Omaha daily bee., 1906-01-01
Foundation and Social and Material Develop
ment of the Gate City of the West-Its
History, Educational Institutions, Social
Clubs and Organizations

erected, ana various Work shops ana mills
were constructed to provide temporary EN-
ployment. At winter quarters was held
the annual conference of the church, April
9, 1s47, attended by people from all parts
of the country prepared for moving west.
From winter quarters, on the 14th day of
the same month, a party of about $50. all
but four or five being men, set out. with
seventy-three wagons drawn by horses
and oxen, under the personal leadership
Of Brigham Young, the expedition culmin-
ating in the famous founding of Zion in
the valley of the Great Salt Lake. The
excursion of apostles and pioneers re-
turned to the Missouri for their families
and friends. their arrival at winter quar-
ters in October calling forth as an &C.
casion for special Joy and thanksgiving an
elaborate celebration. The summer of 1S4S
saw the great body of Latter Day Saints
follovinr Brigham Young to the new
Ur2h settlement, but winter quarters was
maintained for years as the stopping posnt
and Quitting station for the Mormon
emigrants on their westward wandering,
BY 1856 the name had been changed 10
Florence, and It Is so referred to In the
writings of the later Mormons. For years
IT remained the busy hiving place for the
church converts moving on Zion from all
quarters OF the world. Today, 1t is a
quaint, old-fashioned sleepy village, inter-
esting chiefly for a few ancient land
marks, and visited on good weather Sun
days by recreation seekers from Omaha in
cart or on wheel.
The earliest history of Omaha is a
chronicle of bitterly waged fights for the
possession of the seat of government of
the new Nebraska territory. The proud
tai city was eagerly sought after not only
by Omaha, but by every other ambitious
town site company along the eastern from
tier. 1t should be remembered that the
initial steps in the territorial organization
were taken under the presidency of Frank
lin Pierce, who, although a northern man.
was almost completely under southern
domination. The position of governor was
first offered to General William G. Butler
OF Kentucky but was unoeremonously de-
clined. whereupon 1t was passed on to an
other southern gentleman in the person of
Francis H. Burt of South Carolina. Gov
ernor Burt arrived at Bellevue in COM
pany with the secretary, Thomas B. Cum
ing, of Iowa, in October, 1854, but before
he undertook in any way to exercise his
official powers he succumbed to a fatal
illness, leaving the succession by virtue
of his Office to Secretary Cunning Gov
ernor Cunning in due time issued his cleo
ton proclamation and called the territorial
legislature to convene in Omaha In jan
uary. In this connection 1t should also
be remembered that Omaha was located
and settled by Iowa promoters, while the
competing towns to the south looked on
slave-holding Missouri as the parent. Had
the first capital designated been asserted
n
of by his fortuitous Iowa successor. we
may well doubt whether Omaha would
have Jared so fortunately.
The earliest territorial legislatures have
been described by eye-witnesses and par
Elephants as often bordering on an organ
lied mob. To keep the capital at Omaha
was the watchword on one side and to
take It away was the battle cry on the
other. Money and town lot stock are
said to have played an important part
with members. who seem to have antici-
pated later day legislative methods and
yielded to inducements" that overcame
their local loyalty While the Capitol
building rose on Capitol hill, Omaha had
to contest for its retention at every an
nual session of the legislature from 1856
to 1858, from which time IL was left in
undisputed possession until 1867, when,
with the investlture of statehood, a seat
OF government was carved anew on the
virgin prairie to be christened Lincoln,
after the martyred president.
The great impetus that sent the infant
Omaha forward by leaps and bounds ahead
Of its rivals In the Missouri valley, north
and south. came from two closely con-
nected enterprises, the one the building
Of the Pacific telegraph. the other the
construction Of the FIRST transcontinental
railroad.
Tho Pacific telegraph assumed tangible
form through the unquenchable energies
OF Edward Creighton. Still In the prime OF
sturdy manhood. invigorated by the Irish
blood inherited from his ancestry. Creigh-
ton had come to Omaha in 1856 to visit his
brothers, engaging for a time in the lumber
business. In ls6O he built the Missouri q
Western line from St Louis to Omaha,
but already a year before had evolved a
plan for a telegraph from the Missouri
river to the Pacific coast With the en-
| couragement and material assistance OF
men like Jeptha II. Wade. Ezra Cornell,
and Hiram Sibley. whose confidence he
| earned and kept. his idea. originally re-
ceived as a weird fancy, took shape in sur
| veys. contracts and actual construction,
| the FIRST message transmission occurring In
October, lS61. speeding on In an hour by
| electric current intelligence that would
previously have required weeks and months
to journey. The fortune sprung from this
| venturesome undertaking has given the
name Of Creighton a foundation lasting tc
the end OF time. Edward Creighton died
In 1874 leaving Sl.6oO.00o to be bestowed
eventually for education and charitable
purposes. The good work he began has
been carried further by his brother, Johr
| A Creighton, and the Creighton college
the Creighton Medical school, and the
Creighton Memorial hospital. not to enum,
| crate small benefactions, all attest as en-
during monuments the activity and fore
sight that paved the way for the electric
fluid to f1ow unchecked from ocean to ocean
The telegraph was but the forerunner Of
the railroad. With Omaha the initial poin
of the Pacific telegraph lines. It enjoyed {
marked advantage In the competition FOL
the eastern terminus OF the Pacific railway
Up to that time, all transportation had beer
by steamboat up the Missouri river or II
wagon or coach overland. The race o
| the iron horse across Iowa had been inter
rupted. first by the financial crash In 1851
and then by the war OF 1861, that tn
first locomotive to carry its train to tn
Missouri river arrived January. IL. 1857
bearing the escutcheon OF the Chicago
Northwestern. Within two years fou
railroads converged at the river opposit