170 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (SNOHOMISH, SOUTH OMAHA, SPRAGUE.) 



marble works, steam saw mills, brick yards, 

 planing mills, cigar, chair, furniture, soap, ice, 

 broom, mattress, candy, and carriage factories. A 

 fine public-school system is in operation, and the 

 North Texas Fema'le College and Conservatory 

 of Music is here. There are also the Sherman In- 

 stitute, St. Joseph's Academy (Catholic), Austin 

 College (Presbyterian) for boys, and a commer- 

 cial college. Two banks (1 national), have an 

 aggregate capital of $1)00,000, and 2 daily and 

 3 weekly newspapers are published. The water 

 works have 15 miles of mains, and there are 2 

 lines of street railway, 1 horse and 1 electric, 

 There are 7 churches, a $40,000 opera house, 

 a $65,000 court house, and a $95,000 jail. Elec- 

 tric lights are in use, and there is an adequate 

 fire department, The population in 1870 was 

 1,439 ; in 1880, 6,093 ; and in 1890, 7,335. Within 

 a very recent period the city has advanced in a 

 remarkable degree from a small inland point 

 to a commercial and shipping center. It is 67 

 miles from Dallas, 150 from Marshall, and 270 

 from Austin. The altitude is about 1,000 feet. 



Snohomish, a city of Washington, the county 

 seat of Snohomish County, in the northwestern 

 part of the State, on Snohomish river, at the 

 head of low-water navigation, 15 miles from 

 Puget Sound, on the line of the Seattle, Lake 

 Shore and Eastern Railroad, 28 miles north of 

 Seattle, with which place there is a daily com- 

 munication by steamer also. The city was 

 founded in 1871 by E. C. Ferguson and W. B. 

 Sinclair, and in 1880 had only 149 inhabitants. 

 In 1887 it had 800, and it was incorporated in July, 



1890, with a population for the precinct of 2,469. 

 Snohomish County had a population of 8,514, 

 against 1,387 in 1880. It has an area of 20,000 

 square miles, of which 800 have been surveyed. In 

 1880 the real estate was valued at $218,715, and 

 personal property at $116,583. In 1890 the total 

 assessed valuation was $4,008,211, of which 

 $3,027,184 were real and $671,431 personal prop- 

 erty. The total tax of all kinds was less than 

 15 mills on the dollar. During 1890 incorpora- 

 tions were made in the county to the amount of 

 $985,000. Gold, silver, high-grade galena ore, 

 coal, iron, the finest marble, sandstone, and 

 granite exist, and placer mining has been carried 

 on for twenty-five years on Sultan river, a branch 

 of the Snohomish. The Seattle and Montana 

 Railroad, a branch of the Great Northern, was 

 built along the Sound on the western line of the 

 county daring the last six months of 1890, and 

 the county has been bonded for $80,000 to im- 

 prove and extend public roads. In Snohomish, 

 street improvements are under way to cost $40,- 

 000, and an electric motor line of street railway 

 is projected. Its electric-light plant cost $30,- 

 000, tind its water works $15,000, while a pump- 

 ing system, worth $50,000, was constructing in 



1891. It has a steam fire engine, a telephone 

 system, 2 banks (1 national, with capital of $50,- 

 000), 1 daily and 2 weekly newspapers. The 

 buildings erected in 1890 include a brick court 

 house, costing $30,000 ; a public-school building 

 $14,000; a county jail with steel cells, $3,000; 

 two business blocks, $10,000 and $7,000; and a 

 Catholic school and boys' home, $4,000. In 1880 

 less than $10,000 were invested in manufactures 

 in the entire county. In 1891 the city had 8 

 saw and 8 shingle mills (one of the last being 



the largest in the State) and 2 sash and door 

 factories, most of them established since 1888, 

 valued at $475,000, and employing 400 persons. 

 The output for 1890 was 40,000,000 feet of lum- 

 ber, and 45.000,000 shingles, valued at $600,000. 

 The value of other manufactured articles was 

 $100,000. Five denominations have churches, 

 and the Masons and Odd Fellows have large and 

 convenient buildings. 



South Omaha, a city of Nebraska, in Doug- 

 las County, 3 miles from Omaha, with which 

 city and with Council Bluffs, Iowa, it is con- 

 ' nected by an electric street railway. In 1885 

 the population was 150, and in 1890 it was 8,062. 

 The railroads are the Missouri Pacific, the Chi- 

 cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, the Union Pacific, 

 the Rock Island and Pacific, and the Elkhorn 

 and Missouri Valley. In 1888 150,879 tons of 

 freight was received and 88,607 forwarded. The 

 building permits hi 1890 reached $648,400. Six 

 miles of streets have been paved, and 20 

 curbed ; and there are 10 miles of sewers, 2 via- 

 ducts costing $75,000, and a complete system 

 of water works. The assessed valuation of prop- 

 erty in 1889 was $9,068,973. Electric lighting is in 

 use, and there are a telephone, 3 telegraph, and 5 

 express companies. Five banks (3 national) have 

 a total capital of $412,000. Five daily news- 

 papers are published. The churches number 15, 

 and there are 12 school buildings, attended by 

 about 2,000 children. South Omaha claims to 

 be the third largest packing center in the world. 

 The aggregate business of 4 packing houses in 

 1890 was $28,692,000, and it has also the third 

 largest stock yards in the country. The receipts 

 at these in 1890 were 606,699 cattle, 1,673,314 

 hogs, 156,186 sheep, and 5,318 horses. There 

 are 40 stock commission firms. Additional in- 

 dustries are carbon works, 6 large brick manu- 

 factories, 2 breweries, and large cooper shops. 

 One of the 2 public parks contains 7fr acres. 

 There is a paid fire department. 



Sprague, a town of Washington, the county 

 seat of Lincoln County, in the eastern part of 

 the State, on the main line of the Northern Pa- 

 cific Railroad, 41 miles west of Spokane Falls. 

 It is the headquarters of the Idaho division of 

 the Northern Pacific, and has large repair shops 

 and round houses, the former employing 250 

 men and turning out new rolling stock, in ad- 

 dition to cars rebuilt. There are a handsome 

 headquarters building, coal bunkers, ice houses, 

 stock yards, and other accessories. The town is 

 built in a narrow valley, and about a mile away 

 begins the great plateau of the Big Bend coun- 

 try, the largest continuous body of wheat land 

 in the Pacific Northwest, extending in an un- 

 broken line to Columbia river. The receipts- 

 and shipments of three large grain elevators to 

 Jan. 1, 1891, were in all 480,000 bushels, with a 

 reserve of 250,000. The place is one of the most 

 important shipping points for stock in eastern 

 Washington. At one point near the city more 

 than 100,000 sheep were sheared in 1889. The 

 population of Lincoln County in 1890 was 9,312; 

 of Sprague, 1,689. Brick buildings have been com- 

 pleted costing over $50,000, and fire limits have 

 been established. The streets are broad and well 

 graded, with plank sidewalks. There is an elec- 

 tric-light company, with a plant valued at $20,- 

 000. The water works consist of a Holley pump 



