What to see in America . tervals, and becauseof this and its gen-eral character wasknown as Hell on* Wheels. Aside from the railroad employ-ees and a few store--^ keepers the popula-tion consisted mainly of gamblers and desperadoes and the very worst class of women. The chief article of commerce was vile was the territorial capital of Nebraska, but with the investure of statehood in 1867 a seat of government was carved anew on the virgin prairie fifty miles to the southwest and christened Lincoln. Eighty-four miles up the Platte from Omaha is Columbus. In 1864 it was urged that t
What to see in America . tervals, and becauseof this and its gen-eral character wasknown as Hell on* Wheels. Aside from the railroad employ-ees and a few store--^ keepers the popula-tion consisted mainly of gamblers and desperadoes and the very worst class of women. The chief article of commerce was vile was the territorial capital of Nebraska, but with the investure of statehood in 1867 a seat of government was carved anew on the virgin prairie fifty miles to the southwest and christened Lincoln. Eighty-four miles up the Platte from Omaha is Columbus. In 1864 it was urged that this place, which was then a straggling frontier settlement, be made the capital of the United States, because it was exactly halfway between the east and west coasts on the main transcontinental route. Beyond Columbus is a perfectly straight stretch of railroad track for forty herds of buffalo used to cross the Platte at Grand Island on their spring and fall migrations. They abounded to such a degree that emi-. A Sod House in the Sandhills Nebraska 325 grants on the old trail often had to stop while the buffalowere crossing the road. In the days of the early pioneersan Indian would trade a buffalo robe for a cup of sugar ora yard of red flannel. As recently as 1872, Grand DukeAlexis of Russia, with Buffalo Bill and Generals Custerand Sheridan, started in chase of buffalo from Willow Island,which is beside the Platte halfway across the state. In the western part of Nebraska is a considerable strip ofdesert full of rocky pinnacles and rich in fossil remains, butas a whole the state is a rich farming region, w^iere wheat,alfalfa, and corn all flourish. Much the same scenes andthe same charm of agricultural prosperity exist in the threeneighboring states of Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas, which withNebraska constitute the nations big four from the farmpoint of view. The highest spot in Nebraska is in the south-western corner, 5350 feet.
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
