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This special edition was intended to PROMOTE Nebraska as a state and provide the towns with an opportunity to advertise their status, attract new residents.

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Towns on page 17:  Fairmont - Newman Grove - Plattsmouth

Towns on page 18:  Dakota City - Greenwood - Harvard - Louisville - Neligh - Palmyra - Red Cloud - Weeping Water - Weston

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FAIRMONT.

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Situated in Fillmore County - On the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad - Fifty-three Miles From Lincoln - Population Two Thousand.

   Situated midway between Lincoln and Hastings, on the Burlington & Missouri River railroad's main line, the beginning of the Nebraska & Colorado railroad and the prospects of being a division station of the Kansas City & Omaha railroad, which will run trains into Fairmont within the next ten days. The population is 2,000 and is rapidly increasing.
   It offers superior educational facilities. The society is quite as refined as in larger cities, and the moral status is far above. It is also a city of churches. The following are represented: Methodist, Congregationalist, Catholic, Presbyterian and Baptist. It is the prettiest of the pretty cities of Nebraska.

   ADVANTAGES IN GENERAL.

   To those who contemplate locating in a good live rustling city, Fairmont takes pride in calling attention to its superior advantages and its location. Its yearly export of grain, live stock, farm produce and manufactures is 1,600 car loads. Its yearly business traffic amounts to about $2,000,000. The building improvements of the year 1886 now contracted for and contemplated will exceed last year.

ITS SYSTEM OF WATER WORKS

is one of the best in the west, a perfect protection against loss by fire, two organized hose companies and one hook and ladder. The water works give an abundant supply of clear, soft water for manufacturing, house, fire, business and street use. The majority of the citizens use the water works water. Fairmont's population is increasing quite rapidly, and what she needs is more manufactories to furnish employment for the large increase.

MANUFACTORIES.

   It manufacturing industries are yet in their infancy. Among the number of successful manufactories is the Fairmont roller mills, capacity of 100 barrels per day. Fairmont creamery is making nearly 1,000 pounds of butter per day. Fairmont marble yards furnish employment for a large number of men and a number of other industries furnish employment.
   Fairmont wants more manufactories and will bonuses. The Fairmont Land company offer to give any party who will build a $10,000 hotel ten acres of city property.

FAIRMONT WANTS

two more brick yards to furnish brick for the large number of business blocks going up this year. A packing house, a starch factory, canning factory, cheese factory, bottling factory, foundry, machine and repair shop. It want and will give aid to any kind of a factory or manufactory that will furnish employment.

AS A RAILROAD CENTER

Fairmont is next to Lincoln and Omaha. The following lines have been built: The Burlington & Missouri, the Nebraska & Colorado and the Kansas City & Omaha, which are in operation, giving five railroads coming in and going out of Fairmont. The Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northern have made surveys and are contemplating going to Fairmont. Also a branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad is headed this way. As a shipping or distributing point Fairmont cannot be beat. Merchandise, stock or manufactured goods can be received or shipped south, east, west, southeast, or southwest, north or northwest. Direct lines in nearly every direction center towards Fairmont which makes her one of the best railroad towns and shipping points in the state.

BUSINESS.

   The business houses are prosperous and in a number of lines there is room for more. Fairmont draws trade twenty-five miles in nearly every direction and is situated in the center of the richest, most productive and thickly settled part of the South Platte country. Other cities having one-half the push Fairmont has, call it a boom. The real estate transfers have just commenced. Within the past thirty days more real estate has changed hands than the entire number of real estate transfers during the year 1886. Over 200 acres were sold a short time ago to a syndicate who have platted and placed the same on sale. A number of additions are being laid out and the sales are quite lively. One agency sold sixty lots in one week. Property is rapidly advancing in price. If you are located in an old town with no future prospects, come to Fairmont. If you are a manufacturer and wish to locate in a good live city, come to Fairmont, and its citizens will help you to start in one of the best railroad distributing points in the west.
   If you wish to do wholesale and jobbing business, Fairmont offers better inducements than any other place. If you are a laboring man Fairmont can find you employment. If you are a capitalist and looking for a good point to locate where you wish to build a permanent home, come to Fairmont. If you cannot come to Fairmont, address a letter stating ???? you wish to go in to the secretary of Fairmont board of trade, Fairmont, Neb.

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NEWMAN GROVE.

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Situated in Madison County - On the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad - One Hundred and Thirty-Six Miles from Lincoln - Population Two hundred and Fifty.

   This town is located on Shell Creek Valley, in the southwest portion of Madison county, twenty miles west and south of Madison, the county seat. It is surrounded by as fine a farming country as there can be found in the state, being settled by Norwegians, Germans, and Americans. Newman Grove now has a population of two hundred and fifty. The Scribner extension of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley railroad was graded through here last year, and the track laying has just been completed and the depot, section house and stock yards are now nearing completion. We now have in active operation: a bank, two hotels, furniture store, harness shop, three general merchandise and two drug stores, a large wagon and carriage shop, two liveries, two hardware stores, a meat market and two agricultural houses. In the professions, we have two first class doctors, a lawyer, three real estate men. There are now under course of construction two restaurants, two more drug stores, a newspaper office, a carpenter shop and eight or ten fines residences. A brick yard is now being established here, two elevators are about to be built and three lumber yards will locate here. Parties were here last week and being satisfied with the Shell creek water power, will at once put up a large flouring mill. Owing, heretofore, to the great distance from the railroad there sill remains considerable choice farming land surrounding the town which can be bought at very reasonable prices and on easy terms.

