RAILROADS
[EDITORIAL COLUMN: COWLEY COUNTY, KANSAS.]
TRAVELER, FEBRUARY 12, 1879.
[FROM THE REAL ESTATE BULLETIN.]
COWLEY COUNTY KANSAS!
THE EDEN OF THE SOUTHWEST.
THE BANNER COUNTY IN THE BANNER STATE
OF THE UNIION.
Its Description, Resources, Development, and Advantages.
NOTE: THIS HAS THE USUAL STUFF WITH HERE AND THERE A FEW CHANGES.
Cowley County is one of the best wooded and watered in the State, the Arkansas and Walnut rivers and Grouse creek running the entire length of the county.
Good wells of fine water are found at from fifteen to forty five feet, and plenty of fine springs are found all over the county.
Coal has been discovered in the eastern part of the county, and there are indications that the whole western part of the county is underlaid with coal at a depth of 250 feet.
In all parts of the county the supply of the best magnesia limestone is inexhaustible. It is found at various depths below the surface, from ten to forty feet.
The county was named in honor of Matthew Cowley, a brave Kansas soldier, who died in the service at Little Rock, Arkansas, in August, 1864. It is a part of what is known as the Osage Diminished Reserve. In 1870 a treaty was made with the Osage Indians, by which this reserve was opened up for settlement under the act of Congress of July 15th, 1870. The county was organized in the summer of 1870, and Winfield, then only one cheap house, was made the County seat. The county then contained a population of about 700. The first assessment and taxation of property in the county was in 1872.
Arkansas City: Our population of nearly 1,000 inhabitants is composed of intellectual and cultivated people from the East, who have located here with the intention of staying, a fact that will speak for itself.
We have a splendid school now giving advantages to 200 pupils that cannot be excelled in any school of its grade in the county, and under the superintendence of a Wisconsin graduate. Our church organizations leave nothing to be desired in that quarter, as we have First and United Presbyterian and Methodist churches, each denomination possessing its own place of worship. A Union Sunday school is also conducted by the different
churches. The Masonic Fraternity have a lodge and Chapter, also the Knights of Honor have a lodge, and an Odd Fellows lodge is being talked up and will shortly be organized.
Our location is undeniably healthy, and the soil being of a sandy nature, mud is an "unknown quantity" with us. All kinds of business are well represented, there being some 25 business houses in town, and many of them possess stores that would be a credit to any city in the Union.
Good water is abundant in town, the city owning 4 fine wells, and most of the improved residence lots have well upon them.
At present we are without a railroad, but the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad company, the strongest corporation in the West, will build a branch of their road into this county during the summer of 1879. As the terminus of the railroad mentioned above, Arkansas City will grow with a rapidity known only to those who have witnessed the springing up of other Western towns. It will be the great distributing point for the supplies for the different agencies and military posts in the Territory south of us, and one of the greatest cattle markets in the West. When the Santa Fe Company obtain the right of way through the Nation to Fort Smith, connecting their road with the Little Rock and Fort Smith road, which will doubtless be done during the present session of Congress; and when the Territory itself is opened for settlement, which may be looked for in two or three years--the importance of Arkansas City as a commercial point can hardly be estimated.
Nor do we depend along upon these advantages.
The Arkansas river is navigable from this place to Little Rock three months in a year, and during the last two years the attention of steamboat men and speculators has been directed to the great benefits to be derived from the opening up of water transportation between the Western and Southern States.
During this time several trips have been made to Little Rock by flat boats loaded with flour and grain, and on the morning of the 30th of June, 1878, a regular river packet of 65 tons burden arrived at this place from Little Rock, having made the trip with no difficulty in eleven days--a distance of over 800 miles. Encouraged by this, and having full faith in the ultimate success of the scheme, two parties have built a steamboat at this place, the dimensions of which are 90 x 20 feet, with a capacity of fifty or sixty tons, and started with 1,000 bushels of wheat for Little Rock, February 5th, 1879.
The advantages which we claim for our town, are also to be found in the country in our immediate vicinity, such as school houses and good schools, churches, under the care of competent ministers, lyceums, grange, and other meetings are constantly on the tapis so that a live, energetic man instead of being cut off from advantages will in reality only be moving to a wider field of action in which there is room for all.
To all who may read the above facts, we would say that before buying or locating elsewhere they should give us a call and see for themselves.
In another part of this paper will be found a partial list of city and other property in our hands for sale, among which are some of the best and cheapest investments to be found anywhere.
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[PUSHING RAILROAD THROUGH THE INDIAN TERRITORY.]
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1880 - FRONT PAGE.
Mr. Ryan has introduced a bill which is designed to take the place of one concerning which I have written you, and the purpose of which is to permit the several railroad companies that have constructed their roads up to the line of the Indian Territory to build through the Territory, to condemn the right of way to the extent of a hundred feet on each side of the track, and also take material from the adjacent lands, sites for depot purposes, etc. This is a sensible and practical measure, and one that ought to become a law. Should the bill become a law, the Santa Fe road would doubtless push its line from Arkansas City through the Territory at an early day. It will receive strong support whatever its ultimate fate may be.
Champion.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, FEBRUARY 26, 1879.]
If the Legislature is very anxious to make a record on the R. R. question, let it legislate to reduce the rates of the Pulman Palace Car Company. When it costs a traveler more to lodge overnight in a sleeper than to occupy a bed at the best hotel in New York City, it is time a change was made.
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[EDITORIAL COLUMN: THE SANTA FE WILL BE BUILT.]
TRAVELER, MARCH 5, 1879.
THE SANTA FE WILL BE BUILT.
The Riggs' Railroad Bill before the House has failed on its final passage, and this will probably be the end of it. Wichita merchants are now driven to acknowledge that the road will soon leave them, and are making every effort to secure an air line from Oswego.
The Cowley & Sumner road will push for the south line of the State, and the people of Cowley county will soon have a home market. Some of our citizens in anticipation of this event think they foresee a glorious future in exhorbitant prices for town lots and real estate generally. Now, in our opinion, no method more sure to defeat the growth and prosperity of this little town can be adopted than to push the price of town lots three fold their value. The days of extravagant speculation in town lots on the frontier have fortunately passed away, though they brought to many the lessons of the fool and his money.
MORE SAID...I SKIPPED.
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[REPORT FROM "I. H. B." - TOPEKA, KANSAS.]
TRAVELER, MARCH 5, 1879.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, TOPEKA, KAS., Feb. 24, 1879.
The vote on the Railroad bill introduced by Mr. Riggs of Lawrence was lost on Saturday, Feb. 22nd, by vote of 58 yeas and 51 nays, there being 129 members. It will take 65 to carry. A large number of members had left to spend Sunday at home. An effort was made to reconsider, but on a motion to that effect a motion was made to lay the motion to reconsider on the table. Motion overruled by Mr. Clark, speaker of the House.
This morning Clark of Montgomery offered a motion to suspend the rules and go into committee of the whole to transact regular business. The object was to prevent any action on the R. R. bill until after the trains had arrived with absent members.
Mr. Biddle of Lynn county opposed to the bill, agreed to take no action until 4 o'clock, this afternoon, general consent of the House given to this agreement and the House has now got down to business and is acting on bills very rapidly. But things will be at fever heat again this afternoon when the R. R. question comes up.
Mr. Grifenstien of Wichita has voted with us against the bill although he says his private interest would prompt him to favor the bill, being interested in real estate in Wichita; and if the bill carried, it would prevent the extension of the
A. T. & S. F. R. R. and thus benefit him, but believing the general prosperity of the State would be checked by such legislation, he voted against his private interests. All honor to such men. That is the right kind of stuff to make our public men of that will vote for the true interest of the State regardless of the effect on themselves. I am in hopes I can send you by tomorrow's mail that the bill is lost.
Yours, etc.
I. H. B.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, MARCH 12, 1879.]
The Southern Kansas and Western R. R., an off-shoot of the
L., L. & G., have a petition around to call an election to vote bonds to construct a line of road from Independence to Winfield by the 1st of March, 1880, and to the west line of the county by the 1st of May in the same year.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, MARCH 12, 1879.]
We had the pleasure of meeting Gen. Blair, of Ft. Scott, and Hon. W. P. Hackney, of Winfield, on Sunday last. The gentlemen represent the interest of the L. L. and G. R. R. extension through Cowley county.
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[KANSAS NEWS.]
TRAVELER, MARCH 19, 1879.
The L., L & G. corps of engineers are surveying the new route from Independence westward.
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[COMMUNICATION FROM "A. J. W." - NEW MEXICO.]
TRAVELER, MARCH 19, 1879
FROM NEW MEXICO.
SANTA FE, MARCH 5th, 1879.
I am away from home and friends (in a strange land and among strange people). The following will give you some idea of the country and people.
Santa Fe is entirely surrounded by mountains and is indeed a beautiful place. Almost all the inhabitants are Mexicans. There is not to exceed one half dozen Americans within our City. A great many are half breeds (half Indian and half Mexican). They are pleasant and agreeable people, and as a rule well educated.
We have enough churches to civilize a country. There are seven Catholic and three protestant churches. One church [Catholic], stands as a real curiosity, being two hundred and some years old. The Cathedral church is built very beautiful, and has a capacity of seating over one thousand, and they are building it much larger. Another church near a convent is also very beautiful. The windows were brought from Rome. They are a different color, with images of Mary, Jesus, and all the saints. The house is of stone, and there is some very fine work on it. A seminary is almost completed. It is about four times as large as the Central Hotel.
The most of our businessmen are Jews. Things are very cheap here considering the distance we are obliged to freight them, being two hundred miles from any railroad. They will finish the tunnel through the Rattoon [? Raton ?] Mountains in the spring, and if so, in April we will have a railroad within seventy-five miles of Santa Fe, at Las Vegas. I spoke of things being cheap; good prints twelve yards for one dollar; groceries very cheap, canned fruit (pound cans), 25 cents, butter 50 cents per lb., and eggs 50 cents per dozen.
It is rather dull at the present. The place is stocked with carpenters. There is only one blacksmith shop in the city. Blacksmiths command from fifty to one hundred dollars per month and board working for the stage companies. There are but two drug stores.
We obtain our wood by the burro load, it being ready for the fireplace. Twenty-five cents a load in pleasant weather and seventy-five cents to a dollar in wet weather.
There is nothing amusing just now, as it is lent, and we have to sober down for forty days. No weddings, no dances, in fact, nothing. Yes, I had forgotten one exciting thing that occurs next Saturday, in which all the ladies of the city are supposed to be interested in, and turn out to, "a horse race." Horse races, dances, rooster-fight, and mass is "the thing" here.
Closing, I wish the Traveler success.
Your Subscriber,
A. J. W.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, MARCH 26, 1879.]
The Boston Journal says the iron has been purchased for the extension of the Atchison Road from Wichita to this place. Good enough. Get ready to send your fall crop off on the rail.
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[SANTA FE RAILROAD.]
TRAVELER, MARCH 26, 1879.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.
We understand that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company have contracted for 80,000 tons of rails, with other material, for the purpose of building a branch, starting at Emporia and running through Greenwood, Elk, and Chautauqua counties to the South line of the State of Kansas, at or near Arkansas City, with a branch from Winfield to Wellington in Sumner county, for which bonds have been voted in Cowley and Sumner counties. This makes about 165 miles of new construction. Subscriptions for the money to build these branches will be offered to the stockholders of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company during this month. Boston Journal.
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[PERSONALS.]
TRAVELER, APRIL 2, 1879.
Good news! Good news!! The Santa Fe railroad officials gave us a call yesterday afternoon, and assure us that work will commence at Wichita on the Cowley and Sumner R. R. extension immediately.
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[EDITORIAL COLUMN.]
TRAVELER, APRIL 9, 1879.
The Extension of the Arkansas Road Down the Valley.
The people of a county whose producers have raised 2,000,000 bushels of wheat may well rejoice that work has actually commenced upon the branch, which is to give them railroad communication with the eastern and western world. The Atchison road having failed in no promise heretofore given, true to the promise of its official, has commenced the permanent location of its road bed and will follow immediately with the shovels and we can predict with a certainty that the agreement will be filled to more than the letter. And by the time this road shall have reached us, the western end of the A. T. & S. F. will have penetrated the Rocky Mountains sufficiently to open up a grand market for our supplies, and to supply us with coal, cheaper than we can buy wood today. Nothing is truer than that "Money makes the mare go" and the Atchison road has the money and the brains to grasp the trade of Southwestern Kansas and outstrip all rivals for our favor.
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A band of Poncas have held a conference with Gen. Crook, and protest against being sent south to the Indian Territory. The General said they must go, that no power this side of Washington could keep them there.
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A Fair Valuation of State Property.
We want it. Let us look at statistics of 1878, merchandise show but 53,757,465. Atchison with large wholesale houses had but 168,870 of merchandise as average amount on hand for tax, ecah city follows in the same proportion. In the whole State only 61,330 in judgments and about one million taxable notes. There is only shown to be an average of one dollar a head on the population of the State in money on hand 1st of March. Sum it up now and see if there is not a fault somewhere: 15,000,000 railroad property over 7,000,000 in horses, eight million in cattle, one million in wagons, and two million in farming implements, and only four and one-half millions in money and merchandise. There is a screw loose somewhere. The farming community of the State ought not to pay so large a majority of the taxes.
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[ANOTHER EDITORIAL: TRAVELER, APRIL 9, 1879.]
THE ATCHISON ROAD.
That William B. Strong is preeminently the right man in the right place he has himself demonstrated, but not more positively than have the Boston capitalists, who, in placing their millions at his command, have enabled him as their trusted representative to do that for the development of Kansas City's future which must make his name and his fame dearer to us than that of many who by words and not deeds would win their way to a place in history to which posterity will point with pride. Under Mr. Strong's management the Santa Fe has become the leading road in miles, earnings, and future in the West. It plays the second fiddle no longer.
We clip the above from the Kansas City Times, only a paragraph from a column article in regard to Mr. Strong and his management of the A. T. & S. F. for the purpose of showing our people the kind of man who now proposes to build a branch of the road to our city, and to build it soon. No better guarantee could be had that we shall have the road for our next crop than that Mr. Strong says so. Mr. Strong has not yet failed to keep every promise he has made and to accomplish everything that he has undertaken since he has been principal manager of the Atchison road. There will be no failure, no let up. The road will come to us as sure as the sun shines.
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[EDITORIAL COLUMN.]
TRAVELER, APRIL 16, 1879.
THE RAILROAD QUESTION.
The spring of 1879 has opened upon the citizens of Cowley county with very encouraging prospects. With a population greater in numbers than Shawnee county, and a people who compare favorably in general intelligence with those in older States, we are fifty miles from a railroad. The present season gives assurance of an early change. The A. T. S. F. R. R. are now engaged in running the permanent survey from Wichita to Arkansas City, and this month the Company will commnce throwing dirt. We have been careful in our issues of the TRAVELER, to avoid raising the expectations of the reader above reasonable probabilities, but we run no risk in now saying to the public that the Cowley, Sumner & Fort Smith R. R. will reach Arkansas City before the first of January next. This is the road we need above all others, as it is capable of returning us greater blessings. While an east line may be an advantage to special localitites, it will greatly increase our public debt, and prove of little, or no advantage, to the county. While a home market is an absolute necessity to our people, the Cowley, Sumner & Ft. Smith road will supply that demand, and we can derive no benefit from an east line from the fact that two roads or more can, and generally do, fix their rates as absolute as a single line. Besides, Cowley county is yet in her infancy and cannot afford to wade headlong into debt. Our taxes will be large enough with the single road. If we place upon this county a mammoth debt, we will send her headlong into oblivion, and where we hope to see prosperity and cities thriving, we will inaugurate a condition that will drive out capital and leave us hopelessly poor. There are counties in Kansas, in that precise situation, and can we afford to follow their example? Even now, there is pending in the U. S. Court of Kansas a suit brought by the bondholders to compel the commissioners of Leavenworth and Douglas counties to levy tax to pay the indebtedness of those counties which the people in mass convention have declared their inability to do. What is the result as shown in Leavenworth and Lawrence today? Simply this. Where there should be live and busy streets, there is almost the stillness of death. Men who were once in trade at those points have gone to other towns to escape the confiscation of the tax collector. Remember there is such a thing as over doing this business and fixing the yoke upon our own necks that we hew out for others to wear. Yet farther than all this, if we keep our county from heavy indebtedness, a population of enterprise and wealth will crowd upon us, and the immense products of Cowley will be tempting to east lines, and soon they will be in our midst, not for bonds, but asking for a share of our transportation. We stand in the open door of a prosperous future if we but exercise judgment and caution.
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[FROM WINFIELD CORRESPONDENT.]
TRAVELER, April 23, 1879.
It seems so singular that any intelligent clod-hopper should even question the advisability of voting more bonds. We have now only $144,000 of railroad bonds, $50,000 County bonds, eighty school districts with bonded indebtedness, ranging from $500 to $10,000, and bridge bonds enough to impoverish Jay Gould. The puppit took up the howl two years since and screached itself hoarse preaching to ignorant farmers the God given truth, that bonded indebtedness was the true way to eternal glory. Every town lot man, banker, lawyer, and doctor took the mania, and carried the "North and South" road. Then all went lovely until one fine morning they found the Emporia road in jail; electioneering money gone, and the under lip of howling, blatant Priest and Levite hung six inches below their chin.
Something must be done, town lots down, and many will have to go to work unless some other bait can be thrown out to catch gudgeons. "Lord help me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more," was offered up before toast at many a table. Their prayer was answered by the Santa Fe. A shout went up, "Why had we not thought of it before! I always knew that would be the first road into Cowley."
The Atchison sent its agents into every corner of Cowley, for the old screachers were about played out. The fresh actors succeeded in proving beyond a doubt that to give $144,000, and pay seven percent, was a genuine speculation, as the taxes would pay principal and interest in twenty years. Figures won't lie. And the Mayor of Topeka came to Cowley as an opponent of bonds; but would be just a little pleased if we would only vote these, as it would make Topeka, and in the course of his three hours harangue, convinced everyone that if the road was built, the trade of Cowley would go down the river, and the poor innocent souls--good sturdy farmers--rushed to the polls and by a rousing majority gave the Atchison road $144,000. Now we have her sure, "Hurrah for the engine." But stop a moment, friend: "A rose by any other name smells just as sweet."
The Legislature meets, and one member from this county had the manliness and independence (All honor to E. C. Manning) to offer a bill, the effect of which was that a farmer could retain his sacks after giving the road his wheat. "That bill must be killed or we will not build the road," says the General Manager and President of the Atchison road. Delegation after delegation left Winfield and Arkansas City to kill the bill, and to the eternal disgrace of every member who voted against it, be it said they succeeded.
Nothing more was said of the road, or thought of it, until up comes another proposition to give some other road anywhere from $65,000 to $150,000. Now the engineers begin to work, or at least one man with a wheel barrow, is running a line into Sumner, then he will shoot back to Winfield, thence, if he lives long enough, south to the State line--crossing the Arkansas river three times in going fifty-five miles.
In all seriousness, fellow farmers, can you afford to be thus taken in many times more! Can you afford to give of your hard-earned taxes to corporations that can "bulldoze" your Legislature for or against any legislation that may be for your interest?
Are you willing that a few men shall be enriched at the expense of your families?
Are you willing longer to be made the butt of ridicule, and branded as a set of apes that can be cajoled into voting anything that some codfish-smelling Yankee may suggest?
MORE ANON,
*****
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, APRIL 23, 1879.]
The Daily Telegram says we oppose that L. L. & G. road because it is coming to Winfield, and that we would tear our shirt if it was coming to Arkansas City. Quite a mistake, my boy. We would not give a cent for a garment in that condition. We are not at all envious of Winfield, and are proud that she is in Cowley county, though we can see no reason why the people who reside outside the corporation should not enjoy a breath of air. Our motto is "Live and let live," and we think there is plenty of room in Cowley for both towns, even were they much larger. We have no desire to do injustice to others, and our imagination is not morbid while we see in the future both towns growing into one, with a Grand Central Depot in Posy Valley, and ships from all nations rolling the waters of the noble Arkansas!!!!
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[KANSAS NEWS - FRONT PAGE.]
TRAVELER, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 1879.
A new locomotive for the A. T. & S. F. road has just been completed at the Baldwin locomotive works. It is called "Uncle Dick," and weighs 65 tons and is said to be the largest locomotive in the world.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, APRIL 30, 1879.]
The Surveying Corps of the Cowley Sumner & Fort Smith R. R. came into town last Friday and ran a line from the east side of the town on to the State line.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, APRIL 30, 1879.]
A three mile grade north of Winfield, on the Cowley, Sumner & Ft. Smith R. R., has been let to contractors.
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[EDITORIAL PAGE: R. R. WITHIN THE NEXT NINETY DAYS.]
TRAVELER, MAY 7, 1879.
HO! FOR ARKANSAS CITY, KANSAS!
THE R. R. TO BE BUILT TO THIS PLACE WITHIN THE NEXT
NINETY DAYS!
Croakers and Soreheads get off the Track or you Will Fall
Under the Wheels of the Old Santa Fe!
Hurrah for the Busy Mart of the South West!
Sixty-nine car loads of R. R. iron have arrived at Wichita, to be used on the extension of the Cowley & Sumner R. R. to Arkansas City. With the improvement of the Arkansas river, and the railroad finished to this place, Arkansas City will soon become the most important point in the Southern tier of counties. Having no east or cross road to cut through our city, with way stations every few miles to divide our trade, business will concentrate here, and soon this will become the great Emporium of the South West. Mind that!
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[EDITORIAL PAGE: THE STEAM BOAT.]
TRAVELER, MAY 7, 1879.
THE STEAM BOAT.
The Steamer "None Such," the first boat of the season from the Lower Arkansas, reached this port of entry last Wednesday evening. She is a light draft boat, drawing but eight inches, with side wheels, and designed exclusively for the upriver trade. Capt. Cotton tells us that he met the rise in the river about sixty miles below here, though he feels confident that he could easily have made this port with his trim little steamer, at low water mark.
He passed the Steamer "Cherokee" on her way down, near the Pawnee Landing. The steamer will remain here for two or three days when she will load with one thousand sacks of wheat and return to the lower country.
The "Fletcher," the "Big Rock," and the "Water Witch," are all billed for this port on the mountain rise, and will bring up shingles, lumber, etc., and return with wheat to supply the Dardanelle and Little Rock market.
This is an enterprise that will develop our country, and the beautiful part of the scheme is that Congress is disposed to give us the requisite aid to improve the navigation of the Arkansas without bonds or pledges. As No. 2 wheat is always worth one dollar at Little Rock, farmers can sow a broad acreage this fall, feeling reasonably certain that our home market will, in the future, reward their industry.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, MAY 14, 1879.]
James L. Huey, W. D. Roberts, and W. B. Norman have been appointed by the District Court of Cowley county the committee to condemn the right of way for the Cowley, Sumner & Fort Smith R. R. through this county.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, MAY 14, 1879.]
Keep it before the people that the Cowley, Sumner & Fort Smith R. R. will reach here the coming fall. The appropriation for the Arkansas river will be used in improving navigation this season, and hence, two highways to market will be secured. Now is the time to make investments of capital in this city, and those who take advantage of these circumstances will become the fortunate ones.
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[EDITORIAL PAGE: COWLEY & SUMNER R. R., ETC.]
TRAVELER, WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1879.
Keep it before the people that ground will be broken for the grade on the Cowley & Sumner R. R. between Arkansas City and Winfield by the first of July next. The boom is heard all along the line that Arkansas City, with her superior advantages for trade and her close proximity to the Indian Territory, is to become the boss town in Southwest Kansas. Bear it in mind, ye who are in search of the best locations, that no town in the Southwest has as bright prospects in the early future as this city. With the Santa Fe road at this place, controlling the shipment of vast herds of Texas cattle and a home market for everything the farmer produces, the growth of the town will be hasty and healthy. There will be no towns east, west, or south to spring up along the line of the road to divert and divide our trade at stations on an East line, as ours is but one road, and trade will naturally center at the termini.
These are facts that the thoughtful man will consider before he invests in hopes of profit. It has been the history of most towns, that cannot count their population by thousands, that the cross road has been their doom. The town that builds a lasting trade must have few rivals, and tributary to it, must be a productive country.
This is the situation at Arkansas City. On every side is spread out a garden as beautiful as Moses saw in the Promised Land. Come and enter it.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, MAY 28, 1879.]
The contractors on the Cowley, Sumner and Ft. Smith R. R. are advertising for men to work, offering to pay $1.50 per day. No need of tramps.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JUNE 4, 1879.]
The contract to grade the Sumner & Cowley R. R. has been let from El Paso to Arkansas City, and General Manager W. B. Strong said to us last Saturday evening that the road would be completed to this place by the first of next November. Hurray for the Iron Horse.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JUNE 11, 1879.]
A contractor was in town on Friday, looking over the R. R. survey, with a view of bidding on the work.
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The L. L. & G. R. R. propose to build directly west from Wellington, into Harper county. This will leave New Caldwell to lay in the shade till the morning of the Great Resurrection. Good bye, sweet child, thou hast given up the spirit ere the morning of life tasted the sweets of this beautiful world.
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[EDITORIAL PAGE.]
TRAVELER, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 1879.
The railroad war between the Santa Fe and the Rio Grande
R. R. has been brought into Federal Court and the Santa Fe Company is getting away with the baggage. This is just as we expected.
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The war between the railroads on passenger rates, running East, has reduced the fare from Kansas City to Chicago to fifty cents, and from Kansas City to St. Louis to one dollar and fifty cents, with a chromo thrown in.
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[PERSONALS.]
TRAVELER, JUNE 18, 1879.
The R. R. surveyors are locating the permanent survey between this City and Winfield.
[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JUNE 18, 1879.]
The committee appointed by the District Court to condemn the right of way through Cowley county, for the Cowley, Sumner and Fort Smith R. R., will commence work this week between Arkansas City and Winfield.
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[EDITORIAL PAGE.]
TRAVELER, JUNE 25, 1879.
The junction of the Wichita, Arkansas City, and Wellington railroad has been located on the east side of the river in Gore township, Sumner County, about nineteen miles south of Wichita and about twenty-five miles from Arkansas City. Geo. Litzenberg (Farmer Doolittle), has christened the place "Mulvane City." We understand a town is to be laid out, the shadows of whose steeples and the racket of whose business marts will make all contiguous points sick.
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[PERSONALS.]
TRAVELER, JUNE 25, 1879.
Mulvane is the name of the new town at the junction of the Cowley and Sumner R. R.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JUNE 25, 1879.]
The surveying corps of the Atchison road have been quartered at the Central Avenue for several days. They now have the line permanently located to the city. The road will pass through the city on the east side.
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[ARKANSAS CITY REPORTS VISIT BY A. T. & S. F. OFFICERS.]
MARCH 4, 1880.
On Thursday Vice-President Strong, accompanied by some of the chief officers of the A., T. & S. F., paid us a visit. Mr. Strong expressed himself as well pleased with the progress the city is making, and thinks that we will be one of the principal points on the road. Mr. Strong's views in regard to government policy as to the extension of his road is sufficiently liberal to satisfy anybody. He thinks that Congress should grant the right of way to all the roads through the Territory to make a Southern connection. He says that the A., T. & S. F. will move just as soon as the government will open the way south. We say haste the day. Ark. City Democrat.
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[LOCOMOTIVE: WINFIELD.]
MARCH 4, 1880.
We saw on the Mountain Division of the A., T. & S. F. railroad, running between Trinidad and Santa Fe, a magnificent new locomotive, bright as a dollar, with six large drive-wheels, bearing the charmed name of WINFIELD. How proudly grand that engine looked to us! We felt that our bright young city was honored among the far off mountains, and it seemed to us that we owned a share in that machine.
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NOTE: THIS HAD TO BE WRITTEN BY MILLINGTON!
[EDITOR MILLINGTON JOURNEYS ON THE K. C., L. & S. RAILROAD.]
MARCH 18, 1880.
Last week we passed over the K. C., L. & S. railroad between Grenola and Oxford, in the daytime, and had a good opportunity to inspect it. Its rails are all steel, and it is thoroughly well constructed and unusually smooth for a new road.
The rise from Grenola and the Cana valley westward to the top of the Flint ridge is one of the triumphs of engineering skill, and Maj. Gunn and his engineers may well be proud of his success. The rise of between 300 and 400 feet is effected in so strategic a manner that one scarcely realizes that he is riding uphill. In our anxiety about the possibility of building a road from the east to Winfield in past years, we spent considerable time in hunting a pass through the Flint ridge, and finally concluded the one now occupied was the best, but we never dreamed that the difficulties would ever be so completely overcome. The rise from the Grouse to Burden seems to have proved at least as difficult, but here, also, the difficulties have been as completely overcome.
Probably no road in Kansas presents so many romantic and interesting features as does the road between Grenola and Oxford.
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[EDITOR MILLINGTON VISITS OXFORD.]
MARCH 18, 1880.
Col. L. S. Hamilton invited us one day last week to go to Oxford with him. We mounted a car-load of iron, the forward car in a heavy construction train, and the engine in the rear soon pushed us over the Walnut river, the divide, and the Arkansas river, and we found ourselves at the foot of Main Street, Oxford. We had about an hour and a quarter to interview Oxford in; gravitated naturally to the Reflex office and postoffice, but did not see Gridley, Jr., P. M. and editor. He had gone to supper, and being terribly hungry, it took him the whole time to satisfy his inner man.
Oxford is growing and with its newly acquired railroad facilities, surrounded as it is by an enterprising population, and the best agricultural land in the world, will become an important town. A fine depot is in process of construction.
We came back on the engine in about twenty minutes, and are convinced that even a construction train beats the old plan of going to Oxford out of sight.
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[EDITORIAL ITEMS.]
TRAVELER, JUNE 2, 1880.
The A. T. & S. F. R. R. ran their first train into Caldwell on Saturday, of last week.
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[NEWS FROM OUR EXCHANGES.]
TRAVELER, JUNE 2, 1880.
Sumner County Press.
South Haven has unanimously agreed to vote eighteen thousand dollars in township bonds to secure the extension of the S. K. & W. R. R. from this city.
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[PROPOSED RAILROAD: CHEROKEE AND ARKANSAS RAILROAD COMPANY.]
BACK PAGE - TRAVELER, JUNE 9, 1880.
THE PROPOSED RAILROAD.
The House Railway Committee agreed, on the 6th, to report favorably a bill to incorporate the Cherokee and Arkansas railroad company with authority to construct and operate a line of railroad and telegraph from Arkansas City, in the State of Kansas, through the Indian Territory, following the general line of the Arkansas river to a point at or near Fort Smith. The capital stock is not to exceed $4,000,000 and shall be divided into shares of $100 each.
Section five of the bill has been amended in the Committee so that no lands shall be granted to the road in aid of this construction through the Indian Territory, except in conformity with existing treaties governing the relations of the United States Government with the Indian tribes living there. The section allows a hundred feet on each side of the track and twenty acres for each way station. It further provides that private property may be condemned in accordance with the law of 1864, relative to the construction of a railroad from the Missouri river to the Pacific Ocean. Ex.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JUNE 16, 1880.]
