Omaha
City on the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska. Fogg’s wind-sledge reaches it across the frozen Platte in Around the World in Eighty Days, and the Wizard of Oz was born there.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Around the World in Eighty Days | Jules Verne | journey waypoint | A wind-sledge carries the party across the frozen Platte plain to Omaha. |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | L. Frank Baum | backdrop | The Wizard was born in Omaha and was carried to Oz by a circus balloon. |
Sub-places
Around the World in Eighty Days — Jules Verne (1872)
Source: Original · Readwise highlight
The railroad which ran through this section ascended from the south-west to the north-west by Great Island, Columbus, an important Nebraska town, Schuyler, and Fremont, to Omaha.
- Role: journey waypoint
- In the book: After the Sioux attack Fogg loses the train at Fort Kearney, and Fix finds Mudge and his wind-sledge. The party sails across the frozen Platte plain at about forty miles an hour, cutting the chord of the railway’s arc past Great Island, Columbus, Schuyler and Fremont, and reaches Omaha around one o’clock on 9 December, in time for a train east.
- Why it matters: The sledge run is the one improvised land crossing of the trip, regaining some of the time lost to the Sioux.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — L. Frank Baum (1900)
Source: Original · Readwise highlight
“I was born in Omaha—”
- Role: backdrop
- In the book: In the Throne Room back chamber, the unmasked Wizard tells Dorothy his history: born in Omaha, trained as a ventriloquist, then a circus balloonist whose balloon carried him off to Oz. Dorothy remarks Omaha is not far from Kansas, and he replies it is farther from here. In chapter XVII the narrator says he may have reached Omaha safely after the balloon leaves without Dorothy.
- Why it matters: Omaha is the Wizard’s real-world origin and the place he hopes to return to, anchoring the humbug in ordinary American circus life.