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PLATTSMOUTH.

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The County Seat of Cass County - On the Burlington & Missouri Railroad - Fifty-nine Miles From LIncoln - Population Eight Thousand

   As indicated by its name this city is located at the mouth of the Platte river. It is the county seat of Cass county, one of the richest agricultural counties in the state. It is also one of the oldest and best fruit producing counties. Besides the agricultural and horticultural products a large portion of the county is underlaid with a strata of fine building and paving stone, much of which is easily burned into good lime or ground into an excellent cement. With these resources it is no wonder that Cass county and Plattsmouth are noted for their immense wealth. The city of Plattsmouth is one of the oldest in the state, and is beautifully located upon the west bank of the great Missouri river. Like Kansas City, Mo., its surface is composed of numbers of hills and valley and drained by a half dozen ravines which empty into the Platte river upon the north. These hillsides, covered as they are by a heavy growth of forest and fruit trees, interspersed with fine residences, terraced grounds and flower gardens, form a picture which gladdens the eye and relieves the monotony of the landscape of the more western portion of the state. As a location for a pleasant and romantic home it has no superior and but few equals in Nebraska. As a business point this city commands a large trade from the country adjoining it and from the Iowa side of the Missouri river.
   Plattsmouth has never enjoyed the luxury of a boom, but has grown gradually and substantially during the many years of its existence until now it is a city of nearly 8,000 inhabitants. Its business streets contain some as fine brick block as can be found in the state, and this year the number of these fine blocks will be increased until at the end of the building season its ratio of fine business blocks will equal that of any of its more pretentious rivals.
   Besides the advantages of location, its beautiful and picturesque scenery this city is the termini of the B. & M. railroad in Nebraska. Here the shops of this gigantic company are located. Here the cars and engines and all the other "furniture" of the road are manufactured and repaired. These shops, together with the necessary yards and outbuildings, cover fourteen acres of ground are are being increased and extended each year. Five hundred to seven hundred men are constantly employed at these shops the year round.
   The monthly pay roll of the Burlington & Missouri company ranges from $30,000 to $50.000. This vast amount of money is divided between the dry goods dealer, the grocer, the boot and shoe man and the butcher. It is spent or invested in the city. A large majority of the men employed in these shops, dirty and greasy through they may appear, while at their work, are among the substantial citizens of the city. A large majority of them own some of the pleasant cottages upon the hillsides and many of them have held or now hold important offices in the city government. As a class they are sober, industrious and thrifty.
   Plattsmouth is not entirely dependent upon these shops for support. It is the eastern division of the road and hundreds of train men with their familles reside here and contribute to the trade of the city.
   Leaving the shops we come to the

