Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-05-13

there was a big opening for hauling sup
plies across the prairies to mining camps
Mr.. Reeds contract with General Brown
was that he would accompany the steam
wagon to Nebraska City, and install it for
trip to Denver. Colo, across the great
plains. 1t should be remembered that there
we're then no Pacific railroads.
Hitting the Road.
That time marked the opening Of our
civil war. During the interval between
1860 and 1862 Mr.. Reed contracted TO build
United States gunbOnt of the Ericsson
model-a monitor-and could not leave the
city, so under these circumstances the gem
eral released him. and the writer, repre-
senting him, was ordered to take charge
of the steam wagon and bring it to Ne
braska City.
- L left New York June T. 1862. l steered
the machine from the shops at East River
along Twenty-third street to Madison ave-
nue., thence across Fifth avenue and down
to Eighteenth street, where we broke a
wheel Cthe pavements in Fifth avenue in
those days would break anything-a bank
or a yoke of steers-and some of the old
Fifth avenue paving stones are still ex-
hibited as souvenirs i'm Brooklyn.
mayor-I think it was Fernando Wood
served an injunction prohibiting us to run
the wagon by daylight 1t was very
huge affair / must confess, unsightly in
appearance, and it naturally scared horses,
even those not running away.
THE driving wheels were ten feet in
diameter four feet taller than Abraham
Lincoln, and the rims two feet wide No
wonder the vehicle darkened the streets
and stopped public traffic The forward
wheels were six feet high and eighteen
inches wide. A seventy-two-inch upright
boiler. eighty-six inches long, connected
with a water tank ten feet long and thirty
inches in diameter, was secured to the
boiler
The forward end of the tank connected
with the forward axle, which had a uni
versal ball joint, allowing the wheels every
kind of action in all directions. The tank
held 1000 gallons.
THE motive power Of the machine was
four ten-horse duplex oscillating engines,
two engines to a driving wheel, so con-
structed that one engine would hold the
other over the center; and one independent
steam pump with a cab on top Of the con-
Meeting tank, and platform with fire box
in the rear of the boilers-these were fea-
lures of the machine that called out the
mayor and stopped business along Fifth
avenue. The total weight of the automo-
bile was twelve tons, about one-ifth the
weight Of the locomotive of that day.
Incidents of the Trip.
After making repairs on Fifth avenue
ran the machine by night to the Christie
pher street ferry, which landed us in Ho-
boken. Thence 1 ran the engine under its
81 n
New Jersey Central railroad, where We
shipped the steam wagon to Easton. our
route to Nebraska was by way of the Read
ing & Harrisburg thence to Pittsburg by
the Pennsylvania Central. thence to Chi
cago by the Fort Wayne, thence by the
Burlington to Quincy, where we crossed the
Mississippi by ferry and reached home by
the way OF St, Joseph and the steamboat
! West Wind, which piled between Omaha
and st. Joseph for years. I arrived in
Nebraska City on July Il, 1862, forty-three
years ago last July.
" General Brown had accompanied me
| from Chicago and introduced me to your
! father, ]. Sterling Morton. We left the
! wagon on the bluffs overlooking the city
and the great winding Missouri river. on
Sunday we were the guests Of the city, and
the whole country turned out to help honor
/ us.
| I'VE were entertained at the Seymour
house kept by Mr.. TuXbury, with his two
I big daughters and one idoliZed boy, Fred
who died soon after poor boy! Your father
was editor Of the Nebraska City News.
! The paper gave us a big send-off I'm an
extra edition, and the people were assured
OF prosperity for all time
| 60 so on Monday. July 1s, 1852. everybody
] was on hand 10 see the sight. Great was
! the establishment OF the multitude, men,
women and children, when they saw US
/ moving along the streets toward the city
| After many distractions and impediments
| in the shape OF soft. miry ground the
| vehicle was sidetTacked back Of the old
| Block house in the rear OF McCann's bank
ing house. This was 10 enable W. to put