pany, was established in 1879, and is a very able and successful journal, advocating the National Greenback doctrine.

     Besides the foregoing there are several other papers and periodicals published at Omaha, as follows: High School Journal, Guardian, Danske Pioneer, Pokrok Zapadu, Falkets Tidning, Post (tri-weekly), Western Magazine, Commercial Exchange, Rural Nebraskian, Journal of Commerce, Die Vestern and Mute Journal.

     PUBLIC SCHOOLS.--The educational advantages of Omaha are unsurpassed by any city in the West. There is one high and eleven fine ward school buildings. The value of school property is as follows: Sites, $101,000; buildings, $324,000; furniture, $9,150; apparatus, $950; total, $485,100.

HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING.

     The High School building, occupying the site of the old Territorial Capitol, is, in point of architectual [sic] beauty, convenience of construction and commanding location, without a rival among public school buildings on the continent. It was completed in

1872, at a cost of $250,000. Its spire is 390 feet above the Missouri river, and from its cupola it commands a view of the whole city, and other points in the Missouri Valley, for fifteen miles.

     The North Omaha, Third Ward, South Omaha, Hartman's Addition and Hascall's Addition school houses are of brick, the balance being handsome frame structures.

     The Board of Education, in whom is vested the government of public schools, is composed of twelve men, two from each Ward.

     Creighton College, a handsome brick building with stone facings, erected on an elevated site in the northwestern portion of the city, is one of the institutions of Omaha. It. was completed in 1878, at a cost of $55,000, which sum, with a further amount of $100,000 as a permanent endowment, was bequeathed for that purpose by the late Mrs. Edward Creighton. The school is under the supervision of the Jesuits, and will accommodate 480 pupils. It is free to all. The building is 54x126 feet, three stories and a basement.

     St. Catharine's Academy, at the corner of Cass and Eighteenth streets, is a substantial brick structure, erected in 1877, at a cost of $17,000. It was built and is managed by the Sisters of Mercy, and is exclusively a girls' school.

     Brownell Hall, a young ladies' Seminary and school for boys, is a flourishing private institution, under the auspices of the Episcopal Church.

     Mt. St. Mary's Academy is a well-sustained Catholic school.

     The Great Western Business College, established in 1873, by Prof. G. R. Rathbun, has become a popular institution with those seeking a thorough business training.

     Omaha, in 1879, had twenty-eight churches, representing all the different denominations.

     Rev. Peter Cooper, of the Methodist Church, preached the first sermon in the city in the Summer of 1854, at the old Ferry Company's house--the St. Nicholas.

     The Roman Catholics built the first church edifice in the city--a brick structure still standing on Ninth street, between Harney and Howard.

     The Catholic Cathedral, on Ninth street, was commenced in 1864 and finished in 1866. It possesses the largest and finest organ in the city--a gift by the late Mrs. Edward Creighton, who also furnished the means for building its superb altar.

     The First Methodist Episcopals built the second church in the city in 1856, on Thirteenth street, between Farnam and Douglas, which was converted into a business block, the Society building a brick Church on Seventeenth street, between Dodge and Capitol Avenue. This building was turned over to the bondholders in June, 1877, the Society, in the Fall following, erecting a commodious frame structure on Davenport street, which was dedicated on the 9th of June, 1878, by Mrs. Van Cott, the Evangelist.

     The Congregationalists commenced the erection of a brick Church on Sixteenth street early in 1856, and finished it in 1857, chiefly through the indefatigable exertions of Rev. Reuben Gaylord, its first pastor. This Society at present has a neat frame house of worship, corner of Nineteenth and Chicago streets.

     The Episcopal congregation was organized in 1856, by Rev. G. W. Watson, and in 1859 Trinity Church, a small brick edifice at the corner of Ninth and Farnam, was built on leased ground. In 1867 Trinity Society erected a frame church at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Eighteenth streets, which was destroyed by fire in 1872, and their present house of worship was immediately erected on the site of the old one. It is now contemplated to erect a new edifice at a cost of $25,000.

     The Lutheran Church, on Douglas street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth, was built in 1861, and dedicated February 16, 1862. It is a large brick edifice, and its erection is mainly due to the persistent efforts of Rev. A. Kountze, who organized the first Lutheran Society in the city.

     The German Catholic Church, a frame structure on Douglas street, between Sixteenth and Seventeeth [sic], was erected in 1869.

     The Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Seventeenth and Dodge streets, built in 1869, is a handsome and spacious brick structure.

     St. Mark's Church (Episcopal), in South Omaha, is a frame building and was erected in 1869.

     The United Presbyterian Church, a frame, at the corner of Eighteenth and Webster streets, was erected in 1869.

     The Unitarian Church, a brick, on Seventeenth street, between Cass and Davenport, was built in 1869.

     St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, a frame, on Nineteenth Street, between Cass and California, was erected in 1870.

     The Baptist Church, a brick, on the corner of Davenport and Fifteenth streets, was built in 1870.

     The M. E. Church, on Eighteenth street, a frame, was moved to its present location from North Omaha and re-constructed in 1873.

     The Lutheran Church (Swedish) a frame, on Cass street, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth, was moved to its present location in 1875.

     The M. E. Church (African), a small frame, at the corner of Eighteenth and Webster streets, was erected several years ago.

     The Baptist Church (African), a frame, at the corner of Eleventh and Harny [sic] streets, was moved to its present location in 1875.

