CHAPTER XXIV. 



A HALT AT OMAHA. 



MAHA, the capital of Douglas County, 

 the chief commercial city and metropolis 

 of Nebraska, is the half-way station across 

 the Continent. It is aptly called the 

 "Gate City," seeming, as it does, a sort 

 of opening to the great railroads, the 

 great waterways, and the whole fascinat- 

 ing great beyond of western enterprise 

 and western commerce. 

 As I rode into the city it seemed that it would be 

 hard to find a more attractive place. 



"A fine plateau nearly a mile broad, and elevated 

 fifty or sixty feet above the Missouri, is occupied by 

 the chief business portion of the city,'' while the beau- 

 tiful bluffs, the low, rounded, tree-covered hills, form- 

 ing a semi-circle on the west and south, are thickly 

 dotted with tasteful and elegant residences and build- 

 ings surrounded by carefully laid-out grounds. 



The streets cross at right angles. Most of them 

 are one hundred feet broad ; but Capitol avenue is 

 one hundred and twenty feet in width. 



On high grounds, just southwest of the city limits, is 



(443) 



