Omaha daily bee., 1883-12-01


Train, Joseph Shepard, division super
intendent of express, (vho is nov the
general superintendent of the United
States eIpress) and DE-. Atohison, gen
eral stage agent at Omaha.
The exercises were opened witt
prayer by the Rev I. Il. Lemon, who
omitted the prayer for the President o
the United States, the reason being tha'
Mr., Lemon was a strong democrat. H'
has since changed his politics, and is nov
a radical republican.
The first earth was removed by G ,vsr
nor Saunders aud Mayor b Il. b Ken
needy, of Omaha, and Mayor Palmer, o.
Council Bluffs, assisted by Augustus
kountze, Engineer Dey, George Franci,
Train, DIR. Atchison, and others. Gun'
we're fired, and deafening cheers aros,
from the assemblage. One brass six
FOUNDER was stationed on the Nebraska
bank of the Missouri river, and another
was located on the opposite bank, ant
during the exercises they were fired a
frequent intervals.
Governor Saunders made the frs
speech. He then read message
from Col. John Hay, private secre
tary to President Lincoln. Mayo
Kennedy next spoke; and read a dispatch
from Mayor Opdyke, o: New York
The following was
MAYOR KENNEpY's SPEECH:
Mr.. Pr ,sident aud Fellow Citizens: ]
hold in my hand a telegram from the
Hon. John A. Dix. president of the great
Union Pacific II ilroad company, and il
becsmes my pleasurable duty to read II
to you on this important occasion. The
dispatch will be- found below together
with Others.
Fellow Citizens: | see you are all elat.
ed and buoyant. | see an expression of
gladness in your countenancesa and an ap.
parent relief from the awful suspense
which has overshadowed you for the past
few months; but it requires no great of.
fort to divine this great and sudden
change. The breaking of ground and
the Inauguration of the great Union Pa.
cific railway have just taken place here,
in front of your infant city. This is a
momentous occasion. 1t is N epoch ia
the history of this country, and l con-
graduate you that this great national eL-
terprise is entered upon, and that upon
this second day of December, 1868, this
bond of union is inaugurated-the iron
belt that is to unite the East with the
| West, and the North with the South
through all coming time.
Speeches were also made by DR.. G.. G.
Mcneil and Hon. A. j. Poppleton, of
Omaha, A. V. Larlmer, of Council
Bluffs, George b. Lake, George Francis
Train, and Others, all being listened to
with a great deal of interest.
o A j. PoPPLEToNs SPEECH.
FGNoW citizens Of Omaha and Coun-
Gil Bluffs: On the 135h of October,
1854, ABOUT z o'clock in the evening, |
was set dowr by tho Western Stage com.
pany at yonder city of Council Bluffs
At the rising of the sun on the following
morning, | climbed to the summit of one
of the bluffs, which overlook that pros,
porous and enterprising town, and took
one long and lingering look across the
Missouri at the beautiful site on which
now sets in the full vigor of business,
social and religious life, the youthful
but thriving and this day jubilant city of
Omaha. Early in the day ] crossed the
river, and along a narrow path cut by
some stalwart man through the tall rank
prairie grass, I wendell ny way in search
of the postotice. AT length [ found an
old pioneer seated apparently in solitary
%rumination upon a piece of hewn timber,
and | inquired of him for the postotii 80.
He replied that he was the postmaster,
and would examine the office fer my let
ters. Thereupon he removed from his
head a ha-, to say the least of it, some
what veteran in appearance, and drew
from its cavernous depths the coveted
letters. On that day the wolves and the
Omahas were the almost undisputed lords
of the soil, and the entire postal system
was conducted in the crown of this ven
cradle hat! To-day al least 40, 600 radiant
faces gladden. our streets, and the postal
service sheltered by a costly ediice,
stikes its Briarian arms towards the
north, the south, the east and the west,
penetrating regions then uuexplored and
unknown and bearing the symbols of
values then hidden in the mountains and
beneath the streams, of which the world
in its widest vagaries had never dreamed
Then it took sixty days for New York
and California to communicate with each
other. To-day San Francisco and New
York, sitting upon the shores of the oceans,
3,0O0miles a,under, holdfamiliar converse.
Iron and steam aud lightning are daily
weaving their destinies more closely with
zach other and ours with theirs, as the
inter-oceanic city, whosecommerce, trade
and treasures leave tho last great navl-
gable stream in their migration from the
Atlantic to the Pacific seaboard. IL is
natural, therefore, that you should lift
upyour hearts aud rejoice. Aud though
we have watched for nine long years,
during which our fortunes have been,
like Antonio's treasures, ''mostly III OK
p%ectancy," We at last press the cup in
full frultion to our lips. The lines have
indeed fallen to US in pleasant places
and, AS l look upon the smiling faces DO.
fore mo, | seem to read in their happy
expression the words of tho pious poet:
This is the day we long have sought,
Aud mourned because we found it not"
All this, however, is but the personal
significance of this great national enter
prise to us. To us it means prosperity.
To the nation and all its people it bears a
significance we'll expressed in a telegram
received from Governor Yates, Of Illinois,
which | am requested to read. THE toll.
egram is published in another place.
| esteem myself fortunate in their be-
ing allowed to give expression to thisc,n.
course, the greeting of the state of Hi,
nois, through its chief executive officer
In this hour of sauguinary struggles,
when that great and union-loving state,
through that most trusted fortunate
chieftain, Gen Ulysses s. Grant, is hurl-
ing its victorious sons into tho very vitala
| Of Tho 40 nnllnl ahn ELL Enda