sewerage had been provided, and paved streets were determined upon. The work was begun, and within two years it had progressed so well that the claim for Omaha, that it was "the best paved city of its size in the Union," passed challenge. Its commanding location as the eastern terminus of the chief trans-continental line, which, with other side transportation facilities, made it a distributing center for a vast and productive area of territory, attracted to it those elements of growth, enterprising men and capital seeking profitable investment. A city determined within itself to be a city, was a magnet to draw from elsewhere such requisites as might be wanting - and they came. In 1882 it was conservatively estimated that Omaha had a population of 30,000. The census taken by the State in 1885 showed that the city had 61,000 population, an actual increase of more than 100 per cent. Since that time the extension of the corporation limits so as to include that

     [General Experience Estabrook has been a familiar figure in Omaha affairs for over thirty years. He is one of the oldest settlers. He was born in Lebanon, Grafton county, New Hampshire, April 30, 1813, where his parents lived until 1822, when the family moved to Clarence (afterwards named Alden in honor of Mr. Estabrook's grandmother of that name), a town near Buffalo, N. Y. This was his home until July, 1840. In the meantime he attended Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa., also the law school con-

nected with Marshall College, at Cham-
bersburg, Pa., where he graduated and was admitted to the bar. He then continued his studies at Brooklyn, N. Y., part of his time being taken up with the duties of a clerkship in the navy yard at that place. The young lawyer then removed to Buffalo, N. Y., and began the active practice of his profession, remaining one year, at the end of which time he went to Geneva Lake, Wis., where he attended the first term of court of Walworth county. He practiced there until 1855. In 1851 he was elected Attorney General of Wisconsin and held the office two years. He was active in public affairs and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1848, in which

he took a prominent part, especially on the suffrage article, an amendment to which, offered by him, enabled the colored man to vote before the war. In 1849 he was elected to the Legislature of Wisconsin. He came to Nebraska in 1855 as United States Attorney, appointed by President Franklin Pierce, and he held the office for four years and nine months. In reaching here the party was obliged to cross the river on the ice between Council Bluffs and Omaha. This was on Monday, January 23, 1855, and the attempt was so hazardous that two men, Palmer, of Council Bluffs, and Joseph Paddock, of Omaha, in carrying a trunk between them, broke into the channel and narrowly escaped drowning. At

the first term of the court in the Territory of Nebraska in the spring of 1855, General Estabrook was the only member of the bar in the Territory, recognized as such by the court, on account of his official position, and upon his motion the first bar was admitted to practice; so that it may be said almost literally that Mr. Estabrook is the father of the Nebraska bar. In July, 1859, he accompanied the "Pawnee Expedition" up the Elkhorn, attacking the Indians at what is now Battle Creek. In that expedition Gov. Samuel W. Black was commander-in-chief with the present governor, General Thayer, in direct command. Mr. Estabrook was a member of General Thayer's staff as Adjutant General. Major General Samuel R. Curtis was also one of the staff officers. On his return from this expedition he ran for delegate to Congress, and was elected, but in a contest before the House was unseated in favor of Samuel G. Dailey, the Republican nominee. Mr. Estabrook served, however, through one session until June, 1860. He was appointed by the Governor in 1866, to codify the State laws, and was selected by the public printer to superintend the publication and prepare the index. This required his spending the summer in Chicago and he embraced the opportunity to publish a form book, called Estabrook's Forms, a valuable legal work which, unfortunately, was nearly lost to the profession -- the entire edition, with the exception of a few books, being destroyed by fire. The following year he was appointed district attorney of this district, which office he held from 1867 to 1869. In 1871 he was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention, and the same year was employed by the board of managers as counsel to aid in the impeachment of Governor David Butler, who was found guilty and turned out of office. General Estabrook was married at Geneva Lake, Wis., April 14, 1844, to Miss Caroline Augusta Maxwell, daughter of Colonel James Maxwell, a pioneer of Wisconsin. She was born in Tioga county, Pa. They have two children, the eldest, Caroline Augusta, now married to Col. R. C. Clowry, general superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Company. Henry Dodge Estabrook, a son, is now practicing law in this city.]