USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 2
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Ambrose, George W. 519
Krug, Frederick 558
Ayres, George B. 521
Lowe, Enos 558
Beals, Samuel DeWitt 522
Lowe, Jesse. 560
Bemis, George Pickering 524
Lytle, John W 561
Boyd, James E. 527
Marsh, William Wallace 562
Briggs, Clinton 529
McShane, John A.
563
Broatch William James 530
Mercer, David Henry
563
Burroughs, Amelia
533
Mercer, Samuel David 564
Clarkson, Robert Harper 1
533
Miller, George L 565
Coffman, Victor H.
534
O'Brien, George Morgan 566
Cuming, Thomas B. 537
Orchard, Samuel A 567
Dewey, Charles H. 540
Paxton, William A 567
Doane, George W. 541
Peabody, James Henry 569
Doherty, Robert 543
Poppleton, Andrew J 570
Estabrook, Henry D. 544
Potter, Arthur F 572
Falconer, N. B. 546
Richardson, Lyma 574 1
Ferguson, Fenner 546
Richardson, O. D 574
-
Ferguson. Arthur Northcote
547
Rosewater, Edward 575
577
Gibbon, W. A. L. 549
Savage, James Woodruff
589
Gillespie. John Andrew 550
Stephenson, James.
579
Grossmann, George Paul Albrecht 550
Thurston, John Mellen
580
Hanchett, William Henry 552
Train, George Francis
581
Himebaugh, Pierce C. 553
Hoagland, George A. 554
Webster, John L.
584
-
Ish, James Kerr 555
Wiley, Solon L. 585
Kennedy, Benjamin Eli Barnet 555
Wood, Orlando Scott. 586
Kimball, Thomas Lord 556
Woolworth, James M
587
PORTRAITS.
Ambrose. George W. 248
Krug, Frederick 506
Ayres, George B. 360
Lowe, Enos 106
Beals, Samuel DeWitt 308
Lowe, Jesse
Bemis, George Pickering 94
Lytle, John W 246
Boyd, James E. 188
Marsh, William Wallace 412
Briggs, Clinton 224
McShane, John A 425
Broatch, William James 83
Mercer, David Henry. 517
Burroughs. Amelia
365
Mercer, Samuel David. 353
Clarkson, Robert Harper. 328
Miller, George L 108
Coffman, Victor H. 354
O'Brien, George Morgan. 228
Cuming, Thomas B. 50
Orchard, Samuel A. 466
Dewey, Charles H. 104
Paxton, William A.
115
Doane, George W. 234
Peabody, James Henry 356
Doherty, Robert 318
Potter, Arthur F. 457
Estabrook. Henry D 250
Richardson, Lyman. 116
Falconer, N. B. 463
Richardson, O D. 52
Ferguson, Arthur Northcote
236
Rosewater, Edward. 167
Gannett, Joseph Warren
401
Gibbon, W. A. L. 465
Gillespie, John Andrew 202
Stephenson, James 489
Thurston, John Mellen 391
Train, George Francis. .Title page
Wakeley, Eleazer 232
Webster, John L 242
Wiley, Solon L. 267
Kennedy, Benjamin Eli Barnet. 240
Wood, Orlando Scott
363
Woolworth, James M.
221
xv
Kimball. Thomas Lord. 397
Saunders. Alvin. ..
111
Savage, James Woodruff. 1
Grossmann, George Paul Albrecht 358 Hanchett, William Henry 364 Himebaugh, Pierce C 339
Hoagland, George A 485
Ish, James Kerr. 479
Gannett, Joseph Warren
548
Saunders, Alvin.
Wakeley, Eleazer 582
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Farnam Street from Sixteenth Street East-1866 20
Farnam Street from Sixteenth Street East-1889. 20
The Old Capitol Building 70
Douglas County Court House 73
The Territorial Capitol 86
Looking Northwest from Fifteenth and Farnam Streets-1876. 91
Residence of Hon. W. A. Paxton, 206 South Twenty-fifth Avenue, Built in 1887 114
Looking Northeast from Court House Square-1886 141
Looking Southeast from High School Ground-1886. 141
Omaha Public Library . 145
160
Looking Northwest from Twelfth and Farnam Streets-1867
Withnell Building, Headquarters Department of the Platte, Fifteenth and Harney Sts .- 1876 .. 160
Looking North from South Eighth Street-1875. 162
Bee Building . 169
Omaha & Grant Smelting and Refining Works 192
192
Glimpses of Omaha. 196
View of the Levee before the Construction of the Union Pacifie Bridge.