TERRA COTTA WORKS

or brick kilns. Here is employed a large force of men in the manufacture of brick by a comparatively new process. Perhaps not by a new process, because all good brick are made of clay, properly moulded and burned. But the process of burning used here is new. It is the invention of an Omaha firm and is fully described in the following extract from the Plattsmouth Journal:
   "The kiln is sixteen feet high, 100 feet long, by forty feet in width, with corners well rounded to facilitate communication. A frame superstructure, eight feet high surmounts this and from one side a smoke stack mounts 100 feet in the air. There are sixteen compartments, each holding 10,000 brick. When a sufficient number of these compartments are full, the fire is started on one, which fire is fed through minute holes from the superstructure. While the brick in one compartment is being properly burnt the hot air is drawn through five succeeding chambers, thus preparing them and hastening the process when they are reached. It will thus be seen that with a comparatively small expenditure of fuel and labor a large quantity of bricks can be produced in a short time."
   It is the intention of the proprietors to run this kiln the year around, never allowing the fires to go out unless for necessary repairs. To provide brick to burn during the winter months a surplus will be made and placed in a dry house for winter burning. This concern has an almost unlimited amount of extra good clay and employs a large force of hands.
   The canning factory is another of the profitable industries of the place, and besides furnishing employment for a large number of hands, mostly boys, girls and women, creates a demand for garden vegetables which are more profitable for the farmer to raise than grain or broom corn. A second factory will be ready for this season's crop.
   A jelly factory furnishes employment for a large number of hands, and contributes to the wealth of the city and to the trade of the merchants and mechanics.
   Several other manufactories are carried on here, and Plattsmouth might well and appropriately be called a manufacturing city.
   Nearly every branch of trade is well represented here, not only by large and well selected stocks of goods and wares, but by an honorable and well to do class of business men.
   The following is a nearly accurate list of the various occupations carried on here:
   Three furniture stores, fourteen grocery stores, seven dry goods, four jewelry and jewelers, four hardware, one candy factory, seven meat markets, three exclusive clothing stores, three exclusive boot and shoe stores, three banks, four tailor shops, four drug stores, two news depots, three billiard halls, three confectionery stores, three toy and notion stores, two music stores, two photograph galleries, two agricultural implement stores, two undertaking establishments, four cigar factories, two dentist, six sewing machine agencies, one art store, one tin store, two bakeries, two second hand stores, nine hotels and public boarding houses, two harness making establishments, three real estate firms, five lunch rooms, three ice cream parlors, six barber shops, eight saloons, fourteen lawyers, six doctors, four livery stables, four millinery stores, one dressmaking establishment, two lumber yards, two coal and wood yards, three laundries, four grain dealing firms, three stock dealers, two newspapers, two wagon and carriage factories, four blacksmith shops, seven carpenter shops, two paint shops, three brick yards, two canning factories, one foundry, one broom factory, one gas factory, one mill, four grain elevators, one telephone exchange, ten insurance agents, comprising a total of 214.
   The school census taken this year shows a total of children of school age of 1,873. The school report shows an enrollment of 1,036 with an average daily attendance of 810 scholars.
   On the 6th day of April of this year the voters of the city were called upon to vote a franchise for a street railway to a local company and the franchise was almost unanimously granted. Two miles of track will be built this season and service put on as soon as the first mile is completed.
   The public improvements of the city are the best indications of the enterprise of its citizens, and the water works of Plattsmouth are among the best in the western states. A most complete description will appear in this article further on.
   Socially Plattsmouth ranks with the best cities in the west. The society of this city is educated and refined. There are six churches, the Methodist Episcopal, the Methodist Episcopal German, Presbyterian, German Presbyterian, Episcopal, St. John's Methodist Episcopal, Christian and Swedish Congregational all have fine buildings, good large congregations and are out of debt.
   The schools are composed of one central building and six smaller ones. There is a corps of eighteen teachers and the studies such as usually taught in the graded schools of the state.
   The Mason, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Good Templars, mason Commandery, Royal Arch Mason, Ancient Order of United Workman, Grand Army of the Republic, Select Knights A. O. U. W., Y. M. C. A., Woman's Christian Temperance union, young ladies' reading rooms, public reading room and library and other organizations have all good memberships and are well attended.
   A board of trade has been organized and through its efforts other industries, more railroads and more manufactories will be induced to come here. The people are looking for greater things for this beautiful city than has yet been secured, and recent purchases of large blocks of adjoining real estate give encouragement to the wish and thought.
   A railroad bridge nearly a mile in length spans the river here. It is the property of the B. & M. company and is one of the best constructed bridges upon the river. This bridge is the connecting link between the B. & M. of Nebraska with the B. & M. of Iowa and helps to make continuous the great C., B. & Q. system of the west.
   The water works, as before stated, are among the best in the west. They include a commodious pump and engine house, with pumps of a capacity of 3,500,000 gallons of water a day, two large settling basins, a magnificent standpipe twenty-five feet in diameter and eighty feet in height, located on the top of the highest hill within the corporate limits, and four miles of 12, 10, 8 and 6 inch mains, reaching over the thickest settled portion of the city. This system gives both standpipe and direct pressure. For fire protection this city is furnished with fifty double nozzle fire hydrants. For this service the city has contracted to pay $30 a year for the use of each hydrant, and that is all the cost thus far incurred to the city. The water to supply the works comes from the Missouri and Platte rivers. The water works are owned by a Boston firm. Messrs. Turner, Dillaway & Rawson, young men who bought the franchise of Inman Bros., as an investment.
   The city has fine gas works, which manufactures what is known as water gas, and every important business house and all the best private residences are lighted by it.
   Recently a gentleman who has been very successful in locating natural gas wells in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, has visited Plattsmouth and given as his opinion that underneath that city is an abundant supply of natural gas. A company has been formed with sufficient capital to bore down to the depth of 2,000 feet or further if found necessary, and it is expected that within the above named depth a liberal supply of natural gas will be found. Work upon the well will be commenced within a few days.

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PLATTSMOUTH.
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Mercer Bros. & Co.,

Real Estate

AGENTS

Plattsmouth Land and Improvement Co.,

PLATTSMOUTH, NEB.

$100,000

To loan at 6 per cent on farm property. Call
and see us.

City Water Works

Mercer Brothers & Co.,

Sole Agents, Plattsmouth, Neb.

This special edition was intended to PROMOTE Nebraska as a state and provide the towns with an opportunity to advertise their status, attract new residents.

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DAKOTA CITY.

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The County Seat of Dakota County - On the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad - One Hundred and Eighty-six Miles From Lincoln - Population Six Hundred.

