,--certainly a
very remarkable river, being in some places three-quarters of a mile
broad, with an average depth of only six inches! At length, on the
afternoon of the fifth day, the engine gives a low whistle, and we
find ourselves gliding into the station at Omaha.

CHAPTER XXVI.

OMAHA TO CHICAGO.

OMAHA TERMINUS--CROSS THE MISSOURI--COUNCIL BLUFFS--THE FOREST--CROSS
THE MISSISSIPPI--THE CULTIVATED PRAIRIE--THE FARMSTEADS AND
VILLAGES--APPROACH TO CHICAGO--THE CITY OF CHICAGO--ENTERPRISE OF ITS
MEN--THE WATER TUNNELS UNDER LAKE MICHIGAN--TUNNELS UNDER THE RIVER
CHICAGO--UNION OF LAKE MICHIGAN WITH THE MISSISSIPPI--DESCRIPTION OF
THE STREETS AND BUILDINGS OF CHICAGO--PIGS AND CORN--THE
AVENUE--SLEIGHING--THEATRES AND CHURCHES.

I have not much to tell about Omaha, for I did not make any long stay
in the place, being anxious to get on and finish my journey. It was
now my fifth day in the train, having come a distance of 1912 miles
from San Francisco; and I had still another twenty-four hours' travel
before me to Chicago. There was nothing to detain me in Omaha. It is
like all places suddenly made by railway, full of bustle and business,
but by no means picturesque. How can it be? The city is only seventeen
years old. Its principal buildings are manufactories, breweries,
warehouses, and hotels.

Omaha has been made by the fact of its having been fixed upon as the
terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad, and by its convenient position
on the great Missouri river. It occupies a sloping upland on the
right bank, about fifty feet above the level of the stream; and behind
it stretches the great Prairie country we have just traversed. On the
opposite bank of the Missouri stands Council Bluffs, from which
various railroad lines diverge north, south, and east, to all parts of
the Union. It is probable, therefore, that before many years have
passed, big though Omaha may now be--and it already contains 20,000
inhabitants--the advantages of its position will tend greatly to swell
its population, and perhaps to render it in course of time one of the
biggest cities of the West.

[Illustration: (Map of Atlantic and Pacific Railways) _Reduced from a
Map in Mr. Rae's_]

Having arranged to proceed onwards to Chicago by the North-Western
line, I gave up my baggage in exchange for the usual check, and took
my place in the train. We rolled down a steepish incline, on to the
"mighty Missouri," which we crossed upon a bridge