NKBUASKA. 



688 



tion of counties, cstahli-hniciit of roads, modi- 

 :i i.r school laws, etc. Among other pro- 



visions Pi-luting to public education, :ui act was 

 ! locating a State Normal School at IVru, 



in tin- -oiithea-tern part of the State, and ap- 



iatini: twvntv -ectioiis of the State lands 

 and three thousand dollars in money to endow 

 that institution. The. :u-t which attracted the 

 1 nt'mn in the State was one provid- 

 tion of the seat of government 

 . the erection of puhlie building! at the 

 ted. The Governor, Secretary of 

 and Auditor, wore constituted commis- 

 sioners to choose the location and provide for 

 ection of tin! buildings. The city laid 

 out tor this purpose was to be known by the 

 name of Lincoln. The act declares that the 

 State l'ni \vrsity :ui<l Agricultural College shall 

 he united as one institution and located in this 

 proposed town of Lincoln. A reservation of 

 land was also to be made by the commissioners 

 at the same place for a State penitentiary. In 

 the course of the summer these commissioners 

 located the new capital in Lancaster County, 

 forty-five miles from the eastern boundary of 

 the State, and fifty-five miles from the southern 

 boundary. The matter awaits the further 

 action of the Legislature at its next session. 

 The civil co'de of the State was so amended 

 as to abolish the distinction between actions at 

 law and suits in equity. The Legislature ad- 

 journed about the 1st of July, after a session 

 of two months. 



A law was passed by Congress, dated March 

 2, 1867, providing for a geological survey of 

 Nebraska, which was intrusted by the Com- 

 missioner of the General Land-Office to the 

 direction of Professor T. V. Hayden, who made 

 a tonr of the counties in the course of Jhe sum- 

 mer and fall, examining the geological strata 

 and analyzing the soil. The State is not rich 

 in minerals, but possesses a very fertile soil, and 

 is peculiarly adapted to agricultural enterprise, 

 which is, indeed, absorbing the attention of 

 the people to a very laudable degree. There is 

 rather a scanty natural supply of fuel in the 

 State, both vegetable and mineral, but the re- 

 gion of the Black Hills of Dakota will furnish 

 an abundance both of coal and timber, at 

 no very inconvenient distance from the settled 

 portions of this State. 



Omaha, the territorial capital of the State, is 

 likely to derive particular importance from the 

 system of railroads which will centre at that 

 point, as the eastern terminus of the Union Pa- 

 cific Railroad. The latter structure is already in 

 successful operation for more than five hundred 

 miles to the west of Omaha, and rapidly advan- 

 e'uiL' toward the foot of the Rocky Mountains; 

 while on the other side of the Sierra Nevada 

 Mountains, the western section of the road, 

 which terminates at Sacramento, is nearly com- 

 pleted. These two advancing lines are expected 

 to meet in the course of the next three years. 

 This great enterprise is liberally encouraged by 

 the United States Government by appropriations 



of money and of public lands. The effect upon 

 the material prosperity of Nebraska is already 

 quite marked. Several other great lines of 

 railroad are in course of construction t'. 

 nect with the Pacific route at Omah 

 among these is the Chicago and Northwestern 

 Railroad, which already traverses the States of 

 Illinois and Iowa to the Missouri River. This 

 stream is to be spanned by a magnificent bn 

 when the road will he rapidly completed to its 

 destined terminus. There is also the Chicago, 

 Rockjsland, and Pacific Railroad, which crosses 

 the Mississippi at Rock Island, and has already 

 reached DCS Moines on its way to the same 

 point. The Burlington and Missouri Railroad 

 is also to terminate at Omaha. Other lines, 

 from St. Louis, Sioux City, and other important 

 Western towns, are already projected, and will 

 converge to the same central point. 



This State shared with Colorado in the dep- 

 redations and dangers attending the Indian 

 war, which was carried on with great vigor 

 along the line of the Pacific Railroad and in the 

 vicinity of Fort Phil Kearney. A severe battle 

 took place on the 16th of August, at Plum 

 Creek, near Omaha. 



The area of Nebraska comprises nearly sev- 

 enty-five thousand square miles, and has at 

 present a population of about eighty thousand 

 whites and fifteen thousand Indians. The in- 

 crease in the white population is very rapid, 

 and upward of one thousand new houses were 

 erected in Omaha during the past season. 



The government of the State is at present in 

 the hands of officers chosen under the Territo- 

 rial government in 1866. David Butler is the 

 Governor, and John Taffe the Delegate in Con- 

 gress. The election of 1867, which took place 

 on the first Tuesday of October, was only for 

 local officers. Politically, the new State is 

 strongly Republican. The last Legislature 

 stoodSenate, ten Republicans and three 

 Democrats; House of Representatives, thirty 

 Republicans and nine Democrats. 



The following is the boundary of the State as 

 designated by the enabling act of Congress : 

 Commencing at a point formed by the intersec- 

 tion of the western boundary of the State of 

 Missouri with the fortieth degree of north lati- 

 tude ; extending thence due west along said for- 

 tieth degree pf north latitude to a point formed 

 by its intersection with the twenty-fifth degree 

 of longitude west from Washington ; thence 

 north along said twenty-fifth degree of longi- 

 tude to a point formed by its intersection with 

 the forty-first degree of north latitude ; thence 

 west along said forty -first degree of north lati- 

 tude to a point formed by its intersection with 

 the twenty-seventh degree of longitude west 

 from Washington ; thence north along said 

 twenty-seventh degree of west longitude to a 

 point formed by its intersection with the forty- 

 third degree of north latitude; thence east 

 along said forty-third degree of north latitude 

 to the Reya Paha River; thence down the 

 middle of the channel of said river, with its 



