Omaha Illustrated

OMAHA ILLUSTRATED.

point of thirteen main branch lines and a number of others are projected. The first railroad to reach Omaha from the east was the Chicago and Northwestern, the first train arriving Sunday, January 17, 1867, the crossing being made on an ice bridge. In the spring of 1868, the Mississippi and Missouri River Railroad, now known as the Chicago and Rock Island, reached the city. Then came the Kansas City, St. Joe and Council Bluffs, and in the fall of that year, the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad in Iowa, now known as the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, was completed. All these lines were drawn to Omaha by the prospective completion of the Union Pacific, the first great trans-continental road. Later came the Sioux City and Pacific, and the Chicago, St. Paul Minneapolis and Omaha, from the north, and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St.. Paid from the cast. These seven

CONTINENTAL CLOTHING HOUSE, BOSTON.

trunk lines from the east, south and north afford Omaha ample communication with those sections furnishing facilities of ingress such as are not excelled by any other city.
Of the means of egress, the lines which carry from Omaha the goods which its merchants sell and bring to this market, the products of the vast tributary region, the Union Pacific was the first and most important, the one to which Omaha is most indebted for its greatness. The origin of this great railroad enterprise, the location of the route, and the granting of aid in immense subsidies by the Government, are historical facts which are too well known to need repetition here. Suffice it to say that President Lincoln fixed the initial point of the main line on the 17th of November, 1863, by an order as follows: "At a point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa, opposite section ten, in township fifteen, north of range thirteen, east of the sixth principal meridian, in the Territory

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of Nebraska." The company for the carrying out of this grand project having been organized, a dispatch was sent on the morning of December 2, 1863, from headquarters in New York, to Peter A. Day, the engineer at Omaha, to begin work. This news created the wildest enthusiasm, and it was determined to "break ground" that very day near the old ferry landing. After prayer by the Rev. T. B. Lemon, the first earth was removed by

[No man is better known in the Omaha real estate field than W. G. Albright, who, in a remarkably short period, has worked himself to the front rank. He was born at Fort Madison, Iowa, January 29, 1855, and began his business life at the early age of fourteen. His first experience was in the capacity of clerk in his father's dry goods store at Fort Madison. After acquiring a thorough knowledge of the business, he was admitted as a partner and continued as such for several years. In 1879 he engaged in the
fire insurance business, in which he was quite successful. Mr. Albright came to Omaha December, 1885. He saw the wonderful improvements and strides of progress that were being made by Omaha, and he became convinced that there was nothing that could return larger and quicker profits than investments in real estate, which was steadily advancing. "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." So thought Mr. Albright, who, although he did not have a dollar for investment, launched forth with the tide on February 15, 1886. He met with success from the very start. Organizing a syndicate, he made his first venture in the purchase of Albright's Annex in August, 1886. This tract of land, adjoining South Omaha on the south, was platted, recorded and sold at auction by Mr. Albright within ten days after its purchase. This was the first successful real estate auction ever held in the State of Nebraska. The	W. G. ALBRIGHT.	next purchase made by Mr. Albright consisted of 280 acres, now known as Albright's Choice. He bought this property in October, 1886, and his first sale in the Choice was made in January, 1887. Within six weeks after that he sold $250,000 worth of this property, and one day he sold $40,000 worth. Unlike the majority of real estate men who lose interest in an addition after selling a large portion of it, Mr. Albright has continued to exert every effort to build up and improve the property which he has put upon the market. He was mainly instrumental in the extension of the South Omaha dummy line and the erection of the handsome depot in the center of the Choice, which is now the terminus of the dummy line and known as Albright Station. This station has nineteen daily passenger trains. He also located the Omaha Carriage and Sleigh Company on the Choice. This company has put up fine buildings and will employ two hundred and fifty men. What
was one year ago a farm, is to-day a thriving suburb of South Omaha, having a population of seven hundred. Over one hundred handsome cottages and numerous business buildings have been erected during this time. In addition to these two big ventures -- the Annex and the Choice -- Mr. Albright has done a general real estate business on an extensive scale. Within two years he has risen from the rank of an almost penniless stranger to the position of the leading real estate man in Omaha, and all by his own efforts. He has one of the handsomest offices in the city, as well as a branch office at Albright, and he employs a large force of intelligent, competent and energetic men. In the brief period of one year, Mr. Albright has established a splendid business reputation and has acquired a fortune.]

Governor Saunders and Mayor Kennedy of Omaha, and Mayor Palmer of Council Bluffs, assisted by Augustus Kountze, Engineer Day, George Francis Train, Dr. Atchison and others. Artillery salutes were fired, and the crowd cheered themselves hoarse. Speeches were made by Governor Saunders, Mayor Kennedy, Dr. G. C. Monell, Hon. A. J. Poppleton, A. V. Lannier, George B. Lake and George Francis Train. "The President of the United States shows his good judgment," said Mr. Train in the course of his remarks, "in locating the road where the Almighty placed the signal station, at the entrance of a garden seven hundred miles in length and twenty broad." Mr. Train predicted that the Union Pacific would be completed before the year 1870. This was a little too much for the audience to believe, and many laughed at him. He also said that in twenty years Omaha would have

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one hundred thousand people. But Train was right. President Lincoln and many prominent men from all parts of the north sent telegrams to Omaha in regard to the auspicious beginning of the enterprise. Grading was begun on the Union Pacific in the spring of 1864. The sum of $100,000 was expended on a due westerly course, when a change was made

DREXEL & FOLL'S STONE YARDS AND STONE SAW MILLS.		in the route, because of the unevenness of, the country, which would not permit the road to be constructed rapidly enough to reach the one hundredth meridian in time to save the charter. It was provided in the charter that the railroad that first reached that point should have the right of way as the main line to a connection with the Central Pacific,
which had been chartered by the State Legislature of California. At that time the Kansas Pacific was pushing rapidly ahead, and having railroad connections at its eastern terminus
it had the advantage of the Union Pacific in obtaining quick transportation of supplies. Fifty miles were completed and in running order by the first of January, 1866, when the road reached the level country of the Platte Valley, the work was pushed more vigorously than ever and the result was that it reached the one hundredth meridian in advance of the Kansas Pacific, its competitor in the race. It should be borne in mind that there was yet a break in railroad communication between Omaha	M. A. DISBROW CO.'s FACTORY.
and Des Moines, a distance of 193 miles, and consequently everything had to be transported by teams from that point, or by steamboats up the Missouri river. The first engine of the Union Pacific shops in this city, a seventy-horse-power, was transported in wagons from Des Moines. These shops were started soon after the work of building the railroad was begun, and were completed in the fall of 1865. During the year 1866 there were laid 260 miles of the Union Pacific track; 240 miles in 1867, and from January 1, 1868, to May 10, 1869, 540 miles were laid, completing the road in three years, six months and ten days from the time it was started and about seven years sooner than the limit fixed by Congress. The connection, of the

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