Smyrna times., 1886-11-10
For the Smyrna Times
Omaha, Nebraska.
ITS MARVELLOUS GROWTH AND DE-
vELOPMENT. ITS TRADE REACHES
S64, ,731 900 ANNUALLY.
The beautiful Young citv of Omah


and in Western parlance has had ;
five years boom. That some kind O
energy has struck it is evident, for from
paper embryo city in 1860 it count
its population to-day up to sixty or sey
enty thousand.
The magnifccnce of the plans a.
well as the magniicence of the taz
rates of those young Western citiel
would be appalling if not revolving tC
the inhabitants of Peninsular towns
They enter into it On the scale of mil
lions OF dollars for public buildings
city and school; then gas and water
supply; then putting the city in a gooC
sanitary condition OF drainage by
underground sewers of ample capacity
both for surface and cess-pool collec
tions. A corps of civil engineers and
wOrkmen are employed by the year
and the thing is put through to the
tune Of S1,000,000 a year and follow
that up for a succession of years. The
streets and sidewalks are very wide
and to pave the bed of the street with
Belgian block on 10 or 12 inches OF
concrete foundation, runs into money
very fast. An order for one thousand
car loads at a time of those Belgian
blocks would not be considered large
nor would it pave very far on a street
one hundred feet from curb to curb
and the process goes on until miles are
laid. Omaha has both Belgian block
and asphaltum but far more of the lat
ter, which has cost from $500 to $3.50
per square yard. The American peO-
pie are tOning up to a nOiseless pave
ment that can be swept by machinery
every night as clean as pin, and the
rolling wheels are not heard to the
extent of giving one the earache, while
all admit the plic-plac sound of the
coming horse shoes is a proper signal
of an approaching vehicle.
The expansive influences of the West
are perfectly wonderful on the minds
of men from Sussex, Caroline, Accomac
and Green-Briar counties. | met one
of tho c characters in st. Paul. Said
" he v ant tharG to git the ager outen
his bones; he didn't have much edica-
tiOn and at first he thought cxpences
would eat him up, but somehow he
had got along right smart and Betty
and the boys had all missed the ager.
| recon they froze out in these hard
Winters, but | hustle around in my
shirt sleeves arore breakfast nigh about
as l allus did though it is powerful
cold we got used toit. Ipay big school
tax, that's for me, but I want them
boys to have all the education that's
goin and they told me to put in Is
foot pavement, which you know a good
deal Of it is clair waste, but l says all
right, | want as goodsas is gwine."
So the old Virginian eased up to every
notch, found plenty'of teaming to do
ut good rates and really saw more
money in few years than he had
seen in all of his life before, and the
blessing Of health no wonder he said
let us have all that is going of all these
new things, and we will soon forget
the sand drifts, the OK in the shafts and
the pine-knot light ia the brightness of
this electric age. Omaha boasts of as
fine a system Of electric circuits as will
dazzle your eyes anywhere. 1t is one
of the five young cities of the West
commanding the attention and admira-
of the world, almOst,wholly built since
the war.
1t is the centre of large area of fer
tile arabic land the metropolis of the
State of which it was once the capital
and is drawing to itself men of means
as rapidly as those six and seven
story new blocks of buildings
rear their proud heads to look
down upon the busy commerce in
the street below 1t is sufficiently dis
tant not to impinge upon the commerce
OF other cities, but has a supporting re-
glon in those Once-barren but now pop
ulous prairies, spread out like rolling
sea. Grain and livestock are destined
to foot up the largest columns in its
bank accounts but with these there
cluster hundreds of other necessaries of
life. Railroads, already numerous, are
dropping in from new sections, glad ia
pour their wealth into this new metrop-
oils, which has all the new business ap-
pliances of a Board of Trade, Corn Elk
change and Stock Exchange, which or.
ganized to handle large quantities with
great dispatch. A report of the Board
OF Trade for the year 1885 has been re-
Gently published, showing great
growth in business prospects and i'm
portance, Emphasis is given to the
fact that to become a great city it must
be from a manufacturers as well as a
wholesale centre. Twenty-seven new
business houses commenced in the
above-named time and the whole num-
Der of firms including their representa-
tive heads is shown to be 1857. The
wholesale houses are ia in number
and manufacturing firms a, of which
the smelling works are claimed to be
the largest in the world. During the
above period bank capital was in.
creased $3.50, 600; and the weekly clear
ings in the above specified time ad-
vanced from $2,275, 900 to $2,992.O
showing the handsome summary of one
years business transactions to be SG4.-
731, 900.
PO those who are curious to know
what The items could be we append
the list:
Public improvements. nts...............S 600 OOC
PrIve buildings and improvemc-