“The Indians who come here are perfectly harmless and no one pays any attention to them. They come and go at their pleasure. We shall see little of them hereafter, as the government has just paid off its indebtedness to the Omahas and they were then removed to the new quarters assigned them about a hundred miles to the northward, in Nebraska. They were all collected at Omaha City, and from thence started on their journey accompanied by the Indian agent who is to pay them twenty thousand dollars in cash when they reach their destination. The tribe now numbers but eight hundred and five, counting men, women and children, and has but two hundred men capable of bearing arms. Ten years ago they numbered sixteen hundred. Their parting from their old home and the graves of their fathers is said by those who witnessed it to have been exceedingly interesting and pathetic. The women and the aged men wept, and the stout-hearted warriors could ill conceal their emotion of tenderness and affection.
“People are now flocking in here in considerable numbers, either to settle or to make investments in real estate, in the hope and expectation of realizing a fortune by the rise in the value of property. We have dally stages from the east and south, and they generally come loaded inside and out to the extent of their capacity. The land-office is crowded both by settlers and speculators eager to enter the choicest lands remaining unsold. The land directly adjoining the town, and for some five or six miles back, is all taken, and one cannot buy a farm at Uncle Sam’s prices within that distance of the city. Good land can be obtained at second hand for from five dollars to ten dollars per acre.
“By the laws of the state, women can own and hold property, both real and personal, and I am happy to know that many women are availing themselves of these provisions by securing to themselves a share of its broad acres. I do wish that more women would become owners of the soil, and I am especially anxious that you, Mrs. Vaughan, and those women who labored so untiringly with you in the cause of humanity, should come in for a share. I know that such women do not usually carry long purses, and are not very well rewarded for their wearing toil, yet with land at $1.25 per acre it does seem as though they ought to be able to secure at least eighty acres. One woman who is supporting herself by typesetting in your state has secured an interest in this vicinity, and she is now hoarding her wages that she may add a few acres more to those she has already. A few years hence, these lands will be valuable and the owners will realize something from their sale, if they do not wish to retain them.
“This city is the western terminus of railroads to be located across this state, and it is ardently hoped and expected that ere many years the shrill whistle of the iron horse will be heard among the bluffs of the Missouri. There are two newspapers published here and both are well sustained, I am told. There are two church edifices nearly completed, Methodist and Congregational. Each has a settled pastor and services are held regularly on Sundays. The people who settle here are mostly from the east, and are nearly all Americans; consequently we have an intelligent, well-ordered community. Omaha, the capital of Nebraska, is situated directly opposite, on the western bank of the Missouri, and in full view of this city. It now contains about four hundred inhabitants.
“A. B.”
The personal reminiscences of Mrs. Bloomer given above show very fully that, in removing to Council Bluffs, she did not give up any of her wonted zeal in behalf of those reforms to which so much of her life had been devoted. She continued to write for the Lily so long as its publication was kept up, and the productions of her pen frequently appeared in the columns of the city papers, and of other papers in the state and throughout the Union.
LIFE IN COUNCIL BLUFFS.
But the first months of her life in Council Bluffs were quiet ones. They gave her opportunity to gain the much needed rest which years of labor and activity had rendered necessary. She spent many hours in roaming over the bluffs and valleys. Life seemed to have opened a new page for her, and in its daily duties she found sufficient employment. The population of the city was small and social intercourse amongst its members, as in all new western communities, was pleasant and unconventional. Everybody knew everybody else, and all whose characters were clean and untarnished met each other on a footing of perfect equality. All attended the same church and all joined in the same festivities. It was in many respects an ideal state of society; being far away from railroads and the great centres of population, there was great exemption from the cares and anxieties of older communities. Housekeeping was the first duty that fell upon Mrs. Bloomer, and she strove to make her new home pleasant and inviting. It soon became the resort of many new as well as old friends. People coming to the city very often desired to meet her and she always received them kindly, extending to all a generous welcome. With her husband she early joined with others in the organization of a literary club, taking an active part in its proceedings.
AGAINST STRONG DRINK.
Mrs. Bloomer had begun her public life in New York state as an advocate of Temperance. She had opposed at all times the use as a beverage of intoxicating drinks in all their various forms, and in her adopted state she continued the earnest advocate of these ideas and principles. She wrote and spoke when called for in their advocacy and defense. When a lodge of Good Templars was organized in 1856, she became an active member and continued her membership in it so long as it was kept up.