Omaha daily bee., 1905-10-22
TOKENS OF PIONEER DAYS
Portraits Of Historic Scenes and Famous
Men Treasured by Dr.. Miller
he RECALLS INclDENIAls MOST WWOLY
Pictures of oldest Inhabitant and
Grant Party on Overland Refreshes
Memory on "BIaEinE way for
Civilization"

No attentions in recent years shown DR..
George L. Miller, Omaha's pioneer physi-
clan and veteran retired editor. have struck
a more responsive chord than the receipt
the other day of two framed pictures and
a copy Of a dodger announcing the opening
of the Union Pacific from Omaha to North
Platte, from Alfred Darlow, advertising
agent for the railway.
The largest picture is that Of the oldest
Inhabitant Along the Union Pacific Line"
1t is a representation of a giant buffalo
bull. and so we'll executed that Dr. Miller
declares he never before saw so well por-
trayed the massive strength and detailed
physical characteristics of the bison, now
almost extinct, but so plentiful in the days
when his young manhood was helping to
make civilizstion out of the wilderness.
Large Party of NOtabIes.
The smaller print is a reproduction of
famous photograph containing a larger
number of distinguished men than usually
get before a camera at one time. 1t is
well framed and makes an attractive souve-
mir or keepsake. Said DR.. Miller
This picture was taken thirty eight years
ago two miles and half south of Laramie
station in Wyoming on the Union Pacific
railroad 1t shows General U. s. Grant and
party at Fort Saunders and is vivid re-
minder of the great men in war and peace
who had to do with the development of the
west and of the conquest of the rebellion
during the civil war.
I'm the order in which these men appear
| In the picture General Grant stands near
the center, leaning forward with both
hands on fence. At his right are General
Phil Sheridan, the great cavalry COM
| mander; Sidney Dillon, long president Of
the Union Pacific and one of its promoters
| a NJ gs -tfI
with us. He was then chief engineer of
the Union Pacific, after emerging from the
! war as a major general of volunteers. TO
the left of Grant are General William S.
| Harvey the famous Indian fighter and the
hero of Chepultepec; General William T.
Sherman. Major General John Gibbon, who
once commanded this department after the
war, and Brigadier General James c. Pot
| ter, a distinguished quartermaster of the
| old army.
Man Who Built the Road.
Standing next to Harvey, in a low
crowned straw hat slender and a little
stopped in the shoulders, lis the man who
really built the Union Pacific and saved
the city of Omaha from being transferred
somewhere else by reason of the hot con-
troversy that arose with respect to the
terminus and starting point of the great
Thomas q, Durant.' He was then president
of the construction company that put the
road through. Masterful man he was
General Kautz appears in a modest way
| in the picture near Harvey and Durant He
| was German-American soldier who Sc
cured distinction in his time and is well
known to many old residents of Omaha
| There are Others whose faces are not SC
familiar to me and did not become so well
known.
Overland Mail Schedules
II see in a note on the margin it says
In the Sos It took the overland mail TWEEN
ty-three days and twenty-one hours tc
make the journey from St Louis to Sar
Francisco. In the Cos the pony express
was nine days in making the trip from st
Joseph TO San Francisco
'"rhe overland mail referred to was the
stage mail carried by coach from Atchisor
to California by the Halliday line. the bes
and greatest thing of it's kind the worlC
ever saw. 1 saw the first ponies of tn,
pony express, beribboned and decorated
start from St. Joseph in the midst of grea
ceremonies.
Further along in the notes II says: TO
day the Overland Limited runs between
Chicago and San Francisco in less thar
spent by the Union Pacific and Southern
Pacific lines in the improvement of tract
and equipment This accounts for the ex
petition of trains over half a continent.
Movable TerbGfnus of Road.
"The picture suggests to my memory tn
movable terminus of the Union Pacific from
the time the construction began near wha
is now the headquarters building. The othe
: terminus was known as End of Track
which station was daily changing so tina
every time a construction train made a tril
the schedule was different. On the frs
special excursion on the road that | re
member End of Track was near Gilmore
about nine miles from the town. 1t was L
do honor to General William T. Sherman
who was a guest of our people, who re
ceived him with great enthusiasm as on
of the great heroes of war.
The one form of hospitality accessible
of the townfolk that seemed equal to tn
occasion was an excursion to End OF Track
So a party of leading gentlemen got on
dirt car with boards across nail kegs an
covered with buffalo robes for seats, an
with what was called champagne for tn
sake OF something TO MI the baskets, move
out to End OF Track. Arriving at tn
extreme western terminus Of the Unio
Pacific railway, in few minutes, the mex
thing in order was speeches by the lat
A. j. Poppleton and others. Then Genera
II Sherman responded with an eloquent ad
dress
sherman's Great speech.
II was then the editor OF the Heral
and probably originated the trip At an
rate was there and l remember distinct
that the speech was a great one. Not
line OF 1t was taken down or adequatel
reported, and this fact is 20 be regretted
I recall that General Sherman told Us tina
when he was an army lieutenant in Cal
fornia in earlier days, he had attempte