Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-08

~ State Historical society at its
If@4I recent meeting at Lincoln and
- several very interesting papers
were read. One Of these was by William
l.. Kennedy Of Omaha, who told of the
local interest in the topic. Omaha was at
one time quite a lively steamboat port,
during the palmy days of the river" and
came to be a most important transfer
point. While the great tide Of trans
continental prior to the build
ing Of the Union Pacific railroad flowed
over the routes from st. Joseph and Leav-
enworth, and later from Kansas City,
Omaha got It's share in time. The rush to
California in 1.-The days Of gold, the days
OF old, the Gays OF 49," came too early for
Omaha, as the first settlement was not
made here until a very decided ebb In that
tide had developed, but when the Mormons
were driven from Illinois and Missouri, and
were seeking the promised land in the
west, their footprints wore a trail that
has since become famous. In the spoor OF
Brigham Young has flowed for nearly half
n century the greater part Of that enorm-
Gus traffic that sprung up between east and
west with the development OF the empire
on the Pacific coast. Years before the
building OF the Union Pacific road, while
the project was yet being considered as
NAlbIII val nv NV iHa ~
the fact that at Omaha is the gateway, and
through this gateway the stream of traffic
has constantly grown in bulk since that
far off day when the supremacy or st.
Joseph as a point for crossing the treacher.
GUS river was first assailed by the venture
some Mormons who had pushed as far as
Council Bluffs, or Kanesville, as 1t was
then known, and who declined to allow a
few hundred yards of deep and muddy
water to block their further progress.
For at least two centuries before the
railroad drove the steamboat from its
muddy bosom, the Missouri was a great ar
terry of traffic. Along It fOated the raft
of the Indian, the batteau of the French
courier du bois, and later the fatboat Of the
pioneer American who passed west, 1.-THE
first low wash along the shore" Of that
great human sea which came with the
steamboat and the railroad. To explore
the Missouri river and determine its FEAST
bility as a route for to the great
northwest was the primal object Of the
famous Lewis and Clark expedition; later
de Bienville, agent for John Jacob Aston,
wrote Of the possibilities of the giant
stream as a carrier of goods, and finally
the invention of Robert Fulton was adapted
to put to better use the known capabilities
OF the river. A magnificent fleet OF vessels
Il was that breasted the swift current In
the days from 1910 to 1860, and even for a
decade later. 1t is known that 300 steam
Loats were wrecked during these years
along the stretch between Omaha and st.
Louis; fully 200 south Of st. Joseph. These
are buried under sands of half a century's
accumulation; many Of them have gone
down in midstream TO later become an in
tegral part Of a cornfeld, owing to the
shifting OF a channel. Not a few under,
takings have been set on foot, having for
an end the location and recovery Of a val
liable cargo known to have been lost, but
little reward has crowned such endeavors.
Many a barrel Of whisky was lost on the
river which would be worth its weight in
gold IL It could be brought to light again.
While ST. Joseph held it's supremacy as
the leading port on the upper river during
days, Omaha soon grew to i'm
portance after the establishment of what
is known as the Mormon trail, TO distin.