Mr. F. D. Russell, the general western freight and passenger agent of the St. Louis & San Francisco railway, favored us with a call last week. He was canvassing this section of the country in the interest of his road, with a view to securing a portion of the freight traffic, the main inducement offered by this road being a saving of time. Freight from St. Louis is delivered in this county three days sooner than by way of Kansas City, while the rates are just as cheap, if not cheaper. Mr. Russell is a wide-awake, thorough-going businessman. If all the agents and employees are of his stamp, the road is bound to work up a large business.
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[PERSONALS.]
TRAVELER, JUNE 23, 1880.
Ten carloads constituted the first shipment of cattle made from Caldwell over the A. T. & S. F. railroad on Tuesday, June 16, 1880.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JUNE 23, 1880.]
And now South Haven is considerably worked up at the prospect of having a rival town in close proximity. Hunnewell is the new burg's cognomen, and its location was fixed by the railroad company four miles south of South Haven, on the State line.
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[RAILROAD TO ARKANSAS CITY, KANSAS.]
TRAVELER, JULY 7, 1880.
RAILROAD TO ARKANSAS CITY, KANSAS.
The best way to build it is from Ft. Smith, on south side Arkansas river to where the M. K. & T. crosses the Arkansas, and then on the same bridge and up Hominy creek or the Arkansas river. The Choctaw people always desired to unite with the first road to Ft. Smith, and aid in its extension, and we believe will do the same yet. Ft. Smith (Arkansas) Elevator.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JULY 14, 1880.]
A new town west of Wellington is soon to be laid out on the line of the K. C., L. & S. railway. It will be located in the Wild Horse valley, sixteen miles west of Harper City and the same distance east of Medicine Lodge. Winfield men are the projectors.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, AUGUST 25, 1880.]
The Wellington & Western railroad now building to Anthony, Harper county, is advertising for work hands and offers $1.50 per day. John H. Thompson, of Wellington, is chief engineer.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, AUGUST 25, 1880.]
As the accommodation train was speeding along toward Winfield last Thursday morning, with some eight or nine freight cars in front of the passenger car, a coupling pin broke between the fourth and fifth freight car, when about four miles from Winfield. The engineer did not notice the accident until he had nearly reached Winfield, when he returned for the rest of the train.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, SEPTEMBER 8, 1880.]
A wash-out between Lawrence and Kansas City, on the Santa Fe road, delayed the trains last Friday. Two empty freight cars were ditched near Cottonwood station. The wind blew them down on the switch of the main track and the engine collided with them.
[HACKNEY SQUARES OFF AGAINST PYBURN.]
SEPTEMBER 9, 1880.
WINFIELD, Ks., Sept. 7, 1880.
EDS. COURIER: In the Daily Telegram of Monday is an article entitled "Two Edged Swords," in which among other falsehoods, is the following:
"Hackney during the last legislature spent the full term there. Knowing Pyburn, Hackney suggested to the Santa Fe people his employment."
This in the personal organ of Senator Pyburn, is peculiarly significant.
I did not go to Topeka as the paid attorney of any railroad company, as this article charges. The people of Cowley had no railroads. Our bonds had been voted to the Santa Fe company on condition that this company should build the road in a limited time. Before the company had effected the loans necessary to raise the money with which to build this road, the legislature met and immediately was commenced a war on the Kansas roads, seeking by legislation to take the control of them from the men who furnished the money with which to build them, and to place it in the hands of men to be appointed by the Governor.
These movements on the part of the legislature had the effect to so intimidate Boston capitalists who were to furnish the money to build our railroads, that they would not invest. The committee which had been appointed by our citizens were notified that this road could not be built if the proposed legislation should be effected.
Thereupon the committee and citizens of Winfield and Cowley county were alarmed, and applied to me to go to Topeka and try to prevent the passage of what was known as the Rigg's bill. Busy as I was at the time, and much as it cost me in the loss of valuable law business, I was prevailed upon to go for ten days. At the expiration of that time I should have returned, but for the personal solicitation of General Manager Strong, who assured me that the pending legislation was having a disastrous effect upon the attempts of the company to raise the money to build our road. At his request, I remained until some time in February, when I met the men who organized the Southwestern Kansas and Western railroad company. I was chosen one of the directors, went to Kansas City, examined into the matter, and became convinced that they meant business and could build the road.
I came home with Gen. Blair, their attorney, and the proposition to vote bonds to the east and west railroad was submitted. The proposed legislation was defeated; both roads have been built, and the people have the benefit. I have never received one nickle for the time and money I expended in securing these roads. I am still a director in the latter, having been re-elected since because, as I suppose, of their faith in my honor.
Before I went to Topeka, our people hauled their wheat and hogs 50 to 75 miles to Wichita, and there paid $45 a car to Kansas City. In consequence of the building of these two roads through the county, for the last two months our farmers have been shipping their wheat, hogs, and corn from home to Kansas City for ten dollars a car, and no hauling to Wichita, and have saved enough already to pay the bonded debt.
Then why this railroad howl against me in the Telegram? It is only to try to beat me by any means, fair or foul.
No railroad corporation or agent of one has ever approached me on the subject of what will be my course with regard to railroads if elected to the senate. No person, corporation, or firm has ever contributed one cent toward my election or the expenses connected therewith either directly or indirectly, and I never said anything to indicate otherwise. When the impersonal columns of the Telegram or its personal owner says aught to the contrary, it or he simply lies, and I mean this statement to be broad and long enough to cover every charge made in that article and that the shoe shall fit him who asserts and him who circulates these lies, let them be whom they may.
The Telegran says because I knew my man, I could get the Santa Fe people to employ him. Now I assert that Pyburn and I were not divided in opinion but stood on the same platform and acted in concert that winter. I had supposed that the company employed Pyburn because of his ability as an attorney, but the ass-tute manager of the Telegram tells us that such is not the case, but that he was appointed at my request because I knew my man. The Telegram intimates that his employment was not on account of his legal ability but for the purpose of controlling his vote on the pending legislation. This is the only inference that can be drawn from the Telegram article. Verily does Pyburn suffer from this insane zeal to vilify me. It is bad to have a fool-friend. If the Telegram keeps going, it will convince its readers that Senator Pyburn is either a fool or a knave, possibly both. I suppose that Mr. Pyburn attends to such legal business as is entrusted to him by the Santa Fe company. The firm of which I am a member does the same for the K. C. L. & S. company. We do this work for pay just as we work for other clients.
And now I pronounce the fusillade of billingsgate with which the columns of the Telegram have been filled, regarding myself, for weeks and months past, as false, malicious, cowardly, and libelous, and the authors of them characterless hypocrites and malicious scoundrels. I invite the small pack of coyotes who contribute to its columns to do their dirtiest, I expect no favors from them in this campaign and will grant none. My public services are well known to the people of the county; and if again wanted, they will elect me to the Senate in spite of such opposition. If not, I shall be content and henceforth give my individual attention to my business.
Respectfully,
W. P. HACKNEY.
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[JUDGE COLDWELL/W. P. HACKNEY.]
SEPTEMBER 9, 1880.
Judge Coldwell thinks it terribly mean for Hackney or anyone else to write to Texas inquiring about the standing of the Judge in his old "stamping ground," but Hackney does not seem to feel any alarm when anyone writes to Illinois for his record. All his old Illinois acquaintances seem to feel just as John Adams does. Hear him.
MAPLE TOWNSHIP, Cowley Co., )
Kansas, Sept. 6th, 1880. )
EDS. COURIER: On last Friday two men called at my home in my absence, and inquired for me, saying that they had learned that I was from Logan county, Illinois, and knew W. P. Hackney, and that they wanted to get an affidavit from me as to the bad character of Mr. Hackney in Illinois. They left leaving word for me to go down to Seeley, and they would leave an affidavit for me to sign, there. Now I will inform those gentry that I knew Mr. Hackney well at his old home in Illinois, and that if these gentlemen stood half as well in Kansas as he does in Illinois, they would be in better business than they are. I will support Mr. Hackney for the State Senate, as will all his old acquaintances from Illinois, the slime of the mud-slingers to the contrary notwithstanding.
JOHN ADAMS.
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[PERSONALS.]
SEPTEMBER 9, 1880.
The K. C. L. & S. railroad is completed to Harper.
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[ARKANSAS CITY DEMOCRAT ITEMS.]
SEPTEMBER 9, 1880.
The A. T. & S. F. R. R. Co. are building a new round house at Mulvane. It is to be the same size of the one here.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, SEPTEMBER 15, 1880.]
Wichita's annual fair opened yesterday, and will continue four days. The Santa Fe railroad issues tickets from Arkansas City to Wichita and return for $1.60.
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W. C. Garvey, station agent at the Santa Fe depot in Winfield, and wife, with Mr. Wilbur Dever and Miss Jennie Hane, paid the terminus a visit last Sunday.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, SEPTEMBER 15, 1880.]
The news in regard to the railroad from Arkansas City to Fort Smith is of the most important and encouraging description. As is well known to our readers, all that the Santa Fe asks from Congress is the right of way through the Territory. This came very near being granted at the last session, and the assurances were then made that with the opening of the forty-sixth Congress, one of the earliest acts of the session will be to grant this right. In conversation with agents and traders of the Cherokee Nation, we discover that the Indians are largely reconciled to the building of the road, and that the most important members of the tribe favor it. Another matter is that the Santa Fe is already doing the preliminary work, and that John E. Thomes, division engineer, will be ordered to make the preliminary survey from Arkansas City, commencing sometime this month. In less than three years Cowley county will have a great trunk-line road, uniting the Kansas system of roads with those of the South, bringing to southern Kansas greater prosperity than her citizens ever dreamed of. Winfield Monitor.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, SEPTEMBER 15, 1880.]
Parties wishing to attend the fair at Wichita, from the 14th to the 17th of September, inclusive, can purchase tickets over the A. T. & S. F. road at $1.60 for the round trip. Tickets on sale from the 13th to 17th, to be used on or before the 18th.
Those wishing to attend the Stare Fair held at Lawrence, in Bismarck Grove, September 13th to 18th, inclusive, can purchase tickets over the A. T. & S. F. raod for one-half fare for round trip. Tickets for sale from the 13th to 17th, to be used on or before the 19th.
O. INGERSOLL, Agent.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, SEPTEMBER 22, 1880.]
There will be weeping and wailing among the men who travel into this county during next month, because of the absence of the popular Santa Fe conductor, J. E. Miller. Mr. Miller has worked like a beaver this summer, making four runs per day during our hottest weather, and now that the strain is beginning to tell on him, we are glad to learn that he has been granted a vacation of a month, to take effect the 1st of October. He will go to Massachusetts, and after a few weeks of rest, will return to this country, bringing with him his wife, who is now in the old Bay State.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, SEPTEMBER 22, 1880.]
An accident that came near having a fatal termination occurred on Dr. Leonard's place last Monday morning. Two men were engaged in digging a well, and one was being drawn to the surface for some purpose. As he neared the top the windlass got out of fix, one end getting loose, and the unfortunate man was hurled to the bottom, a distance of thirty feet, badly bruising his head and hip. It is little short of a miracle that he escaped with his life.
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While the express train was speeding along between Arkansas City and Winfield last Friday, a man was seen standing on the track, eyeing the oncoming train with all the indifference imaginable. Supposing he was an escaped lunatic, the engineer "slowed up," when the man stepped off the track, grinning as if he thought he had done something smart. A well-directed chunk of coal from the fireman would have served him right.
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[PERSONALS.]
SEPTEMBER 23, 1880.
The two railroads building west into Harper county have come to an agreement and have quit work in building the roads. The K. C., L. & S. had nearly reached Harper City, and the Santa Fe was within eight miles of Anthony.
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[PERSONALS.]
OCTOBER 7, 1880.
The Santa Fe lion is gobbling up all the little railroad lambs in this vicinity. They can't bleat without suffering for it.
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[RAILROAD CONSOLIDATION: SANTA FE TO TAKE OVER K. C. L. & S.]
OCTOBER 7, 1880.
From the reports now current, it seems pretty certain that the Santa Fe company is now, or soon will be, the owner of the K. C. L. & S. road. If this is the case, the Santa Fe road now has complete control of the transportation of Southern Kansas. With its main line running through the central part of the state from East to West, its many feeders reaching out from the main line on every hand, and now possessed of another and the only line from which opposition could come, they certainly are masters of the situation.
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[PERSONALS.]
OCTOBER 14, 1880.
The reported purchase of the K. C. L. & S. road has been denied. We are glad of this. With competing lines we are sure to have reasonable rates. With both roads in the hands of one corporation, we might fare worse.
[ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILWAY COMPANY.]
TRAVELER, OCTOBER 20, 1880.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe company has bought the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern, formerly the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston. The Kansas, Lawrence & Southern is one of the old Nettleton roads, and runs from Kansas City and Lawrence in a southwesterly direction to Wellington, Kansas, near the line of the Indian Territory, which branches to Coffeyville and to Hunnewell. The distance from Lawrence to Hunnewell is 225 miles, to Wellington 237 miles. The Kansas City branch to Lawrence is 53 miles long, and the Coffeyville branch 16 miles.
The object of the Santa Fe company in securing this property, was, no doubt, for the purpose of securing a line that will be able to compete with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, which is controlled by Jay Gould. It is the intention of the Santa Fe people to extend the line as soon as possible through the Indian Territory to a connection with the Texas roads.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, DECEMBER 1, 1880.]
Last Wednesday morning J. E. Miller, the genial Santa Fe conductor, met with a rather severe accident while coupling cars at Seeley, crushing two fingers on his right hand. They were running an early stock train, and thinking to facilitate matters, he stepped between the cars for the above purpose, with the result stated. It was at first feared that he would lose the injured members, but fortunately such a course will not be necessary.
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[OUR RAILROAD STOCK.]
DECEMBER 2, 1880.
The directors of the following named roads have made an arrangement to consolidate their stocks into one corporation and management called The Kansas City, Topeka and Western Railroad company. The terms of the consolidation are, that the stock of the Kansas City, Lawrence and Southern is to be taken up at 95 cents on the dollar, the stock of the Southern Kansas and Western at 75 cents on the dollar, and the stock of the Sumner county at 75 cents, and the stock of the Kansas City, Topeka and Western substituted therefor at par. This latter stock is to be taken at par and paid for by secured 5 percent 40 year bonds of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad company. The present Lawrence, Topeka and Western railroad is the line from Kansas City to Topeka which has been operated by the A., T. & S. F. under a lease. The K. C., L. & S. is the road from Lawrence (and we think from Olathe) to Independence and Coffeyville.
The S. K. & W. is the road from Independence via Winfield to Harper; and the Sumner county is the branch from Wellington to Hunnewell. It is the S. K. & W. in which Cowley county owns $68,000 of stock. The proposition so far as it affects this county substantially involves the sale of our $68,000 of stock for $51,000 A. T. & S. F. five percent 40 year bonds.
We are inclined to think that this would be a good operation for this county. The bonds would doubtless sell at any time at par in cash while the railroad stock may never be worth more than 75 cents on the dollar and in case of a financial revulsion, it might go down to next to nothing.
There never was a time when railroad stocks were so much in demand as they are at present. The scramble of Jay Gould and several great corporations to get control of so many railroad lines by buying in a majority of their stocks has so inflated railroad stocks that they sell much above their real value. How long this state of things is going to continue cannot now be seen but it is probable that some of these operators will before long get so heavily loaded that there will be a magnificent failure like that of Jay Cook in 1873 when the bubble will burst and railroad stock such as ours will not sell for ten cents on the dollar. At the same time first mortgage and other well secured railroad bonds will be but little affected by the money stringency that would ensue for they must first be paid. The sale of a road to pay such bonds has usually frozen out the stock entirely and rendered it worthless.
We suppose the consolidation will be affected by the directors, whether our county as a stockholder in one of the roads consents or not; but we suppose the exchange of our stock for the bonds cannot be made without a vote of the people. A proposition in relation to the matter has been sent to J. S. Hunt, county clerk, to be laid before the commissioners for their action. We do not know what will be done about it, but presume the commissioners would wish to have the matter laid before the people, and would desire to have an expression from as many as possible in relation to the matter.
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[PERSONALS.]
DECEMBER 2, 1880.
The K. C., L. & S. are about putting up a wind machine to pump water for their tank at this place.
[KANSAS AND NEW ORLEANS: RAILROAD CONNECTIONS.]
TRAVELER, DECEMBER 8, 1880 - EDITORIAL PAGE.
KANSAS AND NEW ORLEANS.
RAILROAD CONNECTIONS AND TRADE RELATIONS WITH THE
GREAT WEST.
Yesterday morning a States reporter, in his perambulations, called upon Mr. J. L. Gubernator, a well-known citizen of New Orleans, and who has returned to the city after a sojourn of several months in Kansas.
Mr. Gubernator passed most of his time in Kansas with his brother at McPherson, in the southern portion of the State, on a branch of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad.
The southern or New Orleans branch [these designates are used in order to make the situation clearer] of the Atchison and Topeka leaves the main line at Newton, and has been completed as far south at Arkansas City near the northern boundary of the Indian Territory. This branch is designed to be a great road. At Mulvane, we believe, it sends one branch to run Southwesterly through the cattle regions of Texas, the other is to traverse the Indian Territory to make a junction at Texarkana with the Texas Pacific and over that with the New Orleans Pacific.
This branch has been, as has been said, completed to Arkansas City, and the only reason that it is not pushed immediately through the Indian Territory to Texarkana, via Fort Smith, is that, so far, owing to a treaty with the Indians, it has been impossible to obtain the right of way. Hence, in the interest of a few half vagabonds, a great enterprise of vast interest to the civilization and trade of Louisiana and Tennessee are also sufferers from the same treaty, as the Little Rock and Fort Smith railroad, completed between these two points, is at the latter point, on the eastern boundary of the Indian Territory, at a stand still.
From Mr. Gubernator it was learned that, though the great majority of the people of the portions of Kansas in which he sojourned are hostile--even bitter--toward the democratic party, they are anxious to open up commercial relations with New Orleans. They understand fully that New Orleans is the nearest seaport in America to them, and little more distant than St. Louis or Chicago, and when they get their produce to the latter places they are still many hundreds of miles from the sea.
The farmers of Kansas and other Northwestern regions are now paying fifty-two cents per bushel to transport their wheat to New York; and as soon as the canals and rivers are frozen over, they expect freights to a still higher figure and thus absorb very nearly the results of the labor and investments of the farmers.
On the other hand the farmers of Kansas assume that so soon as they have rail connection with New Orleans, their grain will be transported to the sea for twenty-five cents per bushel.
They also desire access to the great lumber regions of Louisiana and Texas, from which they will be able to obtain an abundance of cheaper and better lumber than they now buy in Wisconsin, and that they can get on cheaper rates of freight.
These are the facts gleaned from a man of close observation and intelligence, and they are only a very few of the multitude of facts which indicate that New Orleans is to become the great metropolis of the magnificent empire lying west of the
Mississippi, and richer in resources than the now rich regions to the east of that mighty stream. New Orleans State.
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[RAILROAD STOCK.]
COURIER, DECEMBER 9, 1880.
The county Commissioners met last Tuesday to consider the proposition to change the stock in the Southern Kansas and Western railroad belonging to this county at seventy-five cents on the dollar for Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe five percent forty year bonds at par. After a full discussion of the matter, they decided that they were not authorized to make any disposition of the stock without first submitting the question to a vote of the people, giving thirty days notice, and that it was impossible to do this in the limited time given. They however determined to investigate the matter to ascertain what our stock can be sold for, and to ascertain the value and security of the bonds offered, and then determine what is best to be done. The general feeling was that we should accept a cash offer or an offer of the bonds of our county at seventy-five cents on the dollar for the stock or even a considerable less. The commissioners desire an expression of the people as to whether they shall call an election in the matter and under what circumstances.
We would ask some friend in every township and neighborhood to ascertain the sentiment about him and inform us by letter or postal card.
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[PERSONALS.]
COURIER, DECEMBER 9, 1880.
Speculation is rife among our people as to what the Santa Fe will do with its two roads at this point. The seeming object of the company in getting possession of the L., L. & G. was to relieve their main line, which is already overburdened with Colorado and New Mexico business. By running some of their trains from Newton down over the L., L. & G. into Kansas City, they would relieve two hundred and fifty miles of the main line. If this prediction proves true, through trains from Kansas City to California may yet go west via Winfield. It is also rumored that the Santa Fe will extend its line from Harper City and connect with the main line at Dodge City, thereby making a more direct route via Winfield to Kansas City for such trains as they desire to run that way. If this is the intention of the company, it will make the old L., L. & G. stock much more valuable than it is at present, which perhaps accounts for their desire to exchange 5 percent bonds for such stock. The dividends on the stock would be more than interest on their bonds.
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[RAILROAD STOCK: PROPOSED CHANGE.]
TRAVELER, DECEMBER 15, 1880 - EDITORIAL PAGE.
RAILROAD STOCK.
The county Commissioners met last Tuesday to consider the proposition to change the stock in the Southern Kansas and Western railroad belonging to this county at seventy-cents on the dollar for Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe five percent, forty year bonds at par. After a full discussion of the matter, they decided that they were not authorized to make any disposition of the stock without first submitting the question to a vote of the people giving thirty days notice, and that it was impossible to do this in the limited time given. They, however, determined to investigate the matter to ascertain what our stock can be sold for, and to ascertain the value and security of the bonds offered, and then determine what is best to be done. The general feeling was that we should accept a cash offer or an offer of the bonds of our county at seventy-cents on the dollar for the stock or even considerable less. The commissioners desire an expression of the people as to whether they shall call an election in the matter and under what circumstances.
We should ask some friend in every township and neighborhood to ascertain the sentiment about him and inform us by letter or postal card. Courier.
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[PERSONALS.]
TRAVELER, DECEMBER 15, 1880.
It now transpires that Miller is not going to run on that new road.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, DECEMBER 15, 1880.]
J. E. Miller (he of the Santa Fe), wife, and child, will remain in Topeka during the time he is laid off from the effects of the accident he met with a short time since. This being the case, we hope he will soon get around so we can bask in the sunshine of his smiles some more.
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[GEN. STRONG AND THE A., T. & S. F. R. R.]
DECEMBER 16, 1880.
The Atchiston, Topeka and Santa Fe, whether it ever makes the C., B. & Q. and Vanderbilt combinations or not, is about the biggest institution in the country. In ten years from the C. K., Holiday engine No. 1, and an old second hand passenger coach off the I. L. C. R. R., running over 27 miles of road, she now runs hundreds of engines and passenger coaches over a line of road more than a thousand miles in length, besides a half dozen branches which are themselves important lines. The road is operated independent of stock jobs or politics, being run purely as a matter of business and on business principles. The earnings of the road for the last half of November amounted to $510,000, and the company has ordered fifty new engines, forty new passenger coaches, and two thousand five hundred new freight cars. Gould and Vanderbilt have a match in General Strong, the manager of the A., T. & S. F. railroad. In the absence of all consolidations or combinations, the road under the lead of Gen. Strong's genius, will in five years be one of the most gigantic enter-prises known to civilization. Upon the other hand, a consolidation of the Santa Fe and Burlington will establish a system of roads that will serve a community of interests embracing the entire western half of the United States. It would have lines from Chicago to all principal eastern points, including all the Missouri river cities. Such a consolidation would give a line from Chicago to Denver and the Pacific via the Plattmouth bridge; another from St. Louis via the St. L. & S. F. and
Wichita, and from Atchison and Kansas City to the Pacific coast by their own road, which will soon be completed.
This will give them two lines to Gould's one; but the last line possesses immense advantages, in that it reaches Guayamas, on the Gulf of California, shortening up the line to Japan, Australia, and South America, by one thousand miles. And still this is not all. Arrangements have been made with the authorities of our sister Republic for the extension of this line to the capital of old Mexico. The magnificent and wonderful results that will follow the completion of the last named line cannot be computed. Eagle.
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[EXTENSION OF THE MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY.]
COURIER, DECEMBER 16, 1880.
It is the evident intention of the Missouri Pacific railway company under the direction of Jay Gould to extend the branch now built to Leroy, Coffee County, by way of Winfield, to the west line of the state at an early day, and probably to conttinue it through New Mexico to the Pacific.
That company has executed a mortgage on their road to John F. Dillon, of New York, to secure its bonds to the amount of thirty millions of dollars, covering the main line of its road from St. Louis to the Kansas line, 284 miles; the branch to Carondelet, 12 miles; the Booneville branch, 80 miles; the Lexington branch, 55 miles; a branch to be built called the Lexington & Southern, 200 miles; the branch to Atchison, 47 miles; a branch from the state line via Ottawa to Topeka, 200 miles, partly built; and last, but not least, a branch from the east line of Kansas through the counties of Miami, Franklin, Anderson, Coffee, Woodson, Wilson, Elk, Cowley, Sumner, Harper, Barbour, Comanche, Clarke, Meade, Seward, Stevens and Kansas, the entire length of the state, 430 miles. This mortgage is being placed on record in the various counties. A copy of it is on record in the office of Register of Deeds of Cowley county, and covers over thirty pages in the book of records. It covers in the aggregate 1,108 miles of road, built or to be built.
This road will be of great interest to the people of this county as giving us competing lines, a more direct route to the east and to the west, and placing us on the most direct through route between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
It is intimated that Jay Gould does not intend to ask for county or other municipal bonds, on the ground that the stock of the company will be worth as much as any county bonds and he does not wish to exchange stock for bonds.
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[PERSONALS.]
COIURIER, DECEMBER 16, 1880.
We have been informed that a move is under consideration in the Gould circles to extend the Leroy branch of the Missouri Pacific to Winfield.
[OUR RAILROAD STOCK.]
Winfield Courier, December 23, 1880.
We have conversed with a great many citizens in relation to the railroad stock owned by this county and the expression so far is almost unanimous that an election should be called to vote on a proposition to authorize the county commissioners to sell our stock in the Southern Kansas and Western and in the Cowley, Sumner and Fort Smith, either or both, at not less than sixty-five cents on the dollar in cash or in the bonds of this county. Of course, they desire to sell at the highest possible rate, but think it better to take even 65 cents than to hold on long for a higher price. If on a close examination of the law, it shall be held that it means that the precise price to be sold at shall be named in the proposition and that it could not legally be sold, at a higher price, it would be necessary to find the highest price that could be obtained; but if, as seems most reasonable, the intent of the law is merely to prohibit the sale of the stock at a lower price than that named in the proposition, but allowing the commissioners to sell at as much higher price as they can after the vote authorizing the sale is carried, then there is no need of any delay in calling the election.
In reply to a letter of inquiry sent to capialists in Boston by Capt. J. S. Hunt for the commissioners, he received a letter offering sixty-five cents on the dollar for the S. K. & W. stock.
Col. M. L. Robinson has a letter from Robert H. Weems, the bond man of the great financial firm of Donnell, Lawson & Co., which we copy below. From this it will be seen that the writer quotes the K. C., L. & S. stock at 91 to 92. In the consolidation the same stock is rated at 95. The S. K. & W. stock which we hold is put into the consolidation at 75. We presume if put on the N. Y. market, it would be quoted at about 72. The letter quotes the A. T. & S. F. bonds offered for our stock at 99.
If we should trade our $68,000 stock at 75 for these bonds and then sell the bonds at 99, it would realize us $50,490 in cash or 74-1/4 cents on the dollar in cash for our stock.
Another idea is that the calling of the election if done during this month need not cost the county but little extra, for the regular township elections are to be held on the first Tuesday in February and the stock elections could be held at the same time and with the same officers of elections.
The following is the letter above mentioned.
Mr. M. L. Robinson, Cashier, Winfield, Kansas.
Dear Sir: Yours of the 9th was duly received, and in reply we beg leave to state that the stock of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern R. R. is worth from 91 to 92. The 40 year 5 percent bonds of the A., T. & S. F. R. R. are worth 99 and interest. The consolidation you mention has appeared here in the various papers and as stated by you. This would result in the county securing $54,000 in 5 percent bonds, which are worth par, and we do not think that they will be worth less in the future. The county can undoubtedly trade them off to the Cowley, Sumner and Ft. Smith road. The 7 percent bonds issued by your county will be hard to get, as they are more scattered.
I will be pleased to hear from you further regarding this matter, and anything which I can do for you or for the county will be done most cheerfully and faithfully.
Yours truly,
ROBT. H. WEEMS.
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[MORE ON SANTA FE RAILROAD PROPOSITION.]
DECEMBER 23, 1880.
It is claimed by some that the Santa Fe proposition to extend the El Dorado Branch is made at this time for the purpose of heading off the Fort Scott road, and to prevent the county voting bonds to aid its construction through this county, with a branch down the valley to Winfield. No man knows, outside the Fort Scott Company itself, whether they have the money to build or not.
This company, not having the money itself, may have secured the control of this line with the hope of being able to induce capitalists to take hold and build the road; they may be working it up with a view of selling out to some other corporation, or they may have the money to build. It is impossible to tell what they will or will not do until the line is completed to Humboldt, where it will connect with the Misouri, Kansas & Texas road, and until a reasonable amount of work is actually done on the line west of the last named place.
While it is claimed that this company intends building a branch line from El Dorado to Newton, in addition to the direct line to Wichita, it has never been claimed that they intended to build down the valley. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and it is fair to presume that the people of the southern portion of the county will take up with the Santa Fe proposition, regardless of any other that may be made. There is nothing in the future as sure as that the El Dorado branch will be extended, if the franchises are voted as specified in the proposition.
Having had some experience with "paper" railroads, we are not willing to believe the Fort Scott road is coming until we can actually see the smoke of the construction engine "on the top of the Flint Hills," or somewhere else in that immediate vicinity.
Eldorado Times.
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[CAPITAL NOTES.]
DECEMBER 23, 1880.
Items of Interest Gathered at the State Departments.
The Judges of the Supreme Court will meet next Monday for the purpose of consultation and to file opinions.
RAILROAD CONSOLIDATION.
Articles of consolidation were filed in the office of the Secretary of State, yesterday, by the officers of the Kanss City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad, the Southern, Kansas & Western Railroad, and the Sumner County Railroad. The name of the Company will be the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southwestern Railroad. The articles are signed by H. H. Hunnewell, President, and Chas. Merriam, Secretary, for the S. K. & W., and Geo. H. Nettleton, President and Jas. S. Ford, Secretary, for the Sumner County road.
Commonwealth, 16th.
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[EDITORIAL RE STOCK ELECTION.]
DECEMBER 30, 1880.
The commissioners of this county have called a special election to be held on Tuesday, the first day of February, A. D. 1881, to vote upon two propositions: the one authorizing the sale of the Cowley, Sumner and Fort Smith railroad stock, at not less than 65 cents on the dollar, and the other authorizing the sale of the Southern Kansas and Western railroad stock at or above same limits. This call is made in response to a general expression of the people as far as heard from favoring the submission of the proposition on the terms named.
