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26-554: The hotel was originally named for Lieutenant William Lewis Herndon of the U.S. Navy whose exploration of the Amazon River in the early 1850s captivated the United States. Billed as the best hotel in town, it was one of the finest between Chicago, Illinois and San Francisco , California . The building had more than 100 rooms and featured a fine menu for visitors, including clams and oysters, as well as local game. Numbered among

52-622: A United States expedition to the Valley of the Amazon, and prepared a report published in 1854 and distributed widely as Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon . He was noted especially for ensuring the rescue of 152 women and children when commanding the commercial mail steamer Central America in September 1857. During a three-day hurricane off the coast of North Carolina, the ship lost power. Herndon arranged for getting some women and children safely off

78-546: A borrowed bolt of muslin for a curtain. Julia Dean Hayne, a leading actress of the time, played the title role. Responding to President Abraham Lincoln 's call for soldiers to fight in the Civil War , on May 18, 1861 the newly appointed Nebraska Territory governor, Alvin Saunders , issued a proclamation calling for the immediate raising and equipping of a regiment. The men were mustered into Companies A and B, and were sworn in on

104-612: A contingent including Standing Hawk, No Knife, Young Crane, Little Hill and others stayed at the Herndon for several days, bound for Washington, D.C. to see President James Buchanan . A. J. McCune, one of the early operators of the hotel, also ran the Douglas House , another early Omaha hotel. In 1860 the dining room of the Hendron House hosted for the first dramatic performance in Omaha, with

130-537: A distress signal in hopes another ship would see them. At 2 p.m., the West Indian brig Marine arrived to help take passengers from the stricken steamer. It did not have room to take on all of the passengers and crew. Commander Herndon supervised the difficult loading of women and children into lifeboats to transfer to the Marine . He gave one of the women passengers his watch to send to his wife, saying that he could not leave

156-627: The American Union Telegraph Company. In 1880 the A&;P obtained a court injunction to prevent the UP action. Through several complex transactions, which included patent negotiations with inventor Thomas Edison , financier Jay Gould acquired sufficient shares of A&P stock to obtain control of the company by 1875. (During this time, Gould was also increasing his ownership in the UP, which he ended up controlling by 1880.) Gould's takeover

182-721: The California gold fields to cities on the East Coast and the US Mint in Philadelphia. ( Central America had recently been renamed from George Law . Aspinwall was the American settlers' name for Colón, Panama .) Herndon was carrying perhaps 15 tons of gold (then worth $ 2,000,000) and 474 passengers, many of whom were from California and were returning to the East Coast, as well as 101 crew members. A few days after leaving Cuba on 7 September 1857,

208-529: The builder replied $ 1000 a day. Train said, "Show me you are worth it. I will be back to Omaha in 60 days and expect to sleep in the building." The Cozzens House Hotel was finished upon his return. After the Herndon House closed in 1870, the Union Pacific Railroad leased the building for use as its first general headquarters, and in 1875 the railroad bought the building outright for $ 42,000. In 1878

234-531: The building was completely renovated for $ 54,000. The offices on the first floor included UP officials in charge of land, express, and coal departments, as well as the Division Superintendent and train dispatcher offices. The auditor, cashier, general superintendent, general freight, ticket agents and paymaster's offices were located on the second floor, and the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company occupied

260-720: The city of Pará , Brazil on 11 April 1852. On 26 January 1853, Herndon submitted an encyclopedic and illustrated 414-page report to the Secretary of the Navy John P. Kennedy . The report was published by the Navy in 1854 as Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon . The Navy ordered "10,000 additional copies be printed for the use of the Senate." It was circulated extensively, and cited in works on ethnology and natural history. After two years of active service on Potomac and San Jacinto , Herndon

286-589: The company in 1854. The company's stated objective was to build a telegraph system extending from the East Coast to the West Coast . In 1869 A&P leased telegraph lines from the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and the Central Pacific Railroad , in exchange for company shares. Subsequently, the UP attempted to retake control of the lines in order to lease them to an additional, competing telegraph company,

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312-400: The financial Panic of 1857 in the United States. The wreckage of the ship was discovered in a 1987 treasure recovery expedition. Herndon's memory has been honored in various ways: Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company The Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company (A&P) was an American communications company that operated in the 19th century. The Maine Legislature chartered

338-516: The first construction related to the development of the First transcontinental railroad , which began in Omaha. By 1868 the building was billed as the International Hotel. In May 1867 eccentric railroad promoter George Francis Train was staying at the Herndon House when a windstorm hit the building. Train requested an African American steward in the hotel to stand with his back to the window he

