Creighton University - Bluejay Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

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1857 - Omaha - s Al -1

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(% The Gate City of the West SEVENTY-FIVE years have passed since the first immigrants were fitted out in the small village on the bank of the Missouri for their long trek to the far west, but nevertheless, it, now a great metropolis, still retains its title, for today it is the distributing point for the multitude of products of a vast agricultural region. The first white man to set foot upon the territory which Omaha now serves was the Spanish cavalier, Coronado, who, during the summer of 1540 with an expedition of several hundred men, explored the territory now known as the southwest, coming as far north as the Platte valley. In July, 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition stopped to examine the curious collection of graves and mounds on a plateau on the west bank of the Missouri. They, perhaps, were the first white men to set foot on the spot where Omaha is now located. The first bona fide settlers of Douglas county arrived from the east and south in the spring of 1854. Most of them were of the industrial class, and all had but limited means with which to begin pioneer life. There were no habitations and the first houses consisted mostly of log cabins, sod houses and dug-outs. The early settlers were ambitious and proud of their city, which had been surveyed by one of them, A. D. Jones, and which consisted mostly of blue prints. The name they selected for the prospective metropolis was Omaha City. This name was bestowed in honor of the Omaha Indians, OMAHA AND CREIGHTON IN 1878 v ■q 10