-may be observed here. The
hills and valleys around Omahs, where
ever they have been protected from fire,
are rapidly being clothed with timber.
Clumps of cottonwood and evergreens-.
sometimes small groves of the former
haye been planted around the farm hOus.
es. which are bull. in dips and hollOws of
the bOundless grassy waves of the land
scape.
The country is one of the most beauli-
ful ever looked upon. A little more
sandy. perhaps than Kansas, but equ ally
fertile, it presents The same general fea-
lures. am more than ever struck with
the great difference between this region
and that 10 the east of the Mississippi.
Here, without very bold or prominent
forms, there is none of the werrisom mo-
nolony of the prairie, as in Illinois; no
unsighuy clearlngs, ragged timber, or.
swampy tracts, as in Indiana and Ohio
but Nature has gwen the smoothness and
finish which elsewhere comes from long
cultivation, and in twenty years from
now both Kansas and Nebraska viii ap-
pear to be older than any other States
west of the AIleghanies. They have lit
tie of the new, half-developed, Ameri-
can air about them; but suggest some
region of Europe, from which war has
swept away the inhabitants.
l crossed to Council Bluffs, which has
an ancient substantial appearance, con-
trasted with Omaha. The people insis-
ted that their rolling praries, behind the
bluffs, were even finer than those Of Ne
braska-whiclfis scarcely possible. They
(the peopIe) haze just awakened to the
necessity Of annexing themselves 70 the
business world, and are now laboring to
hurry the railroad through from BOons-
borough Some day, perhaps, the Mis-
souri may leave the Omaha side of the
valley and come back to them; al pres
ent, their distance from the steamboat
landings is a great drawback. The set
Ting of Montana. nevertheless. has CIV
en- a new impulse to all Ihe towns on the
river. No4ess than so boats have gone
up to Fort Bento2 this season.
On Monday morning took the steam
er for PIatismouth. some 25 or 80 miles
below, by the river. / should have pre-
ferred the land journ eY, but for heat of
1O2 degrees in the shade, wind like
furnace blast, and sitting dust. While
the boat was in motion, barley endura-
Bile temperature was produced, and en-
ioyed, here and there, some lively glimp-
.ses Of valleys on the Nebraska side, that
of the Plati, especially being suberb.
Plausmoulh is nearly mile below the
junction of The nvers-a pleasant ltue
place ola thousand inhabitants. Moth
ing hut The heat prevented me from spen-
ding the rest of the day and evening very
agreeable there.
On Tuesday to Nebraska City-40 |
miles further, by the river. There is
lille to note, on the way excepI lhe end
less changes of the current. adding hun
dred Of acres to the meadows on ono side.
and undermining cottonwood forests on /
the other. Nebraska City is not seen to
advantage from the river. to which it pre-
sents its narrowest side. the chief portion
Of the place-which has seven or eight
thousand ilhebitants-lying in the rear
Of The bluffs. Il is an active, lively. town,
in spite Of 3 predOminance Of The Mis-