   Dakota City, the county seat of Dakota county, is a town of 600 inhabitants; is conveniently near to Iowa and Nebraska, and situated between lake and river it is the gateway to northeastern Nebraska. Although near Sioux City, Ia., it has a general store that last year did a business to the amount of $33,000; two grocery stores, one of which did business to the amount of $20,000; two drug stores, a hotel and boarding house for the accommodation of strangers and travellers. Of newspapers there are two, the Eagle, edited by Altee Hart; and the Argus, edited by the venerable and cultured "Father" Martin and Will C. Dibble. Of churches, lawyers and doctors there are "a plenty."
   It is not so much as a town that Dakota City claims credit, as in being the trading center for the "Banner County of the State." Dakota county, though small, produces more corn, hogs and cattle, in proportion to its size, than any other county in the state. With good soil among the bluffs and the garden spot of the state in the low lands along the river, and a home market for all kinds of produce, the people are not only contented and peaceful, but their surrounding show evidences of thrift. This is no assertion. More than this; There is now assurance of a bridge across the Missouri at Sioux City, and its coming is but the herald of new lines of road through the county to the west and northwest. Already real estate owners are marking up prices. Lands in the vicinity of the bridge (of the future) sell readily at $150 to $250 per acre. The people are alive to the importance of the occasion and are getting out of the way so to "let 'er boom."
   The soil of the county is adapted to withstand drought, and last year, with forty-five days in June and July without rain, the corn averaged 80 per cent of the usual crop. In cattle we do not fall behind our sister counties for in February, March and April there were 117 car loads of cattle and has shipped from this point; and nearly as many from Jackson and Hubbard.
   The prospects for the future of the county are "immense." Two lines of railroad are to be completed within a year, one through the northern part of the county and one through the southern, the present road dividing the county near the center. We are also assured of a street railway between Dakota City and the river, and the posts are being set up for a telephonic connection between Sioux City and Lincoln with a station at this place. Farm lands sell for $20 to $40 per acre, depending upon quality and location, and there are good farms yet to be had. Dakota county will double its population in the next three years, and its natural advantages offer inducements to either capitalists or farmers. We would not leave it if we could.

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GREENWOOD.

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Located in Cass County - On the Burlington & Missouri Railroad - Eighteen Miles From Lincoln - Population Nine Hundred.

   Nebraska has a number of very beautiful valleys. There are none of them more beautiful than the valley of Salt creek from Ashland to Lincoln. As one sees it from the car windows of the Burlington & Missouri it presents a beautiful and varied picture the whole distance, of which those who travel the road most frequently never time. No matter which way one looks, the scene is attractive. Not only is it attractive to the eye, but it is fertile for agricultural purposes and every foot of it tillable. Down this valley eighteen miles from Lincoln is Greenwood, a village of 900 people. The village plat cover over 200 acres. A stranger as he looks about the town will be led to say: "Well here are people who have come to stay; they have built homes, not simply places to stay in until they can do better."
   As a business point it should be noted that it is surrounded by a rich farming community. Its trade may be indicated by a few figures without giving a complete detail. It supports three general merchandise stores whose trade is $100,000 per year; two hardware stores, who also deal in agricultural implements, about $40,000 per year; three drug stores, $25,000; two lumber yards, a national bank with a capital of $50,000, two harness shops, a grocery, a flour and feed store, livery stables, etc., etc.
   The past year the B. & M. railroad carried from this point 700 cars of grain, 150 cars of stock and brought in 1,021,308 pounds of freight and twelve cars of immigrant "outfits". The town has a large school house, four teachers and over 250 children of school age. There are four churches, Campbellites, Methodists, Congregational and Catholic. Of these the Campbelite is the largest, though during the revival in the Methodist church last winter over 130 were converted.
   This is the shipping point for Fitzgerald's farm, one of the largest, best improved and best stocked farms in Nebraska. This is true whether we take the quantity or the quality in account. The number of spring calves on the farm is one for every day, in the year. It is also the shipping point for the Greenwood seed and stock farm. This is comparatively a new enterprise and yet many will remember the fine display it made in Agricultural hall at the state fair last year. Garden seeds and grain are shipped to every part of the United States east and west.
   In the line of manufactures, there is only one establishment, the Greenwood roller mills, situated on Rock creek. The town has had one newspaper and job office that has suddenly pack up its material and gone west, being induced to believe that it can do better. This situation is now open. Three passenger trains pass through the village to and from Lincoln daily, giving an opportunity to transact business there and return home.

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HARVARD

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Situated in Clay County - On the Burlington & Missouri Railroad - Eighty-one Miles from Lincoln - Population Eighteen Hundred.

