Omaha daily bee., 1911-06-18

tal Tor any purpose was next to impossible to obtain
The Omaha Street Railway company at this time
was confronted with the problem of installing an
electric system about 80 miles of line and rails
ing money to pay for the power machinery, cars,
motors, trolley wire, etc. The Omaha public would
be satisfied with nothing less than Identification of
all lines.
In the face of the great financial troubles the
task OF doing all this seemed insurmountable but the
company succeeded in changing over all the horse
lines to electric lines whiting three years. The cables
were taken out in 1894 and replaced with trolleys
the greater part of the cable investment having been
made valueless in less than eight years.
BICYCLE CRAZE NOT HELPFUL
The revenues of the company suffered severely
not alone from hard times, but also from bicycle
competition during the fad of 1886 The bicycles
were used for several years by men, women and chill
dren as a common mode of transportation. Demands
of the city for paving between and outside the rails
increased in volume and added materially to the in
vestment cost
During this severe period of the company's his
tory there were profits. The company was not
able to establish depreciation fund to pay for re-
newals It was hard to make necessary betterments
BY exertion Of determination and heavy expend-
iture the company placed itself in good condition for
transporting the crowds which visited Omaha in 1893
The principal routes used to haul passengers to and
from the exposition were by the way of North Twen-
ty-fourth street and through Sherman avenue These
lines were Topped in the business district and an ex
cellent service provided The Dodge line cars were
run direct from the railroad stations to the grounds
It was the general verdict that the company did
wonderful work during the exposition and assisted
materially in the convenience and comfort Of visitors
and also in giving them good impression of the city
MADE MONEY IN 1898
With the year 1893 came prosperity for the
Omaha Street Railway company. The revenue of
the company for this year was more than twice as
great as that of the preceding year. For the first
time in the local street railway businsss-thirty
years-there was surplus in the treasury greater
than the immediate financial demands.
Since 1898 Omaha has grown with strides and
has become one of the best cities of the west In order
for the city to grow this way the street car service
has had to keep pace with every move of industry
and that the Omaha q Council Bluffs Street Railway
company has done this every one will agree every
one who is conversant with conditions in this ex
banding city
1t was in 1902 that the name of the street car
company was changed, for then the Omaha lines
were unified with the Omaha Council Bluffs Rail
way and Bridge company.
Under the reorganization large amount of
money was obtained from eastern sources and the
Council Bluffs lines and bridge taken over for opera
ton on 99-year lease.
With the new order of things came better sys-
tenn Of street car service for Omaha and Council
Bluffs. The Council Bluffs lines were rebuilt and
re-equpped IN all essential respects. In addition
many miles of extensions were made to the lines
NEW HORSE POWER STATION
modern 000-horsepower station was con.
structed and equipped at the foot of Jackson street.
replacing two power stations in Omaha and one in
Council Bluffs and causing the scrapping of the ma
chinery formerly used.
At the present time there is under construction
an addition to the central power station which, when
completed, will cost about $600,000 This addition
is twice the size of the original station and will dou
BILE its capacity bringing the total horsepower up to
10000. When the new addition is completed the sta
ton will represent an investment of $1000OOO.
At Twenty and Lake streets a new con-
crete substation was built, equipped with trans
formers and rotary converting machines and con-
duits for carrying higher tension cables laid to CEN
trail power station.
All OF the light track construction in Omaha was
replaced with 73-pound girder rail, laid over rock
cinder and gravel foundation and connected with
continuous joints.
complete replacement and large addition to
the rolling stock with new and modern cars took
place The majority of the cars were 40 feet long
and upwards on double trucks fitted with powerful
motors. large brick car building and general re-
pair shops were constructed at Twenty sixth and
Lake streets.
SERVICE STEADILY IMPROVES
Ever since the consolidation of the Council
Bluffs road with the Omaha line the service has