NEBRASKA[2] in soil and climate is quite like Kansas, though somewhat less fertile. Though opened to settlement at the same time Kansas was, emigration was mostly directed to the latter State by the slavery excitement. In 1861 the area of Nebraska was much reduced by the forming of Dakota, though it is still larger than all New England. Omaha,[3] Plattsmouth, and Nebraska City grew up as outfitting points for the commerce of the plains. All were villages in 1857. As the railway system of Iowa unerringly directed itself toward the Platte, Omaha, the capital, grew in importance; but when the terminus of the Pacific Railway was fixed there, its future was assured. From this time onward the progress of Nebraska was marked. In 1867 it came into the sisterhood of States. COLORADO was named for the great river which rises among its mountains. It was formed (1861) of portions taken from New Mexico, Utah and Kansas. Besides its mineral wealth, the raising of sheep and cattle has grown to be a great industry. In 1876 Colorado was admitted to the Union. FOOTNOTES [1] NEVADA, Spanish for "snowy," is aptly called "The Desert State." Except lead and silver it produces little or nothing. Carson, the capital, is named for Fremont's old guide. Though silver-mines were also opened in the Reese River District (Austin) the chief mineral deposits were found about Virginia City. A great rush set in there from California, where the excitement about Washoe quite rivalled, for a time, that of 1849. Here are the great Comstock, Gould and Curry and other rich silver lodes. This explains why population is chiefly concentrated in one spot in the west of the State. California is its natural outlet. In sixteen years the Comstock mines yielded over two hundred million dollars in silver bullion. [2] NEBRASKA. When I visited Nebraska (April, 1858), a few settlements were begun on the Nemaha, Saline, Big Blue, and Elkhorn, but all would not have made one good-sized town. The great tide of western travel set through Independence, Kansas City, Leavenworth and St. Joseph. In 1872 the London _Times_ openly discouraged emigration to Nebraska, urging the Red River country instead. Western Nebraska is unfertile. [3] OMAHA is six hundred miles from St. Louis by the Missouri River, five hundred from Chicago, and 1,898 from San Francisco. It has a charming site. In 1866 its population had risen to eight thousand. THE RECENT STATES. It is at least worthy of notice, in following out the law governing the movement of our people from east to west, that the great block of wilderness country which Lewis and Clarke first explored should be the last settled. The course their explorations took passes through Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington to the Pacific Ocean.