Omaha daily bee., 1881-09-05
He Pays a Visit to Grand Island
in His Circuit,
And Tells Nearly All He
Knows About 1t.
Mining Possibilities For That
City and the State.
The Place as It is and as II
May He.

NhANb IAN september q. -
cannot think that our city-Omaha-
with its 3S, 900 inhabitants, its wonder
full growth and unparalleled prosperity
is Jealous of Grand Island. l am Ger
tain that The BEE is not, but still i
is a fact that the Omaha dallies hay,
not gwen even a faint outline of tn,
great work that is now being done il
Grand Island.
4 STONE CITY.
A few blocks east of Grand Islan(
there is now towering skyward IA serie.
of walls, massive, ornamental anC
grand. They are all made of pitch
face stone, and this might be called
the city of industry. God only know,
how many generations yet unborn
may here make this bright steel
brighter and find that happines,
springs FROM the sweat of toll, fol
these are
THE UNION PACIFIC SHOPS OF GRAM
ISLAND.
OF the nine buildings, only one i.
completed, and Joseph r. Mcconnell
master mechanic of the North Platt,
shops, is now here to put its ma.
chinery in place, SO hat in a few day.
the hum of its numerous lathes will
give music as they make ribbands OF
iron, steel or brass. The engine rooms
with stone floors are handsome enough
for parlors, and the vast fly wheels
and the enormous shafts at once i'm
press the visitor with the gigantic ex-
tent of the work that will be done in
the adjoining machine shops.
The blacksmith shop, with its TWEEN
ty-four forge capacity, is now nearing
completion. The stone walls are en-
tirely finished. A little farther east
found n hundred and sixty men at
work; sixty of them are stone cutters.
l am told that as high as fourteen car
loads of stone have been absorbed in
these massive foundations in a single
day, and yet their growth wa scarce
ly noticeable. Southern Nebraska
furnishes all this stone, and it is of
excellent quality. A chimney that
looks as if it might have been built as
a monument, it is 50 massive and
beautiful, is completed and a founda-
ton twenty feet square is laid for
what they tell me will be q still more
magnificent one; two thousand fire
brick and sixty-one thousand red
brick are required to build it.
MIR. Way is authority for the state.
ment that all of the nine buildings
must be
COMPLETED THIS FALL.
But if I am any judge the thing can
not "bc did"
A REPORT.
An ex-lieutenant governor told me
that he had seen u letter from U. Z.
headquarters which said that these
shops were to be doubled in capacity.
This, | presume, ear that they are
to be doubled in number. Instead of
nine shops there will be eighteen.
He also, on the same authority, says
that the railroad, already reaching
towards the north from Grand Island
to st. Paul, Neb., is to be completed
BLACK HILLS AND YELLOWSTONE PARK,
which will open to Grand Island and
Omaha a country rich in minerals, UNI
bounded in grazing possibilities,
scanned with coal, Astounding in for,
ests, alive with game, and the great,
est health and pleasure resorts OF
which the world can boast. Several
northern roads are now making fran,
tic strides TO reach this rock bound
region, where wealth flows in pactole.
an streams, but the u. p.
is sleeping with one eye
open and it is not likely that
weaker powers will be allowed to fore.
stall the giant that nursed the Black
Hills into life.
II ELEVATED PLATEAU,
on which the shops are being erected,
is a spot where the surroundings are
all that could be desired.
Highly cultivated farms, artificial
groves and the principal streets Of the
city are the leading beauties of the
surrounding scenery, while far away
to the south IS the silver streak thai
tells the course of the Platte river.
$500, 600
will fall short OF paying the cost o
these improvements without any
doubling Of capacity
THE GRAND ISLAND STOCK YARDS
is II of the contemplated institu
tions OF the future, and they will be
owned and operated wholly or in
part by the L. p, hence their extent
can only be surmised.
Without doubt there are no b:ild.
ings OF this kind in all the western
country from the Mississippi to the
sea that will at all compare with these
shops.
There are now one hundred anG
twenty acres of land in the tract the
U. +. purchased for the shops and nc
part of it can be purchased at any
price, Surrounding lots are quickly
sold ut high figures and those who in,
tend to make their home here cannot
get their ground any too quick.
The present round-house will bC
torn down when the new one is com
pleted,
THE SuNBER or MEN
who will be employed is yariousiy es.
tlmated at from four hundred to two
thousand, and it is doubtful if anyone
knows. Certain it is that the shops in
Omaha are being almost doubled il
number while those at Grand Island
are going up, and hence some new de.
parture must DE in view. Of course
the vast enterprises now being ma.
turea viii require more facilities foi
work and more workmen. There i.
the new route to the Pacific, whicl
will make the u. T.. independent OF
the Central; then there is the Yellow.
stone Park X. r., and again the St.