Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-22
Omaha's Growth From u Town of
Five Thousand Souls.
KEEPING STEP WITH CHICAGO.
An Interesting Parallel in the Devei-
opment OF the City by tho
Lake-Soms Points for East
crn Capitalists.
A wonder of the West.


imperial domain by indomitablo enter
prise and energy. Twenty-Five years
ago, when the writer saw Omaha for
the first time, it was struggling,
ambitious little community of about
5000 souls, in the midst OF "boom,"
OF unparalleled vigor, through the
building Of the Union Pacific railroad.
Men came here in shoals. and more than
once the daily papers complained that
sixteen men were too many to lodge in
one room over night The old Herndon
house, now the Union Paci fic headquar-
ters building, greatly enlarged, was the
principal hotel, and it lowered like u
sentinel over the infant city.
Looking at the history of Omaha for
the past twenty-five years, one can
scarcely believe Its reality, so wonder
full has been the change. 1t has but one
parallel, and that is Chicago, and their
relative percentage of growth has been
nearly the same. In 1850 Chicago had
1880 Omaha had 10000 and in 1890 will
have 10000. From 1860 to 1870
the growth Of Chicago was 800
per cent. From 1880 to 1890 that of
Omaha will 333t. With the annexation
OF South Omaha and other suburbs it
will be 1865. This surpasses Chicago in
that period. In 1860 Illinois had pop
ulation of LII ,95l,a growth of ,235,77S
in twenty years. In 1890, or at present,
the population of Nebraska is about
1900, GOO, an increase of 1,27l 900 since
1860. This may in part explain the
growth of Omaha and Chicago in the
periods named, as that OF the two states
is so nearly parallel.
AS Chicago came from q swamp.
Omaha came from the head of the Great
American Desert, which has since been
transformed into q region of unsur-
passed fertility, where Corn is king
and his subjects the "bovine and
swine" flourish in abundance and con-
tentment. While Chicago flourlshed
by the development of the great states
around her. the same process is going
on around Omaha. Twenty-Five years
ago there was nothing here; now great
trunk lines radiate in every direction.
Two bridges span the river connecting
Omaha and Council Bluffs, and there is
vigorous demand for two more to
meet the growing trade and travel
between the cities. We had no
coal to speak of then; few
years afterwards young man, EdN ard
G. McShane, a brother of eX-Congress-
| man McShane, solved that problem by
lllo diSSOF0GltS ilOCh cECcN anu Sdr-
bon, Wyo. He also solved the fuel
problem for the Union Pacific at the
same time. In 1860 the great live stock
industry OF the plains was u thing of
the future. The buffalo roamed at will
in countless thousands. 1t was be-
lieved cattle could not winter on the
plains. When building the overland
telegraph line the late Edward Creigh-
ton had occasion to abandon one of his
trains that year at or near Fort Bridger
for the winter, expecting to see the cat
tie no more. Judge of his surprise to
find them fat and in good condition on
his return the following spring; he ex-
pected to see nothing but their bones;
he had given them over to starvation
and the wolves. This was the germ of
the cattle gIowing industry on the
plains.
In 1870 one or two visionaries (?) and
several practical men of Omaha got
their beads together, resulting in the
erection of an establishment many wise
| acres predicted would close disastrously
within six months. That was nearly
twenty years ago, and it is running yet,
the largest in the world, of its kind
the Omaha Smelling works. / do not
remember the names of the "visionar-
iesn (2), but C. w. Mead and c. B. Rus
tin were among the practical men who
founded this great industrial insti-
tuition in Omaha. Happening into
the Omaha National bank one day,
an occasional contributor to the
| press found the late Hon. Ezra Millard
las good man as ever lived) and his
brother busy studying over an illus
trated paper. Mr.. Millard suggested n
similar establishment for Omaha, and
urged the contributor to agitate it pub
licly. Glad of the chance the press took
hold, and from that time, in and out OF
season, Mr.. Millard devoted his best
efforts to the work. The illustration
was n picture of the Kansas City stock
yards. After trouble and years the
stock yards were built at South Omaha,
through the efforts of Alex Swan, l.. Nj.
Anderson, w. A. Paxton, eX-Congress-
man McShane and others, resulting in
busting city Of 1900 people, doing
| millions OF trade annually. and ranking
rs the third greatest packing center in
the world.
Thus, while Chicago possesses great
| advantages in the lake route, Omaha is
admirably situated, viz, in the corn
belt, with 10 per cent of Nebraska land
now in farms, and of the whole state
only s per cent is productive. out of
a total of over 10000 square miles; in
the live stock belt, and on the
threshold of the great mining regions,
of which two as yet undeveloped ipdus-
tries are equivalent to an additional
population of 1000, 900 to this city-the
Wyoming coal oil regions ana the Da-
kota tin mines.
! Like other cities, Omaha has had its
ups and downs in real estate. Many
are the fortunes that have been made,
and several pages might be devoted to
| a narration of these. There is good
| deal OF Boston capital invested here, in
buildings and real estate, and | am sur
| prised there is not more. Thus while
Chicago is blooming" this year, and
! Boston capitalists are seeking realty in
| vestments there on a 10 per cent valu-
ation"a and can get nothing over 8, in
| Omaha our best investments can be had
| on q IA aud l6 per cent valuation.
| Prominent among the Boston investors
| in this city are Frederick L.. Ames, b.
| f.. Smith, Frank Smith and others
whose names / cannot recall.
| There is Il big field WIDE open here
| for manufactures of articles indigenous
to the soil, and / am again surprised
that the New England capitalists. and
manufacturers have not availed them
selves OF the opportunity years ago.
These are about everything connected
with animal products, wooden mills and