This expression is not quite unanimous, for at least one of our citizens, whose financial opinions are entitled to as much weight as those of any man in this community, objects decidedly to holding the election, and considers it very imprudent to vote such authority to sell. He holds that the S. K. & W. stock is going to advance and is likely to go up to par, and that the principal object which any parties can have in making propositions to buy this stock is to make a large speculation on it. He thinks it wrong to expose the commissioners to the offers of personal advantage which will be sure to be made to them by parties anxious to buy, and that it will be time enough to vote authority to sell when we have an offer nearly equivalent to par in cash. He does not think that the C. S. & F. S. stock can be sold as high as 65 cents for a long time to come and that it is useless to vote authority to sell at present.
The idea of others with whom we have conversed and of the commissioners is, that with a limited authority to sell they are not required to sell at once, but can hold until it is evident that the best offer is made and the right time to sell has come, and that when such offer comes, it may require so prompt action to avail ourselves of it that there will not be time to submit it to a vote to acquire the authority to sell.
During the time up to the election, on February first, the market will be canvassed as thoroughly as possible, and all the facts in relation to the value and prospects of the stock that can be obtained will be. At the same time offers will be made. If it is thought best, we can then delay for months for more information and more offers.
If the offer of the K. C., T. & W. and the A. T. & S. F. already made should finally be found to be the best, if it shall be found that the bonds offered can be sold at par for cash, the intermediate trades of S. K. & W. stock at 75 for consolidated stock at par for Santa Fe bonds at par, could be made, provided that they were contingent on the sale of the bonds at par for cash or county bonds are delivered. This would yield the county $51,000 cash for its $68,000 stock on the S. K. & W.
The A., T. & S. F. offer stands until February 15th. By that time we can know more of the value and prospects of the stock, and can then decide whether it is best to accept that offer.
The highest offer yet received in cash direct is 65 cents. We have no fears of the result. We favored the calling of the election. It being called on the day for township elections will not be attended with much extra expense. There is no danger of it being carried against the will of the people, for the law requires a two-thirds vote for either proposition to carry it. If it is best that it be defeated, there are five weeks before the election in which to convince one-third of the voters of such fact.
Our columns will be open to those opposed to present their views in reasonable length. For ourselves we believe it best to vote the authority to sell and shall so advocate until otherwise convinced. We want the taxes reduced in any judicious way that can be devised, and do not wish to miss any chance to reduce our county debt as much as possible.
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[PERSONALS.]
DECEMBER 30, 1880.
The total tax levied on our railroads for 1881 is as follows: A., T. & S. F., $6,488.89; S. K. & W., $5,853.55; total, $13,324.45. [THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE! I GET $12,342.44! THIS IS A DIFFERENCE OF $982.01!] The amount of interest due and payable on railroad bonds is $12,440. It will be seen that the county received more money by $884.45, from the railroad companies, than it pays out for interest on bonds. The Santa Fe company have paid their taxes in full, the S. K. & W. have paid one-half.
Telegram.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JANUARY 5, 1881.]
An election has been called by the county commissioners for the purpose of voting on the proposition to sell the county's stock in the Cowley, Sumner & Fort Smith and Southern Kansas & Western railroads--the proceeds to be applied to the payment or purchase of the outstanding bonds of this county. Tuesday, February 1, is the day designated for the election. We understand the county is offered seventy-five cents on the dollar for this stock, which is everywhere considered an exceptionally good offer.
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[ANOTHER RAILROAD: GOULD EXTENSION OF M., K. & T.]
TRAVELER, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1881 - EDITORIAL PAGE.
ANOTHER RAILROAD.
Yesterday afternoon our citizens assembled to hear the agents of Jay Gould make a proposition to this township for another railroad--the extension of the M., K. & T. from Independence to this point. It is their plan to build this road by township aid alone, and to complete it to Arkansas City by January 1, 1882. The amount of aid asked for is very small. We shall speak at length on this subject next week.
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[THE NEW RAILROAD.]
TRAVELER, JANUARY 19, 1881 - EDITORIAL PAGE.
THE NEW RAILROAD.
Respecting the new railroad project, of which we made brief mention last week, there have been no further developments. Messrs. Brown and Matthewson, two prominent men in railroad circles, have been through the southern tier of counties in this State on a tour of observation--their object being to feel the public pulse and report to their chief, Mr. J. Gould. They were not authorized to make any contracts with the townships along the line, but could give the people an idea of what their company would expect or ask in the way of aid.
The projected road is to leave the M., K. & T. at Parsons, and proceed westward as near the State line as possible, township aid being asked the entire distance. For the miles of road built in this county, they will want about $75,000 in township bonds, the road to be completed by the 1st of January, 1882.
Some thirteen miles of railroad will be built in this township, for which they only ask $30,000. In obedience to the request of Winfield parties, Messrs. Brown and Matthewson visited our county seat and listened to a proposition from them, but said their instructions were to go to Arkansas City; and consequently they could not entertain a proposition from Winfield.
It is not the purpose of the company to build to Winfield if they can secure the aid asked for from the southern townships. Our farmers will do well to think and talk of this matter among themselves, that they may be prepared to act intelligently upon the question whenever it is presented for their action. We will gladly publish views on this question from the farmers.
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[THE NEW RAILROAD: ARTICLE BY WINFIELD MONITOR.]
TRAVELER, JANUARY 19, 1881 - EDITORIAL PAGE.
THE NEW RAILROAD.
The proposed operations of corporations are always involved in more or less of doubt and mystery. Managers of great lines are very reticent and very slow to give information. When the development of a new project has reached a certain stage, then an intelligent editor with that beginning, and scattered information that he can pick up, may be able to outline projects which appear mysterious.
During the past week Gould, through his officers, has obtained charters for two new roads. One running from Le Roy, the present terminus of the Missouri Pacific, through the counties of Coffey, Woodson, Greenwood, Butler, Sedgwick, Kingman, then southwest through Harper, and then west. The other road starts at Parsons, in Labette county, which is the junction of the old M., K. & T., running southwest through the counties of Labette, Montgomery, Chautauqua, Cowley, Sumner, Harper, where it will probably join the first mentioned line.
Last Monday, Ed. B. Brown, who is now president of the Lexington and Southern railroad, and Angell Matthewson, president of Matthewson & Co.'s bank at Parsons, were in this county in the interest of the latter road. Their instructions were to avoid Winfield and proceed directly to Arkansas City. This was done. A meeting ws held in that town, and seventy-five thousand dollars of township bonds promised the road from the south tier of townships.
Here you have certain facts, what are the conclusions? It is evident that Gould intends pushing his system of roads west, so as to share with the Santa Fe the rich traffic of the mineral regions. Next, he wants to be as close to the Territory line as posible, so that when it is opened he can go south from any point. It will also give him a larger scope of unoccupied territory.
Our last conclusion is that both these roads are going to be built, and Winfield will not get either, no matter what amount of bonds we may promise. We can go ahead with our meetings and do "our level best," but "the eyes of the animal is sot."
Monitor.
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[EDITORIAL RE STOCK ELECTION.]
COURIER, JANUARY 20, 1881.
On Tuesday the first day of February is the election for township officers and also the election on the proposition to authorize the county commissioners to sell our railroad stock at not less than 65 cents on the dollar cash.
It is our opinion that the electors of this county should vote in favor of that proposition. The best offer that has been made in cash direct so far is 65 cents for the $68,000 stock in the S. K. & W. road; but the offer to exchange our stock at 75 for consolidated stock of the K. C. T. & W., and the consolidated stock at par for A. T. & S. F. bonds, is thought to be equivalent to 75 cents cash for our stock because the A. T. & S. F. bonds are said to be worth their face. The commissioners could not make this trade unless in the same transaction a purchaser should take the Santa Fe bonds at cash so that in effect the cash would be received when the stock was delivered.
It is possible that still better offers will be made before the stock would be sold. At worst the act of voting the authority would not compel the commissioners to sell at once, or to sell at all for that matter. They could hold until the best offer they could expect was made and then close. Of course, we should expect them to act judiciously and do the best for the county, but we would not advise them to hold so long as to lose the opportunity to avail themselves of the best offer. It is our opinion that if it is found on a thorough investigation that 65 cents cash is the best we can do, we had better sell even at that. There are too many chances that railroad stocks, such as these, may go down in the market to warrant us in holding too long for a better offer than 65.
We urge our readers to consider this matter carefully and vote understandingly, but to vote by all means and let their opinions be felt at the polls.
If the authority is voted, it will probably realize the county about $50,000 in cash for the S. K. & W. stock. There is no offer for the Cowley, Sumner & Fort Smith stock, $128,000. We have out $33,000 ten percent refunding bonds, which will come due in two years, and the proceeds of the sale can soon be used to stop this big interest. The railroad bonds of the county are said to be worth about 97 cents on the dollar in the market, and we can doubtless get all we can pay for at par or less. The
S. K. & W. bonds only draw 6 percent, and they are the bonds we should leave for the last.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JANUARY 26, 1881.]
Don't forget that the election for township officers, and to vote for or against the sale of our railroad stock, will be held the same day--Tuesday, February 1, 1881.
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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, JANUARY 26, 1881.]
THE NEW RAILROAD.
Editors Traveler: The proposed route for this new railroad is certainly a good one, and may be of great benefit to us. Besides giving us a direct line to St. Louis, it will give us another western market. But there is something more. They want $75,000 in township bonds from the southern tier of townships in this county--$15,000 from Bolton, $30,000 from Creswell, and $30,000 from the townships further east. Everybody in this section of country, but more especially in Creswell and Bolton townships, is interested in having a good bridge across the Arkansas river. Should we have high waters this spring, we may wake up some fine morning to a knowledge of the fact that we are minus a bridge. Now, we are already heavily in debt, and if we add to this the bonds this railroad asks, and our bridge should happen to leave us, what will we do? What can we do? Either do without a bridge, or go down into our pockets hunting for the money to build another one.
Now for a suggestion. Let the Boards of the two townships come together and make a proposition to Jay Gould's agents to this effect. If we vote the bonds to this company, they must bind themselves to build us, in connection with the railroad bridge across the Arkansas, a good wagon bridge, which shall be free. It will cost them perhaps $3,000 extra, but that is very little out of the $45,000 wanted from us. If it would cost $5,000, it would still be but one-ninth of the bonds wanted. This, in addition to the benefits we may derive from the railroad, will give us a good substantial crossing for our own accommodation.
BOLTON.
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[EDITORIAL: VOTE FOR THE PROPOSITIONS TO SELL RAILROAD STOCK.]
JANUARY 27, 1881.
This is the last issue of the COURIER before the election of Tuesday, February first, at which the two propositions to authorize the sale of the railroad stock owned by this county will be carried or defeated. We have conversed with a great number of voters from all parts of the county and the expression has been almost unanimous in favor of the propositions. Yet though there should not be a single vote polled against either proposition, there is great danger that both will be defeated. The affirmative vote of two thirds of the electors of the county is required to carry the propositions and there is great danger that less than two thirds of the voters will appear at the polls and vote.
HE GOES ON AND ON! SKIPPED MOST OF THIS!
There is not reasonable doubt that it is the best thing that can be done; that now, while railroad stocks are inflated more than ever before, is the time to sell, and not wait for a panic which will make our stocks of even less value than we expected when we voted the bonds.
There is little doubt but we shall be able to realize at least $50,000 for our $68,000 of S. K. & W. stock, and we can take up the 7 percent bonds at par or less, to the extent we desire after providing for cancelling our $33,000 of 10 percent bonds.
This will reduce our county debt $50,000, and our yearly interest $4,490, which is a big item in the line of reducing our taxes. Under the same election the time will probably come when we can sell our $128,000 of C. S. & F. S. stock for $83,000 or more, and this will take up the remaining $51,000 of 7 percent bonds and $32,000 of our 6 percent bonds, making a further reduction of our annual interest opf $5,490 and leaving us in debt only $$96,000 at 6 percent, an annual interest of only $5,760 in plece of the $15,740 which we are now paying.
Let every taxpayer turn out and work for both propositions.
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[STATE/OTHER ITEMS.]
COURIER, JANUARY 27, 1881.
Wellington township voted to exchange their $20,000 in railroad stock for $15,000 in their own bonds. But when the bondholders came to fulfill their part of the contract, they proposed to pocket $2,000 as commissions, which put an end to all negotiations with them. To all others we say: beware!
Wellington Press.
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[FINALLY: AD [?] ABOUT WELLS FARGO EXPRESS COMPANY.]
FEBRUARY 3, 1881.
TO THE CITIZENS OF WINFIELD AND VICINITY: Having resigned the agency of the Adams Express Company at this place, I will, on February 4th, open an office for the Wells Fargo Express Company in Winfield, at the old room in Manning's building, rear of post office. The Wells Fargo Express Co. will on that date put service on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe R. R., and all its branches, and connect by this line with the Southern Pacific
R. R. in New Mexico, making a direct route to San Francisco, California. At Kansas City it will have a joint office with the American Express Co., which company now has a line extending to Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine. The Wells Fargo Co. will make arrangements with the American Express and with the
D. & G. Express Co. in Colorado to waybill direct to all points in their territory, so that the old and popular Wells Fargo Express will control a through line from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean, and can offer unequalled shipping facilities.
Ship by the Wells Fargo, and order your goods sent by this company from the west, or the American Express if from the east, and you will insure quick and cheap transportation and save trouble and expense. As agent of this company, I shall endeavor to so accommodate the public as to make it a pleasure to deal with the company.
G. H. ALLEN,
Agent Wells Fargo Ex. Co.
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[BACK TO PERSONALS.]
FEBRUARY 3, 1881.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad company has purchased the Burlington and Santa Fe railroad for $212,000. This road runs from Ottawa to Burlington and is the one known as the "Schofield road."
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[RAILROAD SCHEME: BILL TO INCORPORATE CHEROKEE & ARKANSAS RR.]
TRAVELER, FEBRUARY 2, 1881 - EDITORIAL PAGE.
RAILROAD SCHEME.
Washington, Jan. 27. The bill reported favorably by the Senate committee on railroads to incorporate the Cherokee and Arkansas railroad company, is in the nature of a substitute for the entire bill as originally introduced. It gives the company the right of way through the public lands and Indian reservations, subject to existing treaties, 100 feet wide, with twenty acres at each station, not nearer than ten miles of each other, from Arkansas City to Ft. Smith. The capital and stock is not to exceed $4,300,000, in shares of $100. The company must file its acceptance of the terms of the charter in sixty days from the passage of the act, and begin its line within six months and finish it within two years.
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[AD IN COURIER...APPEARING FOR SOME TIME, I BELIEVE.]
FEBRUARY 17, 1881.
THE THROUGH ROUTE.
The Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad now completed to Winfield, is 30 miles the shortest, 2 hours the quickest, and the only line running through trains between Winfield and Kansas City. It is the best route to all points east. Close connections are made with all trains at Union Depot, Kansas City. Trains on this line are always on time, thus making connections sure. Through tickets to all points are on sale at the Company's office in Winfield, at lowest rates. If any of your Eastern friends are coming West, write them to purchase tickets via the Through Route, the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern R. R.
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[PERSONALS.]
FEBRUARY 17, 1881.
The Winfield Mills are running with a full head of water.
J. H. Service lost about forty head of sheep during the late storm.
Dave Dix had 3-1/2 feet of water in the Main street well Tuesday morning.
The dam at the Oxford flouring mill and the pontoon bridge have gone down stream.
The L. L. & G. has put up a water tank near the stock yards, and now have it in running order.
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[PERSONALS.]
FEBRUARY 17, 1881.
We narrowly escaped a fire Monday. The house in which Mr. Scovill resides, on east 11th avenue, caught fire on the roof, but prompt work and plenty of water near at hand saved the building. After the fire was out, the hook and ladder truck appeared upon the scene. The fire engine at station No. 1 was frozen up so that it was not taken out of the fire department building. Probably the engineer had been out Sunday night and had not kept her steamed up. The damage to the building is slight.
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"BUCKING SNOW" is what the railroad boys call it, and it certainly was "bucking" on a big scale. Through the courtesy of Superintendent Barnes, we were permitted to ride out to the scene and witness the engines and men at work. The cuts were level full of snow, so solidly packed that it would hold a person up. The largest engine was placed in front to do the "butting." It would get back a half mile, take a run, and dive into the snow at the rate of forty miles an hour. It would generally dig through the snow about two hundred yards, when men were sent in with shovels to loosen it up. The other four engines would come up behind and after much puffing and blowing, the huge engine would be drawn back, ready for another dive.
The sight was one never to be forgotten. The engineer on the front engine was an old Kansas Pacific man, was used to blockades, and was as fearless at Satan. He knew the engine which he controlled, and felt his power to govern it. The cut just on the backbone of the divide where the road crosses from the Walnut slope to the Arkansas is about twenty feet deep. The snow here was more solid than usual, and so deep that it reached the headlight of the engine. They reached this last cut about eight o'clock at night, and after examining it, a consultation was held with the engineer as to whether he was willing to attempt to force it as he had the others. He debated the matter for some time and at last told them to "clear the track" and ordered the firemen to "fill her up with coal."
The start was to be made from the crossing, about a mile back. We took our stand opposite the cut on top of a mound about fifty feet above the track. The moon was almost full, and the track shone bright and glistening way down nearly to the crossing where the giant locomotive stood, with the grim engineer watching the finger of the dial plate on the steam gauge crawl slowly around as the two firemen shoveled in the coal. They were all ready, the finger on the dial showed one hundred and twenty pounds of steam, and the engineer, with one hand on the throttle, gave the signal that he was coming--and he did come! We saw a puff of smoke, and in an instant the locomotive shot down the track toward us. The next thing we knew we were covered with snow from head to foot, with the engine just opposite buried in the drift up to its smoke stack.
It took nearly an hour shoveling and pulling by the other engines before she was released from her snowy prison. We were tendered an invitation from Supt. Barnes to ride in with the engineer on his next dive, but owing to a "very bad cold," we were compelled to forego the pleasure of such an excursion.
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THE SNOW STORM. Last week Cowley county and Southern Kansas was visited by the severest snow storm ever before known. It commenced snowing Thursday evening; the wind was very high, and the snow soon drifted so that travel was completely blocked. The storm continued all day Friday and Friday night. The passenger train on the L., L. & G. came in all right Thursday night, but failed to get through to Wellington, getting stuck in a snow bank about two miles this side. Friday afternoon two large engines passed the depot going west to the rescue of the passengers. They found the train scattered along all the way from Oxford to Wellington, first digging out a coach, then a baggage car, and finally the engine stuck fast in a ten foot snow bank. Altogether, there were five engines and two trains snow bound between Winfield and Wellington, a distance of twenty-five miles. The Friday morning freight on the Santa Fe left Winfield all right, but failed to get through, as did the passenger coming down. No train came in on the Santa Fe until Tuesday. The passenger train came through from Wellington Monday morning, and also the train from Kansas City on the Monday night. This was the first mail from the east since the 10th.
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[STATE NEWS.]
Winfield Courier, March 3, 1881.
Treasurer Harden telegraphs Capt. Hunt that he and Robinson have bought $35,000 of Cowley 7 percents on good terms.
Fred Hunt telegraphs that the House committee of the whole has recommended for passage the Senate legislative apportionment bill. This insures its passage, and it will become a law. It gives Cowley one Senator and three representatives.
Senator Hackney presented a joint resolution in the Senate last Saturday instructing Senators Plumb and Ingalls to use all honorable means to pass the Cherokee and Arkansas River Railroad bill through the U. S. Senate which lately passed the House. The Senate tabled the resolution then, but on Monday evening Hackney got the resolution lifted from the table and passed it through the Senate. So says his dispatch received Tuesday morning.
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[ITEM TAKEN FROM COWLEY COUNTY MONITOR.]
Winfield Courier, March 3, 1881.
We are very much surprised at an editorial in this week's COURIER in relation to the subject, "Our Stock and Bonds."
The following is the official action of the commissioners, and we want to say for Messrs. Gale and Bullington that neither of them were to blame for the necessity that caused the board to take the action detailed below.
On Feb. 21, 1881, the Board of county commissioners met in official session. Present: G. L. Gale, chairman, L. B. Bullington, member, and J. S. Hunt, county clerk.
The board directed the county clerk to correct the journal entry of February 4th and February 7th, 1881. Said entries were accordingly corrected. These errors were informalities in regard to the transfer of the stock of the Southern, Kansas and Western railroad.
On motion of the chairman it was resolved that James Harden, county treasurer of Cowley county, and M. L. Robinson be appointed and empowered as a special committee to take the corrected papers relating to the special election, held February 1st, 1881, and AT THE EXPENSE OF COWLEY COUNTY, proceed to Kansas City, Missouri, and have the same approved by Wallace Pratt, attorney, to whom the original papers had been referred by Charles Merriam, trustee; then proceed to New York and Boston and purchase for and in behalf of Cowley County, Kansas, forty-six thousand two hundred and forty dollars worth of the outstanding bonds of the said Cowley County, Kansas, provided the seven percent bonds of the said Cowley County can be purchased at a commission or premium of not more than two and one-half percent; the six percent bonds of said Cowley County at not more than par and accrued interest, and the ten percent bonds of the said Cowley County at a rate correspondingly beneficial to the interests of said county, or any of said specified bonds to the amount of forty-six thousand two hundred and forty dollars worth at as much better rates for the interest of said county as possible. And if the present purchase can be made at such rates or at most one percent of such rates, this committee shall ascertain as much as possible in relation to whom the holders are of such bonds at what rate and the lowest rate any of said bonds can be purchased, etc., and make a full report of all of said items on their return.
Board adjourned.
J. S. HUNT, County Clerk.
We clip the above from the last Monitor and will remark that when we wrote the editorial in the COURIER alluded to and when we went to press we had not been furnished a copy of the commissioners' proceedings, and as they are usually furnished the county paper by the clerk, we had not been to the records to examine them. We had heard rumors on the street concerning the proceedings, which struck us as improbable for the reasons then given. Now that we have a copy of the official proceedings, we make the correction by publishing them as above.
We do not wish to do injustice to any parties connected with this matter and are disposed to give to all the credit of desiring in their action to accomplish the best interests of the county. We know that the commissioners would act in no other way but for the interests of the county according to their best judgment; but we must be permitted to dissent from the course taken and to hold that there was no use in sending delegates east to buy bonds, and that there is no law to authorize the payment of the expenses of such delegates out of the county treasury. We think a mistake has been made in trying to rush this matter and still believe that a considerable sum of money might be saved for the county by waiting awhile for the holders of our bonds to discover that we are not going to take the first offers at any price, and that they must come down in their prices to value or they cannot sell to us. We believe that we can do better than to pay par and expenses for our 7 percent bonds.
[MAY BE IN LUCK.]
Winfield Courier, March 3, 1881.
On last Tuesday, Feb. 25, there was a panic in Wall street, resulting from the opposition of the national banks to the funding bill and their attempts to coerce the government, and stocks declined largely, ranging from two to seventeen percent decline. Messrs. Robinson and Harden must have arrived in New York at a good time, for we suppose there must have been a pressure to sell our Cowley 7 percent bonds as well as other bonds. If they have chanced upon a time when they could buy at 95, it may not be so bad a scheme after all.
[RAILROAD THROUGH THE NATION.]
MARCH 3, 1881.
Bill Passed the House. Tom Ryan Ahead.
The Cherokee and Arkansas River railroad bill passed the House on the night of the 21st, under a suspension of the rules by the necessary two-thirds vote, but it was a tight squeeze. It went through, however, in good shape. It has yet to pass the Senate, but this will give it such an impetus that we think it will pass the Senate and become a law.
It grants the right of way to the Cherokee and Arkansas river railroad company through the Indian Territory from Arkansas City down the Arkansas river to Fort Smith. It provides for a right of way 200 feet wide with necessary land for depots, shops, switches, etc., to be obtained by methods in harmony with the existing treaties and regulations with the Indian tribes.
Work must commence within six months and must be completed within two years. The enterprise is for the purpose of extending the C. S. & F. S., or in fact, the Santa Fe road to intersect with the Arkansas system of roads and furnish this section of country with a southern and southeastern outlet. The importance of this road to Cowley county cannot be overestimated.
In fact, it will be of the greatest consequence to all the southern and southwestern counties and of great value to the whole State. It will open up an easy and near market for our wheat, corn, pork, and other products for higher prices in the south and will give us easy access to southern seaports and to Europe. At the same time it will reduce the cost of transportation on our sugar, molasses, rice, coffee, and various other southern products which we have to buy. It will give us a new market nearer and better than the east and the west.
The credit of this is due to Hon. Thos. Ryan. It was his bill and he has put in more than two years of hard energetic work to secure its passage. He has met all kinds of opposition and hostility from the Gould and other railroad interests, and from various other sources; and it has needed all his tact, his personal popularity, energy, and perseverance, but in his bright lexicon, "there is no such word as fail." The fight was a long and hard one and he has won the battle in the House and added another to his many laurels.
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[HACKNEY: SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 17.]
MARCH 3, 1881.
The following is Senate Concurrent Resolution, No. 17, by Mr. Hackney, as it passed the Senate.
WHEREAS, a bill incorporating the Cherokee and Arkansas Railroad Company, and giving that company the right to construct and operate a railroad from Arkansas City in Kansas through the Indian Territory to Fort Smith in Arkansas, has passed the lower House of Congress, and,
WHEREAS, the commercial and industrial interests of this State demand that such line of railroad be constructed at once, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate of Kansas, the House of Representatives concurring therein, That our Senators in Congress are requested to support said bill and use all honorable means to secure the passage.
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[ANOTHER ARTICLE ABOUT COWLEY COUNTY 7 PERCENT BONDS.]
MARCH 3, 1881.
It will not do to buy the Cowley County 7 percent bonds for more than par for the people will never believe the thing well managed if a higher rate is paid at present. If Coler & Co. have a temporary control of these bonds, as they claim, they may easily prevent the sale at less than 2-1/2 percent premium; but if the County refuses to pay it, the bonds will soon be out of their control and the holders will then sell for what they are worth. Even if they then should refuse to take par or less, there are the ten percents and the six percents to the amount of about $160,000 from which enough can be found to employ our funds and not stand a grab game. There is no need of a rush about it; give a little time for the holders of the different bonds to get anxious and we shall save money by it.
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[ARTICLE ABOUT RAILROAD: A. T. & S. F.]
MARCH 3, 1881.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company expected to make a connection with the Southern Pacific by the 1st of March, but, owing to the unusual inclemency of the weather and other obstacles encountered, the connection cannot be completed until about the 15th. The connection will be made at Rio Mimbres, a few miles west of Florida Pass. The point is sixty miles southwest from Fort Thorn, where the Santa Fe road leaves the Rio Grande, and some sixty-five miles northeast of El Paso.
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THE WINFIELD COURIER MARCH 24, 1881.
W. C. Garvey, station agent at the Santa Fe depot, has now on sale tickets to all principal points in California and Oregon, via the A., T. & S. F. and Southern Pacific. This new route to the "Golden Gate" was opened to the traveling public on Thursday inst., the 17th. Passengers with first and second class tickets are taken through to San Francisco in four and three-quarters days. There is also an emigrant train which makes the time in about eight days. The express train leaving Winfield at 3:55 p.m., makes connections at Newton, with only two changes for the whole distance, at the latter point and at Deming, where the Santa Fe makes connection with the Southern Pacific. This new route is destined to become immensely popular, and will prove a great convenience to parties in this vicinity who may wish to go to California or Oregon.
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[CAMBRIDGE COMMERCIAL ITEMS.]
THE WINFIELD COURIER MARCH 24, 1881.
Mr. Bullington is preparing to build a new residence on his farm.
Joseph Furman is just finishing one of the finest residences in the country; it is a stone two stories high.
Mr. John Smith, of Silver creek, has rented L. B. Bullington's farm, and will engage in the cattle business.
Bullington & Elliott's new mill will be running in a few days as there is water enough to grind now, for the first since the mill has been built.
The station here does more business than any other town on the K. C., L. & S., outside of Winfield. Mr. C. S. Jenkins has furnished us the following, showing the amount of business done since the first day of March, 1881, up to Thursday, the 17th. It is now in order for our neighboring towns to produce figures that will beat these or forever hold their peace.
Number pounds freight received . . 121,275.
Number pounds freight forwarded . 13,275.
Amount of cash received . . . . . $380.50.
The citizens of Torrance shipped last Saturday a carload of rock to Kansas City, to be inspected by stone masons at that place; and if found saleable rock, we understand the railroad company has promised Torrance a side track, provided they will make to the railroad company a good bond as a guarantee that one hundred carloads of rock will be shipped from that point in one year from date of contract. They have worked hard for railroad accommodations, and if they succeed by fair means, no one has a right to complain.
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[PERSONALS.]
Courier MARCH 31, 1881.
Gould will extend his LeRoy road to Winfield, where he will connect with his newly acquired air line to St. Louis. Of course, the repair shops will be located here also.
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Courier MARCH 31, 1881.
In addition to the report that Gould has purchased the K. C., L. & S. railroad, comes the report that he has withdrawn his proposition from Chautauqua county. The proposition was to be voted on yesterday (Tuesday) and had every prospect of carrying. If he has withdrawn on the eve of a favorable election, it means something; and that something cannot be favorable to Winfield and Cowley county.
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Courier MARCH 31, 1881.
A report is current that Jay Gould has purchased the K. C., L. & S. railroad. The report is not yet authenticated, but is believed to be true by most of the employees of the road. If this is a fact, our Arkansas City friends will look down their noses for some time to come. However, we will not kill the fatted calf until Jay tells us something about it himself.
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Courier MARCH 31, 1881.
A special train passed through on the K. C., L. & S., Monday. It was made up of a dining car, two sleepers, and a reclining chair car, and contained General Manager Strong and President Coolidge of the Santa Fe, and General Manager Nettleton of the K. C., L. & S., with their families. They were out on an inspection of the road.
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[PERSONALS.]
THE WINFIELD COURIER APRIL 14, 1881.
It is stated that the travel over the new line to the Pacific is something wonderful. The Santa Fe trains pass through Newton carrying all that the engine can haul.
[TAKING UP A RAILROAD.]
MAY 12, 1881.
For several days railroad officials in and around Wellington have been very active, and the people of Anthony, in Harper county, were led to believe that this activity meant the extension of the Wellington branch to that place. The Santa Fe company on Saturday congregated about 1,500 of their workmen at Wellington. The force were under secret orders not to be opened till noon Saturday. At that time the men were ordered to begin taking up the track from the Harper line to Wellington as fast as possible, and remove the ties, rails, etc., to the main line. This work was completed Sunday evening, and nothing was left of the fourteen miles of Harper county railroad but the dirt roadbed. It is probable that the secrecy and haste in which the work was done was to avoid injunctions or legal process to restrain them from so doing. The Wellington and Harper county people are greatly excited over the matter. Some efforts were made to stop the destruction of the track, but without effect. This will be almost a death-blow to Anthony.
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[WHAT THE SANTA FE RAILROAD HAS DONE FOR COWLEY COUNTY.]
MAY 26, 1881.
Before the Santa Fe railroad was opened up to Colorado and New Mexico, every spring our farmers were compelled to sell eggs at four or five cents a dozen, butter at seven or eight cents a pound, and chickens, lettuce, radishes, rhubarb, peas, potatoes, and other kinds of garden vegetables for almost nothing, and take pay in groceries at much higher prices than are asked now, because they could not get one cent of cash for their produce. Now mark the difference.