     The Lutheran Church (Scandinavian), a frame, on Jackson street, between Twelfth and thirteenth, was finished in 1875.

     The Lutheran Church (German), on St. Mary's Avenue, is a brick, and was finished in 1876.

     The Catholic Church, a frame, at the corner of Cuming and Eighteenth streets, was erected in 1876.

     The North Mission Church (Episcopal), a frame, in Shinn's Addition, was erected in 1876.

     The Union Mission Church, a small frame on Twenty-third street, between Saunders and Cuming, was built in 1877.

     The Latter Day Saints, or Mormon Church, a small frame near the corner of Cars and Sixteenth streets, was built several years ago.

     The Odd Fellows are the oldest of the Secret Societies in Omaha, the first Lodge having been organized in January, 1856. There are now several Lodges of this Order in the city. Odd Fellows' Hall, a splendid three-story brick building at the corner of Dodge and Fourteenth streets, was completed in 1874, at a cost of $18,000.

   Capital Lodge, A. F. and A. M., was established in 1857. The Masonic fraternity is very strong in the city, numbering several Lodges, including the higher orders of Royal Arch and Knights Templar. Masonic Hall, a handsome three-story brick structure at the corner of Sixteenth street and Capitol Avenue, was commenced in 1876 and finished in the Spring of 1877, at a cost of $15,000.

     The Knights of Pythias is also a strong Order; and there are besides numerous German and Irish Orders, Temperance and Benevolent Societies.

U. S. POST OFFICE BUILDING.

     The Postoffice, fronting on Fifteenth and Dodge streets, completed in 1873, is one of the handsomest Government buildings in the country. It is built of a fine free stone from Ohio, is four stories high, occupying two lots, and cost, with the furniture, $450,000. The first floor is occupied exclusively by the postoffice, and the upper floors by the United States Courts and Government officers, while the basement is fitted up as a prison, with quarters for janitor and attendants.

     The Court House, on Farnam street, is a two-story brick building, which was commenced in 1857 and finished in 1859. Its dimensions were then considered ample, but are now entirely inadequate and inconvenient. A plot of ground has been selected and a Court House more in accord with the needs of the city, will, no boubt [sic], be erected during the coming year.

     The Omaha jail is one of the handsomest buildings and most secure institutions of the kind in the West. It was erected in 1879. The walls are of brick and the cells of hardened steel.

     DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE.--Since 1865 Omaha has been the headquarters of a military division, known as the Department of the Platte, which includes Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and a portion of Dakota. A large share of the commercial and financial supremacy of Omaha in the Missouri Valley, is due to the heavy purchases and distribution of military supplies at this point, and the handling of the Quartermaster, Commissary and Paymaster funds of the department by the city banks. In 1872 the National Government acquired eighty-two and a half acres of land on the plateau two miles north of this city. Upon this tract was established what was known as Omaha Barracks, which has recently been re-christened as Ft. Omaha. Over $100,000 has been expended in buildings and upon improvements of these grounds. The quarters for soldiers have accommodated from two to fourteen companies of troops each winter. During the past year about $60,000 has been expended at Ft. Omaha, for an elegant brick residence for the Department Commander, brick storehouses and the re-construction of officers' residences. The grounds are tastefully laid out. The present Commander of the Department of the Platte is Brigadier General Crook.

     During the present year, 1879, the telephonic system of communication has been introduced in the city. The Telephone Company, with general offices in Union Block, corner of Fifteenth and Farnam streets, has erected lines through the principal streets of the city, and almost every prominent business house, and many private dwellings, have connecting wires.

     Water works--of which the city stands badly in need--have engrossed the attention of the City Fathers during the past several months. Rival companies have made propositions to the city for

the construction of works, and much discussion has followed over the merits and demerits of the different systems. The matter is not yet fully settled, but that Omaha will have water-works before another year is assured.

     Omaha has a most exellent [sic] steam fire department, which is, at present, under the efficient management of Chief John Galligan.

     Horse railways traverse the principal streets, leading from the Union Depot, in the southeastern portion of the city., to the northwestern boundary line. During the past three years the growth of the city has been greater, and more permanent and substantial improvements have been made than at any period heretofore in its history. The improvements reported in 1877 footed up $800,000; for 1878 they amounted to $1,000,000, and for the present year the increase has been at least twenty-five per cent. greater. Omaha is also a port of entry, and has the privilege of importing goods in bond, by rail or river.

Located on the Missouri, six miles north of Omaha, is now a small village of less than one hundred inhabitants. The place was first settled by the Mormons, in 1845, and was called by them Winter Quarters. They, however, made Florence the chief outfitting point for their emigrant trains to Salt Lake, and for several years it was a lively business place.

     The Florence Town Company was organized in 1856, and the same year the town was chartered as a city. Up to 1858 it grew very rapidly and was a good business point, several of the Omaha merchants opening branch stores there.

     At an election in August, 1857, for delegate to Congress, Florence gave 700 votes for Fenner Ferguson. During the same year a newspaper called The Courier, was published there, and a theater was in operation; but the great financial crisis of that year crippled those mostly interested in the city's growth, and it began to recede. At present Florence has a couple of general merchandise stores, a hotel, blacksmith shop, school house, and a water-power grist mill.

     A station on the Union Pacific Railroad in the south-central part of the County, was laid out in the sprimg [sic] of 1870, by Ezra Mil-