364-405: The guests were political figures, soldiers, railroad men, Indian chiefs, river-boat men, and ranchers. They included William T. Sherman , Major General Grenville M. Dodge , James E. Boyd , David Butler , Alvin Saunders , General John Milton Thayer , Brigham Young , Thomas C. Durant , P. T. Barnum , J. Sterling Morton and P. W. Hitchcock . In 1858 Logan Fontenelle , Joseph LaFlesche , and

390-629: The lawn south of Herndon House. In 1862 General James Craig stationed the headquarters of the Military District of Nebraska at the hotel. This placement is credited with eventually leading to the placement of the Omaha Quartermaster Depot , Fort Omaha , and the Department of the Platte in the city. On December 2, 1863 the hotel hosted a massive celebration, including a banquet and ball, for

416-535: The safe and accurate navigation of the seas. During the Mexican–American War , Herndon commanded the brig Iris with distinction. In 1851, Herndon headed an expedition exploring the Valley of the Amazon , a vast area uncharted by Europeans, although inhabited for thousands of years by numerous tribes of indigenous peoples. The purpose of the expedition was to ascertain the commercial resources and potential of

442-485: The ship encountered a three-day hurricane off Cape Hatteras . The hurricane steadily increased in force. By 12 September, the Central America was shipping water through several leaks due to the ship's lack of water-tight bulkheads and general unseaworthiness. Water in her hold put out her boiler fires, eliminating steam for propulsion pumps. Herndon recognized that his ship was doomed; he flew its flag upside down as

468-409: The ship to another vessel. With no way to save the ship, Herndon chose to stay with more than 400 passengers and crew who drowned as the ship sank off Cape Hatteras on September 12. It was the largest loss of life in a commercial ship disaster in United States history. Two years later, his daughter Ellen Lewis Herndon married Chester A. Arthur , the future U.S. president. William Lewis Herndon

494-405: The ship while there was a soul on board. Most of the women and children reached safety on the Marine . Herndon's concern for his passengers and crew helped save 152 of the 575 people on board. Men on the Central America tried to break up wooden parts to use as floats, in hopes of surviving the sinking. Some were rescued later by passing vessels, but most of the 423 persons on board died in what

520-488: The third story. After vacating the building in 1911, the railroad used it as a storehouse until 1922, when it was demolished. 41°15′29″N 95°55′41″W  /  41.258°N 95.928°W  / 41.258; -95.928 William Lewis Herndon Commander William Lewis Herndon (25 October 1813 – 12 September 1857) was one of the United States Navy 's outstanding explorers and seamen. In 1851 he led

546-565: The valley. Departing Lima, Peru , 21 May 1851, Herndon, in the company of Lieutenant Lardner Gibbon and five other men, pressed into the jungles. After crossing the Cordilleras , Gibbon separated to explore the Bolivian tributaries of the Amazon while Herndon continued to explore the main trunk. After a journey of 4,366 miles (7,026 km), which took him through the wilderness from sea level to heights of 16,199 feet (4,937 m), Herndon reached

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572-584: Was assigned in 1855 as commander of the Atlantic Mail Steamship Company steamer SS Central America , on the New York to Aspinwall, Panama, run. Navy captains were assigned to command the mail steamers on the Atlantic and Pacific runs; the ships were operated and maintained by companies under contract to the federal government. At the time, such mail steamers transported large quantities of gold from

598-531: Was born on 25 October 1813 in Fredericksburg, Virginia , to Elizabeth (née Hull) and Dabney Herndon. His father was a cashier. He married Frances Elizabeth Hansborough and they had a daughter, Ellen Lewis Herndon (future wife of Chester A. Arthur), born in Culpeper Court House, Virginia . His great-niece was the novelist Lucy Herndon Crockett . Herndon was appointed midshipman on 1 November 1828. He

624-580: Was promoted to passed midshipman in 1834 and lieutenant in 1841. He cruised in Pacific, South American, Mediterranean, and Gulf waters from then until 1842. From 1842 to 1846, Herndon served in the Depot of Charts and Instruments of the US Naval Observatory with his first cousin and brother-in-law, Matthew Fontaine Maury . They prepared oceanographic charts and performed other scientific work invaluable to

650-413: Was sitting by, fearing the wind would blow it in and expecting the steward to block the glass with his own body. The hotel steward objected, and Train became angry and declared he would build a better hotel within 60 days. That same day Train bought the lot across the street from the Herndon House and secured a builder. Train asked how much it would cost to construct a three-story, 120 room establishment, and

676-400: Was the largest loss of life for a commercial ship in United States history. Survivors of the disaster reported last seeing Commander Herndon in full uniform, standing by the wheelhouse with his hand on the rail, hat off and in his hand, with his head bowed in prayer as the ship gave a lurch and went down. The ship disaster and loss of so much gold, which banks still depended on, contributed to

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