All fresh butter that is brought into Winfield finds a ready market at not less than 12-1/2 cents cash, eggs not less than 8-1/2 cents per dozen. Chickens, $2.60 per dozen; peas in pod, $1.75 per bushel, turkeys, dressed poultry, rhubarb, gooseberries, strawberries, onions, potatoes, radishes, lettuce, and other vegetables find ready market at high prices, and a large amount of money is being distributed among the farmers for truck that was formerly comparatively valueless.
A single firm in the city, Snyder & Spotswood, have shipped to Colorado and New Mexico within the last two months, 24,275 dozen eggs. 7,043 pounds of fresh butter, 250 dozen chickens, and quantities of all the other kinds of produce above mentioned.
[STILL DON'T KNOW...IS HIS NAME SNYDER OR SNIDER...SEE IT BOTH WAYS.]
J. P. Baden & Co., have shipped similar amounts, and others have shipped more or less.
During the summer large quantities of peaches, melons, cherries, grapes, blackberries, etc., will be shipped.
The Santa Fe railroad has created this market for us besides making a new and valuable market for hundreds of carloads of flour, corn, bacon, lard, and hay. This road is the principal factor in making Cowley and other counties rich and independent. It is a nice thing to have money coming in all the year round for all these things for which our county is so peculiarly adapted.
It is in some quarters the style to grumble at this road, to want to "kill the goose that lays these golden eggs," but when we consider the value of this road to us, the liberality with which it deals with us, the obliging spirit it manifests, the courteous treatment we always receive at the hands of all its officers and employees and the grandeur of its enterprise and its achievements, we feel that we cannot give this corporation with a soul, too much praise.
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[RAILROAD TAXATION AND INTEREST.]
JUNE 2, 1881.
Railroad valuation in Cowley County, Kansas, as appears from the records of the County Clerk, of said county, is $357,895.31.
State tax on same .................. $ 1,938.38
County tax on same ................. 3,578.89
County bond on same ................ 447.87
Railroad Bond on same .............. 2,505.23
Township tax on same ............... 926.30
Arkansas City tax on same .......... 66.58
School, and school bond tax ........ 3,854.41
__________
Total tax on same ............. $13,417.16
The levy to pay interest, on R. R. bonds, is 7 mills: and the total amount of tax raised by said levy, is $20,502.05.
We take the above statement from the Traveler. When you take the above showing $20,502.05 as paid by the people in bond tax for R. R., and $13,417.16 paid by the R. R. in tax, you find the balance as paid by the people to be $7,102.89 in excess of what the R. R. pays in. There have been statements going the round of the press and among the people, that the R. R. was paying more into the county treasury than the people were paying out in interest on R. R. bonds. If the above showing is correct, the people need enlightenment. If not correct, who can rectify it? Arkansas City Democrat.
We can throw a little light upon that subject. The interest for one year on the $128,000 of Cowley, Sumner and Fort Smith indebtedness of this county amounted to $7,680, and one year interest on the $68,000 of Southern Kansas and Western $4,760. Total railroad bond interest: $12,440. Last year the county commissioners made a levy for a year and an additional half year to pay the interest up to July 1, 1881, which required $6,220 more and a total of $18,000 to pay the interest for the year and a half.
The 7 mills, if all collected, would raise $1,842 more than was needed, but that allowance was made for possible failures to collect. It turns out that $35,000 of the 7 percent, S. K. & W. bonds were taken up and interest stopped thereon four months before July 1, 1881, which saves the county in interest covered by last year's assessment: $816.33.
The levy this year will be for only one year's interest, and the total amount of interest and the total amount of interest for the year will not exceed $10,398.33, while the total assessment will probably reach $3,100,000.
A levy of 3-1/2 mills, or half as much as last year's levy, will produce $10,950 or $550 more than is needed, if all should be collected.
If we add to this the $816, saved by stopping interest under last year's assessment and a probable collection of at least one half of the allowance of $1,842, to help on the year ending July 1, 1882, a levy of 3 mills this year will pay the railroad bond interest up to that time and give a margin of $789.00 for failure to collect the tax.
We must bear in mind that there is no failure to collect any part of the tax on the railroads and no part of the allowance for non-collection is on their account.
The actual amount of taxes they pay on their property in this county is $13,417.16 and the total interest paid on railroad bonds for the current year is $11,623.67. They paid taxes on this property $1,798.49 in excess of what the county pays in interest on the railroad bonds.
Of this tax $1,988.38 is state tax and benefits this county only as it does the balance of the state, say about $145.00, which added to the balance of the tax, $11,478.78, will make the amount of the taxes paid by the railroads, which goes entirely to the benefit of this county, fully equal to the interest the county pays on its railroad bonds for the same time.
In the coming years the yearly interest will not exceed $9,290.00, though we should continue to hold our C. S. & F. S. stock, and though the rate of taxation should be reduced, the railroads will pay taxes for the benefit of the county yearly more money than that sum.
Should we sell our C. S. & S. F. stock anytime within the first ten years of the run of the bonds at not less than 40 cents on the dollar, and apply the proceeds and the interest saved thereby to the sinking of the debt, principal and interest will not have cost our county one cent. We shall have had all the benefits of two railroads which have made us ready markets for our produce at one fourth of our former cost of getting to market, all for a temporary loan of the credit of the county without the expense of a nickel.
We say this much because we have heard grumbling in some parts of the county because of the bond tax and because the COURIER urged people to vote for the bonds. We said then that the railroads would pay in taxes nearly as much as the county would pay in interest; and we are highly gratified by being able to show that our predictions are more than realized.
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[BRUTALITY IN CONDUCTORS.]
Winfield Courier, JUNE 30, 1881.
Tell W. Walton makes in the last number of his paper, the Caldwell Post, the following statement.
"Last Saturday night, while enroute to Oxford from this city, we were compelled to patronize the K. C. L. & S. road from Winfield to Oxford. We applied at the ticket office for two tickets to Oxford, and tendered our money, a ten dollar bill. After marking the tickets and passing them over the counter, he found he could not make the change; so he said to get on the train and pay the conductor, or get the tickets after we had arrived at Oxford.
"Thinking it would be all right, and having his assurance that it would be, we boarded the train, and after we got out three-fourths of a mile from the station, the conductor came through the car collecting tickets. We tendered our money a second time, but he refused to even look at it or hear an explanation of any kind, but stopped the train and compelled us to get off where we were, causing us, with our wife and child, to walk nearly a mile over the rough roads and cross the prairie back to the depot. We had some baggage with us, which we were obliged to carry too, or leave on the prairie. . . .
"This * * on the same evening beat a poor, lone woman out of the last cent she had, in making change for a ticket. She gave him a silver dollar, the last she had, and in return got a ticket for Oxford, costing forty cents, and ten cents in money. He claimed that she only gave him a half dollar, but the bystanders would swear that she gave him a dollar."
John R. McGuire, of Tisdale, says that the other day he applied to the ticket office at Cherryvale for a ticket to Independence, the price of which was forty cents, and offered a half dollar piece, which was refused as not being the exact change. A feeble woman with two small children just then applied for a ticket to Independence, but failed for the same reason. Just then the train for Independence came along and McGuire and the woman got on board. The conductor came along and demanded tickets. The half dollars were offered and refused on the ground that the conductor would not take money but must have tickets. No amount would do. The only alternative was tickets or get off. The train was stopped and McGuire and the woman and her children were put out on the prairie two miles from Cherryvale, to which place they had to walk back. The woman could scarcely walk and her exertions would have been fatal had not McGuire been there to carry her small children.
The conductor of this train was not the same man with whom Tell Walton had to deal; but both are brutes, if these statements are true, which we cannot doubt, being made by men of undoubted veracity. We do not now give the names of these conductors because we wish to give them an opportunity to tell their versions of these stories. It is no excuse for them that they were ordered at headquarters not to take money but only tickets for fare, no more than it would excuse them for assassinating a man because he had been ordered to do so. If these conductors believe that such acting is required of them by the company, they are venal hirelings or they would not work for such a company.
We do not believe the managers of this road desire such brutality on the part of their employees. We believe they are accommodating and obliging gentlemen who require their employees to be reasonable and obliging in carrying out such rules as are deemed necessary for the protection of the company and would discharge such brutes as these are alleged to be. Here were civil persons able and anxious to pay their fare and making due efforts to comply with all known rules of the company, and were treated worse than these same conductors would have dared to treat a party of Thugs who had attempted to rob the whole crowd. We do not blame the company for not daring to trust such men to solicit money, but we do blame them if they keep such in their employ knowing what they were.
We think that if the outraged parties should apply to Gen. Nettleton, stating the facts, the cases would be righted as far as possible.
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[SANTA FE HANDLES TICKET PROBLEMS.]
Winfield Courier, JUNE 30, 1881.
Commonwealth: W. F. White, the enterprising and indefatigable passenger agent of the A., T. & S. F. Railroad Company, has devised a scheme and perfected arrangements by which through tickets are now sold at most stations on the line of the A., T. & S. F. to nearly all the minor stations of the east. By the old coupon system, tickets were sold only to important places, and the traveler had to pay local fare from such point or buy a through ticket to some large station beyond his destination, and stop off at his intermediate station, thus paying for more than he received. All this trouble, annoyance, and loss is obviated by the new system. Passengers are ticketed clear through to their destination. The form of tickets is extremely simple, and easily understood, and the most careless traveler will be less likely to be diverted from his route than by the attempted study of the complicated forms heretofore in use. The Santa Fe is always foremost in inaugurating improvements which are likely to contribute to the convenience and profit of the traveling public.
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[ANOTHER ASSASSINATION: CHARLES COLSON, K. C. L. & S. R. R.]
JULY 7, 1881.
Charles Colson, foreman of the section hands stationed near the summit of the Flint Hills divide near the eastern line of this county on the K. C. L. & S. railroad, was terrible, probably fatally injured by a hand car last Friday morning, caused by an obstruction placed upon the track by some scoundrelly assassin, for the purpose of wrecking the morning train going east.
Colson with his hands started early in the morning, to repair a culvert a mile or two east, before the train should arrive; and in passing around a curve in a cut rapidly on a hand car, they suddenly encountered a pile of rock placed carefully on the track so as to surely throw the train in the ravine.
The collision threw the hands forward upon the track and the car struck and passed over them, wounding the foreman in the most terrible manner, cutting through the flesh on the upper part of the thigh and stripping it to the bone downward a distance of more than twelve inches.
He was taken to Grenola and Dr. Mendenhall of that place has been attending him. He has borne his dreadful calamity and distress in the most heroic manner. It is possible that he may recover, but his chances are still against it. The hands received less serious injuries.
Efforts have been made to discover the scoundrel or scoundrels who perpetrated the deed, but so far without success. Had they succeeded as they intended, probably several lives would have been lost and many would have been seriously injured.
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[REPORT FROM I. E. CONKLIN (MONITOR) RE NEW MEXICO.]
Winfield Courier, JULY 14, 1881 - FRONT PAGE.
Though but a few months have passed since the Santa Fe railroad has opened up a vast region that was practically three years ago a terra incognita in settlement and the civilization of the nineteenth century, yet, already hundreds of letters have been sent back by the new settler and traveler, and New Mexico letters have become almost as common as country correspondents.
While New Mexico is not by any means "written up," yet correspondents have gone so often over the same ground that the victimized reader looks with a great deal of suspicion upon one of these letters.
My late trip was made mostly for pleasure. I went to see, and as I traveled only during daylight, I had unusual opportunities of gratifying that sense. I visited some localities out of the beaten track, and I may be able to make a letter of the same kind.
At LA JUNTA (pronounced La Hoonta) I corrected my first wrong impression. I thought the road branched at Pueblo 63 miles farther west. La Junta is where the main line diverges and goes southwest over the Raton mountains. From Trinidad, Colorado, we crawled up the mountains at an inclined plain of 180 feet to the mile, and near the top plunged through a tunnel 2,000 feet in length, and came to light of day in New Mexico. Through this rocky gate we enter into the old civilization that Cortez--nay, older; that of those mysterious people whom the Aztecs found in possession and conquered.
At a little past noon, we glided into the city of LAS VEGAS.
Here are two towns, the new representing American thrift and enterprise and the old representing the life and habits of people who lived as they did hundreds of years ago. I am interested in the old and as I step across the stream that separates the two towns, I find to me, a new, strange, and interesting civilization. The first place I visit is the church of Madse de Dolores. There is one nice custom about all these old Catholic churches, and that is, the door stands open and the worshiper and sight-seer are always welcome. An old sexton, bowed down with the weight of many years, greets me and gives such information as he can.
I am much interested in a cross that I see back of the town and after much questioning, I gained its history. It was erected by a queer sect, an offshoot from the Roman Catholic church called the PENITENTS. They inhabit a cluster of adobe shanties on the road to Las Vegas called The Placita, meaning little village, and belonged to an order of Flagellants. Ordinarily they conduct themselves like other people of their race; but whenever one of them has committed a sin, he scourges himself and others scourge him in proportion to this transgression.
During Passion week the whole community crawl on their bare knees over sharp stones some six miles from their village to this cross, and there lash themselves with the terrible thoray cactus until the blood runs in streams down their lacerated backs.
This cross is not very old and dates its origin from the time when a member of this order of Flagellants, who was an actor, came to Las Vegas to die. He refused to accept the sacrament from the present presiding priest and when his friends came to bury him, the priest refused his services and would not let him be placed in consecrated ground, whereupon he was buried outside the pale of the church; and the Pentitents thereupon erected this cross with this legend thereon: "Jesus by the shedding of his blood on Calvary, was consecrated for the whole world." This cross and inscription justifies this very peculiar sect in their estimation for their scourging, and is also a protest against the exclusiveness of the Roman church.
On my return from the church, I saw a number of Mexicans manufacturing adobe. They are made of common earth, straw, and water; and are cast in moulds 18 inches long, 9 inches broad, and 4 inches thick, and then dried in the sun. It is a perfect non-conductor and the best form of building material conceivable for the Territory. With cement, plaster, and paint, it can be rendered as handsome as brick or stone.
After leaving Las Vegas, I was much interested in watching STARVATION ROCK, and hearing an account of the tragedy that gave it such an ominous title. The "rock" itself is 1,125 feet above the railroad track; its sides are practically covered with pine, and a vast escarpment--240 feet of perpendicular stone--renders it inaccessible excepting at a narrow pass on the east side. From the railroad cars it is in sight for more than an hour, and at the closest point good eyes can discern a number of corners. The top is an elevated plain or mesa that embraces thirty acres. In 1848 a company of Mexicans was attacked by a largely superior force of Indians and fled to the summit of this rock, where they kept the Indians from coming up; but the latter knew a better game, and they kept the Mexicans from coming down, and the entire company of Mexicans perished from thirst and starvation. The rock, decorated with its little crosses, is both grave and
monument.
My next resting place was ALBUQUERQUE, which is the initial point of the Atlantic and Pacific railroad; and the railroad is already 200 miles on its way to San Francisco. This road forms part of the Santa Fe system. Shops, warehouses, and offices are now being built at this thriving place.
Like Las Vegas, Albuquerque is composed of an old and new town, which are united by a line of street railway; but unlike its rival, the new town here is immensely in advance of the old. Building, business, and speculation of every kind is at fever heat. Lots purchased today are sold at a big advance in less than a month. A would be purchaser is staggered when told that the price of such a business lot is $2,000; but at the end of a month, he is mad because he did not buy, for it has been sold for $2,500.
In less than an hour, I fully realized that Albuquerque was a "red-hot-town." The town was all stirred up over the arrest of the celebrated Allison gang, a band of thieves and murderers. I felt more than unusually interested, for Lewis Perkins, one of the gang, was a Cowley county boy. For Allison the reward was $2,500, and all gang members had just been captured and were under guard at a livery stable.
While standing here making inquiries, I heard the report of a revolver, quickly followed by a dozen other shots, and then the rapid running of a man telling the guards to get ready as a party of desperadoes were about to attempt a rescue of the prisoners. As I was not traveling on my fighting qualities, I made myself safe in another direction. The cause of the difficulty was a stray pistol shot. The marshal heard it and ordered the man whom he thought fired "to hold up his hands," and before the man could turn, the marshal commenced firing and killed him in his tracks. The man was a Kansas carpenter by the name of Campbell, and was unarmed.
On Monday morning upwards of 200 mechanics attended the funeral, and I was in hopes of seeing that marshal hanged, but the job was delayed. This was the second man he had killed in three months, but the people excused him for the first murder because the victim was "a bad man."
Here as everywhere else in New Mexico, I found lots of Winfield men. Some are traveling, others are in business, and many others working at their trades; but wherever I saw them, they were all doing well. The universal report was that when they made their "stake," they were coming back to Winfield to live.
Our town is widely known through the enterprise of its merchants. As a supply point for butter, eggs, poultry, and vegetables, Winfield today is sending more of these products into New Mexico than any other city. In groceries and commission houses, it appeared to me that at least two-thirds of all the boxes and pails carrying such goods bore the familiar imprint of J. P. Baden or Spotswood & Snyder. I will have more to say about this trade in my closing letter.
I commenced with the intention of making but one letter; but my visit to the Black Range and Old Mexico will require another. Up to this point my companion had been Dr. Mendenhall, but to my sorrow he was obliged to return home from Albuquerque and I completed the trip alone.
I. E. CONKLIN.
---
[CONDUCTOR McBETH RESPONDS TO PAPERS CRITICIZING HIM.]
Winfield Courier, JULY 14, 1881.
Conductor McBeth passed last Sunday in this city, and said to a Wellingtonian reporter, "It was shameful and cowardly in the Caldwell Post and Winfield COURIER, to attack a man without warning, as they have attacked me. They did not want to hear my side of the story, which would have put an entirely different face on the matter. I am acting under instructions of the General Superintendent, and any violation of the same will cause my discharge; and I cannot afford to take the bread from my wife and children to oblige the public. Wellingtonian.
Mr. McBeth is reminded that we did not give his name, but suggested that the case might look different when the conductors told their story, and our columns were open for their side. The COURIER is reputed to be extremely careful to avoid injustice to anyone, giving all a chance to be set right. He has no grounds of complaint against us, unless he denies us the right to comment upon alleged wrongs in the community, a right which we shall insist on for it is just what we are here for.
---
THE CALDWELL JOURNAL, May 24, 1883.
The fastest time ever made in this country by a freight train was that of the St. Louis tobacco train, which left St. Louis last Thursday night for San Francisco. It consisted of ten cars loaded to their utmost capacity, and the average time was twenty miles an hour during the entire trip. The train passed over the lines of the St. Louis & San Francisco, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the Southern Pacific. No stops were made except for coal and water and for the purpose of oiling the engine and trucks.
THE CALDWELL JOURNAL, May 24, 1883.
Railroad Matters.
We learn through a private source that a project is on foot to build a road from a point on the Missouri Pacific through the border tier of counties to Caldwell, by way of Geuda Springs. Parties are at work now soliciting county and township aid, and it is likely that a proposition will be submitted to our people in a short time. That is the road we want if we can get it on anything like fair terms and under such conditions as will make it in all respects a competing line.
THE CALDWELL JOURNAL, May 31, 1883.
The A. & P. Bridge across the Arkansas at Tulsa, was swept away last week. A new bridge is to be put up at once.
THE CALDWELL JOURNAL, May 31, 1883.
Vinita Chieftain says: AThe St. Louis & San Francisco railroad is under contract for completion to Albuquerque, New Mexico, by the first of November.@ Would respectfully ask the Chieftain, In November of what year?
THE CALDWELL JOURNAL, August 2, 1883.
RAILROADS.
The communication of AWidows Child@ published in the JOURNAL of last week [IMPOSSIBLE TO READ] had the effect of stirring up our own citizens and also other parties interested in a projected line seeking connection with this portion of the state. On Tuesday, Mr. James Hill, of Arkansas City, and a representative of the Missouri, Winfield & Southwestern Railroad, came to Caldwell for the purpose of enlisting our people in aid of the enterprise, and after consultation with some of our most prominent businessmen, a meeting was held at the opera house yesterday morning.
I. N. Cooper was called to the chair and W. B. Hutchison appointed secretary. Mr. Hill was then introduced and stated the object of his visit and the intentions of the company he represented. He said that the company was independent of either the Gould or the Santa Fe combinations, and that while it expected aid from the localities through which the line would run, at the same time it was not backed by Mr. Gould or any other railroad magnate. The aid asked would only be $2,500 per mile, and it was the intention of the company to build to Caldwell within the next year.
After the close of Mr. Hills= talk, it was resolved that Caldwell needed another railroad, and that the city would extend any suitable aid for a competing line.
On motion I. N. Cooper, I. B. Gilmore, John W. Nyce, A. M. Colson, S. P. G. Lewis, and T. H. B. Ross were appointed a railroad committee with power to take all needful action in case everything was satisfactory.
The chairman notified the committee to meet at the Stock Exchange Bank next Saturday afternoon at 3 o=clock, after which the meeting adjourned.
The committee is composed of some of our most energetic citizens, and we are confident that it will do its work faithfully, carefully guarding the rights of Caldwell Township in case of any agreement with the M. W. & S. W. Company.
[NOTE: MISSOURI, WINFIELD & SOUTHWESTERN RAILROAD??? JAMES HILL, ARKANSAS CITY, REPRESENTING THEM??? THIS WAS 1883, NOT 1885!??]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, February 21, 1885.
Don=t It Look Beautiful on Paper?
At a recent meeting of the Winfield Enterprise Association, its members signified their willingness to impose upon the township the task of giving $40,000 to aid in constructing the D. M. & A. Road, and if need be vote a like sum to secure the K. C. & S. Road. One gentleman, according to the Courier, also suggested the feasibility and possibility of offering sufficient inducements to the
A. T. & S. F. and S. K. Railroads to build a union depot and joint shops in this city, and stated that the prospects of navigating the Arkansas River, and other influences, pointed forcibly to the necessity of the Santa Fe moving through the Territory soon to a southern market, in which case they must have shops about this location. Winfield being ninety-five miles from Cherryvale and about the same distance from Newton, offers a very advantageous situation for joint shops and a roundhouse, and if our businessmen push the feasibility of the matter, there seems no doubt that this can be obtained. When the D. M., & A., and K. C. & S. strikes us, now anticipated before the summer rolls by, this scheme will be all the more probable. With four railroads radiating from Winfield, with their shops here, we will have a town that will lay all others in Kansas in the shade--hardly excepting the state capital.
What imaginative minds the businessmen of Winfield possess. When the terminus of the Santa Fe is removed from here to Winfield, it will be when the earth ceases to revolve on its axis, and not before. We like to see Winfield prosper; but say, neighbors, don=t steal our all. Don=t take the terminus from us; don=t pattern after our Alittle ditch@ from the Arkansas to the Walnut; don=t say you are at the head of navigation, oh, don=t, please don=t, you make us feel so bad. And, say, neighbors, when you get a town that lays all other towns in the shade, don=t forget that we are planting trees down here, and are likely to be in the shades long before Winfield takes root.
Arkansas City Republican, June 13, 1885.
It being an assured fact that the K. C. & S. W. Railroad is coming, the question of the location of the depot and other railroad buildings is the subject of discussion among many of our citizens. Some of them are of the opinion that the depot will be in the northwest part of town, while others think it sill be located on the farm owned by A. B. and J. P. Johnson in the east part of town.
Arkansas City Republican, June 13, 1885.
The D. M. & A. Bonds were carried in the county by over 1,000 majority. Dexter, Arkansas City has redeemed her pledges.
Arkansas City Republican, June 13, 1885.
Amos Walton, with the other commissioners, were up in the north part of the county, Monday, condemning right-of-way for the K. C. & S. W. R. R. He says the graders were just crossing the Butler County line into Cowley County.
Arkansas City Republican, June 13, 1885.
W. G. Seaver, of the Dexter Eye, informs us that Burden spent $700 to defeat the K. C. & S. W. Bonds and then failed. If Burden had enough enterprise to have used that $700 in building up the town, she would have profited thereby very much. As it is, she only received in return for her $700 a small dose of experience.
Arkansas City Republican, June 20, 1885.
The Atlanta Town Company has been organized and will lay off a town in Omnia Township. The company has purchased 240 acres of land near the center of the township on the K. C. & S. W. Railway. The Courier says that the road will be completed to that town about July 10.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, June 27, 1885.
A discovery in regard to the issuing of the D. M. & A. bonds has been made. The Courier reports as follows.
A
The county commissioners find that the valuation of the county will not admit of the issue of $100,000 bonds to the D. M. & A. They can legally issue but $66,000. The question will come up at the next session of the Board whether or not the remaining amount of the bonds voted can be legally issued when the county valuation will admit. TheD. M. & A. Company understood the uncertainty of the issuing of the full amount of the bonds when their propositions were submitted, and the issue of the $66,000 at present will not interfere with the construction of the line through Cowley.
@
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, June 27, 1885.
An Associated Press dispatch from El Dorado of June 23, imparts the following information concerning the K. C. & S. W.
A
Track laying on the Kansas City & Southwestern road from Beaumont, a point on the St. Louis & San Francisco, Butler County, in the direction of Winfield is progressing, fifteen miles having been completed. The line is expected to reach Winfield by August 1, and will open a new country. The road being built from El Dorado to Newton, in connection with the above, will give Butler County 40 miles of new track, 150 miles of railway in all, being 23 miles more than any county in the state.@
Arkansas City Republican, June 27, 1885.
The citizens of Udall are scared. A rumor is prevalent that the Santa Fe road will be taken up between Seeley and Mulvane and connected with the Douglas branch. The D. M. & A. Road will be built from Seeley to Belle Plaine and on out west through the counties of Kingman, Pratt, and Edwards, to connect with the main line of the Santa Fe. Should this be done the distance to Kansas City over the Santa Fe will be shortened about 40 miles. The road which runs to Arkansas City leaves the main line of the A. T. & S. F. at Florence and comes down through Butler County. We have heretofore intimated in the REPUBLICAN that the D. M. & A. was a Santa Fe road, and this rumor strengthens our belief. After all the D. M. & A. will run to Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, June 27, 1885.
The Eye says Dexter will boom and adds:
AArkansas City is determined to have a branch to the main line of the D. M. & A., as soon as it is built. They are willing to cooperate with Dexter and have the branch tap the main line at this place. The company is willing to hear a proposition from us as soon as the main line is completed from Baxter Springs to Larned. With the D. M. & A., the Arkansas City branch, and the Dexter Building Association, three powerful allies assisting Dexter in her onward march to wealth and prosperity, we are justified in showing feelings of elation and are more than ever encouraged to roll up our sleeves, buckle down to work, and do all that in us lies for the future glory and prosperity of our beautiful Gem of the Valley.@
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, July 4, 1885.
Considerable Truth.
The D. M. & A. Railroad is whooping right along, as it always has. Two or three hundred miles more of grading has been let and the dirt is flying all along the line, as it always did. Several more counties and townships have voted bonds, as they ever will. Our Kingman correspondent announces daily the arrival of the road at that point. Denver keeps a man on the lookout for the smoke of the first train as it heaves in sight. People stand along the banks of the
Afather of waters@ to see the first through train move out. Belle Plaine, Winfield, Baxter Springs, and other points have for years filled their papers with announcements of contracts let, and even the Eagle has published several specials to the effect that Awork would commence next week.@ Still truth compels us to say that not a tie has ever been laid on this railroad of a thousand miles in length, not a rail bought. It has been wind, wind, and nothing but wind from the start. It is now announced for the thousandth time that work will commence next Saturday at Belle Plaine, which is hundreds and hundreds of miles from either end. We don=t say that the work will not now commence for we know nothing about it, but to begin in the middle to build a road, where all material will be transported over rival lines, is a queer idea--is not a practical railroad idea! Another point we would suggest to our correspondents who give us so much D. M. & A. pabulum, and that is, that a portion of the line from Baxter Springs to Belle Plaine is parallelled by two other lines, and from Belle Plaine west the line is located right between the Southern Kansas system and the combined Santa Fe and Frisco systems, which will all push west before the D. M. & A. can possibly build ten miles of line. We are for railroad, not air or wind lines, but bona fide and steel lines, and we have always watched the talk and calculations of theD. M. & A. people with interest, for the line is a big thing, but we suggest more facts, more work, and less blow. We shall be happy to announce the inauguration of actual operations, but in view of all that has been said and promised, the lapse of time, and the actual surroundings as we have set them forth, we suggest a cessation of wind. Wichita Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, July 11, 1885.
The advent of the K. C. & S. W. into Arkansas City and the opening up of navigation on the Arkansas ought to increase our population very largely.
Arkansas City Republican, July 25, 1885.
The contract for the building of 325 miles of the much talked of Denver, Memphis & Arizona railroad has been recently let and ratified by the board of directors. This road, yet without end or beginning proposes some day to run from some point not yet designated, on the east line of the state, through Montgomery, Chautauqua, and Cowley Counties and on to Arizona, or to some convenient stopping place in that neighborhood. Howard Hornet.
THE CALDWELL JOURNAL, August 30, 1883.
The Cowley County folks are considering a proposition to vote $100,000 in county bonds for the construction of a railroad from some point on the St. Louis, Fort Scott and Wichita road to Winfield and Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, August 1, 1885.
Jas. Hill came in from St. Louis Monday night. He reports the K. C. & S. W., as graded to within nine miles of Winfield, and the track laid to within twenty-two miles of the city of mud and dust. But for the bridges to be built, the Terminus would have the new road in sixty days. The K. C. & S. W. Company are building four new towns along their route, all good towns, too, and they really think they can improve our county seat
=s prospects.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, August 8, 1885.
During the past week we have been over the route of the D. M. & A. from Dexter to Coffeyville in company with Major Fanning, engineer in charge of the east division. The people along the line are prosperous, despite the damage by flood and the ravages of the web worm. They are in high spirits and waiting patiently for the railroad. Since knowing by personal observation of the resources of the country along the line, we are more than ever satisfied that the
D. M. & A. will be a money-making road from the time the first train pounds the rails from Belle Plaine to Baxter Springs. Dexter Eye.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, August 8, 1885.
At last we are able to say that the D. M. & A. is an actual fact. About a mile of heavy grading has been completed already and the work still goes on with increased force each day. Upwards of forty teams are on the grade now and a full force will be on in a few days. The remainder of sixty-one miles will be sub-let the latter part of the week. They crossed the Santa Fe yesterday.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, August 15, 1885.
The past week has been an eventful one for Belle Plaine. An uncertainty to some, has developed into a certainty and everybody is happy. All week the dirt has been flying on the C. M. & A., and the forces increased until 40 to 50 teams are now at work on the grade. In a very few days, a full force will be at work and about a mile a day will be graded. This will be kept up until the entire line is ready to operate. Bridge and track material for 61 miles is being ordered now and will soon begin to arrive. The work has been delayed a few days on account of accidental injuries received by Mr. Mallory, which have kept him at home for three weeks. There is no abler firm of railroad builders in the country than Messrs. Fitzgerald & Mallory and what they undertake will go through. They will be on the ground in person and see that the work is pushed in a proper manner. Don
=t put any reliance in reports, but come and see if you don=t believe it, then go home satisfied. The News feels happy over the outlook and wants everybody to join in the procession and throw up their hats and shout for the D. M. & A. Belle Plaine News.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, August 15, 1885.
