Historic Omaha

of Acting Governor Thomas B. Cuming. This
claim jumper was repeatedly dunked in the icy
Missouri River until he agreed to give up his
claim. Other interlopers had the skull and
crossbones scrawled on their cabin doors,
warning them to leave. A pair of horse thieves
was hanged north of Florence. Justice was swift
but not always evenly applied.
In the meantime, the first inhabitants of
this land were still a presence and, outside of
the narrowly defined city limits, the prairie
remained home to buffalo herds and Native
American hunters. Intertribal warfare also
continued, with the Sioux a constant threat to
smaller, more peaceful, tribes like the Omaha.
Logan Fontenelle continued to lead the
Omaha tribe. While more frequently in Bellevue
or at the newly created Omaha reservation,
Fontenelle was well known to the early settlers
of Omaha and was often employed as interpreter
by military and political officials. This popular
young man bridged the gap between his French
father and Omaha mother, sometimes riding
wildly to the hunt, sometimes dressed in white
man’s clothing attending a parley.
In June 1855 he became separated from
his tribal hunting party. He was surrounded
by a Sioux war band, said to include the
young warrior Crazy Horse on his first
raid, and Fontenelle was killed by his
traditional enemies. His name lives on in
Omaha in the names of streets, parks, schools,
and a remarkable urban forest.
There were only twenty buildings in Omaha
the year Fontenelle died, but both the
structures and the population were rapidly
increasing. In 1857 the Third Territorial
✧
Above: The Herndon House hotel was built
on the northeast corner of Ninth and
Farnam in 1856 by Dr. George Miller. This
building later became headquarters for
Union Pacific Railroad.
COURTESY OF THE DOUGLAS COUNTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.
Below: Florence was founded in 1854 on the
site of the Mormon Winter Quarters of
1846-47. J. S. Paul’s mercantile is shown
here in 1899.
COURTESY OF THE DOUGLAS COUNTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.
CHAPTER II
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