14 



TEBN UNITED STATES 



The name Omaha is derived from that of a tribe of Indians that 

 once inhabited this region. The first white settlement was made in 



1854, but not until railroad construction began, about 

 10 years later, did it become a town of importance. 

 Here ground was broken December 1, 1S63, for the 

 construction of the road, although little real construc- 



Omaha, Nebr. 



Elevation, lj024 feet. 

 Population, 124,096.1 



tion work was done before the spring of 1865; here the first trans- 

 continental train started for San Francisco on September 13, 1870; 

 here occurred on November 1, 1897, ^Hhe world's greatest auction/' 

 when the Union Pacific, which had cost $115,214,587.79 to construct, 

 was sold for $57,564,032.76; and here are situated the offices, shops, 

 and general terminal facilities of the Union Pacific system. 



The station at Omaha is built in a depression eroded in loess (see 

 p. 8), and good exposures of this pecuhar material may be seen on the 

 left as the train leaves the station. Thence westward to Elkhorn it 

 Ues on either side of the track, through the entire length of the Lane 



cut-ofl', which 

 is one of the 





V3'-?^.w p.or n 



'L or fPOAO B^D 



m^ - '— =r^ ^ ^ 



notable 



neermg 



engi- 



f 



ca- 



FiGXTRE 2.— Sketch profile showing relation of loess to underlying beds of clay and 



glacial till in railroad cuts west of Omaha, Nebr, 



tm'cs on the 

 Union Pacific 



route. Prior to 1908 the trains passed through South Omaha and 



pill 



To avoid this circuitous route 

 )maha, cutting to a maximum 



numei 



makin 



and building 



bed nearly 



o 



miles 



The city of Omaha is built on loess, and wherever grading has been 



made 



materi 



fine erained, massive 



numer 



The 



figures 



given 



throughout this book are those of the 

 United States Census for 1910. For unin- 

 corporated places the census figures give 

 the population of the election precinct, 

 township, or other similar uiiit; such fig- 



■ked with an asterisk (*). 



for population part of the bank in each cut consists of 



buff-colored loess 30 to 50 feet thick and 



nres are 



^ The material visible in these cuts is 

 mainly loess and clay. In some places 

 the glacial till under the clay is exposed, 

 but the two can not be distinguished from 

 the train. In nearly all the cuts, however, 



V 7 7 



the division between the loess and the 

 clay ia readily discernible. The npper 



is rather sharply separated from the lower 

 part, which consists of brick-red clay. A 

 somewhat singular relation may be ob- 

 served in these cuts. The red material is 

 exposed only in the center of each cut, and 

 its surface in cross section has practically 

 the same outline as the surface at the top. 

 (See fig. 2.) The overlying loess is of 

 nearly the same thickness in all places, as 

 if it were a uniform blanket spread over an 

 older surface that had the same shape as 

 the present surface. 



