Approximately thirty feet south of here in 1865 the Union Pacific
Railroad laid its original
track extending from the Missouri River in Omaha, south up Mud
Creek to Papillion Creek,
and northwesterly along West Papillion Creek. Although Chief Engineer
Peter A. Dey had
proposed a more direct route to reach the Elkhorn Valley, Union
Pacific Vice President Dr.
Thomas Durant and consulting engineer Silas Seymour instead selected
the Papillion Creek
alternative, adding nine miles to the line. Durant was accused
of making the change to
obtain additional government subsidies, but he defended the Papillion
route as having
gentler grades than the Dey route.
When E. H. Harriman gained control of the Union Pacific in
1897 he began modernization,
including construction of the Lane Cut-off following Dey's original
route. The cut-off opened
in 1908, relegating the Durant line to a secondary role. Between
1988 and 1994, 7.3 miles of
track on the original Durant line between Gilmore and Millard
were removed. Rail customers
in Millard are served from the west end of the original main line
at Lane Junction in west
Omaha.
Papillion Area Historical Society
Nebraska State Historical Society, 2012
222 N Jefferson, Papillion (Sump Library)
Sarpy County
Marker 499