ITIXERARY. 



COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA, TO OGDEN, UTAH. 



Council BlufTs, Iowa. 



Elevation 980 feet. 

 Population 29,292. 



the broad flood 



im Lincoln established the eastern terminus * of the Union 

 ailroad on the east side of Missouri River, so that the Over- 

 land Route begins at Council Bluffs, Iowa (see 



offic 



terminal 



of the river, 



Omah 



Council Bluffs is on 



am 



^ President Lincoln's Executive order 

 of March 7, 18G4, was issued under the 

 law of July 1, 18G2, wliich created the 

 Union Pacific Railroad Co. and which 

 authorized the President of the United 

 States to establish its eastern terminus on 

 the western boundary of Iowa. This re- 

 quired the company to provide for the 

 difficult crossing of JMissouri River. 



The passage of this law authorizing the 

 building of a road to the Pacific coast was 

 preceded by a long debate. The north- 

 western region acquired by the Louisiana 

 purchase of 1803 had been explored by 

 Lewis and Clark, whose expedition started 

 in 1804. Their report, aroused great 

 interest and stimulated many military-, 

 trading, and exploring expeditions, but 

 there was great opposition to the holding 

 of the '^ western wilderness " in the Union. 

 This was voiced in 1819 in ''Universal 

 geography," by Morse, who said: ''All 

 settlers who go beyond the Missiasippi 



daJ^ Senator Dickerson, of New Jersey, 

 in oppoang the bill providing for the con- 

 struction of the Union Pacific Railroad, 

 said: "A Member of Congress traveling 

 from his home to Washington and return 

 would cover a distance of 9,200 miles; at 

 the rate of 30 miles per day, and allowing 

 him 45 days for Sundays, 350 days would 

 be consumed, and the Member would 

 have 14 days in Washington before he 

 started home; it would be quicker to come 

 around Cape Horn, or by Bering Strait, 

 Baffin Bav, and Davis Strait to the At- 

 lantic and so to Wasliington. True, the 

 passage is not yet discovered, except upon 

 the maps, but it will be as soon as Oregon 

 is made a State." 



But when California was acquired by 



an 



discovery of gold, the Pacific coast be- 



am 



of the East, and routes leading to it were 

 carried across what had been a trackless 



River will be lost forever to the United wilderness. 



nueration 



States;" and in 1843 by Daniel Webster, 



said 



ant of that vast 



less area- 



and 



shifting 



received its greatest impetus in the gold 

 rush of 1849, developed some famous 

 trails, one of wliich, the "Overland 

 Trail," was the forerunner of the Union 



and 



The 



whirling winds, of dust, of cactus, and 

 prairie dogs? To what use could we ever 



g arguments ia favor 



endless mountain ranges? 



serts and those 

 * * * What 



wi 



a coast of 3,000 miles, rock-bound, cheer- 

 less, and uninviting." Another ingeni- 



transcontinental 



appeciated 



military' 



political rather than commercial. Presi- 

 dent Lincoln advocated it not only as a 

 military" necessity but also as a means of 

 keeping the Pacific coast in the Union. 

 Tlie name Union Pacific probably re- 





suited from 



road 



together 



7 



