Omaha daily bee., 1910-10-23
BY =. A M1LLDa

N 1850 we did not have a foot OF
MV rails west OF the Mississippi
river. We had a funny little
spur of rails running between
cfNRAN Naples and Springfield. Ill., and
s@-s9sa a still funnier link running east
OF naemphls a whimsical attempt between
Vicksburg and Brandon. Down in Alabama
there was a short strip which began and
ended nowhere. Another streak of iron
wandered across another corner of Ala
bama and there was a little building in
Georgia and the Carolinas. The southern
states, strangely enough. then led in rail-
way construction, although there were
number Of lines in the northeast that were
wonderful in their way. There was
broken road from Detroit to Chicago, with
a wstful jerlSwater from Chicago to ST.
Charles. Then. In Indiana, there was a
piece ol rail running from Rushville to
Madison-if you know where these points
were-but not a foot OF rail west Of the
edge OF illinois. That was just sixty years
ago. Now look at the map.
There was not a foot OF canal built west
of the Mississippi river sixty years ago,
although Maine had little canal as well
as Massachusetts and Connecticut, while
New York had several. Pennsylvania one
clear across the state, Maryland one of
considerable length and Virginia a very
famous one-that which George Washing
ton planned to extend from the James river
across the Alleghanies. About this time the
westbound rails wiped out all the theories
OF George Washington and every body else.
Ohio had a canal system of some extent be-
tween the lakes and the Ohio river Indiana
had one running from Toledo to Louisville
and Illinois had one from Chicago to La
Sale. But all these We're wiped olt by
rails. How absolutely Anticipated all that
sort Of thing seems today. Look at the
map for the sake Of curiosity. II seems
almost unbelievable how small was that
part OF old America 50 long thought sacred.
Eight-tenths OF our orop-raising country
then lay undiscovered. Eight-tenths OK
America-and the best part OF America
was out OF the picture-undiscOver
After the civIl war the great transcon-
tinental lines went across one by one to the
Pacific Each time one was built there
came the cutlery that il was all folly. be-
cause II crossed a part Of the country that
could not support railroad. The first
government experts sent out TO explore the
west unanimously reported that It was
wholly a hopeless country. Major Long
utterly condemned the whole of Nebraska.
Dakota was then not thought worth men
tioning Yet. one by one, the rails crept or
rather rushed west AT last the continental
lines did not pause. Everybody believed
there We're railroads enough across the
continent Everybody always has dreamed,
and then other bodies have found that
everybody did not dream big enough. Now
comes the transcontinental extension Of
the Chicago Milwaukee & ST. Paul rail-
way. known as the Chicago. Milwaukee X
Puget Sound railway. Its western termi-
nus is az the foot OF Puget sound. without
a question destined TO be the center Of at
fairs on the Pacific slope. Its eastern
terminus lies at the foot OF the great lakes.
As the Hudson Bay company long pro-
claimed that Canada could only he a fox
farm. so the western COW men declared
20 an the world that nothing west OF the
Missouri river was nj for anything else
but cows, The arrowhead OF our west
bound rails pierced this last OF the absurd
traditions. When Il crossed South Da-
kota Il changed the old order Of wide
ranges and began the day OF the small
farmer the small cattle raiser; In short