l Meridian
in the territory of Nebraska."

"Done at the city of Washington this 7th day of March in the year of
our Lord 1864.

Abraham Lincoln."

Immediately upon receipt of advice as to the President's action on
December 2nd, 1863, the citizens of Omaha regardless of their
connection with the road arranged to break ground for the Union
Pacific Railroad and to properly celebrate the commencement of the
work and especially the selection of their city as the eastern
terminus, which was accordingly done. The spot selected for the
initial point was near the Ferry Landing and not far above where the
Union Pacific shops are now located. This particular spot with the
first mile of track constructed, was long ago swept away by the
Missouri River.

The ceremonies were commenced by asking the Divine Blessing on the
enterprise in a prayer by the Rev. T. B. Lemon, Pastor of the First
Methodist Church in Omaha. The Reverend Gentleman petitioned that the
road make one the people of the East and West. That it would result in
peopling the waste places of the West; that it might lend security to
those on the frontier, and other similar requests, all of which have
been fulfilled to a degree that is past being coincidental. The first
earth was then removed by Governor Saunders of Nebraska Territory,
Mayor Kennedy of Omaha, George Francis Train and others assisting.
Congratulatory messages were received from different parts of the
country. Speeches were made by A. J. Poppleton and others, the day
being wound up by a banquet in the evening. The speech of the day was
delivered by George Francis Train, then in his heyday, which is so
characteristic of the man and of the ideas then prevalent relative to
the road and the results of its construction as to warrant the
following somewhat lengthy extracts:

"I have no telegrams to read, no sentiments to recite. The official
business being over and as I happen to be lying around loose in this
part of the country at this particular time, it gives me a chance to
meet some of the live men of Nebraska at the inauguration of the
grandest enterprise under God the world had ever witnessed.

"America is the stage, the world the audience of today, while one act
of the drama represents the booming of cannon on the Rapidan, the
Cumberland and the Rio Grande, sounding the death knell of rebellion,
the next scene has the booming of cannon on both sides the Missour