The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-14
ON RIVERS OF GRAINS
TcrTTEs ALONG ROUTES VH xyI1pAT AND CORN-OMAHAs AS GRAIN MAHI- EXPANSION IN EVERY THE NEW COM
 

ar south as circumstances may dictate Some of the citizens of Omaha, which is so situated that 1t may take auVah- tare of either of the chief routes TOT the transportation of grain. concelVed
 the idea of making their city gram market and distributing point TOT tho cereals of the far West, winch were then passing through the town without bringing 1t any business. President stickney of the Chicago Great Western
 Railway Company was the first to start the movement by advising the estah- lishment of a grain exchange at oIhaha'
 His nroposition was taken up by otherN and on February 1, 1904. the fully or
 ganised exchange began operations III
 the Board of Trade building
 For the first few months the new or
 ganization had a. hard struggle. put American push and energy together
 with natural economic conditions, Ia
 vol cd its packers and they won. The railroads agreed upon a system Of rates that made business possible, and Oma- Ina set to work to build up her trade. How successful were the operations or the first year is shown by the fact that in that time the grain exchange nan
 dled 1s,OOO, ,O0O bushels. a volume Of
 business that 1t took the great market of Duluth 16 years to attain. These IS. .OOO, 900 bushels of grain came from Nebraska. South Dakota, Colorado and Kansas, the banner wheat state or them all Wonderful things are happening In that portion of the United States
 which in the geographies of 40 years ago was described as the great Amerl- can desert. The great increase or IT. rigation In wyoming, for instance, has made the wheat output from that State by no means d negligible quantity ana if goes to swell the total of OmahaS | trade It Is predicted that the total volume of grain that will eventually pass through Omaha will make her great city, and one of the leading grain
 markets of the world.
 The entrance of Omaha into the com i petition for the grain trade has led to a readtustment of railroad rates, ana because of this fact 1t is estimated that
 s2 OO0. 900 was saved to the farmers or Nebraska in the past year, and this in spite of the fact that only 10 per cent
 of their corn passed through Omaha. When a city builds up a new business | in a year. a great deal Of building lh the city itself Is necesstated A gram | distributing centre is place where huge elevators tower as far ahoVe the ground as those lofty ohico buildings to
 which has been given the namo Of
 skyscrapers. The elevators now In
 process of construction in Omaha will l give the city a total storage capacity 1 of nearly 1000, ,000 bushels. or double 1 that of Kansas City. The handling or
 the business for which these elevators are intended means the employment Of
 great army of men. Omaha's popula- | ion Is now about 135,00O and it is growing rapidly. Building permits
 were issued during 1904 calling for an expenditure of $2.OOo,00O. Twenty five ] store and office buildings were either built or started last year, and yet mer- chants and professional men ma ' hard to obtain quarters | Hand in hand with this maternal
 prosperity due to the flowing of the rlV-
 CTS of grain go the finer things Of Ire
 A new and handsome building for the local Young Mems Christian Assocla- ton, a large and attractive theatre. TWO new hotels, six churches and hospital
 are among the buildings either in prog ress or contemplated. The United States l Government is just finishing a post
 office building which ranks sixth ln
 magnitude and cost among the Federal
 structures outside of Washington. The citv snent over $7O.00O last year on its | bouleyards and its ten parks, which | include an acreage pr over 59b.
 Such advantages como to city
 which is merely the depot for the grain
 traffic. which merely collects, sorts and
 ships the golden wealth. They arc
 small as compared to the civic rewards that come to the community which goes
 a step further and builds mills to trans form the raw material gathered .s~enl