   This is a thriving little city of about 1,500 inhabitants whose birth as a municipal corporation dates from the advent of the Burlington road about ten years ago. It is situated at the junction of the Burlington & Missouri with the Northwestern railroad, a little northwest of the center of Clay county, one of the finest agricultural counties in the state. A natural trade center, Harvard's shipments of grain and stock has given it a record perhaps remarkable as any in Nebraska. Harvard and vicinity has been largely settled up by people from the eastern states, and the society is deemed especially desirable on that account for those coming from the east. Two fine school buildings afford ample accommodation and able professor and veteran corps of assistants have succeeded in establishing a reputation for the schools of Harvard second to none. There are five beautiful church edifices, representing respectively the following religious denominations: Congregational, Episcopalian, Methodist, Christian and Roman Catholic. There are thriving lodges of Free Masons, Odd Fellows, Daughters of Rebecca, G. A. R., W. R. C., A. O. U. W., Good Templars, and a lodge of Knights of Pythias is in process of organization. There are three hotels, which but inadequately supply the wants of traveling public and transient customers. The general business of the town is represented as follows: Hardware dealers, two; grocer, four; dry good, three; farming implements, three; grain elevators, three; live stock dealers, two; millinery and dressmaking, four; jewelers, two; banks, two; newspapers, two; restaurants, seven; confectioneries, three; wine parlors, two; billiard parlors, two; drug stores, four; livery stables, five; physicians, four; lawyers, four; blacksmiths, three; wagon makers and contractors, five; brickyards, one; opera house, one; public halls, two; real estate dealers, four; harness manufactory, one; meat markets, one; nurseries, one; paint shops, two; lumber and coal yards, two. The city is the headquarters for the Clay County Imported Horse association, a company organized for the purpose of importing, raising and improving stock.
   The Nebraska Mortgage company has been lately incorporated by the principal stockholders in the two banks here, in conjuction with a number of prominent capitalists of New Jersey and New England. The purpose of the company is the negotiation of real estate loans, in which business it is rapidly coming to the front among the solid financial institutions of the state.
   Arrangements are in progress which, when consummated, will lead, it is expected, to the establishment here by Harvard university of a western annex, or preparatory school or college. This will tend to increase the importance of this place as an educational and literary center. Harvard will soon receive the benefit of quite a large sum called the "Farmer fund," a legacy left by W. A. Farmer, esq., late of this place, the interest of which is to be perpetually used for paving and improvement of the streets.
   The city has just received a new impetus from the advent of the Northwestern railroad, and many improvements and new enterprises are the result. Real estate, while not held at disproportionate prices, is active and on the rise, and the city is showing signs of a remarkable growth. Capital is rushing in to develop the new enterprises which seem legitimate to the surroundings and the natural advantages of the country. What Harvard seems most to need at the present time, and will offer unusual advantages for to experienced parties who will come forward with a fair amount of capital, is a flouring mill, an oat meal mill, a flax mill, a rope walk and a canning factory. Negotiations are now in progress for the establishment of some of these. The country around is amply productive to sustain them all. A good opening is also presented for a lumber and coal yard, and special inducements will be offered to the right parties who will come in and put up a first class hotel.
   The present indications are that Harvard will be made a division station of the Northwestern railroad, and with the opportunity within its grasp to make connection for an outlet to Kansas City and the gulf makes the position of the city one most desirable.

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LOUISVILLE

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Situated in Cass County - On the Missouri Pacific and Burlington & Missouri Railroads - Thirty-Six Miles From Lincoln - Population One Thousand.