198
Looking Northwest from South Ninth Street-1876
213
The Late Byron Reed's Library .
265
Power House and Settling Basins at Florence-American Waterworks Company
315
Brownell Hall.
317
Hanscom Park M. E. Church.
323
Trinity M. E. Church
324
Congregational Church-First Protestant Church Built in Omaha. 325
First Congregational Church. 326 328
Trinity Cathedral
330
Swedish Mission. 335
First Universalist Church, Kountze Place 336
Young Men's Christian Association Building . 339
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church-First Catholic Church in Omaha 346
St. Mary's Convent, Twenty-fourth Street and St. Mary's Avenue-1868. 346
St. Philomena Cathedral 347
St. John's Collegiate Church
349
Creighton College 350
First Bank Building in Omaha 425
Looking North from Fourteenth and Farnam Streets-1873. 441
Looking Northwest from Fourteenth and Farnam Streets-1873. 441
The Lininger Art Gallery. 452 The Smelting Works during the Flood of 1881. 496
Ruins of the Grand Central Hotel, Burned September, 1878
496
City Hall. 518
Exchange Building, Union Stock Yards, South Omaha 592
High School Building (South Omaha) 659
271
Omaha as seen from East Side of Missouri River-1889.
High School Building
Kountze Memorial English Lutheran Church
xvi
CHAPTER I.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS WEST OF THE MISSOURI RIVER- EXPEDITIONS OF SPANISH ADVEN- TURERS-THE SEARCH FOR MYTHICAL STORES OF WEALTH -SUPPOSED . LOCATION OF THE CITY OF QUIVIRA.
THE State of Nebraska, though admitted to the Federal Union so lately as the year 1867. and containing, prior to its creation into a territory in 1854, no inhabitants of European ancestry except the handful whom the demands of trade or fondness for a nomadic life had drawn within its borders, still catches occasional glimpses of a past which antedates that of those which we are accustomed to regard as the early settle- ments, and does not lack even a tinge of romance to reward the investigation of the curious student. The mysterious habitations of the mound-builders still crown the con- spicuous bluffs which border the Missouri; weapons and domestic implements of the stone age are still thrown up by the share or the spade from the fertile earth; bits of fragile pottery of strange fashions and devices still bestrew its prairies, and count- less similar indications unite with aboriginal tradition to testify to the presence upon its soil, in pre-historic ages, of populous com- munities.
The earliest record of its territory having been visited by Europeans dates back to the year 1540. This expedition, which certainly reached at least the southern boundary of Nebraska, has been the subject of much thought and study, and of more contradic- tory and diverse theories than any event of the kind in ancient or modern times. Into the vexed questions relating to the initial and terminal points of Coronado's great march through the wilderness, it is impossi- ble, in a work of this character, to enter at
any length. A brief synopsis of the princi- pal features of that expedition, taken from the relations of participants in it, will be sufficient to enable those familiar with the topography of the region traversed to form their own conclusions as to the principal features of the journey.
The two decades following the conquest of Mexico by Cortez brought to the shores of the New World numerous cavaliers, grandees and adventurers of Spanish birth who burned to rival that dashing commander in the splendor of his enterprises and the renown of his career. Among these was one Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, a Spaniard of Salamanca, bold, well educated, ambitious, of pleasing address, adventurous, handsome, and, like all Spanish commanders of his age, covetous and cruel. To him had been entrusted the command of . the northern province of Mexico at a time when general interest had been aroused in reports, seem- ingly well founded, of rich and populous cities far to the northward, where dwelt a prosperous and happy people, with lofty dwellings and shops, rich in gold, silver, precious stones and all articles of luxury. No disciple of Cortez, recalling his romantic fame, could hesitate long in coming to a conclusion that it was his duty to despoil and rob the mansions of these peaceful, harmless and gentle barbarians. Coronado, therefore, early in the spring of 1540, led an expedition of some twelve or thirteen hun- dred men to the northward, on a journey which was destined to last for more than
1
2
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
two years, and which has given rise to more discussion than any similar march known to history. It is certain, however, that some- where in the territory now known as Arizona or New Mexico, he found the romantic seven cities of Cibola, of which he had been in search, and discovered also, to his sorrow and chagrin, that the marvellous tales of their grandeur and wealth were clever fictions which had but the very slightest basis of truth to support them. "There were farms in Mexico better than Cibola; the seven cities were seven hamlets, the houses were small, gold was not found, the minerals were of but little value, and in short, the puissant realms and populous cities which he had promised, the metals, the gems and the rich stuffs of which he had boasted in all his discourses, had faded like an insubstantial pageant into thin air."*
But as Coronado, mortified at so ignoble a close of an expedition which he had fondly hoped would rival the splendid achievements of Cortez, twenty years before, hesitated to retrace his steps with no greater renown than might accrue from the destruction of a few weak villages, and the slaughter of their unresisting inhabitants, his attention was called to a region far to the northeast by one whose motives are difficult to discern. A native of the region waited upon the General with much affectation of mystery and ill-will towards his own countrymen, and described with highly colored details, a land remote from the seven cities, which surpassed in its gorgeous magnificence the wildest day dreams of the avaricious Spaniard. 1Ie spoke of a region of unexampled fertility, of a river so wide as to seem like an arm of the sea, upon whose capacious bosom was carried the puis- sant navy of the realm-canoes of twenty oars, vessels with sails adorned with gold and sumptuous in all their appointments. The monarch of this romatic region, a long- bearded, gray-haired and powerful king named Tatarrax, prayed, by the aid of a *See the Discovery of Nebraska, Vol. 1, Trans. Neb. Hist. Soc.
