 The Missouri was the reason Omaha was founded , and continued to be important to the city 's growth for many years . In 1853 William D. Brown had the first vision for the city , leading him to found the Lone Tree Ferry crossing the Missouri River from Council Bluffs , Iowa . Later the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company hired Alfred D. Jones to <unk> Omaha City , which was among the first settlements in the Nebraska Territory . Along with the Lone Tree Ferry Landing in Downtown Omaha , other ferries were established in the Omaha area at Florence , Saratoga and Bellevue . Large steamboats would carry provisions up the Missouri from St. Louis , <unk> the warehouses in <unk> Canyon and loading the trains of the Union Pacific and at the Omaha <unk> Depot , which in turn supplied the U.S. Army 's Department of the Platte . 