   Nestling among the bluffs by the side of the river Platte, Louisville is indeed an attractive place for residence. The graceful undulation which sweep away to the south forms a background upon which the eye never wearies of gazing, and the river which forms the northern boundary of the village, gives a refreshing appearance to the landscape.
   It is comparatively an old town, consequently there is to be seen upon every side that evidence of substantial comfort and industry foreign to new places. Its streets, as well as private grounds, are well supplied with shade trees of every description, and devoid of all sentiment indeed is he who cannot enjoy a stroll along the busy streets under the spreading canopies so bountifully supplied.
   Louisville is situated at the junction of two railroads, the Burlington & Missouri and the Missouri Pacific. During the past twelve months, the Missouri Pacific shipped from this station 150 cars of stone, thirty cars of stoneware, fifteen cars of hogs, ten cars of cattle, thirty of corn, twenty cars of barley, seven cars of fire brick, three cars of apples, making a total of 275 car loads. Besides 150,000 pounds of other freight they received during the same time 200 cars of coal, ten card of lumber, twelve cars of brick, five cars of agricultural implements, five cars of lime, three cars of machinery, making a total of 235 cars, besides 360,000 pounds of other freight. Thus, business at this station averages about $2,800 (?) per month.
   The resources of Louisville and vicinity are large and varied. The fertile valleys and level uplands near the town afford special advantages for all kinds of agricultural produce, as Cass county has long been known as the garden spot of Nebraska. In the bluffs along the Platte are to be found an inexhaustible supply of the best building paving and ballasting stone in the west, and here consequently have been located the immense quarries of W. H. B. Stout, employing over 200 men, who turn out twenty-five carloads of crushed rock every day, besides large quantities of building stone and concrete. Here also are the quarries of Greene of Omaha, employing over one hundred men. Besides the Burlington & Missouri railroad, Metzger, Lanham, Hoover and Cooley quarries, employing over two hundred men. Here, also, is to be found immense deposits of kaolin (?) or fire-clay. Several prominent Omaha capitalists realizing the possibilities of such natural advantages have organized the Western Pottery company, with E. Benedict as president, M. H. Comstock as vice-president, and E. D., Van Court as Secretary and treasurer. They are the largest manufacturers of stone ware, flowerpots, vases, etc. west of the Mississippi. Last year, although the establishment was closed about three months by the total destruction of their play by fire, they turned out over $40,000 worth of ware, shipping over two hundred cars to different parts of this state and Colorado. Rebuilt with an increased capacity this year, they will turn out double that amount of ware. They employ over fifty men, boys and skilled workmen, with a pay roll of over #3,000 per month. The works are under the immediate supervision of Mr. N. S. Clark, one of the most skillful workmen in America.
   As a grain and cattle shipping point Louisville stands without a rival in the country, our grain merchants having shipped over 100,000 bushels of corn, 20,000 bushels of barley, 100 car loads of hogs and cattle.
   The village is entirely out of debt. Its business men are active and energetic and are alive to take advantage of every opportunity to advance the best interests of the town. It has an excellent high school with a full corps of teachers and over two hundred scholars enrolled. Three different denominations have good and substantial churches - the Methodist, Baptist and Christian.
   Louisville has two drug stores, two hardware stores, one furniture and undertaking establishment, two dry goods, four groceries, two saloons, two exclusive shoe stores, two blacksmith shops, two meat markets, three hotels, two livery stables, one opera house, three harness shops, three restaurants and confectioneries, one barber shop, one taxidermist, two jewelry stores, one newsdealer, five coal dealers, two clothing stores, one steam flouring mill, five cattle and grain buyers, two agricultural and implement houses, one shooting gallery, two billiard halls, five stone quarries employing in the neighborhood of 600 men, one manufactory of lime, with a capacity of sixty-five barrels per day. The Louisville bank, organized June 5, 1884, by Maker Bros., $10,000 capital, reorganized June 3, 1885 by F. & J. Standers, with $15,000 recently increase to $25,000. The Bank of Commerce was organized April 2, 1887, with $25,000 capital, with C. H. Parmele, president; Thad. Adams, vice president, and G. A. Manker, cashier. There are also three physicians, one attorney, one newspaper, the Observer, Geo. W. Mayfield, editor; seven insurance agents, besides many carpenter and contractors.
   The following is a careful estimate of the volume of trade transacted by the various branches mentioned above: Groceries, $170,000; dry goods, $70,000; clothing, $35,000; agricultural implements, $40,000; lumber, $25,000; hardware, $17,000; pottery, $40,000; coal, $15,000; hotels, $20,000; other occupations, $25,000. The statistics of this year, as compared with a corresponding length of last year's resume from which averages are made, shows a very encouraging increase of sales. The merchants without exception all report a brisk, active trade and are well satisfied with the outlook.
   The village offers superior advantages for all seeking homes in the west. The quarries are all in need of laborers. The prospects of future prosperity never seemed brighter. Each day adds to a fast increasing population, while the growth is of a good substantial nature.

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NELIGH

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The County Seat of Antelope County - On the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad - One Hundred and Sixty-Seven Miles from Lincoln - Population 1,100.

   Neligh, the county seat of Antelope county, is pleasantly situated on the banks of the rapid Elkhorn, on the line of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley railroad. It is a thriving town of about 1,100 inhabitants, with good substantial houses and business men among the principal lines of which are represented; Two banks, two hotels, two grocery stores, four general merchandise establishments, two dry goods stores, three notion firms, two hardwares, seven loan and insurance agents, seven lawyers, two restaurants, four drug stores, two millinery shops, three grain and stock buyers, four implement dealers, three newspapers, three blacksmiths, one jeweler, three livery and feed stables, two meat markets, three harness shops, one music store, two saloons, two carpenters and contractors, two lumber yards, two dentists, a barber shop and three doctors.
   Besides the above, there are two brick yards, shoe shops and many other useful and necessary places of business. A large public school, a college, a United States land office, four churches, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal and Congregational. Also a merchant tailor, a photograph gallery, etc. The North American Cattlemen's association have their headquarters here and feed about 5,000 head of cattle every year. They have 1,500 acres near town fenced and are placing improvements to the amount of $15,000 on it. H. (?) Beckmann has a large mill and elevator and manufactures more flour than any mill in the west. A water company are just laying pipes for water works to cost $10,000. Town lost are in good demand, and taken as a whole Neligh will be found at the head of the procession of western towns.

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PALMYRA

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Located in Otoe County - On the Burlington and Missouri Railroad - Twenty-four Miles from Lincoln - Population Five Hundred.

   Palmyra is on (?) a branch of the Burlington & Missouri railroad, twenty-four miles from Lincoln, thirty-four from Nebraska City; has about eighteen miles of country on the south, six miles on the east, seven on the west and ten on the north from which it draws trade. There are many natural attractions near the place for the farmer and a good lively set of business men that will catch the eye of anyone seeking a location. The town was laid out in 1879 on the land of Rev. J. M. Taggert, who donated one half of his farm for a town site.
   The business firms are represented by two general merchandise dealers, three groceries, two hardware dealers, one bank, one implement dealer, one clothier, two harness makers, two livery men, two hotels, three grain dealers, one lumber yard, one jewelry and music store, one furniture dealer, two blacksmiths, three stock dealers. There is also one butcher, one barber, one billiard hall, a skating rink, three physicians, a newspaper and two real estate agents.
   There are four churches in the town that are doing the good work of converting sinners. The school is ably handled by Prof. Jones, Mrs. A. D. Newton and Miss Lula Knight. The society of the place is far ahead of many larger places.
   Having recently received encouragement from the Omaha and Southwestern railroad, the citizens feel greatly encouraged over the prospects of a grand boom. The old mill, which has been idle for some time, will soon be in good repair and running again. The amount of business done in the place in the past year will compare favorably with the business for March, which was $25,000 aside from the amount of grain and stock shipped, which, for the year ending December 31,1886 was: Stock, 145 car loads; grain, 450 car loads.
   There has recently been a fire brigade organized to protect the town. A proposition to build and put into operation a canning factory and a creamery is now under consideration; which will probably be located at this point.