string of beads, and worshipped a golden cross and the image of a woman, the queen of heaven. Throughout the whole of this land, which he named Quivira, the meanest and most common domestic articles were of wrought silver, while their bowls, plates and more pretentious utensils were of beaten gold. This story was cunningly framed to excite both the cupidity and the superstition of the Spaniards, and perhaps the best explanation of it is, that the narrator had resolved to sacrifice himself for the good of his people, and hoped to draw them so far into the wilderness before his treachery was discovered, that the Spaniards would not be able to return to the cities of Cibola. That the story had some foundation of truth, how- ever, there can be no doubt, as we shall see further on. Coronado himself found the land deseribed in such exaggerated terms, and visits to it in succeeding years were more than once repeated. The adventurous Coronado believed enough of the tale so skill- fully told, to induce him to follow the track pointed out by his informant. So on the 5th day of May, 1541, he set ont to discover the new and rich country so brought to his notice. The story of his march has been told by three of those who participated in it, Coronado himself, his lieutenant, Jaramillo, and a private soldier in his army, Castaneda. a patient, pious, honest and quaint old soul, to whose journal sedulously kept, we are indebted for most of the details of the march.
In order to fix, however, definitely the itinerary of this expedition, and the probable point at which it terminated, it is necessary for us to determine with accuracy the place of its commencement. This, we are informed, was a well fortified village called Cicuye, situated near a river of the same name, in a narrow valley, among mountains covered with pines, No one can visit and study the ruins of Pecos, on the Peeos River, only a mile or two from the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, without being convinced that that is the place referred to
3
EARLY EXPLORATIONS WEST OF THE MISSOURI RIVER.
by Castaneda as Ciuye. Its situation is absolutely impregnable to assaults by men carrying only barbarous weapons, traces of its four stories, of which Castaneda speaks, may still be discerned; it is in a narrow valley among mountains covered with pines, and although fish are not found in any great numbers in the little stream which runs by it, the grooved stones which antiquaries suppose the Indians used as sinkers for their nets, may still be found among the stern and melancholy ruins to reward the search of the curious student of the past. It is true that a remark of Castaneda has somewhat per- plexed those who have endeavored to fix the exact site of the initial point of Coronado's march. lle says, "when the army left Cicuye we entered the mountains, which it was necessary to cross to reach the plains, and on the fourth day we reached a deep river which passes also near Cicuye, and is for this reason called the Cicuye River." That it should take four days to reach the Pecos River, which flows almost within sight of the village of Pecos, is the puzzle to those commentators who have never visited the spot. But as the crossing of the Santa Fe trail over the Pecos at San Miguel is twenty- two miles from the ruins, and the railroad bridge is several miles further; and as the words, " the fourth day," by no means necessarily implies that four days had been occupied in the march, the passage rather strengthens than impairs the conclusion that Cienye and Pecos are identical.
From Pecos, the little army, under Cor- onado, marched seven hundred miles north- eastwardly, reaching a considerable river, which could have been no other than the Arkansas. Here the scarcity of provisions, and suspicions that reported magnificence of Quivira was a mere exaggeration to lure them away from the dwellers in New Mex- ico, induced the leader to order the main body back to the vicinity of the Pecos, while the General, with thirty of his brav- est and best mounted men and six foot
soldiers should take a northwestern course for the land of splendor and riches.
