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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	OGALLALA Nebraska
Location: Keith County.

Ogallala, on the Union Pacific Railroad, was the original terminus of the Western Trail. The railroad set up cattle shipping facilities there in 1874, and within 2 years the Western Trail replaced the Chisholm Trail as the major northward artery for the Texas Longhorns. The cowboys camped on the banks of the river south of town, where the usual celebrating and fighting after the long drive took place. Boot Hill Cemetery, on a hill along the South Platte River, is a reminder of the cattle drives and the boisterous life associated with them. The trail to Ogallala was used until 1895, although around 1880 Dodge City, Kans., on the Santa Fe Railway, became the main terminus of the Western Trail.

	OMAHA Nebraska
Location: Douglas County.

Like the city of St. Louis, Omaha was a bustling transportation, trading, and outfitting center for prospectors, miners, cattlemen, farmers, and emigrants. It was founded in 1854 opposite Council Bluffs, Iowa, jumping-off place for the Mormon Trail to Utah. By 1859 the newly founded city on the Missouri River was bustling, and its merchants carried on a thriving trade. Steamboats arrived daily; and, when the Union Pacific Railroad began to move west in the mid-1860's, the boom increased. The Union Stockyards and the great packinghouses, established in the 1880's, not only attracted scores of supporting industries and thousands of immigrants as laborers, but they also accommodated thousands of Western cattle. Floods in 1881 forced many Council Bluffs citizens to move to Omaha, and real estate prices soared. In the early 1900's the Omaha Grain Exchange was organized and the city became a central grain market. Despite a cycle of boom and depression periods, it continued to grow throughout the years. Today it is an industrial and commercial center in the heart of the farm belt.