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RED CLOUD.

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The County Seat of Webster County - On the Burlington & Missouri Railroad - One Hundred and Thirty-Six Miles From Lincoln - Population Three Thousand.

   Red Cloud, the county seat of Webster county, is a prosperous city of 3,000 inhabitants and in all essentials one of the live, progressive towns of southwestern Nebraska - the gateway to the fertile Republican valley. It is a division station on the main line of the Burlington & Missouri railway between Denver, Kansas City, and St. Louis, and as a railway point is destined to become one of the leading cities of the west. The Burlington & Missouri buildings at this point include a commodious freight and passenger depot, round house and machine shops and a depot hotel. Several lines of new railroads have been surveyed into Red Cloud, including the Rock Island and Missouri Pacific, which will probably be built before the close of the year.
   The society of Red Cloud is hospitable and cultured, and the right hand of fellowship is always extended to strangers and to those who come here to join in the commercial struggles incident to the battle of life. Her laboring element is intelligent, peaceful and industrious, and to the observing capitalist who desires the advantages of a large industrial center with none of its disadvantages, Red Cloud offers undoubted advantages of location, railway facilities and a social, pleasant community.
   The school facilities are ample, consisting of two fine brick school buildings which, with their ten departments, are under the management of an excellent corps of teachers, with an enrollment of 500 pupils. The religious advantages are all that could be desired, nearly all denomination being represented and furnished with homes in substantial and commodious edifices and each pastorate filled by able, energetic gentlemen.
   Red Cloud is already one of the most substantially built cities of the state, embracing stately brick blocks and elegant residences. A fine system of water works for fired and domestic purposes will be completed during the present season. Electric lights will also be established as soon as the preliminary arrangements can be completed. Though not a boom town, the growth of Red Cloud has been rapid, steady and natural, produced solely by the development of the rich agricultural country surrounding it. Real estate is here a good investment, bring excellent returns to the investor. The board of trade, incorporated under the laws of the state with a capital of $10,000, comprises in its membership the leading business and professional men of the city, and is efficiently officered by R. D. Jones, president; C. F. Cattier, vice president; Chas. Wiener, treasurer, and E. M. Perkins, secretary.
   The banking, mercantile and manufacturing firms are represented by self-made men, who have, in a large measure, commenced on the bottom round and by patient, untiring industry and the exercise of strict business methods, obtained the present financial foothold they now possess. Ample banking facilities are furnished by the Red Cloud National bank, R. V. Shirey cashier; the Farmers and Merchants' banking company, W. S. Garber, cashier; the First National bank, John Moore, cashier; and the Nebraska and Kansas Farm Loan company - the four institutions having a combined capital of $275,000. All branches of mercantile business are well represented, included among which are to be found stores which would be a credit to a metropolitan city. Red Cloud being a trade center for a scoop of country extending twenty to thirty miles in any direction, the volume of business transacted during the year is very large. Prominent among the manufacturing interests are to be found the Red Cloud roller mills, which were built last year, with a capacity of 150 barrels per day. The mills are located upon the Republican river, which furnishes a fine water power of more than 500 horse power. The carriage works of Ira Sleeper and Sons is a large and complete institution, which annually turns out a large number of equipages that find a ready market throughout western Nebraska and northwestern Kansas.
   Three readable and reliable newspapers are here published. The Argus, republican in politics, and one of the leading country papers of the state; the Helmet, democratic, a well edited sheet, and the Chief, republican, one of the oldest and best established publications of the state. All three enjoy a large circulation, and are deservedly well patronized by the business men of the community.
   Last, but not least, are the well kept comfortable hostelries, all of which are presided over by genial and courteous hosts.
   The future greatness of Red Cloud is a fixed fact, surrounded as it is by broad acres and fertile fields, where less than two decades ago, the copper colored children of the prairie reigned supreme in all their pristine glory. Its onward course has been rapid and sure, with its grand facilities for all branches of business, beauty of location, excellent schools, numerous church spires pointing heavenward, broad streets and shady avenues, inexhaustible water power, and inhabited by a wide awake progressive people.
   To the artizan (sic), the mechanic, the manufacturer, the professional man or the house seeker, Red Cloud offeres (sic) inducements equaled by few and surpassed by none of the cities of the great west.

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WEEPING WATER.

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Located in Cass County - On the Missouri Pacific Railroad - Thirty Miles from Lincoln - Population Fifteen Hundred.

