Show r T 0 wira I 1 fit I 1 kal m q gr AA 1 k 10 A aa H 5 L old pullman 0 as ilI blo till Z M e itu N 1 IH 1 tile I 1 N it 11 it A lot III fill allu M lilt tit 1 I itah i it t till 1 n y trill sy by ELMO SCOTT awatson WATSON ODAY a trip from the atlantic coast to the Is such a commonplace event as to cause but little comment you step into an airplane p lane on a flying field near new york city this morning and tomorrow night be eating a midnight lunch in san francisco but GO CO years ago when the first transcontinental train that ever traversed travor sed the united states reached its destination seven days after it r started that was hailed as an epochal event this first train to run from the east coast to the tha west left boston on may 24 1870 and arrived in san francisco on may 31 it was operated under the auspices of the boston board of trade and on board were passengers composed of the leaders in ocial financial and political life not only was it the first artin transcontinental train ever run but in the seven days it made the longest journey that any railroad train had ever covered it caused a sensation not only in this country but in europe as well newspapers all over the united states gave their readers news of tile the I 1 progress of the tour just as in recent years the papers have kept the public informed of the progress of round the world flyers the train named the transcontinental trans continental was composed entirely of the new type of cars which were just beg beginning inning to he be introduced by george DI pullman who had organized the excursion enlisted the operation cooperation co of the various railroad I 1 lines nes over which it ran and induced the alie boston board of trade to sponsor the trip another fact which made this train unique was that for the first time in history a newspaper paper was published aboard a train and flies files of the transcontinental trans continental which have been preserved not only tell a day by day story of the expedition but also furnish some interesting sidelights on the life of the ti times mes the first issue dated at nia niagara ara falls N Y on may 25 contains the following description of the train the train Is made up of eight of the most ee elegant gant cars ever drawn over an american railway they were built by order of the pullman to be completed in time for the present excursion and to be first used in conveying the members of the board of trade of 0 the city of boston and their families from their homes on the atlantic coast to the shores of the pacific the train leads oft off with a baggage car the front of which has five large ice closets and a refrigerator for the storing of fruits meat and vegetables the balance of the car Is for baggage with the exception of a square in one corner where stands a new quarto medium gordon press upon which this paper Is printed next comes a very handsome smoking car which Is divided into four rooms the firstos first ls the printing which Is supplied with black walnut cabinets filled with tho the latest styles of type for newspaper and job work this department we may say without egotism has been thoroughly tested and has already turned out some as fine work as can be done by those of our brothers who have a n local habitation adjoining this Is a neatly fitted up lobby and wine room next comes a large smoking room with euchre tables etc the rear end of the car has a beautifully furnished hairdressing hair dressing and shaving saloon following this come coine the two new hotel cars tile the arlington and the I levere both of which are completely and elegantly furnished and are thoroughly adapted to the uses for which they are destined two magnificent saloon cars the palmyra and SI 31 arquette come next the train ts la completed by the two elega elegant nt commissary cars the st charles and st SJ cloud each of which Is finished in all of its appointments as any of the other carriages noticed mie entire equipped with every de accessory that may tend in the least to promote the ease of the passengers clabo elaborate rate hangings hannings hang ings costly upholstery artistic gilding and beautifully finished wood work marking every portion of their arrangements among the new features introduced into these cars are two well stocked Ilbra libraries rles replete with choice works of fiction history poetry etc and two of the improved burdett organs these instruments are complete in every detail of stops pedals double banks of keys etc the cars of this train are lighted during the night in a now new and novel manner there being under each an ingeniously constructed machine which produces from liquid hydrocarbon hydro carbon a gas 1 t II 11 11 tl 11 ll n 7 m 4 1 i f tit m tc 1 newspaper published onn on a rain the Lacor locomotives native which pulle pulled d th the IVain eIVan equal in brilliancy to that made lu in the ordinary way despite this writers emphasis upon the elegance of these cars it Is interesting to compare those wooden cars heated with woodburn wood burn ing stoves lighted by gas the first ones were lighted by tallow candles and oil lamps incidentally with no springs and no vestibules vesti bules so that walking from one car to another was waa something 0 of f an adventure with the vapor heated and elect electric rt c lighted steel cars ot of today a train ot of which Is being shown at a number of state fairs this fall but in 1870 these elegant cars represented the peak of luxury and from the accounts in the little four page seven by ten inch newspaper one gains the impression that this excursion was the most enjoyable but thoroughly dignified of course joyride ever taken by a party of americans the governor of massachusetts accompanied the party to the state line and there bade them godspeed on their way to albany and the newspaper records the fact that from chester to washington up the grade of the boston al alt bany railroad our train was run ran at fully thirty miles an hour the fastest speed between doston boston and albany was performed from chatham to greenwich a distance of twenty three miles which was made in twenty four minutes from albany to niagara falla faiia the trip was made over the new york central to detroit by the great western of canada to chicago by the michigan central to council bluffs by the chicago and north western and then across the missouri by terry ferry boat 1 omaha everywhere along the route the excursionists wore were met and welcomed by state and city officials and civic leaders and at every station the tha platforms were crowded with people to see the history making first brat transcontinental trans