ld story, however, was repeated again here on the boundless plains
of the West. The Western trails streaming out from the terminus of
steamboat traffic between Kansas City and Omaha had scarcely time to
become well known before the railway conquerors of the Atlantic and
Great Lakes regions were planning the conquest of the greater plains
and the Rockies beyond. The opening of the Chinese ports in 1844 turned
men's minds as never before to the Pacific coast. The acquisition of
Oregon within a few years and of California at the close of the Mexican
War opened the way for a newspaper and congressional discussion as to
whether the first railway to parallel the Santa Fe or the Overland Trail
should run from Memphis, St. Louis, or Chicago. The building of the
Union Pacific from Omaha westward assured the future of that city, and
it was soon joined to Chicago and the East by several lines which were
building toward Clinton, Rock Island, and Burlington.

But the construction of a few main lines of railway across the continent
could only partially satisfy the commercial needs of the West. True, the
overland trade was at once transferred to the railroad, but the enormous
equipment of stage and express companies previously employed in westward
overland trade was now devoted to joining the railway lines with the
vast regions to the north and the south. The rivers of the West could
not alone take care of this commerce and for many years these great
transportation companies went with their stages and their wagons into
the growing Dakota and Montana trade and opened up direct lines of
communication to the nearest railway. On the south the cattle industry
of Texas came northward into touch with the railways of Kansas.
Eventually lateral and trunk lines covered the West with their network
of lines and thus obliterated all rivalry and competition by providing
unmatched facilities for quick transportation.

In the last days previous to the opening of the first transcontinental
railway line a unique method of rapid transportation for mail and light
parcels was established when the famous "Pony Express" line was put into
operation between St. Joseph and San Francisco in 1860. By relays of
horsemen, who carried pouches not exceeding twenty pounds in weight,
the time was cut to nine days. The innovation was the new wonder of
the world for the time being and led to an outburst on the part of
the enthusiastic editor of the St. Joseph Free Democ