The Railway Age, the official railway publication of the United States, says the Courier, is giving our Kansas City and Southwestern railroad considerable attention.
AIt has the following to say on the progress of the road from Beaumont, Kansas, on to the St. Louis & San Francisco, southwest 27 miles, and will reach Floral, 33 miles from Beaumont by August 8, and Winfield, 9 miles further on, about September 1. Grading and bridging are nearly finished to the latter point and the rails are on hand. This line is intended to run from Kansas City by way of Paola, Burlington, and Eureka to Winfield, and the Territorial line beyond Arkansas City, with a branch southwest to Wellington and Caldwell. The line is being built by Chicago capital, with local aid, and is intended to be operated independently.@
Arkansas City Republican, August 15, 1885.
E. H. Tyner, a substantial farmer residing across the Walnut, started to go to Winfield Wednesday on the early morning train. On his return home on the noon train, he tells the REPUBLICAN of an accident which happened on the way up. Just as the train pulled out of Constant, one of the flues in the boiler bursted. As there was no operator at Constant, some of the passengers chartered the hand car and pumped their way up to Winfield, where word was left of the accident. A dispatch was sent to Wichita for an engine, which came at about 10 a.m. and pulled the delayed train and waiting pasengers on to their journey
=s end. No one was hurt.
Arkansas City Republican, August 15, 1885.
The Santa Fe
=s Proposition to Defeat the D. M. & A.The Santa Fe Railroad Company have signified their intention of submitting a proposition to this county to vote bonds in aid of a line of railroad which they propose to build from Independence west through the county, and also extend a line south from their S K road. Such a proposition would be enthusiastically received by our people, provided they knew it to be genuine and made with the honest intention of being carried out. But it is well known that such a proposition would never have been thought of by that company were it not for the fact that their territory is about to be invaded by the D. M. & A., and there is no other show for the Santa Fe to protect their own interests but by either building another line through the southern tier of counties from Montgomery, west, or prevent any other company from doing so. So far, in all the years since the Southern Kansas was built, they have succeeded in keeping out competing lines. And there is no doubt that the Santa Fe company have the one and only obstacle in the way of our securing an east and west road through this county. But we believe that corporation will put up a sufficient cash guarantee that they will give us a road, that their proposition will be welcomed by our people and receive their hearty support. But it is too apparent that if the D. M. & A. bonds are defeated, or the project checked off entirely by the Santa Fe, that the anxiety of the latter company to build through this county will suddenly vanish. Therefore, if the Santa Fe company mean business and are not simply scheming to defeat the D. M. & A., let them deposit say $50,000, as a guarantee of good faith, and the people will listen to their proposition. Otherwise, we think we voice the sentiment of the multitude by mildly but firmly requesting the Santa Fe Co. to give us a rest. Cedarvale Star.
Arkansas City Republican, August 15, 1885.
The readers of the Eagle will remember that this paper set forth the advantages and possibilities of an early railroad connection with the Ft. Smith and Little Rock railroad, and of one article this spring in particular, in which estimates and statistics are given. We are now able to announce that a charter has been or will be filed for such a line and that membership will be partially composed of experienced railroad men. Such a road by way of either the Cana or Verdiges valleys or by way of the Arkansas valley is entirely feasible. Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, August 22, 1885.
The county commissioners accepted 10 miles of the K. C. & S. W. Railway, built in this county, Tuesday. They found everything first-class. The road is within 10 miles of Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, August 22, 1885.
Tannehill Tidings.
Beaverites are becoming somewhat excited over the report that they are going to get the D. M. & A. R. R. through that township. If we do, we will form a junction and make it hot for the
AHub@ and the ATerminus.@
Arkansas City Republican,
Saturday, August 29, 1885.The K. C. & S. W. R. R.
From a special dispatch to the Wichita Eagle of Friday from Topeka we learn of the filing of the charter for the building of the AGeuda Springs, Caldwell and Western railroad.@ The purposes of this corporation are to construct a line of railroad from the proposed line of the Kansas City and Southwestern Railroad Company, in Cowley County, Kansas, through the counties of Cowley, Sumner, Harper, Barber, Comanche, Clark, Meade, and Seward, to the west line of the state. The capital stock of this company is five million six hundred thousand dollars. The directors are: Alonso Stephens, Chicago, Illinois; William Goatlin and C. N. Towle, Hammond, Indiana; Wm. D. Curry, Edwin P. Greer, N. M. Powers, D. A. Millington, John C. Long, Winfield; and C. R. Mitchell, Geuda Springs, Kansas. Place of business: Winfield, Kansas.
The object of the company when it first started to build was to construct a standard gauge railroad from Kansas City, Missouri, to Arkansas City, with the ultimate intention of continuing the road on through the Territory. Besides this a branch road was to leave the Kansas City & Southwestern north of Winfield and go west to Wellington and thence through the Indian Territory to connect with the Southern Pacific system at some point in Texas. The filing of the above charter proves that the company intends carrying out its first plans.
To the REPUBLICAN it appears that this branch should leave the
K. C. & S. W., at Arkansas City, and go west, and we believe if our citizens took the proper steps they could induce the company to do so. Just why we should stand idly by and allow this western road to start from some other town when Arkansas City is more naturally and advantageously located for the purpose than any other place, we fail to see the philosophy of.
Arkansas City Republican, August 29, 1885.
Concerning the building of the D. M. & A., the Wichita Daily Beacon of Monday has the following. AWork is certainly going on along the surveyed line of the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railroad from Belle Plaine both ways, and several thousand yards of dirt have been removed. It is a fact, however, that various points along the line have no faith in the construction of the road, and it is hinted and suspicioned by many that it is a shrewd trick on the part of the projectors to sell several hundred thousand dollars worth of town lots and possibly secure some bonds while making a show of earnestness in the matter of a blind.
A
The company can well afford to grade a few miles of road here and there to inspire conficence, if a speculation of a fraudulent nature as above referred to is to be successfully carried out. Many new towns have been laid out on the line of this paper road in which, it is said, the company have been interested and from which they have received many thousands of dollars from the sale of lots, directly or indirectly. It is to be hoped that the people who have invested in real estate on the strength of the representations made by the company will not be disappointed in reaping substantial returns. All roads lead to Rome, and Wichita will be sure to be a principal point on this road if ever built, no matter how odd the asertion may seem now.@
Arkansas City Republican, August 29, 1885.
The Kansas City & Southwestern Railroad Company will, until further notice, run a regular mixed train from Atlanta to Beaumont, leaving Atlanta at 8 o
=clock a.m., making close connection with the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway train going east; also connecting the Frisco train going west, will leave Beaumont at 4:30 p.m, arriving at Atlanta at 6:30 p.m.
Arkansas City Republican, August 29, 1885.
[MORE LOCAL NEWS.]
Work at the gravel pit has resumed and once more train loads of gravel are being taken north, on the A. T. & S. F., almost daily.
It is proposed to bond Ford County in the sum of $80,000, to aid in the construction of the Cattle King Railroad from Dodge City to Englewood.
The bonds which were asked from Chautauqua County to aid the
D. M. & A. to construct its line of road was voted Tuesday by over 500 majority.
Arkansas City Republican, August 29, 1885.
The K. C. & S. W. Surveyors have made a new survey. It comes through the draw on Widow Loomis
= farm, and passes along just north of the town site and crosses the Santa Fe at the northeast corner of the town and runs south on First Street to Central Avenue.
Arkansas City Republican, August 29, 1885.
Bilious Chautauqua. [They spelled it Chataqua!]
T. J. Harris came in last evening from Chautauqua County. He says things are getting very bilious regarding the D. M. & A. bonds, which are to be voted on the 25th. Wednesday evening he attended a railroad meeting at Wannetta, which was presided over by Chas. C. Black, secretary of the D. M. & A., and Ben Henderson, County Attorney of Chautauqua. The matter was at fever heat on both sides. The committee of fifteen, who had gone to Topeka on free passes to consult with the Santa Fe officials, brought back a guarantee that the Santa Fe would be extended from Independence west to Caldwell and from Howard to Sedan, if the D. M. & A. bonds were defeated, with a Santa Fe guarantee of $50,000. The committee put out workers at once for the Santa Fe. But the majority caught on to the Santa Fe
=s game. They know it wants to hold its monopoly. What would $50,000 be to the Santa Fe if it can hold its grip on all Southern Kansas, through the S. K.? Only a drop, and could easily be forfeited. They want the bonds defeated, that=s all. But the Santa Fe has some hot workers, and if their arguments are not shut off, many credulous will be duped. Charley Black telegraphed last night for all the men Winfield can send over; and the war will be sultry. The people of Chautauqua want theD. M. & A.--know it to be far superior to the little S. F. Branches, but the long delay of the D. M. & A. gives them the fear of having their hands tied. The Santa Fe
=s action is a big guarantee that the D. M. & A. is a surety, a lively robust fact that is liable to knock the wind off the Santa Fe=s monopoly. Winfield Courier.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 5, 1885.
The bonds for the Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western Railroad was carried through Woodson County on Monday and Tuesday by good majorities. This insures the building of this line of road from Leroy to Yates Center, Neodesha, and Independence this fall. It is intended to run this line east from Independence. Now is the time for Arkansas City to strike for an east and west road. C. M. Scott has corresponded with this company to some extent and it has signified its willingness to come this way if any inducements are held out. The charter of the company allows it to construct its line to Deep Hole in Clarke County.
Arkansas City Republican, September 5, 1885.
The Kansas City & Panhandle Railroad Company filed its charter with the secretary of state Monday. It is proposed to construct a line of railroad from Kansas City, Missouri, southwesterly through Jackson County, Missouri, and the counties of Johnson, Miami, Franklin, Anderson, Coffey, Woodson, and Greenwood in the state of Kansas, to the city of Reece, thence through the counties of Greenwood, Butler, and Cowley to the south line of Cowley County, then in a southerly direction through the Indian Territory to El Paso. The incorporators are: W. L. Reece, L. V. Harkness, J. H. Richards, W. E. Beattie, and T. J. Prosser. Capital stock $4,000,000.
Arkansas City Republican, September 5, 1885.
The K. C. & S. W. Depot Located.
The long suspense over the location of the K. C. & S. W. Railroad through the city and the depot location are about at an end. The route is decided upon permanently to the S. K. Railroad. Sixteen lots have been bought of W. A. [?] Andrews, just north of his residence, for the depot. J. P. Steward, of this city, has been awarded the contract for the erection of this depot. It will be similar to the S. K. Depot, 18 x 76 feet in size, with platforms all around 12 feet wide and 200 feet long. The road comes into town through the old fair grounds. Thirty men are now working on the Timber Creek bridge abutments. This bridge will be twenty-seven feet wide, for double track. From the depot the road runs just north of the gas house, crosses the S. K. near the track, and will very probably follow the river to the water works engine house and then straight in the direction of the fair grounds. It runs across the southeast corner of the grounds, through the main gate, whence a small depot and side track for Fair purposes will likely be put in. It cuts diagonally through Riverside Park from the ticket office to the [???? ALMOST COMPLETE WHITE-OUT FOR SEVERAL LINES]...GIVE UP! WILL HAVE TO GET THIS ARTICLE FROM WINFIELD COURIER. Courier.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 12, 1885.
Rail Road.
Thursday night there will be a meeting of the citizens at the council chambers to further consider new railroad propositions. Sometime ago there was a general waking up on the railroad question, and the result was the organization of the Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern Rail Road company. Since that time there has been considerable hard work, and although everything has been moving very quietly, there has been much good accomplished. Bonds have been voted in two of the three townships in which propositions were submitted, and propositions will soon be submitted to the townships between this city and Arkansas City, and an election called. Every voter should remember that this road is as sure to be built as the sun is to rise in the east and set in the west, and in order to secure it through this country, it will be necessary to give the aid asked for. Other localities are working hard to captivate this line, and our local committee have left no stone unturned to keep Sumner in the front rank. All that is required is to vote the required aid and grading will commence before snow flies. The amount of taxable property that will be added and reduction in freight alone will more than offset the bonds voted, besides giving to our people a southern outlet for the shipment of their stock and grain and brings to us cheaper fuel and lumber. To be fair with the railroad question, it is easy to discover the many advantages by securing this line, and we are free to say that in our opinion, that the taxpayers cannot afford to let this golden opportunity pass. To our citizens in town, let us urge you to attend all railroad meetings, or any others that
Ahave for their object the further building up of this town and county.@ The better the town the more rapid will be the settlement of the county. The more railroads the cheaper will be freight and lower prices on merchandise. The more railroads the more attraction for the investment of capital in both town and county. The more money invested the more labor for laboring men, and the more labor the better will be business for all classes of dealers. But first of all we must have the competing line of railroad, and we ask all to put a shoulder to the wheel and give the Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern a final boost.Wellington Star.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 12, 1885.
The Daily Wellingtonian of Tuesday morning says:
ALate last evening we heard that a syndicate of eastern capitalists have agreed with our railroad company to build a line of road from Arkansas City northwest just as soon as the right of way can be secured. This is good news and will insure the construction of the road which will make this city boom. We do not know how true this is as the members of the company who have the affairs in charge seem to think that the best way to build railroads is by a still hunt--and keeping everything from the newspapers. This report came to us pretty straight, though, and we believe that it can be relied upon as the truth.@
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 12, 1885.
Independence & Southwestern Railway.
A state line railroad, and direct outlet east, and a chance for southern Cowley County to have a road. The following letter explains itself.
TOPEKA, KANSAS, Sept. 7, 1885.
C. M. SCOTT, Arkansas City, Kansas.
DEAR SIR: Your favor to Mr. J. L. Barnes of 27 inst. is before me, and I am permitted to advise you that charter for the line you name is now filed and your city a point in the line. The road begins at a junction with Southern Kansas at Independence, thence via Peru, Sedan, Cedarvale, Arkansas City, Caldwell, Kiowa, Englewood, and on to the west line of the state, with a branch in your county to Winfield and a branch from a point at or near your city to Wellington, and a branch from the most practicable point in Harper Co., north or northwesterly to Harper and Anthony. We shall submit a proposition soon in Chautauqua County, if they want the road. What will your people do for such a road? We are not the Southern Kansas railroad, but in perfect harmony with them. The directors here are Joab Mulvane, Pres., Jno. R. Mulvane, J. P. Griswold, C. F. Parmelee, Secretary, E. M. Hewins, and C. M. Turner, Chuatauqua, and J. W. Donlavy, Independence. I shall be pleased to hear from you, and any information you may have. It is important that the people of your county and Chautauqua do not tie themselves up by voting as to parties or railroad companies having no credit, money, or backers to build anything and thus shut out legitimate enterprises. Yours Respectfully,
JOAB MULVANE, Pres.,
Independence & Southwestern Railroad Company.
Arkansas City Republican, September 12, 1885.
The county commissioners met in adjourned session Monday morning. They adjourned until Thursday morning to condemn right of way on the D. M. & A. Next Monday they will meet and finish the condemnation of the K. C. & S. W. right of way to Arkansas City. Winfield Telegram.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 19, 1885.
A Narrow Escape.
An accident occurred on Monday at the abutments of the new
K. C. & S. W. Railroad bridge across Timber Creek, just north of town. Charley Schmidt is constructing these abutments with a big force of hands. The excavation for the west abutment is right in the bank, making a wall on one side eighteen feet perpendicularly. At the top, within three or four feet of the edge, is the large derrick. The tramp of the men on the damp ground was too much for it, and a dozen or two loads of dirt went down with a terrible thud, covering the abutment where eight or ten men were working. That no one was killed is a mystery. Charley Kelley made a spring for life, but was caught on the back and left foot, spraining them badly. Dan Berigan got his body from under, but his left leg got an awful jolt, a bad fracture. John Iry
=s escape was the most marvelous. He was right in the middle of the pier, but happened to look up just as the bank began to give. With a yell, he sprang, escaping. Just at the moment, Dr. Emerson has Kelley and Berigan in hand. It will be several days before they can again handle themselves as of yore.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 19, 1885.
The Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas Railroad Company.
The proposed route of this road is from Ft. Scott, Kansas, southwest through the counties of Bourbon, Allen, Neosho, Wilson, Elk, Chautauqua, and Cowley, thence through the Indian Territory to the state of Texas, terminating at or near Wichita Falls, an estimated distance of 850 miles. The capital stock is fixed at $2,000,000. The following are the incorporators: Z. S. Hudson, O. V. Small, R. N. Allen, S. W. Fostor, and S. A. Wicksom. The office of the company is to be at Chanute.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 19, 1885.
New Railroads in Kansas.
W. B. Strong, president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway company, has been in Topeka since Tuesday, on business that means much for Kansas. His stay among us has been quiet, but few outside the higher railroad circles knowing he was here. There have been important conferences and enough has come to light to indicate an era of railroad building that has not been witnessed for years. It is known that the Gould system has been making overtures to the people of several counties in what is known as the Santa Fe territory. The present movements are aimed to protect this country, and to do so there will be a laying of steel rails, with or without bonds being sold, that will add many hundred miles to the system. Among the roads contemplated is the branch running from Independence southwest, passing through Montgomery into Chautauqua, and thence west along the south tier. There will also be a cut-off from the Southern Kansas, to intercept the Missouri Pacific from Luray. This road will most likely be a continuation of the Burlington branch passing through Yates Center and Fredonia to Independence, thus making a direct river connection. Another line has been definitely determined, the extension of the Kingman branch through Pratt and Edwards on this projected line. The engineers will begin work in less than ten days. Also west from Kiowa along the southern border, which last line will ultimately reach Trinidad, but will at present go only to the west line of the state.
Arkansas City Republican, September 19, 1885.
Train men on the Santa Fe road are to be regularly uniformed on November 1st, says the Santa Fe New Mexican. The suits will be of navy blue, brass buttons, and regulation cut. A tailoring establishment in the east will get the job on contract for making the suits, and a bulletin will be issued in a few days informing train men of the forthcoming order so that they will not buy beforehand any unnecessary clothing for the winter.
Arkansas City Republican, September 19, 1885.
New Railroads in Kansas.
The Kansas City Journal
=s Topeka correspondent day before yesterday writes: AW. B. Strong, president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway company, has been in this city since Tuesday on business that means much for Kansas. His stay amongst us has been quiet, but few outside the higher railroad circles knowing he was here. There have been important conferences, and enough has come to light to indicate an era of railroad building that has not been witnessed for years. It is known that the Gould system has been making overtures to the people of several counties in what is known as the Santa Fe territory. The present movements are aimed to protect this country, and to do so there will be a laying of steel rails, with or without bonds being sold, that will add many hundred miles to the system. Among the roads contemplated is the branch running from Independence southwest, passing through Montgomery to Chautauqua and thence west, along the south tier. There will also be a cut-off from the Southern Kansas, to intercept the Missouri Pacific with Leroy. This road will most likely be a continuation of the Burlington branch, passing through Yates Center and Fredonia to Independence, thus making a direct connection. Another line has been definitely determined, the extension of the Kingman branch through Pratt and Edwards on this projected line. The engineers will begin work in less than ten days. Also west from Kiowa along the southern border, which last line will ultimately reach Trinidad, but a present will go only to the west line of the state.The Santa Fe has obtained control of the Topeka, Salina and Western, which has been hanging fire so long under Patterson
=s control, with only seventeen miles built. That gentleman has sold out all his interest and the Santa Fe being the hitherto unknown purchasers, will push it forward to completion, connecting Council Grove with Topeka and extending on from the present end to Salina and possibly further. This is considered an important line. By far the most important road contemplated and which will be productive of the greatest results, is the line decided upon, starting at or near Garden City, and going in a straight line to Denver. A glance at the map will show how this road will revolutionize Colorado business and thus give the Santa Fe almost dictatorial powers. A branch is contemplated from this new line to Colorado Springs. These lines, extensions, and cut-offs have been under discussion since Tuesday, and Mr. Strong coming here with the determination to build and occupy the territory mentioned, indicates that the agreement not to invade other territory is off.Backed by the Santa Fe power, and under the active management of Mr. Strong, this new departure, caused by the neglect or loss of territory a year ago, shows the coming struggle. All the lines alluded to have been practically determined upon so near as can be ascertained, and engineers will at once be placed in the field.
[NOTE: FIRST PART OF ABOVE ARTICLE WAS COVERED IN AN EARLIER ARTICLE, BUT NOT THE LAST PART!]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, September 26, 1885.
Mistaken Multitude.
TORONTO, KANSAS, Sept. 10. The decision of Judge Brewer, of the U. S. Circuit court, in the suit of the United States vs. The Southern Kansas Railway, declaring 27,000 acres of land heretofore held by that company, to be wrongfully held and now a part of the public domain, has created the wildest land excitement ever known in this part of the state. As soon as the decision was made known in southern Kansas, men in wagons, buggies, and on horseback came in great numbers from Chanute, Wilson, and other counties to this county, Woodson, and also Greenwood County, and commenced staking off claims, saying that Judge Brewer
=s decision declared all lands heretofore held by the M. K. & T. Railroad to be government land. They are building shanties on many quarters and breaking sod so as to perfect the claim. They have even stuck their stakes and broke ground on lands which were entered by college script and the patents for which were on record before either the Santa Fe or M. K. & T. Railroads were organized. The excitement is amazing.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 3, 1885.
The Winfield Telegram contains this newsy morsel.
A
The graders on the K. C. & S. W. Railway commenced throwing dirt on the north side of Timber Creek last Monday. The bridge and depot will have been finished by today, and trains will doubtless be running from Winfield to Beaumont by next week. So mote it be.A
It will be completed to Arkansas City by Dec. 1, 1885.@
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 3, 1885.
Railroads.
The railroad is one thing that during the years of development of the great West has contributed more to wealth and its material comfort than any other enterprise. At the same time we can truthfully say that where all roads lead to the same center or the same market, they, by their pooling system, do more to destroy the value of our Western products than any other one thing. Realizing this fact, the enterprising businessmen of Wellington have formed a company for the purpose of securing to the people of this county a competing line and a direct outlet to the southeast and southern markets of the world. Considerable hard work has been done, and money has been spent, in their efforts to find a sure plan of completing the proposed line before any aid was asked of the people.
Thus far the company has been successful, and today has the arrangements completed whereby Wellington and Sumner County can have a direct outlet to the seaboard markets of the Southeast by simply complying with the requirements of the local company.
Of course, railroad schemes, like all other enterprises, meet with opposition; and no matter how honest or faithful any one set of men in a community work for the welfare of the masses, it is noticeable that there can be found someone who is selfish enough to growl and decry the efforts of others simply because he is not consulted as to the mode of procedure, etc. Thus it is that we are called upon to dissect an article appearing in the South Haven News of last week, in which the editor, in his effort to show to his readers the benefit of one scheme, tries to belittle another, while, if he was honest with himself and readers, he might see that he is working directly against the interests of those he is so desirous of serving.
Speaking of the Ft. Smith route, he says:
A
Wellington is welcome to the Ft. S. W. & N. W., but we will take the K. C. & S. W., a road direct to the markets of the East, and not a little stub like the Ft. S. & N. W.@As to the K. C. & S. W., Brother Williard must be very ignorant if he can
=t see that this line affords no competition or benefits to the farmer, simply because its terminus is Kansas City, where it will be used as a feeder to one of the great pooled lines leading to the Eastern markets, he so readily refers to. In the next place, if he cares to know the facts, he can easily find out that the stub he so slurringly refers to will be a main line direct to the seaboard in the Southeast and the natural market for the products of this country. By securing this line we secure competition in freights and higher prices for the products of the farm, thereby benefitting the farmer, to whom we all look for support. We do not denounce your efforts to help your town, but in your struggle you should be fair with those to whom you go for support. Don=t let selfishness blind you to justice. Again the News says: AWellington has run the county as long as she can, and as she sees the power slipping from her hands, how she does writhe and squirm in her death struggle.@Here again is shown selfishness and a disposition to prejudice. We are sorry to learn that there is a publisher of a paper in one of the thriving towns of grand old Sumner, who does not know that Wellington is the pride and center of the whole county and circle of thriving towns about her; that every man, woman, and child in the county either has a direct or indirect interest in the prosperity of the county seat, the same as Wellington is interested in the prosperity of all the people in the county. Such talk about control is childishness. The control of all county affairs rests with the masses, and the prosperity of the county seat means the advancement of all interests in the county and a benefit to all the people, and we believe in this, every true citizen will agree with us. God bless you, my boy, the citizens of this city are proud of every town in the county and we are sorry to see you make such a blunder as to get the words enterprise and control confounded.
Farther on the News:
AWind will not build a railroad.@ Very true and the sooner the News man comes to the full realization of the truth of that statement, the sooner will he stop allowing his columns to be manipulated by wind workers. The writer of the article in the News attempts to hoodwink the farmers by referring to theFt. S. W. & N. W., as a scheme to defeat the Winfield extension, when the facts are just the reverse. The one thing we wish to impress on the minds of our readers is the fact that the Ft. Smith line is sure to be built, and preparation for work will begin as soon as the bonds are voted; and before another crop is to be moved, this county will have an outlet to the markets of the markets of the world. The question to be answered is, do you want a direct outlet, or will you continue to contribute to the pool system? Sumner County Standard.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 3, 1885.
Detective A. L. Hendricks killed one Balance Kennedy, Belleville, Kansas, Thursday, supposing him to be one Andy Hency, who killed a grader on the K. C. & S. W. Beaumont on June 2nd. Kennedy was seated at the table in a hotel, when the detective ordered him to throw up his hands. He did, and in turning around to see the detective, at the same time saying
Athere must be some mistake,@ lowered his hands slightly, when the detective blew his brains out. The identity of Kennedy was established, and Hendricks is in a bad fix.
Arkansas City Republican, October 3, 1885.
The Chicago & Alton railroad as a route from Kansas City to Chicago, St. Louis, and the east, offers advantages that are not and cannot be equaled by any other. Its trains start from the Union depot in Kansas City after the arrival of trains from the west, and run through to St. Louis, Bloomington, and Chicago, where connections for all points further east are made in union depots. The Chicago & Alton is the only line running Palace Dining cars to or from Kansas City on both morning and night trains. It makes no extra charges for seats in elegant and comfortable Palace Reclining Chair cars, which are run on all trains. It runs the newest and most superb Pullman Palace Buffet Sleeping Cars. There is no change of cars of any class between Kansas City and Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis, and St. Louis and Chicago. Tickets via this popular route are on sale at all coupon ticket offices in the United States, and at Arkansas City can be bought of Mr. O. Ingersoll, Agent, A. T. & S. F. R. R.
Arkansas City Republican, October 3, 1885.
An associated press dispatch of the 20th says:
A
It has been ascertained that the bonds voted the Denver, Memphis and Atlantic railroad along their projected line from Baxter Springs to Kingman are worthless, inasmuch as they were voted for a standard gauge railway, whereas the Denver, Memphis and Atllantic, on account of a defect in their charter, has no legal existence except as a narrow gauge railroad. Their old charter is under the name of the Denver, Memphis, and Atlantic narrow gauge railway. Instead of filing a new charter, the stockholders voted to change the corporate name to the Denver, Memphis and Atlantic railway, but neglected to change in the body of the charger the words Anarrow gauge@ to Astandard gauge.@ By a latter dispatch from J. J. Burns, vice president of theD. M. & A., we get a denial of the above.
Arkansas City Republican, October 3, 1885.
The following charter was filed Friday, with secretary of state:
AKansas & Colorado Midland railway,@ capital stock $16,000,000, estimated length of road 800 miles; line or road from Kansas City, Missouri, to Denver, Colorado; course of road, through the state of Kansas to the western boundary line of said state; thence through the state of Colorado, to the city of Denver, with a branch diverging from the most favorable point in Butler or Greenwood County, and running in a southwesterly direction to the city of Winfield, Kansas; thence to the south line of said state; thence southwesterly across the Indian territory and the Panhandle of Texas to the Rio Grande river. Directors for the first year: J. L. Horning, J. C. Tong, [?? COULD THEY MEAN LONG?], and M. L. Robinson, of Winfield, Kansas; H. W. Hall, of New York City; L. S. Olmstead and B. F. Beesley, of Jacksonville, Illinois.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 10, 1885.
S. C. Lindsay, esquire and notary public of Arkansas City, and the Eagle
=s correspondent, is visiting in Wichita and measuring up the fair. Mr. Lindsay called Wednesday to say that Arkansas City=s businessmen are in thorough sympathy with the Eagle=s boom; that Kansas business should be done on Kansas soil, and that the only way to do it is by securing more railroads. Arkansas City is also desirous of pulling with Wichita on the Ft. Smith, Little Rock, and Missippi River scheme. Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, October 10, 1885.
AD.
>FRISCO LINE.=ST. LOUIS & SAN FRANCISCO RAILWAY, -THROUGH-
MISSOURI,
KANSAS,
ARKANSAS, &
INDIAN TERRITORY.
THE ONLY THROUGH LINE -BETWEEN- SEDGWICK, KANSAS, -AND- SAINT LOUIS.
UNDER ONE MANAGEMENT
FAST EXPRESS TRAINS Are Run Daily. NO CHANGE OF CARS.
PULLMAN PALLACE SLEEPING CARS Are run daily between
Saint Louis, Missouri, and San Francisco, California.
800,000 ACRES of rich farming and mineral claims
for sale by this company IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI.
For full and particular information, with Maps, Time tables, rates, etc., call upon our address, any of our station agents, or either of the undersigned.
G. W. CALE,
Gen. Freight Agent
St. Louis, Missouri
D. WISHART,
Gen. Passenger Agent
St. Louis, Missouri.
W. ROGERS, Vice President and General Manager
Temple Building
St. Louis, Missouri.
Arkansas City Republican, October 10, 1885.
Patronize Home Institutions.
The Southern Kansas Railway is a Kansas road and is thoroughly identified with the interests and progress in the state of Kansas and its people, and affords its patrons facilities unequaled by any line in eastern and southern Kansas, running Through Express trains daily between Kansas City and Olathe, Ottawa, Garnett, Iola, Humboldt, Chanute, Cherryvale, Independence, Winfield, Wellington, Harper, Attica, and intermediate points.
Through Mail trains daily except Sunday between Kansas City, Wellington, and intermediate stations, making close connections at Ottawa, Chanute, and Cherryvale with our train for Emporia, Burlington, Girard, Walnut, and Coffeyville.
Accommodation trains daily, except Sunday, between Kansas City and Olathe and Ottawa.
Remember that by purchasing tickets via the Union depot at Kansas City with through trains to all points, avoiding transfers and changes at way stations. Through tickets can be purchased via this line at any of the regular coupon stations, and your baggage checked through to destination east, west, north, and south.
Pullman Sleepers on all night trains. For further informaqtion, see maps and folders, or call on or address
S. B. HYMES, Lawrence, Kansas.
Gen. Pass. Agt.
Arkansas City Republican, October 10, 1885.
[MAY HAVE PRINTED THIS ALREADY.]
