New-York tribune., 1869-06-05
lFROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE
OMAHA. Nehraaka NAV 21. Is

|
| OMAHA, Nebraska, May 27, 1862
Until last week the great Chicago and North
| Western Railway Company which owns over l,SO
miles of road, had the only direct track from Chi
Cago to Omaha running ria Clinton and Boone
Now land line through Rock island and Des
Moines is just opening. By the Northwestern the
distance is 494 miles; by the Rock Island, 492 The
old line believe has served the public acceptably,
but this direct competition will of course promote the
! general good.
left Chicago at 8 pm, on Pullman sleepng-car
! of the Northwestern line. What shame 1t IS that
| railway accommodations between New-York and
| Washington, or New-York and Boston, or New-York
and Albany should be fifty per cent less comfortable
or agreeable than upon any leading route in the
Northwest Many Eastern managers seem to fancy
that the saving of half dollar or dollar recOnciles
the public to sleeping-cars th,t denominations
! Pullman has always acted upon the belief that
through passengers don't care what they have to pay
if they only get their moneys WORTH The result 49,
that almost hundred and fifty Of his palace-cars
are running through the West and South. The ad-
ditonal charge usually 81 for nights lodging or
| SO for trip of "a hours. When an extra
coach is required it sometimes becomes neces-
sary to add one of the Old-fashiOned sleeping
double bed in it costs only 81 So but none are ever
taken until every berth has been secured in the other
| coaches and even then there is much grumbhng'
His ordinary coaches cost $4,000 each By day they
are thoroughly comfortable and elegant saloons at
night each passenger is secluded and rests upon soft
! mattresses and pillars, and between snowy sheets
The ventilation is capital: the attendance is mar.
vel of promptness and patience. 1t is doubtless the
pleasantest railway travelling in the world.
Among our passengers was Gen. George III. Thomas
en- route for his new fed-the entire Pacific coast
with headquarters at San Francisco WeOf the East
are hardly aware Of the admiration, the enthusiasm
the personal affection felt for Thomas throughout tho
West Everywhere one hears him spoken of as " Old
Reliable" Pop Thomas" The Rock of Chcka-
mauga, That splendid Old Man" In point Of fact
his age is only 52 but his grave kindly demeanor does
carry paternal suggestion He is certainly one OF
the finest characters brought out by the war; Presl-
| dent Lincoln when first desired to make him a
Major General replied with dstrust born of many
| dsappointments: mo; he is from the South; will
wait till he earns it," Thomas heard of this-and
how glonously he did earn the Major-Generalship
and every other honor he has received! He was al
ways at his post and for three years he did not once
see his wife He never got whipped he never COM
| planned of anything; he never accepted any promo
ton until il was fairly thrust upon him; he never
committed an act that had to be explained OF apol-
| ogized for"
! Since the war his rare qualities have grown stead
/ lily upon the people When he declined the house
offered 10 him by the Cincnnatians, he did 1t with
| perfect mOdesty and unostentatousncss. "The
! Government he said "has always paid me amply,
! and all my wants are provided for To accept such
present would not be consistent with my sense Of
! duty few weeks ago some Of his old officers In
| Nashville-in token of their affection as he was
about leaving for the West prohercd him table
service Of silver. lie replied: greatly touched
/ Itf aytd of KouT
it, In ny judgment il would be injurious 10 the dis
ciplue Of the Army for officers TO receive gifts from
those who are OF have been their subordinates'
Some have thought Thomas oycr-fastidious on this
subject but the American people are now in a mood
TO pardon great deal Of fastidiousncss in that di-
| TcctIOn.
Gen. Thomas would attract notice in any crowd.
lie is large broad -shouldered, massive, with HAIR
! and beard brown but turning 10 gray, mild,
| kindly eyes and prominent nose-a strong, marked
face lie inherited no property, but 10y careful fru-
cal habits he has saved a competence from his sal
ary He has no children. This is his second visit to
California; fifteen years ago, when he was captain
| in the Third Artillery, he was stationed at Fort
| Yuma for u months. He and his stan are as de
lighted as schoolboys turned loose to escape from
| Kentucky and West Tennessee into thoroughly
| loyal atmosphere
| IA SaTgCaut,
who in 1862, drafted the bill under which the Pacific
Railroad has been built, also upon our train.
New-Yorker by BIRTH he went to California in lSi0
in a passage of 30 days. around the Horn, and has
been identified with the Pacific Coast ever since Ii is
difficult 10 realize that man, still young that his
face retains the freshness of bOyhOOd has seen the
richest State in the Union grow up from nothing, to
the greatest material enterprise since the world was,
! originated and completed, Sergeant James II. Camp
bell of Pennsylvania and Schuyler Colfax, were the
most efficient and udcious friends of the measure in
the House as were Wilson of Massachusetts, Morrill, of
| Name and McDOugall Of California in the Senate.
! Day after day, for a month. in Commit
tee of the Whole, Sergeant and Campbell
alternately answered objections to the bill in five
minute speeches; and night after night-with Theo-
dore ID. Judah, the engineer, constantly supplying
them with exact information-they sat up with
Eastern Senators and Representatives.
There was hostility to overcome, there was in
credulity to satisfy. In the House one day Owen
Loveoy asked with his peculiar satire of tone and
| shrug of the shoulders ado | understand the
gentleman from California 10 say that he actually
expects this road TO be biltp "The gentleman from
Illinois" replied Sargent promptly, may under
stand to predict that if this bill passed the road
Will be finished within ten years" In his heart OF
hearts though Sergeant feared that this was a wild
prophesy. Only seven years have passed-three of
them years of exhausting civil war-but over the
prairie over the desert, over the mountains TO the
waters Of the Pacific long trains are rolling daily
controlled by brakemen who can't pronounce the
names of the stations, and bearing hundreds OF
passengers who, don't know what State they are
passing through And it is difficult to tell which
regard the spectacle with the more amazement, the
people of Atlantic coast, the Indians and buff
falos, and grizzly bears of the Far-West