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Show 14 EMIGRANTS' AND SETTLERS' GUIDE City, parties going west would do well to 1nake up their full outfit. From this point some of the heaviest freighting trains leave annually for various points in the mountains. For the share of the route as far as Fort Kearney the emigrant's experiences are not unlike what they would be in crossing any of our newer Western States, for settlements are springing up all along the route, and good ranches abound, with abundant feed and water. B~t out~ts. cannot be so well pro_cured after leaving the Missouri River. The traveller Will find a new tri-weekly line of excellent stages running to Fort Kearney, making the trip in forty hours. Fare $15. TABLE OF DISTANCES FROM NEBRASKA CITY TO FORT KEARNEY. Nebraska City to Wilson's Bridge. . . . . . . . . 9 Brown's Bridge. . . . . . . .. . 7-16 Bridge over Little Nemaha 4-20 Head of Little N em~ha ... 20-40 Olatha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-48 Beranger ..........•.... 18-66 Grove of timber ........ 15- 81 Head of north fork Blue River ............... 48-129 A pond side of the road.. 5-134 Prairie Lake . . . . . . . . . . . 8-14 2 Junction of roads ....... 5-147 Fort Kearr:~.ey ......••.. 3 0-17 7 FROM OMAHA .AND COUNCIL BLUFFS. 0MAH_A, the capital of Nebraska, is the largest city in that :ap1dly. gro'"ring Te~ritory. It is directly opposite the hvely city of Council Blu:tf.'3, the leading place in Western Iowa, though the lesser of these two cities. A good steam ferry connects them. . A steamboat line ru.ns between ~he Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad terminus and thi~ place. It is destined to be the market an.d entrep?t of the Platte V alle;r, and is, perhaps, all things considered, the best outfitting and startino--point for Wester~ N eb~aska and the gold-fields of IdaLo and Color~do. The d1s~ance from Omaha to Fort Kearney is 197 miles, t~enty miles further than from Nebraska City. _A few n~Ile~ belo,v the city of Omaha the Platte River empties Into the Missouri. Here a tbrivino- to\vn has been established, which has been appropriately ~1amed .. TO THE NEW STATES AND TERRITORIES. 15 Plattsmouth. The characteristics of the Platte valley are attracting great attention among those who ~ave the soberer quest for permanent hoJ?eS. Its. a~ricultural capacity is equal to the best portions of Ilhnois and Missouri. Already farming has been made u.nusually profitable by the ready Inarket for cereals. furnished by passing trains of emigrants. In the spr1ng of 1863, corn w~s selling for one dollar per b~shel. !hrou~h this fertile and beautiful valley, the Union ~acific. Railroad, already begun at Omaha, is to ~un. The t1~ber of this section is mostly cottonwood; along the r1ver, and on the bluffs and smaller streams back fron; the Platte, oak and hard woods are found, but only thinly. The towns in this valley are Columbus, at the mouth of Loup Fork, the county seat of Platte count;r ; Fremont about forty miles further down the Platte, tpe county seat of Dodge county, is an older t~wn than the last named but has less life. Twenty miles west of Omaha, on 'the Elkhorn River, a tributary of the Platte, is Elk City, a small village. The Western Stage Company rur: a four-horse coach from Omaha to Fort Kearney, leaving every other day, makin<Y the trip of 197 miles in about forty hours. The fare is 0 $15. Good places for beds and meals are to be found by the traveller on the route. The Overland Telegraph has offices at these various poin~s. The r·oads are fine, with no sharp ascents. The so1l tracks well, and is hard and smooth three-fourths of the year. FROM FORT KEARNEY. At Fort Kearney the emio-rant bids adieu to civiliza-tion and thence onward mo ust rely upon hI'S ovvn reso'u rces strikin<Y out boldly for nevv regi.o ns. He Inay, indeed, b~co1n'e a 0 passenger of Ben Holliday's stages for Salt Lake, a trip of nine days from Fort Ke.arney, at a fare of about $135. The coaches are serviceable and commodious enough, and eati•g stations a:e found at required intervals along the route. rrhe emigrant party |