The Chicago & Alton railroad as a route from Kansas City to Chicago, St. Louis, and the east, offers advantages that are not and cannot be equaled by any other. Its trains start from the Union depot in Kansas City after the arrival of trains from the west, and run through to St. Louis, Bloomington, and Chicago, where connections for all points further east are made in union depots. The Chicago & Alton is the only line running Palace Dining cars to or from Kansas City on both morning and night trains. It makes no extra charges for seats in elegant and comfortable Palace Reclining Chair cars, which are run on all trains. It runs the newest and most superb Pullman Palace Buffet Sleeping Cars. There is no change of cars of any class between Kansas City and Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis, and St. Louis and Chicago. Tickets via this popular route are on sale at all coupon ticket offices in the United States, and at Arkansas City can be bought of Mr. O. Ingersoll, agent A. T. & S. F. R. R.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 17, 1885.
Railroad Talk.
We are told by good authority that the K. C. & S. W. Railway will be completed to Arkansas City by the middle of next month. The track is laid through Winfield to the Walnut River south, where a bridge is being constructed. Graders are on this side of the Walnut throwing up dirt, and as soon as the bridge is completed, which will be in about one week, track-layers will commence to extend the iron band towards Arkansas City that is to connect us with the great Gould system of railway. The foreman of the track-laying gang was in the city Saturday last to contract for the boarding of his men, when they arrive near enough Arkansas City. Railroad men will be in our city all fall and the greater part of winter, as considerable time will be consumed in bridging the Arkansas. After that the construction train will run out from our city with men and supplies to the scene of operation, and returning at eventide, until the K. C. & S. W. is completed to the State or Sumner County line. We suppose a station will be located there, but in time Arkansas City will spread out sufficiently to take it into her corporate limits.
The much talked of branch leaving the K. C. & S. W. Road between here and Winfield, known as the Geuda Springs & Caldwell railroad, will not be built this fall. In fact, the REPUBLICAN does not believe now that it will ever be built, unless the junction be formed at Arkansas City and the road be built west from here.
To span as large a stream as the Arkansas River twice for the same railway system within a distance of 10 miles appears to be a needless expenditure of money. By a strong pull and a pull altogether, we can make our town the junction of the K. C. & S. W., and their western extension, regardless of Asp.
We have looked at the call for an election in Walton Township--Geuda Springs--asking for aid, and it says that the road will be constructed within a specified time if
Ano legal hindrance@ prevents. This argument should not quiet our solicitude. The people never know where a railroad is going until its completion and operation. TheK. C. & Southwestern might shoot off in that direction with a branch and deprive us of considerable rich trading territory.
Aid is also being asked from Walton Township by the Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern. The road starts at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, passes northwesterly through the Indian Territory and Kansas into Colorado. The road as projected will strike our fair city, Geuda Springs, Wellington, etc., and open up a southern market. Then we can exchange our hogs and flour with the natives of Arkansas for lumber and coal. The company building the road claim that within 18 months it will be constructed. Aid has been voted in several townships in Sumner County already, and elections are called in several other townships along the line. We would think that it would be to the interests of Geudaites to seek this road. This corporation we are told has the right of way through the Territory.
The prediction which we made a short time since that Arkansas City was being looked at by railroad corporations with a longing eye is being fulfilled. Let the good work go on. The REPUBLICAN will continue to shout the glad tidings to the people, and when Arkansas City has grown to be the metropolis of the southwest, we will quit the sounding of our bugle, but not till then.
Arkansas City Republican, October 17, 1885.
Railroad Meeting.
The citizens of Arkansas City have just awakened to the fact that they are about to be left out in the cold in the matter of the K. C. & S. W. Railroad. It has now become known that the Geuda Springs branch is only another name for the K. C. & S. W., and that while the company will fulfill their agreement to the letter, and build the road through Arkansas City to the state line, they have intentions of making the junction at least three miles north of here and thus make the Geuda Springs & Caldwell branch the main line, while this will be only a stub with not sufficient length to justify a separate service. The effect will be that when the road is in operation that only such trains as are absolutely necessary will ever be run down here, a local freight perhaps. This is a direct stab at Arkansas City from the Winfield element in the company headed by the road
=s attorney, Henry E. Asp, our present county attorney. To devise some means to have the junction here or south of here, provided a western branch is built, was the object of a meeting held in the office of Meigs & Nelson Thursday evening.The meeting was called to order by N. T. Snyder, Judge Kreamer being called to the chair and N. T. Snyder, secretary.
George Cunningham stated the object of the meeting, which was to devise some way to prevent the junction from being north of Arkansas City, and asked Mr. Hill to make a statement of what the company intended to do.
Mr. Hill said that the company intended to build the road through Arkansas City to the state line, and that the Caldwell branch would also undoubtedly be built, and that it would be to his interest, and to the company
=s interest, to have the branch start from here, as it would require but one bridge. He also stated that the company, outside of the Winfield element, was favorable to Arkansas City. He acknowledged that the company was morally, if not legally bound, to make the junction here, because it was upon these express promises that they had obtained the aid of Arkansas City in voting the bonds.Rev. Fleming made a forcible speech, charging it as conspiracy on the part of Winfield to leave Arkansas City out in the cold and a violation of the promises made by Asp and others when they obtained our aid.
Amos Walton said that it was a conspiracy that was entered into at the time the company approached Winfield. Every opposition was made to Mr. Hill
=s efforts to get the road through the east part of the city and east of the Santa Fe. The city council was even in the conspiracy, as shown by the fact that they would not grant the right of way of street crossings unless the road went west of the city. The road going west, he estimated, cost $25,000 more than the east route. AWinfield voted $20,000 bonds to get them in there and charged them $25,000 to get out.@A. A. Newman moved that a committee of five be appointed to confer with Mr. Hill as regards the best means of attaining the object of the meeting. The chair appointed A. A. Newman, Geo. W. Cunningham, Amos Walton, Rev. Fleming, and S. Matlack as that committee.
The following resolution was passed.
Resolved, That the K. C. & S. W. Railroad Company is not treating the city of Arkansas City fairly, and in the same generous spirit which the citizens treated them in the inception of the road in the matter of building a road diverging from their line north of this city. In support of this proposition, would say that it was promised and agreed by Mr. Asp, attorney for the road, in order to obtain our aid, that the line of road should come down east of the A. T. & S. F., and yet the leading citizens of Winfield antagonized the road sufficient to prevent its coming through Winfield on a line to accomplish that object and to the injury of the company forced it upon the west side of the city of Winfield, and then as a part of the scheme for the injury of Arkansas City proposed and looked up a line leading west only three miles north of the city of Arkansas City. Feeling that it is a violation of the good faith pledged to the city, we would respectfully state that the said line should be left open until the line to the territory on the south of us is built. We would further state as to the matter of expense that in case the company will make a survey and establish the cost of the road from the point in Beaver Township, to the west line of Walton Township, Sumner Co., and a corresponding survey from Arkansas City or south of it, west through Walton Township, Sumner County, that we will willingly make the difference in case it should be favorable to the first mentioned line.
W. D. KREAMER, Chairman.
N. T. SNYDER, Secretary.
Arkansas City Republican, October 17, 1885.
Several carriage loads of our citizens were in Geuda yesterday to talk about the proposed junction. They also met several leading citizens from Caldwell. They were somewhat coolly received, but when it was learned that the object was only to get the junction here, a better feeling prevailed, and Mr. Mitchell and others expressed no objection to that; in fact, would help with our citizens in attaining that end.
Arkansas City Republican, October 17, 1885.
Scraps of History.
Several months ago Burden wanted Arkansas City to affiliate with her in building the K. C. & S. W. Railway, and leave Winfield out in the cold. But our citizens, induced by fair promises from the leading men of Winfield, refused to acknowledge Burden
=s request. We combined with Winfield to win the enterprise. She lulled our citizens into peaceful repose by fair promises of standing by us, and then while Arkansas City=s representative in the railroad company was away in New York attending to business of interest to both towns, she stabs us in the back, by hatching a scheme to build a line of railway from theK. C. & S. W., at the edge of Creswell, west through Geuda. Henry E. Asp, our present county attorney, elected by the votes of Arkansas City, says Jim Hill, is the father of the scheme. Remember this, friends, Mr. Asp is a county official and in trying to injure our town for the benefit of his own, overreaches the bounds of his office. Instead of working for the interest of the county, as he was in honor bound to do after the promises he made our citizens in regard to the K. C. & S. W., his little soul could not extend out of the corporate limits of Winfield. Well, what he has done can not now be undone. But we wish to remark right here that Mr. Asp is dead politically in this end of Cowley County. We have learned enough about him since his election to remand him to pettifoggery once more as soon as his term of office shall have expired. As far as Winfield is concerned, she seems to have forgotten that there is a feeling yet existing for Tisdale to be the county seat of Cowley County.
Arkansas City Republican, October 17, 1885.
Hip! Hurrah! For Arkansas City. Word reaches us that surveyors have commenced to run their line east for a railroad from Independence, Kansas, to the west side of the state. It is understood that the Missouri Pacific is backing this enterprise. Don
=t we boom! Already Arkansas City seems to be the nucleus of all the railroads building in Southern Kansas. A few months more and we will have the Ft. Smith, Wellington and Northwestern. The Santa Fe is also projecting a line east from Independence through this city for the west line of the state.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, October 24, 1885.
The Railroad Muddle.
For the past ten days the all-absorbing railroad topic has held the attention of our citizens. You could see them gathered in crowds on the street corners discussing the prospect of having a branch extended west three miles north of us. We all realized that such a branch would be detrimental to Arkansas City, and have been very much excited over the project. We naturally would as it effects our home. Anyone possessing the slightest patriotism at all would enter a hearty protest against the junction being made north of us only three miles.
The excitement was cooled down considerably by promises made by our townsman and a prominent member of the K. C. & S. W., Jas. Hill, that no such a branch would be constructed. He informed our citizens at the council chamber last Monday evening that should the
K. C. & S. W. Railway extend its line west at all, the junction would be formed at or south of Arkansas City just across the Arkansas. The reason he assigned for this was that if the branch was made to Geuda north of Arkansas City that about ten miles of road would have to be constructed without any aid from the people, and that a bridge across the Arkansas at Geuda, costing about $35,000, would have to be erected and maintained. As the construction of railroads cost about $20,000 per mile, it will be readily seen that if that branch was ever built, it would cause a large outlay of money, which would be useless if the company came to Arkansas City and then went west. He also stated that the reason propositions had been submitted in Sumner County on this branch was to head off the Ft. Smith & Wellington road. The
K. C. & S. W. was desirous of going west and they submitted their proposition for the purpose of holding that territory in order that they might receive aid when they were ready to build their projected western line.
He further stated that Mr. Asp had submitted the propositions without any orders from President Toole, Jas. Young, or himself.
Jas. Young, one of the most influential spirits of the K. C. & S. W. company, came down from Winfield Tuesday to meet our citizens and have a talk with them about the matter. The meeting was held in Judge Pyburn
=s office, the Judge presiding over the assembly by a unanimous vote. Mr. Young stated to us that he and the company had no intentions of building the branch west; that they were not ready to do so, and that he had informed delegates from Caldwell and Geuda Springs on Monday that all propositions along the projected line had better be withdrawn; that in his judgment the junction should be formed at Arkansas City or just south across the river if the line was ever extended west; that while Mr. Asp was acting in good faith, he was doing so without instructions from the company. Mr. Young further stated that by withdrawing the K. C. & S. W. proposition in Sumner County, it would be a detriment to the company as the matter had gone so far. That he was going to St. Louis immediately to consult with Pres. Toole on the matter of calling in the propositions and that he would telegraph the citizens of Arkansas City immediately the action taken.Mr. Young also said that Arkansas City and Omnia Township had stood by the K. C. & S. W. company and that their interests should not be forgotten.
This is the action up to our going to press. We have concealed nothing and told nothing but the bare facts, which have been laid before us in the last few days.
Our readers can draw their own conclusions. Winfield citizens forced the K. C. & S. W. track on the west side of their town, in order that the road might be forced to run as far west in Beaver Township as possible. They had in view the building of the branch to Geuda three miles north of Arkansas City and have
Aboomed@ it. They are now probably laughing in their sleeves at our discomfiture. But the true old saying of AHe who laughs last, laughs loudest and longest,@ should be remembered. They laugh now, but perhaps Arkansas City will turn the tables soon. We won=t forget Winfield=s contemptible action in this matter nor the men who originated and propelled the scheme to injure our town. The time may come again when they will want to join hands with Arkansas City in order to secure an enterprise, but our eyes are open now, and no more will we affiliate with them.
Arkansas City Republican, October 24, 1885.
When we recall the events which have transpired in relation to Cowley County in getting the K. C. & S. W. And D. M. & A railroads, we wonder how a Winfield man dare show his face on our streets. We pledged Winfield to help to carry the D. M. & A. Bonds, and fulfilled it. We get not the slightest benefit from the D. M. & A. When the K. C. & S. W. wanted to run their line via Burden, we joined hands with the county seat and induced the road to be constructed through it. Now, the ingrate up the road rises up, stabs at our heart
=s blood by promulgating a scheme to build a branch west to Geuda, the junction being formed only three miles north of us. But, thank God, a stop has been put to it. M. A. Robinson, J. C. Long, and the puppy pettifogger, Henry E. Asp, will be remembered. Remembered by 1,014 voters in Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, October 24, 1885.
Johnnie Kroenert exhibited a map of the road surveyed to Oklahoma from Arkansas City. The map shows up all the territory south of us. N. Stafford, the surveyor, says settlers are entering that region and taking claims. From here to Oklahoma it is only 60 miles, 30 miles nearer than any other point.
Arkansas City Republican, October 24, 1885.
Hackney Harpings.
The K. C. & S. W. Railroad graders are throwing dirt lively through this section of the country. The owners of the damaged farms have nearly all appealed from the county commissioners assessments. Their estimate of damages are unreasonably low and in some particular cases extremely unjust and unfair. The courts will probably have to decide the matter unless compromises are made. The junction for the bob-tail branch to Arkansas City will, in all likelihood, be made in Beaver Township, and the citizens may just as well reserve their pent-up wrath and indignation for a more righteous cause.
Arkansas City Republican, October 31, 1885.
The K. C. & S. W. Railway News.
Monday word was received in our city to the effect that the propositions asking aid over in Sumner County to build a branch west from the K. C. & S. W., between here and Winfield, had been ordered to be withdrawn. This is what our citizens have asked of the company, and it has kindly granted the request. Since the above has occurred, the K. C. & S. W. Engineers have been engaged in making surveys through the west part of the city. From what we can ascertain, a survey has been made into the city down on 13th street, branching off west through the draw on Bud Beck
=s farm, just across the Arkansas. This is as it should be. Arkansas City is the natural place for the branch to start west. The company has been granted the right of way through the city on 3rd street, but it is likely to be changed to 13th.
Arkansas City Republican, October 31, 1885.
In this issue we copy articles from the Arkansas City Republican and Traveler. A perusal will show the reader what the kick is about. We wish to remind the Republican that it is wrong in two particulars. First, in the assertion that Burden asked Arkansas City to help leave Winfield out in the cold. Our people did not ask this. We knew that many of the Winfield people were determined that Burden should be left out in the cold. We informed Arkansas City people of this fact, and told them if they would stand by us, we could have the road through Burden and Winfield to Arkansas City without a fight. This was when we believed the road was more than a mere spur. The agreement was made only to be broken by the A. C. people with the result as now seen. Secondly, the Republican errs in the statement that a feeling still exists to remove the county seat to Tisdale. Burden is the objective point and this accounts for the struggle to prevent our having another road. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 7, 1885.
KILLED BY THE TRAIN.
J. E. Parkins Meets Death Two Miles North of Arkansas City Thursday Noon.
Was It an Accident or Suicide?
For the fourth time in the past 15 months, the REPUBLICAN has been called upon to chronicle the sad intelligence of death caused by the cars on the Santa Fe.
DIED. This time the victim was J. E. Parkins, a well-known and respected citizen of Arkansas City. From a train boy and a passenger who witnessed the deed, we get the following information.
Mr. Parkins was standing on the platform steps of the car adjoining the baggage car. The newsboy was standing in the door-way when suddenly Mr. Parkins reached around, caught the railing of the baggage car, swung around, placing a foot on a step of each car and lowered his head between the two platforms. Just at this moment the boy cried out for him to desist. Mr. Parkins raised his head and glanced at the boy, but immediately bent down again as low as he could and let loose all hold. The consequence was he fell between the two platforms and it is thought from the wounds that the wheels struck his head and body. A deep gash extended from the bridge of his nose back over his forehead; one side of his body was mutilated and the bones in the left leg were broken in several places. The boy gave the signal and the train was stopped, and backed to where the body lay at the side of the track. He was picked up and brought to the depot. Drs. Reed and Chapel were called to attend. He was still alive--just barely breathing. He died a few hours after being conveyed to his home.
It was also stated that up near Seeley he tried to commit the deed, but was prevented by a passenger. Upon being stopped there he walked into the car and sat down and did not get out until about two miles north of town where the train starts to come down grade. The train was running at lightning speed, and it is a wonder that he was not killed instantly.
The deceased was a contractor and had the contract of putting up the Biddle building upon which work had been commenced. No reason is assigned for him committing suicide and it is hard to credit his death to that cause. Some advance the opinion that he was intending to jump from the train and go over to his stone quarry, two miles north of town, but that is not probable.
He leaves a wife and two children. The remains were interred in the Riverview Cemetery Friday. Whether Mr. Parkins intended to commit suicide or whether his death was an accident, we know not, but it is a very sad affair.
Arkansas City Republican, November 7, 1885.
The K. C. & S. W. Once More.
Wednesday morning, bright and early, information reached our citizens that some of the propositions to be submitted by the Geuda Springs and Caldwell road in different townships in Sumner County asking aid, read to the effect that the road was to leave the K. C. & S. W. between Arkansas City and Winfield. In Walton Township--Geuda--the proposition read to go west from Arkansas City. By this it would seem that someone was determined to hurt the interests of Arkansas City. Our citizens were once more aroused to action, and when James Hill, L. D. Latham, and H. E. Asp made their appearance upon the streets in the afternoon they were besieged on every side by inquiries in regard to the matter. We were told by these gentlemen that we had been informed correctly. Immediately the citizen
=s committee marshaled its forces and called a meeting, requesting the railroad company to be present. The meeting was held in Judge Pyburn=s office, that gentleman presiding. Some very plain and sensible talk was indulged in by our citizens and the company. The latter was informed that if any such propositions reading that the road would be extended west between here and Winfield, were submitted in Sumner County, no right of way through the city would be granted and the company=s interests would be fought by our citizens on every hand. This stirred the gentlemen up somewhat and after a conference among themselves they decided to comply once more with the requests of Arkansas City. It was agreed that all propositions to be submitted in Sumner County should be sanctioned by our citizen=s before submission. A copy of each petition calling the elections will be forwarded to the citizen=s committee for perusal in order that no more Amonkeying,@ as Jim Hill expresses it, may be indulged in. We are glad to announce to the public that it has been decided by the company to build its road west from Arkansas City via Geuda to Caldwell within the next 16 months and petitions calling elections in the several townships will be submitted to that effect in a few days. This is as it should be.
Arkansas City Republican, November 7, 1885.
Maj. Sleeth and N. T. Snyder visited Wellington Monday and Tuesday in the interest of the Ft. Smith & Wellington road. They met the president of the company, who assured them that the road would positively be built in the next 16 montths. Messrs. Sleeth and Snyder were also informed that the railroad desired to come to Arkansas City; but since the defeat of their bonds in Walton Township, had had some notion of changing the route to go through Guelph Township. Surveyors are making this way from Ft. Smith through the territory. A survey will be run on the north side of the Arkansas first, and then on the south, in order to ascertain which is the most available route to Ft. Smith. In four townships in Sumner County bonds have already been voted and an election will occur in another on the 11th. The company asks for $4,000 per mile, from the county through which it passes. We should get this railroad connection. It is a trunk line, and since our citizens have ascertained that the road is a certainty, they will make a mighty strong pull to get it.
Arkansas City Republican, November 7, 1885.
The surveyors are expected here this week, says the Wellington Standard, to commence the work of surveying the line for the
Ft. S., W. & N. W. The people of Walton Township will soon be convinced that this much talked of road is not a paper road like the Geuda Springs, Caldwell and Southwestern, but a thoroughbred railroad, with steel rails and steam horses. Get out of the way, you fellows down about Geuda, or you will get run over.
Arkansas City Republican, November 7, 1885.
The Present Bond Proposition Declared Off.
On Monday morning a telegram was received by our local railroad committee from Winfield, requesting their presence at that point immediately. In answer to this, Mayor Reilly, A. M. Colson, and the writer hereof repaired to Winfield on the afternoon train.
On reaching that point delegations were found there from South Haven and Walton Townships.
The matter we were called upon to consider was the determination of the railroad company to whom the bonds were to have been voted on the 2nd and 10th days of November, that it could not build under that proposition as now pending. This action on the company
=s part became necessary under circumstances over which they had no control, having arisen since those propositions were submitted.The representatives of the railroad company, wishing to convince the committee that they had acted in good faith in the matter, stated their reason for not standing by the promises they had made before. There were in a decidedly embarrassing situation, and to devise means whereby all interests could be protected and the road built on time over a route that would not materially affect any interest unfavorably, was what they wished the presence of the committees for. A conference was appointed for 9 o
=clock Tuesday morning, which was held, and at which time mutual concessions and agreements were entered into on behalf of the company by its agents, and the railroad committees on behalf of their people.The result of these agreements in brief are as follows.
The company will submit propositions to the various townships in which those now pending are to build their line of road into and through them on or before Sept. 1, 1885. The initial point of the road to be anywhere between Winfield and a point due west of Arkansas City. The road to go within one mile of Geuda Springs in its course to Caldwell via South Haven. This line of road, they now propose to build, for aid in the total sum of $102,000 in township bonds instead of $116,000 as the proposition now pending gave them. They further agree to pay all expenses of the election to be held on their proposition on the 2nd and 10th of November. The committee accepted these new propositions, subject to the approval of the people in the townships affected by the change; and as soon as a preliminary survey can be made from Arkansas City to Geuda Springs, they will be put in form and presented to the people again. This cannot be done before next week, as the engineers are compelled to remain at Winfield on bridge work over the Walnut and other smaller streams the balance of this week.
These propositions satisfy Arkansas City, we presume, and make her feel good; but it does not remove the impression made upon us that they are a mighty hard lot, and know how to kick up the greatest possible row on the least capital of any outfit in the state.
The new propositions are certainly better than the old ones were, if we consider the matter of $14,000 any object. They lengthen the distance to Winfield a little less than three miles and do not give us any heavier grades. We can certainly stand that now, when we are to receive the benefits of this competing line of road at a cost of $14,000 less than the other was to cost us.
Let our people show the same energy and perseverance that Arkansas City, Belle Plaine, Anthony, or even
Apoor old Wellington@ have shown in their railroad matters, and before the calf crop is ready to harvest next year, we will have a competing line of railroad in operation to this point.Caldwell Journal.
Arkansas City Republican, November 7, 1885.
The railroad company has withdrawn its proposition to us and will shortly submit another that we think will be far better. The fact of the matter is simply this: the company could not afford to operate a little stub road of three or four miles even with such a live town as Arkansas City at the end of the stub. So the company now propose to pay all expenses of calling the special election and submit us a proposition to extend the main line through Arkansas City, then run up the river to within one mile of Geuda Springs, and thence west via South Haven to Caldwell. They also propose to reduce the amount of stock asked for $14,000, which will reduce the amount asked for in this township $2,000. The company only ask for one month longer in which to complete the road.
South Haven News.
Arkansas City Republican, November 7, 1885.
The engineers of the K. C. & S. W. Railroad Company will make a preliminary survey this week from Arkansas City to Geuda Springs, with a view of ascertaining just where they can get through with their road. That the company propose to build to Caldwell in the next ten months, not one of the men who have had any dealings with them for an instance doubt. The railroad committees throughout the border tier have more faith in the company
=s intention of building now than ever before. The concession of the company from $4,000 per mile to $3,500 is one of the strongest arguments the committee have that the railroad company is in earnest and regret the necessity of having to resubmit the propositions.Caldwell Journal.
Arkansas City Republican, November 7, 1885.
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Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 14, 1885.
The New Proposition.
The railroad propositions are now in shape for circulation and will be signed up and probably presented to the commissioners in a few days. It has been decided by the company to build from near Arkansas City to Geuda Springs and on west to Caldwell.
This is as it should be, and will give us direct communication for those who wish to go to Arkansas City. Whereas anyone desiring to go from here or west of us, as the road was formerly expected to be built, would have been compelled to wait for change of cars at the junction both ways, and this will take us directly to Arkansas City, Winfield, and on to St. Louis at present, and within a year direct to Kansas City.
If the winter is open weather the dirt will be flying on the grade to our town by February 1st, and we expect to see the train in any event by April 15th, 1886, running into Geuda Springs.
Geuda Springs Herald.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 14, 1885.
Oh, Yes We Can.
A
The people of Geuda don=t seem to take any too kindly to the idea of their railroad running from Arkansas City. But then people can=t always have things just as they would like in this world. Arkansas City may be able to run Cowley County, but she can=t always run railroads just as she would wish. Winfield Telegram.@The first portion of the above squib is false. Geuda Springs does take kindly to having the K. C. & S. W. built from Arkansas City, for they realize that is the only way they can obtain a road. The citizens of that live town are working heart and soul with us now and will in a few months be united to Arkansas City by iron bands. Selah.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 14, 1885.
Rev. S. B. Fleming, Geo. Cunningham, H. O. Meigs, and T. H. McLaughlin were delegated by the Citizen
=s committee to visit Caldwell the first of the week and ascertain the animus there relative to the extension of the K. C. & S. W. Railroad west from Arkansas City. Our commission found Caldwell=s railroad committee somewhat opposed to the proposed line; it preferred that the road run west from Winfield. Tuesday morning the council met in this city and passed the ordinance granting the railroad company the right-of-way through the city on 13th street. The ordinance was to have appeared in the Traveler, of last Wednesday, but when our committee ascertained the feeling in Caldwell, it telegraphed to withhold its publication, which was accordingly done by Major Schiffbauer. A committee from Caldwell came along with Arkansas City=s committee to Winfield to confer with the K. C. & S. W. officials and learn their intentions. Wednesday morning Mayor Schiffbauer and A. A. Newman went up to Winfield to join the conference. Everything was amicably settled. Caldwell, on learning that the company was going west from Arkansas City, acquiesced, and our committee came home Thursday morning satisfied with what they had accomplished. Arkansas City, Geuda Springs, and Caldwell are now joined hand in hand, working for the same cause--the building of the Geuda Springs and Caldwell branch. >Tis well.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 14, 1885.
The Railway Age contends that there will be some lively railroad building in Kansas in the near future. In its last issue, that paper says that the great competing lines west of the Missouri River are threatening each others territory; that the Missouri Pacific is energetically pushing its lines into Central and Southern Kansas, and that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago & Northwestern are contemplating a like movement. The Age further says that the coming year will be an active one among the existing railways in Kansas, to say nothing of the numerous independent enterprises which are promising to take the field.
Arkansas City Republican, November 14, 1885.
DIED. J. E. Parkins, who met death beneath the wheels of the Santa Fe train last Thursday, has an unwritten history as a contractor. At one time he was the heaviest builder and contractor in Washington, D. C. From there he located at Des Moines, Iowa, and engaged largely in the building line. Later on he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan. From there he went to Winfield and finally he came to Arkansas City. Some years ago he was quite wealthy, but reverses in financial affairs placed him in somewhat straightened circumstances. He was a Knight Templar, belonging to the organization at Washington City. The Masons here with the Knight Templar Guards of Honor attended the interment of the remains last Friday at Riverview Cemetery.
Arkansas City Republican, November 14, 1885.
Yesterday morning a railroad meeting was held in Judge Pyburn
=s office. Mayor Schiffbauer stated that the object of the meeting was to hear what Mr. Wood had to say in regard to the Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern railway. The latter gentleman is the general manager of the Arkansas Valley route, and stated that he was in favor of building the road from Ft. Smith to Arkansas City, if bonds to the amount of $4,000 per mile were voted to aid in its construction. He also stated that Ingalls, Peters, and Perkins were in favor of this route and had agreed to aid in procuring the right of way through to Arkansas City. A motion was made by Maj. Sleeth that we work up the necessary aid. We want the road and there is no doubt that everything will be satisfactorily arranged.
Arkansas City Republican, November 14, 1885.
As we go to press the K. C. & S. W. Graders are about one mile and a half north of town. There is also a force at work grading 13th street. By the middle of next week, the grade will be completed between here and Winfield. A temporary depot will be erected on the corner of Central Avenue and 13th Street. But later on, we are told, that a permanent depot, round house, turntable, etc., will be erected at the corner of 4th Avenue and 13th Street in the Jack oaks. This is the best place for the depot that can be found. Then the road will go to the state line, a branch will also extend to Geuda and thus to Caldwell.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 21, 1885.
The following charter was filed with the secretary of State last Tuesday.
A
The Geuda Springs, Caldwell, Harper & Northwestern Railroad Company.@ Place of business, Winfield, Cowley County. Route: from Geuda Springs, Sumner County, in a northwest course to Denver, Colorado. Estimated length of road 700 miles. Capital stock, $5,000,000. Directors for the first year: A. Stevens and J. W. Young, of Chicago, Illinois; H. E. Asp and J. D. Dantham [? NOT SURE OF THE LAST NAME], of Winfield, and J. Munger and W. S. Torrey, of Harper, Kansas.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 21, 1885.
A Candle Lecture.
The Caldwell branch of the K. C. & S. W. Railroad will run from Arkansas City. The question was settled last week. The propositions which had been submitted to townships in Sumner County stipulating that the branch should leave the main line at Winfield or a point north of the center of Beaver Township, are withdrawn and others submitted stipulating that it shall branch from Arkansas City. While but few of the citizens of Winfield seem to realize it, the fight over this question has been most fierce and bitter. The Winfield members of the company bent their energies from the first to secure this branch for Winfield, and of course expected and counted upon the hearty co-operation of our citizens and municipal authorities. They early presented the matter to the company, took pains to ascertain from the citizens of Sumner County what aid could be secured, and formulated a proposition which embraced four thousand dollars per mile for every mile constructed in Sumner, and pledged to the company hearty and liberal encouragement from Winfield in the right of way through the city, land and money for machine shops, etc. The propositions were considered and determined upon and the matter was fixed before the road reached our city that the road should go through the city on the most feasible route and branch from Winfield. But when the Winfield members were called upon for the right of way through the city, they could not deliver the goods. The route selected by the engineer as being the most feasible, was through the eastern part of town. Mr. Asp approached the city council and suggested that they allow this road to occupy some street in the east part of the city. Immediately there arose a great howl, the like of which we have rarely heard. Members of the council seemed to care more for the sanctity of their backyards than for the future welfare of the city whose interests they were especially selected to protect. The council had got it into their heads that the proper place for the road was out by Bliss & Wood
=s mill, and up a canyon, despite the protest of the chief engineer that such a route was impracticable. Then the road tried to get the council=s consent to buy their way through the eastern part. This was refused. Then they asked permission to climb the hill and cross Ninth Avenue a mile east of Main Street. The councilmen were taken in carriages to view the route and agreed verbally to let the road go there. A special meeting was called that evening only to result in their going back on what they had agreed to in the morning. Then the road asked that they might follow the Santa Fe around the town and get out in decent order. But another councilman=s backyard was endangered, and even this was refused. The company was dismayed. Instead of finding Winfield friendly to the road, they found her council ready to throttle it, rather than that the Abeauty@ of the east part of town should be forever marred by the presence of a railroad track, although the company offered to plank the track inside and out, making a continual crossing from limit to limit of the city. Every new move only seemed to increase the blood-thirsty disposition of our valiant city fathers, until the road ordered its Chief Engineer to locate their line in accordance with the dictation of the city council of Winfield. The Chief Engineer did so. The road is now built. It ruins the fair ground; it damages the park for public purposes. It practically vacates the only road over which the people of Vernon, Beaver, and part of Pleasant Valley can get into Winfield--and two miles of it cost the company forty-six thousand dollars more than they receive from Winfield in aid, leaving them with one of the most dangerous and expensive pieces of road, to maintain and operate forever, that there is in Kansas outside of the flint hills. This is Winfield=s attitude toward this company.Now for Arkansas City.
