The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-08-30


the business of this rich section flow.
ing to Minneapolis, Sioux City and
Chicago. Build the bridge and Yank.
ton comes close to us, only 156 miles
away, bringing the great northwest
into the Omaha trade territory"
AS Mr.. Ellis spoke the train sped
by wonderful country. 1t was beau.
seemed to wave welcome to the good
will disciples.
Met by Yankton Delegation.
A delegation from Yankton board.
ed the train at Scotland, S. D. All
of them were delighted by the big
showing of Omahans and expressed
their, appreciation.
G. B. Gurney, president Of the Cur.
ney Seed and Nursery company, was
spokesman. He said
"A bridge here would open to
Omaha the entire northwest. We
have here the Milwaukee, Northwest.
ern and Great Northern railroads
bringing in and sending through here
literally hundreds of thousands OF
carloads Of grain, livestock and mer.
chandise. none of these reaching
Omaha, all Of 1t going through Sioux
City and deferred there to such mar
kets as they see fit.
1.-THE most desirable connection
from Omaha's standpoint would be
the Milwaukee railroad which would
throw the coast and Puget Sound
traffic through Yankton, crossing the
bridge and going south through
Omaha to the gulf. This would seem
mean the building Of a line the entire
distance from Yankton to Omaha
which is about 145 miles. The North.
western, or the Omaha, as 1t is
known on the Nebraska side, would
have only II miles to build to make
a complete connection with Omaha
and 1t is possible that this will be the
first connection made. 1t is very de-
sirable because 1t will give you all of
the Northwestern connections to the
northwest and would divert thousands
OF cars per year your way.
Traffic Growing Rapidly.
Highway traffic is growing by
leaps and bounds. Thousands of cars
go through Yankton each season to
trade in Sioux City. The distance
would be a little greater to Omaha
but the town is so much larger and
the opportunity for retail shopping so
much greater that large number
would be diverted to Omaha, so that
all of your young people retailers and
wholesalers, grain stock and profes-
slonal men and banks would benefit. ."
The city of Yankton is located in
southeastern South Dakota, almost
in the center Of the richest 90 miles
OF agricultural country In the west.
iankton has greater percentage of
its streets paved than any other town
without regard to size in the United
States. the Commercial club claims.
It Is the only town of its size prob
ably In the world that could, as It did.
raise 100000 for the public improve
ment, the bridge across the Missouri
river that will benefit other towns
and communities many times the ben.
eft that Yankton itself will receive.
THE crops In this particular sec.
tion Of Yanktons trade territory. are
alfalfa, corn. hogs. cattle and fruit"
Mr.. Gurney said.
"Yankton county has had the honor
several times of having the greatest
number OF automobiles per capita Of
any county in the United States. The
county Is very small one, about 18
miles square. Its bank deposits ex-
ceed s6,0O0,00o. the banks of the
county seldom owe dollar and their
reserve is always good, which means
heavy deposits in the reserve center,
Is typical of southeastern South
Dakota the territory that Omaha bust.
ness and professional men have failed
to connect with for transportation
reasons" Mr. Gurney said. I'VE real
lied ourselves that for the best inter
ests of South Dakota we should have
competitive markets such as Omaha
and Kansas City, from which we were
and are still barred on account of the
Missouri river. We expeCt to benefit
from the building OF this bridge in
proportion to our size. equal with
Omaha, or In other words. Omaha is
40 times as large as Yankton and
would benefit 40 times as much"
AT every town between Mitchell and
Yankton large crowds gathered long
before the special arrived. In Park
ston. tyndall, and Tripp the town
bands turned.
Tabor telegraphed ahead asking to
have mayor Dahlman and Governor
Bryan primed for speeches and add
ing: "A big crowd will be disappointed
IL the mayor and governor do not
speak. Necessary arrangements were