In 1865 the Union Pacific Railroad laid its original track about thirty feet south of here, extending from the Missouri River in Omaha, south up Mud Creek to Papillion Creek, and then northwesterly along West Papillion Creek. Chief Engineer Peter A. Dey had proposed a more direct route to the Elkhorn Valley, but Union Pacific Vice President Dr. Thomas Durant and consulting engineer Silas Seymour chose the Papillion Creek alternative instead, 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. After E. H. Harriman gained control of the Union Pacific in 1897, he began modernization that included construction of the Lane Cut-off along Dey's original route. The cut-off opened in 1908 and reduced 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, and rail customers in Millard are served from the west end of the original main line at Lane Junction in west Omaha.