She wanted the road. She was willing that Winfield might have two roads to her one, and voted solidly for the D. M. & A., redeeming her pledges faithfully. She also wanted the Caldwell branch. She asked the company to simply notify her of what it thought necessary to be done, and they would do it. The company suggested that they give the road a street, free of cost, from limit to limit of their city. The suggestion was embodied in an ordinance and passed unanimously, leaving the company its option to select which street it wanted, and even holding the company harmless for any damages that might arise from its occupancy.
Had Winfield accorded the company any kind of fair and decent treatment, she would have had the Caldwell branch, the permanent division, machine shops, and general headquarters, all of which the company had offered, which would place Winfield far in the lead of any city in southern Kansas.
Broad-gauge men will make a live, enterprising, flourishing town; selfish, close-fisted, and short-sighted ones will kill it if given enough rope.
Winfield Courier.
Arkansas City Republican, November 21, 1885.
Geuda Springs & Northwestern.
Elsewhere we publish the fact that a charter has been granted for the building of a railroad from Geuda Springs via Caldwell, northwest, through Harper County. The line of the road will be from Caldwell through Freeport and Mid Lothian, Harper, one of the towns in Pratt County, crossing the Santa Fe at Offerie [? Not sure of this name], through Jetmore and to Scott City, thence west to the Colorado line. The company building the road is virtually the Kansas City & Southwestern. The only change being made is the addition of the names of two directors from Harper. The Harper Graphic in speaking of the proposed road says:
AOf course, it is the intention to continue the road to the southeast through the Territory and Arkansas, to the Mississippi, and the coast. This however will be an after consideration, when the northwestern road is completed. We may add the road is as well assured as anything in the future can be, and is not a paper road or a visionary scheme.@Light begins to dawn upon our minds concerning the K. C. & S. W. extension. As we understand, the K. C. & S. W. will build here, go west some two miles, and then construct the road south to the state line, which will be the end of the road for the present. As we stated last week, the junction of the Caldwell extension will be formed about two miles west of the city (where the main road goes to the state line), and on via of Gueda to Caldwell. Sometime in the future the main road will be extended through the Territory to connect with the Panhandle system of Texas. By this new proposed route, Arkansas City will be directly connected with Colorado on the west and Missouri on the east. The fact that a charter has been granted for another line from here going northwest to the same company is almost conclusive evidence that the company intend to make Arkansas City the end of both divisions, and from this point merge both roads into one line. The end of both roads being here will call for large machine and repair shops, roundhouses, etc. Then it will be our grand motor [?] power, of which we can avail ourselves, will be called into use.
[DO THEY MEAN WATER POWER? MOST CONFUSING SENTENCE.]
The building of this road will also settle the
Abob-tail@ question. Arkansas City is not to be located on the Abob-tail.@ Neither is Geuda or Caldwell; but all then will be on the main lines. How does this news strike you, gentle reader?
Arkansas City Republican, November 21, 1885.
The bonds for the building of the Fort Smith & Wellington road were carried in seventy-six townships in Sumner County Wednesday. The carrying of bonds in this township increases the aid to $118,000 already voted in Sumner County, and there are still other townships to vote upon the question.
Arkansas City Republican, November 21, 1885.
Another Railroad.
TOPEKA, KANSAS, November 12. The Chicago, Emporia & Southwestern railway has been incorporated, with the following board of directors: H. C. Cross, C. Wood, D. M. Davis, H. P. Clark, O. W. Waymire, J. M. Steele, Emporia; W. M. Jones, Des Moines; J. S. Doolittle, Cotton Falls; H. H. Gardner, El Dorado. The capital stock has been placed at $12,000,000. Starting at the Missouri river, this road proposes to run through the counties of Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha, Atchison, Jackson, Pottawatomie, Leavenworth, Jefferson, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Osage, Lyon, Morris, Marion, Chase, Greenwood, Butler, Sedgwick, Cowley, Sumner, and Harper, and through the Indian Territory. The road also proposes to cross twenty-four counties in Texas and will, in all, cover 600 miles. The places of business named are Atchison and Emporia, Kansas, and Wichita Falls, Texas. There are men here who profess to believe that this road will be built, and that right soon.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 28, 1885.
BOOMING BEAUMONT
VISITED BY SOME OF OUR CITIZENS TUESDAY.
An Excursion Over the K. C. & S. W., that Long Fought For Railroad.
Beaumont Found to be a Booming Metropolis (?),
Fast Growing in Opulence upon the Flint Hills of Butler County.
Early on last Tuesday morning, two omnibuses drew up to the Leland Hotel and took on board the following gentlemen, who had been invited by the managers of the K. C. & S. W., to take a pleasure trip over that road to the famous and booming Beaumont: Mayor Schiffbauer, Councilmen Hight, Davis, Thompson, Bailey, Dean, and Dunn, and their friends whom they invited, H. H. Perry, J. Frank Smith, J. H. Hilliard, Frank Thompson, and City Clerk Benedict; also, the railroad committee, consisting of A. A. Newman, N. T. Snyder, Major Sleeth,
G. W. Cunningham, W. D. Mowry, and T. H. McLaughlin. Bro. Lockley, too, was among the honored ones, and was to chronicle the thrilling incidents of the trip, furnish intellectual food for the party, and report the impressive appearance, the
Asights@ and widely spread influence, of flourishing Beaumont. After a drive of about three miles, the gleeful party reached the end of the track, where over 200 railroad hands were busy at work, rapidly advancing the Airon bands@ towards Arkansas City.It was after 8 o
=clock before they heard the distant whistling of the excursion train, towards which they at once started, and which they reached after a brisk walk of nearly a mile. Had it not been for Councilman Davis, who has only one natural leg to work with, they probably would have continued their journey on foot, and thus economized time. As it was, Mr. Davis was conveyed to the cars in a carriage to avoid the fatigue of walking. All having gotten on board, the train moved slowly up the track. They had a jolly, rollicking time.Having arrived at Winfield, the passengers allowed the engine to rest a little, although it caused them much weariness to be delayed in a village of such few attractions when vivid pictures of enterprising Beaumont occupied their excited minds. Mr. Latham joined the party at Winfield, and when the train pulled out, the officers of the road suspended from the rear end of the last car a banner, bearing the inscription,
AThe town we left behind us.@ From that railroad station onto the end of the journey, the train swept over the track at a rapid rate, passing through Floral, Wilmot, Atlanta, and Latham. Beaumont (a French word meaning Athe fashionable world@) was reached at 11:30 [? HARD TO READ...COULD HAVE SAID 11:50] a.m., and the party evacuated the cars and proceeded at once to the central part of the city. On either side, as they walked up main street, tall and magnificent buildings met their view, and the hearts of the rustic excursionists almost ceased to beat on account of the grandeur they beheld. Councilman Dunn had purchased a bran new hat that morning, and in trying to pass in under one of the lofty awnings, it was completely crushed. [N.B. This incident occurred before the drugstore was visited.] They found that the city consists of fourteen houses, which have been standing for 14 years, and the inhabitants number about 75. This is conclusive evidence that the town is still booming. When one of the natives was asked why he did not move to a better locality, he proudly pointed to the barren flint hills, and, with Kansas enthusiasm, maintained that Beaumont was the garden-spot of the world. After dinner, which was served in the spacious dining hall of Noah Herring, some of the party, for amusement, played at billiards and pigeon-hole. Bro. Lockley and Geo. Cunningham leveled down the flint hills and bombarded the town pitching horseshoes. Some of them went into one of the two drugstores in the place and consulted the Aholy record@ in order to procure some remedy for their ailments. The druggist showed them a full Asoda pop@ barrel, the greater portion of whose contents they consumed.While in the drug store they made the following invoice of the stock it contained.
1 small stove ............................. $ 2.00
1 old keg ................................. .00
1 old box ................................. .00
1 counter ................................. 10.00
10 boxes of candy ......................... 10.00
1 pail of tobacco ......................... 4.00
2 boxes of nuts ........................... .50
1 barrel of whiskey ....................... 8.00
______ TOTAL: $34.50
The excursionists returned to Arkansas City at about 9 o
=clock p.m., full of joy and Asoda water.@ There will be another excursion over this road soon and everybody here will then have a chance to see Beaumont.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 28, 1885.
More Glad Tidings.
A special dispatch from Vinita, Indian Territory, in regard to the proceedings of the Cherokee National Council, to the Kansas City Times, of Tuesday, says:
A
The railroad interests are not unrepresented. Governor Brockmeyer, agent of Jay Gould=s interests in the Indian Territory, has been present; Judge Allen, of Little Rock, is still on the field. The latter is interested in an act granting the right of way to the Kansas and Arkansas Valley railroad. The bill provides for a railway, telegraph, and telephone line, beginning near Arkansas City, down the Valley of the Arkansas River on the north to a point opposite Ft. Smith, with a branch at or near the Verdigris River, to the Kansas line near Coffeyville. The bill guarantees safety to the nation in the present tenure of its lands, and in its present form of government, as far as the company or their successors are concerned. The closing section provides that the railroad company shall accept the right of way and grant, upon the express condition that it will neither aid, advise, or assist in any effort looking or tending toward the changing or extinguishment of the present tenure of this nation in its land, and will occupy the right of way solely for railway purposes.@The REPUBLICAN would suggest that our railroad committee place itself in correspondence with Judge Allen and see if any assistance could be rendered him from the citizens in this community in regard to the matter. It is best to strike while the iron is hot. If Arkansas City gets that road, her future as the metropolis of the Arkansas Valley is fixed. The city getting the first railroad through the Territory will be the Kansas City of Kansas. In Kansas this road is known as the Ft. Smith & Wellington.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, November 28, 1885.
At Last.
The K. C. & S. W. Railroad has come. It arrived within the corporative limits Thursday morning at about 9 o
=clock. The temporary depot is at the corner of 13th Street and 13th Avenue. The company asked for an extension of time in which to erect a permanent depot, and the city council readily granted it 30 days. We will have the best and most commodious depot on the line when it is completed, notwithstanding the Courier and Telegram poking considerable fun at the smallness of the temporary one. Winfield now realizes that she has lost considerable by her contemptible actions toward the company, and now endeavors to ease her aching heart by making light of Arkansas City. But never mind, neighbor, we could, if we were so ungenerous, rejoice over your downfall. Our heart is too large to allow us to tread upon a fallen foe. The Winfield Courier and Cowley County Telegram will soon be part of the past. They may be carted over to Tisdale and their lives perpetuated there. A few weeks more and Winfield will hear something Adrap,@ and don=t you forget it.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
J. E. Doyle, the contractor of the stone work for the K. C. & S. W. Road, informs us that he has put men at work in the stone quarry east of town to get the stone cut for the building of abuttments for bridges between here and the state line. The graders have moved to town and are camped over in the jack oaks. The grading is completed to the canal and the building of the trestle work will commence next week. The bridge across the Arkansas River will be constructed on piling. Until the road is completed to the state line, trains will run no further than Arkansas City. At last we have a direct St. Louis connection.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
Prospects.
A dispatch of Monday, from Independence, Kansas, says:
A
The surveyors have located seventeen miles of the Verdigris Valley, Independence and Western railroad, from Le Roy to Independence, and are pushing along as fast as possible, and will reach that city about December 21. President Foster, of the road, will start the contractors to work this week at Le Roy, grading and bridging the road. We are told by parties who are in a position to know that this line on being completed to Independence will be constructed west along the state line. The charter calls for the road to pass through Arkansas City to Deep Hole in Clark County. From the same dispatch we learn that the Independence and Southwestern railway are grading southwest from Independence and will build some 40 miles as fast as possible. When completed the division of the Southern will be moved there from Cherryvale. The Independence and Southern Kansas road is a Santa Fe project. The Le Roy road is a Missouri Pacific enterprise and as soon as work was begun on it, the Santa Fe ordered 40 miles of road to be constructed southwest from Independence in order to head off the first named to keep it from building farther than Independence. The 40 mile extension of the Santa Fe will carry it to Cedarvale, Chautauqua County, about 30 miles east of Arkansas City. It is only a question of time until both of these roads come to Arkansas City. The Santa Fe will come in order to hold its territory, and the Missouri Pacific will come to get the vast patronage which will be dealt out upon the opening of Oklahoma, and also a feeder to the main Gould system. So much railroad building along the state line is a good omen that the opening up of the Territory for settlement will occur soon. Also, the extension of the railroad from Tulsa, Indian Territory, west. The latter is the most bespeakable sign for the opening of Oklahoma. If developments occur as favorably in the next six months as in the six months just gone by, that much coveted land will be occupied by actual settlers. Mark our prediction.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
The Fort Smith road, with its Mississippi River connections, and its connection with the Chesapeake & Ohio railway, united to the Atlantic coast, is one of the grandest as it is one of the best and most promising traffic routes to be found in the United States. Especially will this be found true with reference to such an extension to the Arkansas Valley. And no stone is being left unturned in that interest. The first and most important step is the right of way through the Territory, which will be vigorously pushed in congress this winter. Wichita Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
N. T. Snyder and Will D. Mowry went over into the land of Guelph Wednesday evening and held a rousing meeting in the interest of the
K. C. & S. W. Extension to Caldwell.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
Winfield
=s latest scheme to injure Arkansas City is to get the Douglass branch extended to Winfield and then induce the Santa Fe to go on through the Territory from here. By doing this they hope to steal the terminus of the Santa Fe. We warn our citizens now that this scheme is being worked up in Winfield. The REPUBLICAN warned our citizens of the K. C. & S. W. building west north of Arkansas City some two months before it became of a general agitation. Then, no attention was given to the matter until it was almost too late. Still but effectual work is being done to accomplish what we have stated above. Remember, a stitch in time may save nine. The Courier=s lecture of last week was only made to throw our citizens off their guard.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
The following charter was filed in the office of the secretary of state a few days ago:
AKansas City & Wellington Air Line Railway Company.@ Place of business, Wellington, Sumner County. Route: from Kansas City, Missouri, in a southwesterly course, through the counties of Wyandotte, Johnson, Leavenworth, Douglas, Franklin, Osage, Lyon, Coffee, Chase, Greenwood, Butler, Cowley, Sumner, Barber, Comanche, Clark, Meade, Sweard, and Kansas. Estimated length of said railway, 1,000 miles. Capital stock, $1,000,000.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
The first passenger train came in on the new road yesterday morning bright and early. Next week, beginning on Monday, trains will be run on schedule time. The first train left Arkansas City yesterday morning at 8 o
=clock for St. Louis. At Beaumont close connection is made with the Frisco, both ways. The trains will return to Arkansas City at about 7:30 in the evening. It will be some three weeks before the mail is carried on this new road. No agent has yet been appointed, but one will be here next week.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
Verdigris Valley Route.
INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS, November 23. The surveyors have located seventeen miles of the Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western R. R. from Leroy to Independence and are pushing along as fast as possible and will reach this city about December 21st. President Foster of the road will start the contractors to work this week at Leroy grading and bridging the road. The Independence & Southwest R. R. are grading southwest from this city, and will build some forty miles as fast as possible.
Arkansas City Republican, November 28, 1885.
The Eagle, a few days since, made mention of the incorporation of the Chicago, Emporia & Southwestern railway, with the following board of directors: H. C. Cross, C. Ward, D. M. Davis, H. P. Clark, O. W. Waymire, J. M. Steele, Emporia; W. M. Jones, Des Moines; J. S. Doolitle, Cottonwood Falls; H. H. Gardner, El Dorado.
The capital stock has been placed at $12,000,000.
Starting at the Missouri River, this road proposes to run through the counties of Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha, Atchison, Jackson, Pottawatomie, Leavenworth, Jefferson, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Osage, Lynn, Morris, Marion, Chase, Greenwood, Butler, Sedgwick, Cowley, Sumner, and Harper, and through the Indian Territory. The road also proposes to cross twenty-four counties in Texas, and will in all cover 600 miles. The places of business named are Atchison and Emporia, Kansas.
This line, in the absence of any explanation, may seem a little chimerical; but it is not. W. M. Jones of Des Moines is a well known railroad man, who proposes to extend the Carbondale road to Emporia and on to El Dorado. Why this last scheme was abandoned and a new route chosen, lies in the fact that it is now known that the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul will, the coming year, cross the Missouri River somewhere north of Atchison and Leavenworth to Kansas City, and another branch to Topeka. Now the scheme of the Kansas corporation is to extend this line from Topeka through Wabaunsee County to Emporia and thence to Cottonwood Falls, thence to El Dorado, with a branch to Wichita, providing properly encouraged; but if not, then across the southeast corner of this county from El Dorado to the Territory, and on to Wichita Falls. Wichita Eagle.
ARKANSAS CITY REPUBLICAN.
[FROM SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1886, THROUGH FEBRUARY 20, 1886.]
WAGNER & HOWARD, Editors and Publishers.
[NOTE: TWO ISSUES OF PAPER WERE MISSING.]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 5, 1885.
The first shipment over the K. C. & S. W. Railroad from Arkansas City occurred last Saturday night. It was made by the Arkansas City Roller Mill Co. The cargo was a load of flour and its destination was Latham.
Arkansas City Republican, December 5, 1885.
LOCAL NEWS.
Thursday of last week the K. C. & S. W. Railroad claimed their bonds--$50,000--and obtained them. $30,000 was county bonds and $20,000 city.
Arkansas City Republican, December 5, 1885.
K. C. & S. W. Jottings.
L. H. Northey was in town the first of the week in the interest of the K. C. & S. W. R. R., and also showing W. H. Upton, the new agent, around. Mr. Northey is now an employee of the K. C. & S. W. From him we learn that work has been commenced on the telegraph line. It will be the Western Union. The Adams express company commenced operations on the road Tuesday. The passenger leaves here at 8:15 in the morning and returns at 6:50 p.m. The freight goes out at 7:30 p.m., and returns at 5:30 a.m. We are informed that the travel to the city is almost double what it was, since the advent of the K. C. & S. W. You can visit the county seat now at 8:30, return at 12:15 via the Santa Fe; or come down on the 6:50 train on the K. C. & S. W., or the Santa Fe accommodation.
Arkansas City Republican, December 5, 1885.
A dispatch from Little Rock of Saturday says the following.
Articles of association of the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railroad company were filed in the secretary of the state
=s office, capital stock $8,000,000. It is proposed to build a railroad from the western terminus of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad near Van Buren, Arkansas, through the Indian Territory to a point near Arkansas City, Kansas, on the Arkansas river, the main line and branch to be 320 miles. Among the incorporators are: Elisha Atkins, F. Gordon Dexter, C. W. Huntington, Boston; E. H. Winchester, New Hampshire; R. T. Wilson, New York; Jno. G. Fletcher, Jno. D. Adams, Geo. W. Hughes, and Henry Wood, Little Rock.
Arkansas City Republican, December 5, 1885.
The K. C. & S. W. Railway company have purchased 10 acres of land of John Love over adjoining the Jack Oaks. The consideration was $1,300. The company will locate their depot and roundhouse on the land. The depot will be erected at the foot of Fifth Avenue. Pipes and specifications have been drawn for a five stall roundhouse. The depot will be two stories high, the first floor being used to transact the local business of the company and the second floor as the general offices. The grading is completed almost to the river. About one half of the piling for the large trestle work has been driven and the grading is almost ready to receive the iron from the 13th street depot south to their lately purchased depot grounds. The citizens of Arkansas City raised the money out of their own pockets and purchased the grounds, giving them to the company.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 12, 1885.
Winfield
=s Enterprise Association was called to meet Thursday night for the purpose of considering the extension of the Santa Fe=s Douglass branch to Winfield and on to Fort Smith, Arkansas. They also talked about the Santa Fe locating shops and everything else there. We never thought Winfield would get down to child=s play. She seems to forget that the Santa Fe owns 30 acres of land in the townsite of Arkansas City and 36 acres adjoining the corporate limits on which the great railroad company will erect their machine shops. Their roundhouse is already here, you know, and the machine shops will come later on and be located on the canal, where they can obtain cheap power. The land which the Santa Fe owns in Arkansas City today is worth over $50,000. All they possess in Winfield, outside of the track, will not amount to $2,000. Winfield owes too much now to lend any aid to anything else. She has bonded indebtedness now of over $75,000 besides the well-to-do citizens having a $90,000 mortgage on their soul for the building of the Methodist college. It won=t be long until that town will be sold to pay taxes.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 12, 1885.
The site for the K. C. & S. W. Depot has been located at the foot of 3rd Avenue across the canal. Site for the building of the roundhouse has also been selected nearby. Surveyors were busy Thursday laying off the ground for switches.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 12, 1885.
A corps of engineers, indirectly in the employ of the Santa Fe railroad, have been running one or more lines of survey from the Chanute to the Verdigris river, in Wilson County, for the purpose of ascertaining where the easiest grade may be for the Chanute, Fredonia and Longton cut-off for the Southern Kansas.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 12, 1885.
The Fort Smith Road.
The Kansas and Arkansas Valley railroad is to be an extension of the Arkansas Valley Route through the Cherokee, Creek, and Osage nations into Kansas. The articles of association state that it is proposed for the road to begin at the most suitable point where connection can be made with the line of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad in Van Buren, and run thence by the most feasible route through Craford County to the western boundary line of the state, near Fort Smith, thence through the Indian Territory in a northwesterly direction to such a point on the northern boundary line at or near Arkansas City. Also, that a branch line will be built from some suitable point on the main line for making connection with the Southern Kansas railroad company now terminating near Coffeyville, Kansas. The main line to be about 246 miles long, and the branch about 75 miles long. The capital stock of the company is to be $8,000,000, and the money is already arranged for and work will commence at Van Buren as soon as the right of way has been granted by Congress, which we have no doubt will be done this winter as a bill to that effect has already been introduced.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 12, 1885.
The contract for building the new K. C. & S. W. Depot has been let to Jacob Hight. It will be 20 x 78 feet surrounded by 250 feet of platform. The waiting room will be 20 x 24 feet, and the remainder of the depot will be utilized for freight, baggage, and an office. The building will be the best one on the line between here and Beaumont. It will contain dormer-windows and the waiting room bay windows. The company was so well pleased with Mr. Hight
=s other depot job that they awarded him the contract of putting up the new one. By the way, Jake is obtaining quite an enviable reputation as a carpenter and joiner.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 12, 1885.
Wm. H. Vanderbilt, the railroad magnate, is dead. He died Tuesday. His death was the result of a sudden stroke of paralysis due to the bursting of a large blood vessel at the base of the brain, of that kind that are absolutely fatal at the moment. At the time of his death Mr. Vanderbilt was engaged in conversation with Mr. Robt. Garrett, an intimate friend. He fell forward on his face on the floor, while speaking.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 19, 1885.
The K. C. & S. W. Railroad company have purchased the Jos. Garris farm of 155 [? COULD BE 165] acres down on the state line, directly south of Arkansas City. We are told that it is to be used for depot and stockyard purposes at the new town of Gabe, which is to be started soon.
[GABE??? A NEW WRINKLE TO ME!]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 19, 1885.
The piling for the K. C. & S. W. trestle work over in the Jack Oaks is driven, and the pile driver has been moved to the Arkansas River and work is commenced on the bridge. The piling was driven Thursday.
Arkansas City Republican, December 19, 1885.
Winfield had a big blow out last Friday night a week, and succeeded in raising $350 less toward building a railroad than we raised to plank a bridge, and it wasn
=t a good day to plank bridges either.
Arkansas City Republican, December 19, 1885.
Kansas, at the date of the last report of the railroad commissioners, had 4,100 miles of railroad traversing the state. Since that time no less than six new railroad charters have been filed, aggregating an additional mileage of in the neighborhood of 3,000 to 3,500 miles, one of the new roads alone having with its various branches, nearly 2,400 miles, making over 7,000 miles of railroad, including the roads in contemplation, against 930 miles in 1870 and 3,351 miles in 1880. The area of the state is 52,288,000 acres, having in 1870 38,802 farms, while in 1880 there were 138,561 farms under cultivation, an increase of 99,759 farms in ten years, and an increase in railroads during the same period of 2,421 miles.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 26, 1885.
D. M. & A. Injunction Suit.
The injunction suit against the D. M. & A., enjoining Kingman County from delivering the bonds voted to that road, came up before Judge Wall, at Kingman, last week. The case was ably argued on both sides. Judge Wall took the case under advisement and Saturday last delivered his opinion granting a temporary injunction against the delivery of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars of bonds voted by Kingman County to the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic railroad. The court decided that the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic railroad was chartered as a narrow gauge railroad and had no power to build and operate a standard gauge, and with its contract with the county to build and operate a standard gauge was ultra vires, and that the bonds issued and in escrow with the Bank of Kingman were null and void. This decision, if sustained, will overthrow all bonds issued to the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic railroad in this state by various cities, townships, and counties, amounting in the aggregate to about a million dollars. The Company will appeal the case at once to the Supreme Court. Courier.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 2, 1886.
Santa Fe Extension.
TORONTO, KANSAS, December 21, 1885. An engineer corps, under
W. C. Ellis, assistant chief engineer of the Santa Fe, started from Burlington, this morning, to locate the Santa Fe extension via Toronto and Howard, connected with the Southern Kansas road at Grenola, Elk County, making the distance eighty-five miles shorter to Kansas City from Winfield, and points west of there than it is by the way of Independence.
This makes the shortest line from Kansas City to Southwestern Kansas, and appears upon the map as an air line.
The above dispatch is explanatory within itself. It shows now why the Southern Kansas desires us to aid in building a branch from Cambridge, via Dexter, here, explaining to us what we could not understand heretofore. The construction of a branch from here to Cambridge via Dexter and the extension from Burlington to Grenola would give Arkansas City an air-line to Kansas City. As stated above the distance from here to Kansas City would be cut down to about 85 miles less. But some persons will say,
AWhy this is a Santa Fe road.@ True it is, but we want it all the same. For a long time Winfield had no other road excepting those controlled by the Santa Fe, and yet she had cheaper freight rates than we. The building of this Santa Fe branch or Southern Kansas would give Arkansas City another terminus of railroad. We want it, and if the road is constructed, we must have it. It is necessary for our safety. Wake up, neighbors, along the line. Rise up, Dexter, and let us hear the sound of your bugle.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 2, 1886.
An Associated press dispatch of Thursday from El Dorado gives this bit of railroad information.
The A. T. & S. F. R. R. submitted townships and city bond propositions in Cowley County to aid in the building of twenty-two miles of road between Douglas and Winfield, and when completed, the road will have a continuous line from Florence via El Dorado to Arkansas City. Under authority granted the above company to build from Arkansas City into the Indian Territory, they are required to construct 100 miles the coming year. The surveyors are in the field. Work on this Indian Territory line will commence in the early spring.
Township bond propositions are to be submitted in Chase and Butler Counties to aid in the building of a cut-off between Emporia and El Dorado. When built it will place Kansas City, Emporia, and Arkansas City in an almost air line. This will without doubt be the main line of the Texas division of the Santa Fe road and will be in full operation by December, 1886.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 2, 1886.
Through the Territory.
We see it stated by the Kansas City papers that the Santa Fe has a corps of surveyors in the Territory south of Arkansas City, and that some line will be extended into Oklahoma soon. We believe it is understood that under the bill granting the right of way to the Santa Fe to construct a line of railway through the territory, 100 miles must be built the coming year. The fact that the Santa Fe will at once close up the gap between Douglas and Winfield suggests that the Walnut Valley branch will be the main line to Texas.
El Dorado Republican.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 2, 1886.
Quite an excitement has been created in Arkansas City, this week, by the arrival of a Southern Kansas surveying corps. There are 18 men in the company, accompanied by all the necessary equipments for civil engineering. They tell nothing as a matter of fact, only that they are in the employ of the Southern Kansas and that they have been engaged for 9 months. The fact that they are in the employ of the Southern Kansas recalls to memory that this company is compelled to build 100 miles of road into the Territory from Arkansas City by the authority granting it the right-of-way. We are informed by parties who are in a position to know that the road will be completed and in operation into the Territory by December, 1886. And it is thus that Arkansas City boometh.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 2, 1886.
James Dunn, S. Lyman, and M. Kearney, Frisco officials from Springfield, Missouri, were in the city Monday and Tuesday on business pertaining to the K. C. & S. W. Road. In conversation these gentlemen remarked that Arkansas City would be a very important city and that the future was exceedingly bright.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 2, 1886.
From the Mid Lothian Sun, of Harper County, we learn that petitions are now being presented to the voters of Silver Creek and Stohrville Townships to vote bonds to the Geuda Springs, Caldwell, Harper & Northwestern railroad. They will no doubt be signed by every taxpayer in the townships, for it will be to their interest to have another road. When the petitions are properly signed, they will be presented to the county commissioners, who meet in January. So it won
=t be long until the election proclamations will be out.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 2, 1886.
The K. C. & S. W.
=s permanent depot is almost completed. Track has been laid from the temporary depot on the 13th avenue down to the new depot. The writer has gone over this road to Beaumont and we unhesitatingly say without fear of contradiction that the complany have given us by far the finest and best depot.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 2, 1886.
A person who has not been over the K. C. & S. W. Road has no idea of the extent of the market which has been opened up and connected to Arkansas City. It makes St. Louis a direct market for our stock. The road is of especial benefit to the flourishing mills, which are now getting their flour into all the towns along the Frisco road as well as up the K. C. & S. W.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
The Southern Kansas has the right of way from here through the Territory to Gainesville, Texas. Their surveying party arrived here last Saturday evening and have commenced to run the line. This company has also started surveyors from Burlington to map out a line to Grenola. From Grenola the route will be the same as the old Southern Kansas as far as Cambridge. From there the route will be to Arkansas City via Dexter and then on to Gainsville through the Territory. Our readers can see of what benefit this line of railway will be to our city by taking a casual glance at the map of Kansas. Besides giving us an air-line connection with Kansas City, an entirely new market is opened up to us. The state of Texas with its railroad facilities and its seaport towns are united to us by iron bands. Then again, Arkansas City is so peculiarly situated that she cannot help, hardly, being made a division of any railroad which might be run into the city. This new Southern Kansas route is indeed a grand feather in the cap of Arkansas City
=s future prosperity and growth.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
The K. C. & S. W. Road is making for the state line with all possible speed; pile driving for the bridge across the Arkansas River is more than half completed, and the grading between here and the state line goes rapidly on. The grade for the switch which goes to the mills is ready to receive the track. The foundation for the water tank is up. Road-bed for the necessary side tracking is being thrown up.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS.]