The little party so detached turned some- what to the northwest and reached a point on the southern boundary of Nebraska, where they found the Kingdom of Quivira so long sought for. The reports of its wealth and magnificence, however, were for the most part unfounded. It occupied a fertile and well watered country and sup- ported a numerous population, but of the precious metals or stones nothing was found. So after spending twenty-five days in the exploration of the new found land, Coronado set out upon his return home, which in due time he reached, chagrined and out of favor.
That this account of the celebrated march of Coronado is not universally accepted as true must be conceded. There are some arguments, however, in favor of its correct- ness which have never been successfully controverted. A strong one is the internal evidence of the reports themselves. The private soldier, Castaneda, seems to have been a somewhat credulous chronicler, but where he relates his own personal experiences he is modest and apparently worthy of credit. All the contemporaneous historians of the exposition agree with him. The itinerary agrees strikingly with what at this day we know a march northwestwardly from Pecos must have been. We have the word of Coronado that he reached the southern boundary of Nebraska and there entered upon the realm of Quivira. The explorers' accounts of the animals, fruits, people and natural features of their route agree in a most remarkable manner with the facts as we now know them. All these circumstances ยท taken together would seem to render the doubts which have from time been thrown over the various narratives of this exposi- tion, unreasonable.
Fifty-seven years after the journey of Coronado, in the year 1599, the Spaniard Onato made an effort to reach Quivira, but
4
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
the accounts of his expedition are so ambig- nous and indistinct that the point to which he penetrated cannot yet be very definitely ascertained. We gather from thiem, how- ever, that he marched from Santa Fe over prairies and by rivers of varying magnitude, some seven or eight hundred miles, to a populous Indian city, extending for several leagues. Here the cowardice of his follow- ers constrained him to relinquish his under- taking and return to Santa Fe. Of him and his expedition we can only say that he may have reached Nebraska. He declares in his narration that he traveled over two hundred leagues. This distance, of course, if taken in the right direction, would have brought him within the limits of Nebraska. But the obscurity and indefiniteness of his report forbid us to say more than that it was supposed at the time that he had advaneed north of the fortieth parallel.
The passionate ardor of the Catholic clergy in the cause to which, with sublime enthu- siasm, they had devoted alike their fortunes and lives, would have supplied us with more geographic material had the zealous fathers in their reports thought of, or cared for such mundane matters as dates, courses or des- eriptions. Several pious pilgrimages were set on foot to reach the heathen of this unknown region, but none of them has added much to our stock of information. One of these journeys is said to have ended seven hundred miles from Santa Fe, upon the banks of a large and rushing river, whose terrors proved too much for their Indian guides, so that they were forced to return without having Christianized any pagans. Another party had a happier fortune. They reached a nation north of Nebraska, in the region now known as Dakota, and converted the tribes so suddenly and effectually that the venerable priests could attribute the result only to the direct and miraculous interposition of Divine grace.
In the year 1662 took place. if we are to believe his own story, the expedition of the
Count of Penalosa, from Santa Fe to Qui- vira. The narration shows him to have been a man of inordinate vanity, arrogant. high spirited and supercilious. It is usnal to add to these characteristics that of an untruthfulness so great as to discredit the entire account. The story is professedly written by Nicholas de Freytas, one of his chaplains, and while there are not wanting evidences of its unreliability, there are many circumstances which show that the chronicler was well acquainted with the route which the expedition is said to have pursued.
In brief, the story is that on the 6th of March, in the year 1662. Penalosa marched from Santa Fe in absurd state, with a numer- ous and pompous retinne, and an army of considerable strength. For three months the Count led his force in a northeasterly direction, through pleasant and fertile prai- ries, " so agreeable," says the friar, "that not in all the Indies of Peru and New Spain. nor in Europe have any other such been seen so delightful and pleasant." Coming to a wide and rapid river. they encountered a war party of the Escauzaques nation, who (welt along the fortieth parallel of latitude. and who represented themselves as bound for one of the great cities of Quivira, with whose inhabitants they were at war. With these warriors. who numbered about three thousand. Penalosa marched westwardly for a day along the right bank of the rushing river until it made a bend so that it came from the north. Following up its course, they marched northward for a day. and thereafter, pursuing the sinuosities of the stream, and guided by it, they proceeded on their course until they perceived to the northward, beyond the river, a high ridge whose sides were dotted with signal smokes. and understood that the natives were advised of their approach. Still proceeding west- ward, they at last halted at a spot where, on the opposite side, another beautiful river, flowing from the ridge, entered the stream they had previously followed. Here looking
5
EXPEDITIONS OF SPANISH ADVENTURERS.
across the latter river, they could discern upon both banks of its attractive affluent a vast settlement or city, in the midst of a spacious prairie.
