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By ALFRED SORENSON, CITY EDITOR OF THE OMAHA DAILY BEE. ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS, MANY OF THEM BEING FROM ORIGINAL SKETCHES DRAWN ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK BY CHARLES S. HUNTINGTON. OMAHA PRINTED VI THE OFFICE OF THE DAILY BKE. 1876. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, by ALFRED SORENSON, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. I. Bird's-Eye View of Omaha Frontispiece. II. The First Omaha Editor and his Sanctum 45 III. Postmaster Jones with his Hat for a Postoffice. 53 IV. The Monument that Mr. Jones Desired 70 V. The First Executive Ball 74 VI. A very Striking Affair—A Nebraska Territorial Legislative Scene 88 VII. The Old Territorial Capitol 91 VIII. An Obstinate Irishman Ducked in the River by the Claim Club .107 IX. Two Horse-Thieves Publicly Whipped—Thirty-Nine Lashes Each 117 X. The Hanging ok Braden and Daley by a Mob for Horse Stealing 119 XI. The Execution of Cyrls II. Tator 131 XII Catholic Cathedral and Bishop's Residence 176 XIII. Presbyterian Church 177 XIV. Baptisi Church 17S X V. Odd Fellows' Hall 179 \\ I Tin lati Edward C%eighton —Builder of the Pa- cific Telegraph 184 \\ [I. Union Pacific Bridge OVER ihe Missouri River. .204 XVIII. O.m.mia High School Building 223 XIX. Grand Central Hotel 224 XX. Post-Office \m> I'. S. Custom House 225 L\'5Sr>7«> CONTENTS. Chap. Pack. I. The Bottom Facts 9 II. The Mormons 15 III. The Pioneers 18 IV. The Indians 24 V. Omaha's Birth 31 VI. First Incidents 34 VII. The Arrow 42 VIII. Omaha's Progress— Items from the Arrow 49 IX. Omaha Wins the Capital Prize 58 X. The First Executive Bali 72 XI. Thk First Murder Trim, 76 XII. P'irst Attempt to Remove the Capitai 79 XIII. The Second Capital Removal Scheme 82 XIV. Thk Last Round in thk Capital Removal Fight. 86 XV. Omaha from 1856 to i860 93 XVI. Thk DOINGS ok the Claim Club 98 XVII. Pioneer Justice. 114 XVIII. Thk First Legal Execution 128 XIX. Florence 139 XX. The Pawnee War 142 XXI. Tim. BlG Indian SCARE OF 1864 161 XXII. Omaha and Nebraska in the War 109 XXIII. First Churches and Societies 172 . ONTENTS. XXIV. History of iin Press 180 XXV. The Telegraph 184 \\\ 1 I'm- I>.\\s OF STEAMBOATING AND STAGING 192 \ \ \ II. I'm Railroads 196 \\\ ill Old Landmarks \ni> Incidents Connected There- Willi 207 XXIX. Old Settlers 214 \\X. Conclusion —The Omaha <>i To-day 221 — PREFACE. In this centennial year, now drawing to a close, during which nearly everybody seemed to be hunting up the records of the past, so full of interest to us of the present and to those of the hereafter, it ap^ peared eminently proper to me that an early history of Omaha should and ought to be written, and early in the year I concluded to under- take the task. The idea, however, was not fully conceived until after Gen. Estabrook had prepared and read his Centennial Historical Ad- dress on the Fourth of July. That address was brief and general, but good a- far as it went. But it did not go very far, with all due respect to Gen. Estabrook. Knowing that Omaha had an early his- tory full of exciting and interesting incidents—a history that perhaps is unequalled in many respects by that of any other western city I determined then and there to at once carry out my idea of a his- tory of this city, which the reader will find embodied in this little volume. I immediately commenced the work in a systematic manner, be- ginning with hunting up the bottom facts, and building up on this foundation. During a five years' connection with the daily press of this city I have had numerous opportunities to make and cultivate the acquaintance of the " old settlers." I have improved '.hose op- portunities, and have never neglected to make a memorandum on the tablets of my memory of whatever of interest concerning the early history of Omaha, that I may have heard during my talks and walks with the " old settlers." Those "old settlers," by the way, are a very entertaining set of persons, possessed with a charming vein of humor which runs through all their recitals of early times, and I have passed many a pleasant hour in their society, on different occasions, while in search. — PREFACE. I of material with which to construct a readable history of Omaha. Thi-v can spin a vain to their own satisfaction as well as to that of their audience. All that is needed to set most of them going is to draw them out, in a reportorial way. Some of them, indeed, may be said to have a little egotism mixed with a good deal of pride characteristics that have been developed by the rapid and substantial growth of the beautiful city which they assisted to found and build up. Their pride is justly excusable on this account. They have seen and watched with a tender care the infant grow from childhood to a healthy and vigorous manhood, as it were. Omaha's history is well worth handing down to posterity, and I believe it will prove of deep interest to the many thousands of to those who people now living here and in the immediate vicinity ; shall removed hence to come after us ; and also to those who have distant jioints, but whose memories still cling round the spot with a tender fondness. Believing that there was a demand for such a history as this, and knowing that such a work, carefully compiled and carefully written, would meet with the hearty approval and substantial support of the citizens of Omaha, I did not hesitate in the enterprise. I have endeavored to present the facts —and facts only—in a readable shape, and I know that the style in which they are clothed, is an improvement, in some measure at_ least, on the necessarily hurried, rough, and perhaps reckless writing of the daily newspaper reporter. I will say this much for myself; as to farther criticism, be it favor- hie or unfavorable, I leave the reader to make it. Each chapter will be found complete in itself—a sort of sketch. Yet the chapters or sketches are so arranged that they form what may be properly termed a connected narrative of the early events and incidents in Omaha's history. I have found the writing of this history an entertaining employment of leisure hours, and have hardly 1 the time so spent. Little by little it grew to a volume of re- spectable dimensions. So it was with the city of Omaha, and so will she continue to increase in size, importance, wealth, culture and general loveliness, and never shall any envious rival snatch from her brow the laurel wreath and the title entwined therein, which she has so justly won—"The Queen City of the Missouri Valley." PREFA CE. 5 The early history of Omaha is to some extent the early history of Nebraska, and this is true to some degree even in the history of later years. Hence we often hear even now our city referred to, by jealous rivals in our^ State, as the " State of Omaha," and the State as its suburbs. The greater portion of this volume has never before appeared in print. Some of it, however, has been published before, but in differ- ent shape My information has been obtained from the very best and most reliable sources—from the " old settlers" themselves, from the early legislative journals, and from the early newspapers. For valuable assistance and information I indebted to am Hon. A. J. Hanscom, Hon. A. J. Poppleton, Gen. Estabrook, A. D Jones, Esq., Byron Reed, Esq., Dr. Miller, John A. Creighton, John T. Bell, Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Snowden, Mrs. W. D. Brown, Judge Porter, Martin Dunham, Thomas Riley, Maj. Armstrong and many other prominent "old settlers." I have drawn rather liberally on Dr. Miller, wtfiose pen has at different times been employed in recording ineresting reminiscences, which, by the way, have been about the only early history of Omaha that has been given to the public.