Omaha daily bee., 1874-05-27
NEBRASKA SKETCHES.
From Omaha to Blair by Way
Of Elkhorn City.

Correspondence Of the BEE
BLAIR, Nebraska,
May 26, 1874.
EDITOR OMAHA BEE:
One of the most pleasant drives
to be found anywhere, is on the
military road, running northwest
from Omaha. The scenery is truly
lovely, while the vast green pillows
Of the prairie, stretching away far as
the eye can reach, adds a feeling of
sublimity to the joy of contemplate
ing the beautiful, and as you gaze
back on the dust and smoke of the
city in the distance, and around
you at the bright, fresh glowing col
ors of nature in holiday garments,
and listen to the birds twittering
their sweet carols, a sense of free
dom and delicious repose gently
steals over you, and you feel like
singing,
81 want to be a Granger,
And with the Changers stand"
The first ten miles of this road
has fine farms on either hand, look
ing like huge gardens. The crops
are doing well, considering the very
late spring. The farmers are now
praying for rain.
After crossing the Big Pappillion,
there is miles to be travelled before
you see a single house. Here the
Spectators hold section after Sec
ton of the finest land i'm the county,
which they refuse to sell at any
thing like the prices offered. If all
the rich prairie land laying idle
within twenty miles of Omaha
was cultivated, the benefit to our
city would be incalculable. If our
Legislators could pass acts
in regard to taxation which
would discriminate between
idle and cultivated by adding large
ly to the assessments n the former,
and reducing them on the latter, it
would not be long before the lands
i'm question would pass into the
hands of cultivators of the soil.
Twenty-three miles from Omaha
is Elkhorn City. This is the ghost
of a village; its glory has departed;
the U. p. left it out In the cold, con-
sequently it is now what Council
Bluffs will be ten years hence. But
here you find magnificent farms,
some of them have been under cul-
tivation fifteen or twenty years.
Here you can find long lanes, where
the walnut and the maple stand
ing rank after rank on either side of
the road, plainly show the perfect
adaptability of our prairie soil for
producing the finest lumber trees.
Some of the NAPLES we saw were
from one to three feet in diameter
at the base.
The surface is gently undulating,
not billy. The soil is a rich, dark
loan, and streams of living water
abound. From Elkhorn Valley
road lay through a fine stretch of
u~ninhabited prairie. On nearing
the Missouri River valley the sur
face is more rough and the soil is
poorer, but unoccupied land is only
occasionally found.
In Blair we find a thriving town.
A fine brick block is being erected
by Messrs. CASTELAR, & Hallen, and
other substantial Improvements are
projected. A Council Of Industry
was organized here two weeks ago.
The advent of the new order crea-
ted quite a sensation, which has
not yet subsidized. DIR. Palmer is the
Grand High Caliph.
Saturday night about II NJ. there
was a lively rumpus between a man
named ]. ID. Armstrong and a boy
of sixteen. Both were employed in
the livery stable of Mr.. w. d. Gross.
The quarrel commenced about some
blankets which the boy wanted for
his bed, and which the man refused
to let him have. The boy became
very noisy and Armstrong under
took to take care of him with a
hickory ramrod, when the diminu-
tive party broughtin an "offset' in
the shape of a base ball club. ARM
strong "saw' the base ball club, and
"went hetter' to the extent of a
double-barreled shot gun; one bar
rel of which was discharged at the
boy, missing his head by only a few
inches. A young man who was
present, becoming alarmed for his
personal safety, lowing to the unset
tied condition of affairs) leaped from
a second story window. The sher-
lift stopped the finn by arresting
Armstrong, who is now the Mr..
Selkirk of the Washington county
Jail.
Tomorrow we will be up and
away gathering honey for the many