This, the chronicler assures us, was the city, or one of the cities, of Quivira. It contained thousands of houses, circular in shape for the most part, some two, three, and even four stories in height, framed of a hard wood and skillfully thatched. It extended on both sides of this second river for more than two leagues, at which distance a third stream flowed into the second. Beyond this, the city again stretched out for many miles; just how far is uncertain, for the troops never reached its ultimate boundary. The plain upon which this huge village lay, was some eighteen or twenty miles in breadth. The city was very populous, the inhabitants being gentle, submissive, curious and hospit- able.
According to the story of De Freytas, the Escauzaques, their new found allics, crossed the river during the night under cover of the darkness, in spite of positive orders to the contrary, and falling upon the peaceful dwellers of the city, so ravaged, burned and murdered, that at sunrise, when the General (who, with some difficulty, had also crossed the stream before dawn) encamped before the city, not a living soul was to be found within it. The timid and unwarlike natives who had survived the slaughter had all fled.
These are the principal features of the narration of Father Nicholas de Freytas. All the Count of Penalosa with his army could do after that, was to endeavor to ex- tinguish the flames and make abortive efforts to repress the fury of the Escauzaques. The next day they marched through the town. admiring the vast number of dwellings; the innumerable paths which entered the city from the high lands below it; the fertility of the soil, which was black, strong and covered with rich grasses; and the beauty of the scene which, from the city to the ridge, seemed to them like a paradise. But the Spaniard of
those days, however sensible of natural beauty, deemed no expedition a successful one which did not yield some store of gold or precious stones. As the populous city furnished no signs of these, all zeal and interest in the undertaking at once vanished, and about the middle of June the Count set out on his return journey to New Mexico.
As has been suggested above, it is a matter of small importance whether this story is, in its details, true or not; if the descriptions of the routes, rivers, soils, natural objects, dis- tances, directions and general features prove, so far as they can be verified at this day, correct, we shall hardly fail to be convinced that some one had taken the journey from Santa Fe northeastwardly, whether Penalosa did or not. And certainly if the route of the march as described, carefully followed, brings us to a spot where at some time in the past a populous city has stood, there is certainly some ground, however slight, for supposing that it was the magnificent city of the Spaniards' dreams.
Many of those interested in the early annals of Nebraska, believe that the site of this city was at the spot where now the city of Columbus stands, and not far from where the Loup River empties into the Platte. A few of the evidences, which are claimed to support this theory, are as follows:
First. Quivira lay northeasterly from Santa Fe. This was the line of Coronado's march, as we are informed both by his own report and those of his lieutenant, Jaramillo, and the soldier, Castaneda. Gomara, in his narrative of the expedition, declares that the march was towards the northeast. The missionary fathers previously mentioned, traveled in the same direction. Freytas constantly speaks of it as " the northeast land;" and the Indian guides always per- sisted that the route to it, by way of Taos, was shorter and more direct than that usually followed.
Second. It was north of the southern boundary of Nebraska-the fortieth parallel
6
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
of latitude. Coronado reported that he penetrated thus far to the north, and in this statement he was supported by the evidence of all who accompanied him. Penalosa, or whoever furnished that governor with the data for his narration. found, more than a century later, the Escauzaques, enemies of the Quiviras, dwelling along this parallel and ranging over the country northward. With them he marched north to attack the won- drous city.
Third. The distances asserted to have been traveled by the several explorers, while not always definitely given, or harmonious, all indicate that the region sought by them was at least as far from Santa Fe as Nebraska. The march of Coronado was of a sufficient length to have ended in this State. The march of Onato from Santa Fe in 1599, was, according to his account, upwards of two hundred leagues. The Spanish league being, as appears by the United States Ordinance Manual, 3.42 American miles, we may fairly suppose that he traveled between six hun- dred and seventy-five and eight hundred and fifty miles. Freytas, writing from Santa Fe, declares that " this northeast land, so populous and wealthy, begins one hundred and fifty leagnes from here and stretches to where the city commences almost as far again." In other words, he makes the dis- tance of the chief city of Quivira from Santa Fe between two hundred and fifty and three hundred leagues, that is, between eight hun- dred and fifty and a thousand miles.
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