continental train pass through chicago Clil cago sent a special train to meet the transcontinental trans continental and escort it into the city and on reaching chicago our edcur ts found carriages in waiting and were quickly whirled up to the sherman and tremont houses bouses and after a good nights rest and breakfast found their attentive friends at the door of their hotel with carriages in which they were driven over the city and through many of its ita attractive and beautiful avenues nor were such attentions the only ones showered upon the members of the party at detroit two large boxes of superior flue fine cut chewing tobacco were sent on board the train as a present from the manufacturers and at omaha Aless rs brewer and bemis kindly presented the party with a barrel of fine ale of their own manufacture from the omaha brewery there of which Is hereby gratefully acknowledged As for omaha it Is rather difficult to recognize the modern city of today with its population of nearly a quader of a million in this description omalia omaha Is situated on the western bank of the missouri river on a sloping upland about r CO 0 feet above the high water mark it Is the present terminus of the U P it it co and a thriving growing city of from to inhabitants the state capitol was first located hete here but was removed to lincoln city in 1868 in 1854 a few squatters located here among whom was A D jones now one of the solid men of the place in the full fall of that year he received recel veil an appointment as postmaster for the place which as yet had no postmaster or post office As sir mr jones Is one of the most accommodating mo dating or of men he Im provided a post by using the crown of his hat for that purpose when the postmaster met one of hla his neighbors if there was a letter for him film ort oft camo came the hat from the postmasters head while he fished out the missive and placed it in the hands of the owner the battered hat post postoffice office has given place to a large first class post postoffice office nce commensurate with the future growth of the city the inaugurating of the U 11 it it gave it an an onward impetus and since the growth of the city has been almost unparalleled there are many evidences of continued prosperity and future greatness the omaha ll herald erald dally republican 1 dally western journal of commerce nebraska state journal the agriculturist and the western world are published here th there ere are two collegiate institutes and convent schools seven private aud and six public schools in the city there are ara also fifteen churches omaha has eleven hotels there are twenty nine manufactories manu factories one distillery and six breweries the whole number of merchants who report sales of and over the value of tor for the year la in eighty five tw twenty aty five of whom are wholesale the sales of these firms for the year ending may 1809 1869 foot up a total of omana was also where the west began for these easterners and their thrills multiplied as they journeyed over the union pacific toward cheyenne as witness this from the train newspaper the prairies are diversified by little groups of antelopes and buffaloes and our stop pings multiplied by frequent camps of national soldiers these hardy lads who having beaten back the waves of rebellion now guard the advance of civilization into the wilds of the savage prairie dog villages also excited their interest as did the indians indiana who are now seen at almost every station they are the friendly pawnees Paw nees bannocks Ban nocks and shoshones Sho and for those who as aa boys had read dime novels it was a special thrill when buckskin joe well known as a hunter trapper and indian scout during the past fifteen years was at cheyenne as we wa passed awaiting the regular eastward bound passenger train to proceed on to the place of his birth in new york state which he has not visited since his boyhood tie ile attracted much attention from our party who gathered around him and listened with marked interest to hta his startling and romantic tales of indian fights and frontier life in light of the recent scourge of grasshoppers in the west the following paragraph Is of special interest swarms of mammoth crickets coming in hordes at times cross the track of the railroad lu in such numbers as to completely stop all passing trains 1 they measure about two inches in length are very tat fat and plump and jump upon the rails when warmed by the sun As the locomotives traverse tills this district they crush them by the thousands and spread over the rails a glutinous substance resembling grease and the wheels soon revolve helplessly we havo have seen them by the thousand fortunately for the chronicler ot of the elegant cars he had not used up all his best besl adjectives from omaha to salt lake laka city tor for he be needed them and made full use of them 1 for the journey through the mountains to san Fradel francisco sect and for the lavish california hospitality given them there but it if the members of the party were vere loud in their praise tor for the royal welcome which they received in the golden west they also were conscious of certain other local customs which wele wel were e different from any they had previously experienced the following item published in the issue of the transcontinental trans continental newspaper dated boston july 4 for by that date they had retraced their way across the continent seems to reflect a sense of outraged yankee thrift which Is more than a little amusing while at san francisco many of our party observed what la Is certainly a striking characteristic of an early custom still remaining in california when a single copy of a certain morning newspaper was purchased of newsboys for nominally one bit they received a 25 cent piece and re returned a dime and a paper thus really taking 10 15 ets acts for a single copy of a paper whose published subscription price was 12 acts a week this results from the fact that a dime Is the smallest coin in circulation throughout the west coast this last issue also contains a valedictory editorial in which appear these words worda all agree that the excursion has been a splendid success suc success cels and that it has done much to annihilate the idea ot of distance and separation and to bind together the east and west in indissoluble bonds bonas the great valley of the mississippi and the lake states especially are brought into immediate neighborhood with us and we are with them there Is now no west this side of the pacific coast for chicago and omaha croatia and cheyenne are in comparison close by 0 by western union |