Council Bluffs
The Missouri River town Lincoln picked to start the transcontinental railroad, on a live webcam.
About this view
Council Bluffs faces Omaha across the Missouri, and it owes its whole shape to one decision: Abraham Lincoln designated it the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific, the starting line of the first transcontinental railroad. He had met the engineer Grenville Dodge here in 1859, before the presidency.
The trains still define the place. The first line reached town in 1862, five had converged by 1870, and the first rail bridge across the Missouri opened in March 1872. Freight moves through this corridor around the clock.
The town takes its name from an 1804 council between the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Otoe, held on bluffs upriver. Central time, UTC−6; long summer evenings are the pick of the year here.