   This beautiful village of something over fifteen hundred people is situated on the stream of the same name, in almost the exact center of Cass county, on the main line of the Missouri, Pacific railway at the junction of the Lincoln branch and the Nebraska City branch, midway between Omaha, Lincoln and Nebraska City. The stream furnishes ample water power for milling and manufacturing purposes. The surrounding country is thickly settled with thrifty farmers. The bluffs on either side of the stream furnish an unlimited amount of stone for building and other purposes. The Weeping Water Lime and Stone Co., E. F. Reed, manager, is now working over one hundred men. This company is furnishing building and crushed stone in large quantities, also first class lime. Their output this season will not fall short of six thousand car loads.
   The Weeping Water Brick and Sand Cp. furnish an excellent quantity of buildings and makes as good brick as can be found in the west. Fire and potter's clay are found in abundance. A considerable amount of timber grows along the creeks and it seems as if nature had outdone herself in providing everything necessary for manufacturing purposes and farming. Three flouring mills are located on the stream, all doing a large business.
   In educational matters Weeping Water is second to no place of its size in the west. The public schools are in excellent condition. The principal, W. T. Gline, is a teacher of excellent ability and is assisted by a corps of able assistants.
   The Weeping Water academy started less than two years, provides full academic, college preparatory and scientific courses. This school is already receiving the hearty support of the better part of the community, and both it and the public schools will build substantial brick buildings this year.
   The business men have organized a live board of trade, of which E. L. Reed is president and G. S. Ashmun secretary, either of whom will be glad to receive correspondence in regard to the place.
   Of churches there are are (sic) three - Congregational, Methodist and Baptist. The Congregationalist have outgrown their present building and are erecting a new house of worship; to cost from ten to fifteen thousand dollars, to be completed this season.
   There were shipped from this station the past year 1,670 cars of grain, stock and other merchandise exclusive of all railroad material.
   The town supports five general merchandise stores, two hardware and furniture stores, four drug and stationery stores, one jewelry and books, one clothing, one boots and shoes, two millinery, three dressmaking, two lumber and coal yards, two meat markets, two bakery and confectioners, two harness and saddlery, one news, one photograph gallery, four implement houses, three pumps and windmills, three grain elevators, one creamery, two hotels three blacksmith shops, one wagon shop, four doctors, one veterinary surgeon, six lawyers, five real estate agencies, two banks, three livery stables. The aggregate of business done by the merchants of the place during the past year will not fall short of eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
   The village board elected last month are a unit on the question of water works and there is no doubt that they will be put in this year. A Building and Loan association is now organized. Merchants report business to be at least twenty-five percent better than at the same time last year. So that while the people feel perhaps a little out of the fashion in not having a real estate boom they are satisfied in being assured of a good substantial growth.

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WESTON.

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Located in Saunders County - On Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad - Thirty Miles From Lincoln - Population Three Hundred and Twenty-five.

   Weston is a thriving little village on the Omaha & Republican Valley railroad thirty miles north of Lincoln and eight miles west from Wahoo, the county seat. It is situated in the midst of a thrifty and prosperous community, the famed Wahoo creek flowing through the corporation.
   The village was incorporated in January of 1885. It has now a population of 325 and numbers among its citizens some first class business men. It also boasts of two of the best elevators on this road owned by Clark, Heaton & Co. and Dorsey Bros. & Co. who handle grain of all kinds and live stock. There was shipped from here the past twelve months 1,341 cars of corn besides thirty cars of other grain. There was 127 car loads of hogs and twenty cars of cattle shipped during the same time and about twenty-five cars of broom corn.
   Weston's interest in the general merchandise line is well looked after, there being three stores that carry dry goods, hats, caps, boots and shoes, representing a total value of $15,500. Their yearly sales amounted last year to $50,350. There are two well established hardware and implement houses that carry stock to the value of $8,000. Their yearly sales amount to over $34,000. Two drug stores with a stock of from $3,500 to $4,000 that did $4,800 worth of business the past year. Two lumber yards that keep a good supply in their line.
   Numerous other branches of business are represented here. We have two doctors, two blacksmith shops, two saloons, three well regulated hotels, one restaurant, one barber shop, three shoemakers, one harness shop that does a large business, two livery, feed and sale stables that do a fair business, and a bank that is a credit to the town. The bank is just entering upon its second year. It has built up a reputation for itself that larger institutions might envy. They occupy a good substantial building, solid brick and stone vault, with one of the best fire and burglar proof timelock safes in the state. Weston's boast is its new public school which is nearly completed at a cost of about $4,000. They will occupy the new building about June 1. There are only two churches that have places of worship of their own, one the St. John's Catholic, that is presided over by Rev. Father Choks of Omaha; the other is of the Lutheran denomination that occupy the old school building. The Methodists have a society here that meets in the school building. Weston mills, situated one mile east of the village make a grade of flour famed all over the state for its excellence. It is a water mill with the roller system and pays handsomely for the amount invested. Weston's future is assured. It is bound to keep pace with the times, and in the course of a few years will become one of the most prosperous inland towns in the state.

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