The K. C. & S. W. Road is making numerous shipments of cattle over their line to St. Louis. From one to five car-loads per night is the average.
It is reported that Jim Hill, our railroad magnate, has gone to Washington, D. C., to further the interest of the K. C. & S. W., in getting through the Territory.
Yesterday, January 1, 1886, the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad company assumed control of K. C. & S. W., from here to Beaumont. It is now a Frisco road.
Wichita has sent a delegation of her prominent men to Washington, D. C., in the interest of her Fort Smith road down the Cana Valley. Wichita is working mighty hard to have the Ft. Smith road miss Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS.]
As soon as the 5th avenue K. C. & S. W. Depot is completed, a bridge will be placed across the canal and 5th Avenue graded up and made the main thoroughfare to the two depots. Soon we will have telegraphic service along the K. C. & S. W. Road. The poles are up along the line between here and Beaumont, and the wire has been attached as far this way as Latham.
The round-house and turn-table for the K. C. & S. W. Road will be located just outside the city limits west of the depot. Work has been commenced on both. The round-house will be divided into five stalls.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
Now is the time for Dexter to come to the front on the railroad question. She can get the Southern Kansas now, a road that will do her a larger amount of good than the D. M. & A. Kansas City air line connection is better than a Winfield one.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
A meeting of the Board of Trade was had Monday last in the mayor
=s office. A. A. Newman was chosen to go to Emporia to confer with Senator Plumb and the members of the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railroad, which met in Emporia Thursday.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
Poor, old, greedy Winfield! She says she is going to get the Southern Kansas extension from Burlington to Grenola. This extension does not touch Winfield by at least 60 miles. Arkansas City will be directly on this line of railway and at its terminus.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
Ira Barnett shipped one car-load of hogs Wednesday night over the K. C. & S. W., and also one of cattle the same night. Mr. Barnett has shipped 10 carloads of stock since the advent of the K. C. & S. W. into our city over its line besides several over the Santa Fe.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
We want to disabuse the minds of the denizens of Winfield of a mistaken idea. They seem to think that Arkansas City considers Winfield a rival. This is a wrong impression. Arkansas City looks upon Winfield as a younger brother, and a dwarfed one at that.
Arkansas City Republican, January 2, 1886.
KANSAS STATE NEWS.
It is said that the Rock Island Railroad has been negotiating with the Santa Fe for the use of the latter
=s track from the Missouri River Bridge at Atchison to Parnell, a distance of five miles. This would give the Rock Island an outlet through the city.From a careful consideration of the situation, Railroad Commissioner Humphrey estimates that 1886 will witness great activity in railroad building in Kansas. He thinks that at least seven or eight hundred miles of railroad will be constructed within the coming year, and this without taking into account the possible extension of one or more Eastern roads into the State. The building of so many miles of railroad in various sections of the State will put, it is estimated, eight or ten millions of dollars in circulation.
The Chicago, Manhattan & Minneapolis Railroad Company, which recently filed its charter, proposes to construct five Kansas lines of railway. Capital stock, $17,700,000.
Directors for the first year: Sir Stuart Hogg and C. Alhuson, of London, England; H. S. McDowell, James L. Richie, H. P. Dow, W. S. Elliott, J. E. Hessin, of Manhattan, Kansas; Thomas A. Osborne, and
P. I. Bonebrake, of Topeka.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 16, 1886.
Messrs. A. A. Newman, T. H. McLaughlin, H. T. Sumner, Geo. Howard, Jas. Hill, W. B. Wingate, Dr. H. D. Kellogg, Frank Austin, Geo. Cunningham, Herman Godehard, W. D. Mowry, S. P. Burress, and F. B. Hutchison went over into the townships in Sumner County along the line of the proposed G. S. & C. Road Tuesday and worked like Turks to secure the carrying of the bonds. Elsewhere we give the good results of their labors. Wonderful stories are told by the boys as to how they walked mile after mile over enormous snow drifts, and how Herman Godehard captured the German vote and also about A. A. Newman
=s big speech on the tariff question. >Tis no wonder that Arkansas City booms, when she has such patriotic and enterprising citizens pushing at the helm. These gentlemen realized that the carrying of these bonds was a necessary factor in the future welfare of Arkansas City, and accordingly went over to the contested territory, through the piercing winds and snow, and put their shoulders to the wheel. A great deal of credit is due the above mentioned gentlemen for what they did for Arkansas City last Tuesday.[BELIEVE G. S. & C. REFERS TO GEUDA SPRINGS & CALDWELL ROAD.]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 16, 1886.
The Santa Fe has waked up the wrong passenger. The great Frisco Trunk line has invaded her territory, and backed up by Jay Gould, Russel Sage, Jessie Seligman, and other prominent financiers, who are opposed to the Santa Fe, have purchased the K. C. & S. W., and taken the contract of the K. C. & S. W. to push that road on from Arkansas City to Caldwell, and west, with another line south through the Indian Territory to the Gulf. Geuda Springs Herald.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 16, 1886.
Capital Interested in Oklahoma.
Kansas City Times. A valuable
Apointer@ to friends of the Oklahoma movements may be found in the present status of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad stocks. When the Gould party recently put Texas Pacific into the hands of a receiver, the occasion was in some occult way made to produce a boom in Kansas and Texas.During the boom Mr. Hoxie, the great cattleman, and other holders, sold a large number of shares to New York and Boston gentlemen. Within the past few days the stock has tended downward much to the chagrin of the buyers, and the best hope of a favorable reaction which will enable them to get even is the opening of the Indian Territory to settlement. With its advantageous position as the only line already in operation across the Territory, if Congress should adopt any of the plans proposed for breaking up the reservation system and opening the country to settlers, the Kansas and Texas stock would immediately rise in value and the New York and Boston capitalists would make money.
Being businessmen and not philanthropists, when their pockets are to be affected, these gentlemen will use all their influence for the sensible dealing with Indian questions, which the west has long desired.
We may expect a somewhat changed feeling in the east about Oklahoma this winter. The boomers are rather shy of capitalists and corporations as a rule, but the event may prove that Mr. Hoxie has struck the opening wedge a hearty blow and that certain capitalists will toil industriously for an early settlement of the Territory.
Arkansas City Republican, January 16, 1886.
MR. EDITOR: The voting of the bonds in the south townships of Sumner County insures the building of the Frisco road to Caldwell and west and makes Arkansas City the junction of the western and southern branch of that great railroad; its value to this city can hardly be estimated. When completed we will have as good a system as any city in the state. The Southern extension of the Santa Fe and Frisco will bring to this city the trade of the south Indian country, which will soon be opened to settlement and commerce and will develop with a rapidity that will astonish the go-a-head men of this progressive age. And the city at the mouth of the Walnut, in this great Arkansas Valley, will reap the reward of the steady perseverance of her businessmen. In two years we will have 12,000 people and will have every species of business and industry to give employment, wealth, and comfort to all our people. Wichita may be a daisy, but we are the garland of them all and Winfield will be our suburb.
HENRY T. SUMNER.
Arkansas City Republican, January 16, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS.]
The Wichita Eagle reports a brakeman on the Beaumont branch of the Frisco getting his arms and legs cut off Thursday. The story was sensational.
The Walnut Valley Times very sensibly opposes the A. T. & S. F. Railroad propositions for township bonds to build the extension to Winfield in Butler County.
The Frisco folks would please the people better who travel the road to the west bridge, by keeping the engine from standing on or under the crossing. Some complaints have been made.
Arkansas City Republican, January 16, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS.]
During the snow blockade the latter part of last week, the Santa Fe railroad company boarded all of its detained passengers at Newton free of expense. There were 204 persons and they were blockaded three days.
Arkansas City REPUBLICAN, January 16, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS.]
Tuesday the election for voting aid to the G. S., C. & N. W. Road came off. The bonds were carried in all the townships between here and Caldwell. In Walton Township the bonds were carried by 62 majority; Guelph, by 10 majority; South Haven, 211; Falls, 30; and Caldwell, 401. The carrying of the bonds insures the building of the road west from Arkansas City to Caldwell.
J. A. Hollister, of Danville, Illinois, the grading contractor of the A. T. & S. F., whom the REPUBLICAN referred to last week as having received the contract for grading a portion of the Santa Fe extension through the territory, writes to N. T. Snyder again this week, telling him to have
Afive houses ready for rental purposes.@ Mr. Hollister will bring four families with him. They will all locate in Arkansas City. [UNFORTUNATELY, WE DO NOT HAVE PREVIOUS ISSUE.]
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 23, 1886.
Bond Elections Called.
EL DORADO, KANSAS, January 20. Special elections were ordered by the board of county commissioners in the townships of Chelsa and Sycamore today to vote upon a proposition to take twenty thousand dollars stock each in the Emporia & El Dorado short line road. This line is intended as a cut off for the Indian Territory and Texas line of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe company. The project for which bonds are asked is to be built this year between Emporia and El Dorado and one hundred miles south into the Indian Territory from Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 23, 1886.
The stockholders of the K. C. & S. W. Railroad company held an annual meeting at the office of Henry E. Asp Wednesday night. The lease of the road to the Frisco from Beaumont to the Territory line was confirmed. The Frisco gives 25 percent of the gross earnings, guaranteeing the interest on the mortgage bonds, should the earnings be insufficient. The K. C. & S. W. Company still exists and has all the arrangements made to push its line to Kansas City and other directions. The new directors as elected are: James Dun, assistant manager of the Frisco; John O. Day, general attorney of Frisco; E. D. Kenna, assistant attorney of Frisco; B. F. Hobert, C. M. Condon, Henry E. Asp, and James Hill. The executive officers stand as before.
Winfield Courier.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, January 23, 1886.
An Associated Press dispatch from Kansas City of yesterday says:
AThe Santa Fe, it is stated, contemplates building 600 [?] miles of road and have it completed when the cattle move next year. The company proposes to build from Kiowa on through the Territory to the Pan Handle of Texas, and from Arkansas City to Ft. Worth, Texas, with branches. [ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO READ ABOVE...AND I COULD NOT TELL IF ROAD WAS TO BE 600 MILES OR 400 MILES....???]
Arkansas City Republican, January 23, 1886.
Jas. L. Huey attended the directors meeting of the K. C. & S. W. Road at Winfield last Wednesday night. A special train was ordered out by the Frisco company to convey Mr. Huey home. Arkansas City
=s railroad magnates are receiving a great deal of hospitality lately, but >tis all due them.
Arkansas City Republican, January 23, 1886.
Judge H. T. Sumner has a full and fertile head on his shoulders. Wednesday he wrote a communication from Arkansas City to the Courier in regard to the Santa Fe extension from Douglass to Winfield in which he expressed a desire that the townships from which aid is asked would vote it. Probably Judge Sumner is the only citizen of Arkansas City who desires such a thing. The reason he wants the bonds to carry is because that road runs within one mile of his fine Butler County farm. Do you see?
Arkansas City Republican, February 20, 1886.
The Burlington Toronto Road.
Letters from Mayor Falker of Fall River City and Mr. Hatcher, postmaster of Grenola, were received by Col. Stockton this week, saying that their towns were wide to the importance of this air-line road to Kansas City and that they will vote the full limit allowed in bonds for its construction. Information from Liberty Township and also from Coffey County show that the citizens there are also up and doing. So far, we are informed, aid to the amount of $300,000 is offered on this route, which is the shortest route from the Indian Territory west of the Arkansas River to Kansas City; and when extended from Arkansas City to Ft. Sill, it will undoubtedly command the entire cattle transportation for that part of the territory. An immense corporation like the Santa Fe cannot afford to allow any other road to come in and occupy this air-line route, and we do not believe they will; but at the same time it behooves every citizen along this route to make a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether, and secure this trunk line road. Toronto Township will do their full share. The people all along the line seem to be alive to the great importance of this road and the earnest effort of the various localities will secure its being built without a doubt. Globe-Democrat.
Arkansas City Republican, February 20, 1886.
The Arkansas City REPUBLICAN publishes a little pen-knife, wood cut diagram of Cowley County
=s present and future railroads. Of course, A. C. is given a grand net-work of roads, a dozen or more, all but two in prospect, while Winfield is completely side-tracked--looking like a little two by nine village. Courier.
Arkansas City Republican, February 20, 1886.
From Maple City.
Eds. Republican:
In looking over your paper of last week, I find a map of our Mother town, Arkansas City, also a map of proposed railroads laid open to our view, and stating that if Maple City would do her part, she can have one of those roads. I would say in reply that Maple City is ever ready to sing when you do the lining of the hymn, for we are
Asaw bucks@ out here. We can make our cross and sing when the piece is lined to us. We are ready and waiting to help the first proposittion made to us for a road and the first one to come is the one that will get our services and our money. Winfield has told us that they will make us a proposition inside of sixty days; but as Arkansas City is nearer and dearer to us, we would rather throw our assistance and money that way. We want it distinctly understood with Arkansas City that as the majority of our money goes there that our interests are inclined that way. We are only waiting, hoping, and trusting that Arkansas City will send some of her skilled railroad men out to give us a call to throw our little mite and money toward helping an east and west road on to that celestial city. But don=t send us any more Wards, for our dude-killer has got back to Maple City.Respectfully yours,
SUBSCRIBER.
Arkansas City Republican, February 20, 1886.
A
Wichita, nor any other point in all Kansas, can compare with this as a place to make permanent investments of capital. Winfield Courier.@No doubt, but there remains the slight difficulty of inducing anybody outside of Winfield to see it. Permit the Eagle to give a point that is a pointer, and that point is the point of a sand ridge just fourteen miles south of Winfield, at the junction of the Walnut and Arkansas rivers. There squats a banshee which for popping up beats Banquo
=s ghost clear out of sight and whose shadow will out cover Winfield=s horizon, and in spite of any combination of Kelly and the Santa Fe. The state imbecile asylum was well located. Wichita Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, March 6, 1886.
Last Saturday a charter was filed with the secretary of state. In construction with the Kansas City & Topeka railroad, it is called the Winfield Railroad Construction company, and claims to have a capital stock of $500,000. The purpose of this company is to construct either or all of the lines of the Kansas, Colorado & Texas railroad, or such other roads as it deems proper. The directors are
J. L. Horning, John C. Long, Hiram D. Gans, J. H. Fazel, Winfield;
B. F. Beesley, I. L. Morrison, D. H. Mitchell, Jacksonville, Illinois.
The places of business for the railroad company are given as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Winfield, Kansas.
Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, March 6, 1886.
ARKANSAS CITY.
The Metropolis of the Arkansas Valley--the King of the Border--
The Gate City to Oklahoma--Its future.
The editor of the Leon Quill, has said, and wisely too, that good water and good sewerage was as necessary to make a city of magnitude as a pure atmosphere. He said further that the future great city of the southwest must be on the Arkansas River between Hutchinson and the State line south. For the second time do we put the Quill editor upon the back and say he has spoken wisely. In the Arkansas Valley two great cities, Wichita and Arkansas City, are marshaling their hosts and making ready for the great struggle of supremacy. The editor of the REPUBLICAN has looked its rival squarely in the face at the dawning of this contest, and we see only one advantage that Wichita possesses over Arkansas City, and that one is a larger population at present. While upon the other hand, Arkansas City possesses natural advantages over Wichita so numerous and so great, that we cannot help coinciding with the editor of the Leon Quill, when he remarks that Arkansas City appears to be the destined metropolis of this great and fertile valley. Situated as it is upon the highest point of land dividing the Walnut and Arkansas Rivers, the best sewerage system in the state can be established. From the east side the city can be drained to the Walnut and from the west to the Arkansas. Our advantage over Wichita for sewerage is great.
The prospects of Arkansas City are indeed bright. Our railroad facilities are already equal to Wichita in point of freight rates, etc. Our prospect for more roads, and competing lines at that, are unexcelled by any city in Kansas. The great Frisco and Santa Fe systems both have the ends of their roads here, round-houses, divisions, etc. The Chicago, Kansas & Western, a southern Kansas road project, have surveyed a line from Burlington, Coffey County, to Arkansas City via of Eureka, Grenola, and Cambridge. This gives us a Kansas City connection 85 miles shorter than our present one. The bonds for this road are being voted in townships in Greenwood County. In Coffey County the bonds have already been voted and construction has commenced. This line is not a myth, but is a fact, and will be built to Arkansas City before another winter
=s snow.By the telegraphic reports, the bill granting the right-of-way through the Indian Territory to the Kansas and Arkansas Valley road, running from Ft. Smith, Arkansas, to Arkansas City has been reported favorably upon by both the Senate and House Committees. There is no doubt but what this company will receive permission to go through the Territory. Everything is in readiness at Ft. Smith to commence the construction as soon as the right-of-way is granted. This road will be completed to Arkansas City inside of the next 18 months beyond a doubt. The Kansas & Arkansas Valley R. R. Company is composed of such men as W. P. Huntington of Boston, the Jay Gould of the south.
The St. Louis, Kansas City, Colorado and Western road is projected from St. Louis via Arkansas City to Trinidad, Colorado. Work has already commenced on the east end of this line.
The Santa Fe is building west from Independence, Montgomery County, via of Arkansas City along the state line. The Missouri Pacific are asking bonds to construct a road in the same territory. The line connects at Le Roy with the main line and runs south to Independence and thence west to Trinidad, Colordo.
The Frisco has commenced the construction of its line west along the state line from Arkansas City.
The Santa Fe has already surveyed the extension of their line from here to Texas and work will be commenced this spring.
In the above we have presented Arkansas City
=s railroad prospects. There are others projected, but as yet no definite actions have been taken towards them. We willingly submit a comparison of our railroad prospects with any other city in the state.Besides the above our thriving city is so located as to possess many natural advantages for becoming a city of 100,000 inhabitants. Directly south of us lies the fertile and expansive prairies of the Indian Territory. In the heart of this region is Oklahoma. We are but 65 miles from that far-famed country, and when it is opened for settlement, Arkansas City will be to it what Kansas City has been to Kansas. There is no doubt of this. Already we have many wholesale houses in our city, that do a very large business. Arkansas City will be the wholesaling point of the Southwest Kansas. The superior motor power of our city has made for us fame and has been one of the most important factors in the up-building of Arkansas City. On the banks of our canal are four large flouring mills, having a capacity of nearly 1,000 barrels of flour per day. They can compete with the world in the manufacture of flour both in quantity and price. The capacity on this canal can be increased so that on its banks there can be lined up manufacturers for a distance of two miles and the power would be sufficient to furnish all of them. St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, combined, have great railroad facilities and excellent motor power. Arkansas City, alone, has both.
Radiating for miles in all directions from the city is found the broad and fertile valleys of the Arkansas and Walnut Rivers. No other city in Kansas possesses such rich surrounding farming land as Arkansas City.
Here is the home of the cattlemen; here is where the untutored redman comes to get the necessities of life.
Since January 1, 1883 [1885?], 35 store rooms have been erected, all of them handsome two story stone and brick business blocks. At present six more are under contract, as is also a four story $50,000 hotel. Water works are being put in. And it is thus that Arkansas City booms and makes rapid strides for the metropolis of the southwest. Our people are enterprising and full of grit, the kind of people it takes to make a city. They never let an opportunity slip that will be of benefit.
The above are some of the many advantages Arkansas City possesses that Wichita does not for becoming a large city. We would cite our readers to the two cities of Leavenworth and Kansas City. But a few years ago the first named was three times the size of the last. Compare them today and you find Kansas City is almost seven times the size of Leavenworth. Kansas City possessed many natural advantages that Leavenworth did not; she took advantage of them and soon outstripped her rival. Thus it will be with Wichita and Arkansas City. In the make-up of the State of Kansas, the Creator of all things favored the site of Arkansas City with many natural advantages. We have commenced to utilize them, and in ten years from now the population of Arkansas City will be thrice that of Wichita.
Arkansas City Republican, March 6, 1886.
Hon. W. P. Hackney, of Winfield, is visiting Washington, it is said, to secure such an amendment to the bill granting right of way through the Indian Territory to the Kansas & Arkansas Valley railway as will compel that company to build through Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
Prof. Limerick, our present county Superintendent, elected by the people, is another one of our county officers who is guilty of prostituting his office and pandering to the corruption ring at Winfield. He was over in Spring Creek working like a Turk for the Winfield, Tisdale, Dexter-and-any-way-to-suit-the-crowd railroad. When a public officer works for the benefit of one community to the detriment of the other, then it is about time they were relegated to private life. The REPUBLICAN never entered a protest against a man, as long as he was not a county officer, working tooth-and-toe-nail for Winfield. But when the people of this end of the county aid in raising men from obscurity to affluence, they do not desire to be kicked and trod upon. The voters in this vicinity are human and will resent any such thrust as either Limerick or Smock has made at them in this late
Alittle bit of pleasantry,@ when an opportunity presents itself at the polls.
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
Information has been received by Postmaster Sinnott from the Postmaster General that a regular U. S. Mail will be established on the Frisco railroad from Beaumont to Arkansas City on the inst., with offices at Latham, Atlanta, Wilmot, and Floral. This will cause rejoicing by the people all along this route, especially the small offices that have been entirely dependent upon star routes.
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
M. Multer, of Altonta, Illinois, arrived in the city Wednesday evening. Mr. Multer was on his way home from New Kiowa and dropped down here to see our city. He informs us that the graders have commenced work on the Santa Fe extension from New Kiowa through the Territory. Mr. Multer renewed his subscription to the REPUBLICAN and then left for Altnoa.
[??? FIRST TIME ALTONTA....NEXT TIME ALTNOA...???]
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
There are twenty-seven railroads in Kansas
Crailroads, in name. But they are owned and operated by the three great systems of the west, as follows:The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe owns and operates twelve of them; the Missouri Pacific owns and operates six of them; and the Union Pacific operates nine of them. There is not a single railroad in KansasCnot a foot of roadCoperated by a local company.
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
A Winfield man and responsible citizen, who is posted in the present railroad move at that place, informed D. P. Marshall that Winfield people do not expect to get the Independence & Southwestern railroad, for which they are working up bonds. He says their object is to prevent Arkansas City from getting the road for which they are working now or any other road. He calls the whole Winfield move a swindle.
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
The petition which Winfield had the voters of Cedar, Spring Creek, and Silverdale Townships to sign up provided for the building of a road from Winfield to Tisdale, then to Dexter, then through Liberty Township close to the north line of Silverdale Township to Maple City. From Maple City the road is projected in a circuitous route to Independence. Voters in the townships should take their maps of Cowley County and see what an unfeasible route this will be. Winfield would never dare allow Tisdale a railroad because she is too much afraid the county seat will be moved away from her.
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
The Railroad Question.
During the past week two petitions have been presented to the voters of Cedar, Spring Creek, and Silverdale Townships, asking for the required signatures to call elections to vote aid in the building of a railroad. One petition is gotten up by Winfield parties. It asks aid for the Independence and Southwestern railroad. This line of road is a Santa Fe scheme and is projected and chartered from Independence along the state line to Arkansas City and thence on west. It never was intended to be, and never will be, run up to Winfield. But the schemers at the county seat recognized the fact that Arkansas City would soon have an east and west railroad. In order to cheat Arkansas City of this enterprise, they set their heads together and resolved upon the plan of tying up the townships east of us in Cowley County with bonds for the Independence and Southwestern. The propellers of this scheme themselves have no idea that their projected line of the Independence and Southwestern will ever be built. The route is not feasible, and the idea that any railroad company would build down from Independence--a city on a direct line east of Winfield--to the state line and thence back up to Winfield within the lines of three counties, is absurd. The other petition presented to the voters of Spring Creek, Cedar, and Silverdale Townships for their signatures calling an election to vote aid in the construction of the Kansas state line road in the interests of Arkansas City. This road is chartered to be built from Oswego, Kansas, connecting at that city with the Frisco railroad, and come to Arkansas City, passing along the state the townships mentioned heretofore. Here the road will connect with the Geuda Springs, Caldwell and Northwestern, which will be, upon completion, no doubt turned over to the Frisco. Bonds upon the G. S. C. & N. W. Road have been voted in all the townships west of us to the western Sumner County line and elections are now pending in Harper County. The citizens of the townships mentioned above have a chance at last to get a railroad if they will not allow Winfield to step in to thwart them by a wild cat scheme. But even supposing that the Winfield project is a reality. The citizens in the above townships will get only a Santa Fe bob-tail. While upon the other hand, if aid is extended to the Kansas State line road, they will get a line of road over 200 miles in length and in direct communication with the St. Louis market. Citizens of Cedar, Spring Creek, and Silverdale Townships, we have presented you some of the facts in regard to the railroad question in the above. We do not tell you what to do, because each and all of you are capable of judging, from the points we give, what you want. Do not act rashly in this matter. Investigate as we have done and you will find the above to be gospel truth. Winfield does not care whether you ever get a railroad. She only wants to tie your townships up in bonds in order that the road may be retarded in its coming to Arkansas City. Aid the Kansas City State Line road and you will be connected to the outside world with iron bands inside of 12 months.
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
The Frisco agent here has received orders not to accept cattle for shipment to St. Louis, except on the condition that the cattle be unloaded this side of the city and driven through to the stock yards. The cause of this order is the great strike now in progress along the Frisco and Missouri Pacific lines.
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
The impudence that Tom Soward has had to ask the voters of Silverdale Township to do without a railroad in order to tie up the townships east of her to keep Arkansas City from getting the Kansas State Line road is appalling. But they do say, and we know it to be true, that our Democratic friend, Ike Harkleroad, sat down on Tommie, and squelched all his puny efforts to raise any enthusiasm for Winfield, Tisdale, Dexter, and any way to suit the crowd railroad. Tommie went back to Winfield and told the
Abosses@ that someone who had some influence must go down into the township of Silverdale and do some work. Hon. E. P. Greer imagined that he had Asome influence@ and so he paid that township a visit. The result was he stirred up such a hornet=s nest in Silverdale Township against Winfield and her projected railroad that should any one of the outfit appear there again, their enterprise would be stung to death. [Source of this item not given.]
Arkansas City Republican, March 13, 1886.
The Winfield Daily Visitor of Tuesday says:
A
Major M. H. Munson, a locating engineer of the Chicago, Kansas and Western railroad with a corps of eight men stopped at the Central last night. Major Munson tells us that he has been overland from Eureka, Greenwood County, to Arkansas City, and is now going to finish up his work, when he will report to headquarters.@
Arkansas City Republican, March 20, 1886.
The Independence & Southwestern.
For the benefit of our friends and readers in the townships of Cedar and Spring Creek, the REPUBLICAN presents them with the history of the Independence & Southwestern railroad project. Some ten months ago, it will be remembered, the Missouri Pacific people filed a charter for the building of a railroad from LeRoy south to Independence and then west through the townships along the state line via Arkansas City to Trinidad, Colorado. No sooner had this scheme become public, then, in steps, the Santa Fe company filed a charter for the Independence & Southwestern road from Independence.
Arkansas City, and by rapid movements in the calling of elections in Montgomery County, headed the Missouri Pacific folks off. The Santa Fe readily recognized the fact that it would be very detrimental to their interests to allow the Missouri Pacific folks to enter this territory, or any other railroad company. Accordingly they set about to defeat any and all propositions tending toward the occupying of the townships along the State Line with a railroad not controlled by them. Let us stop a moment and think what this Independence & Southwestern road has done in these ten months past towards building their line.
We are told that the line is partly built and entirely graded to Havana, a distance of seventeen miles from Independence, but have never seen any authentic statement to that effect. Supposing the report to be true; think of it, friends, ten months time consumed in building only ten or twelve miles of road! That shows plainly that the Santa Fe will never push westward unless compelled to. It will not pay that company to have two lines in such close proximity in the same territory.
But a few days since, it became public that the Independence & Southwestern had changed its route to Winfield, and last week the commissioners of Cowley County called an election asking for aid to build the road. In the petition this road promises to have everything in running order by October 1st, 1887, only eighteen months more time. The entire distance of the bob-tail will not exceed seventy-five miles. Twenty-eight months in building seventy-five miles of railway!
The Kansas State Line company ask from now until October 1st, 1887, in which to construct about one hundred and eighty-five miles of road, commencing at Oswego and running to Arkansas City. If no other company enters this territory, the Santa Fe will never build westward, because it can occupy this territory with its Southern Kansas road by inconveniencing its patrons. But they do not care for that.
On the other hand if another company attempts to enter the field with their line, the Independence & Southwestern comes to life. Thus it will always be unless our farmer friends over east cast their ballots for a competing line of railway; then the Santa Fe will have to build in order to compete.
By voting for the Kansas State Line road, friends in the townships of Cedar, Spring Creek, and Silverdale, you will get a railroad. As long as you allow the Santa Fe company to stand on guard east of you, without rebuking them, keeping out the roads desiring to occupy the territory, just so long you will do without a railroad.
Arkansas City Republican, March 20, 1886.
RECAP ONLY OF SHERIFF
=S ELECTION PROCLAMATION FOR SILVERDALE TOWNSHIP RE VOTING ON THE KANSAS STATE LINE RAILWAY COMPANY...BONDS TO THE AMOUNT OF $20,000...$1,000 EACH, 30 YEAR BONDS, PAYABLE SEMI-ANNUALLY. OUTLINED ROAD TO BE BUILT FROM OSWEGO, LABETTE COUNTY, THROUGH SILVERDALE TOWNSHIP IN COWLEY COUNTY. ROAD TO BE STANDARD GAUGE AND TO BE BUILT AND COMPLETED AND HAVE CARS RUNNING THEREON WITHIN 18 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE ELECTION. ELECTION TO BE HELD MAY 3, 1886. ALL DUE TO SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COM-MISSIONERS HELD MARCH 12TH. SIGNED BY S. C. SMITH, CHAIRMAN; J. A. IRWIN, AND J. D. GUTHRIE, COMMISSIONERS. CERTIFIED BY S. J. SMOCK, COUNTY CLERK. SHERIFF, G. H. McINTIRE. [SAME FOR CEDAR TOWNSHIP.]
Arkansas City Republican, March 20, 1886.
Grave Dangers Ahead.
NEW YORK, MARCH 11. The following editorial from the evening Post on the southwestern strike is said by businessmen of this city to represent their opinions.
The statements published by Receiver Brown of the Misouri Pacific, showing the nature of the demands made upon them by the Knights of Labor, are very significant because symptomatic of the condition of industry and society everywhere. There are very few employers of labor, whether individual or corporate, who are not lying awake of nights thinking about what is going on in Texas and Missouri. There are no intelligent persons, whether employers or employed, who are not looking with anxiety for all the news from that quarter and trying to form an idea of what the end will be.
There are those who believe that a socialist revolution is and has been for a long time impending. Although the avowed socialists are an extremely small part of even the most densely populated cities, the belief is entertained by careless observation that their ideas are spreading among the trade unions which have been for the most part their avowed opponents hitherto, and that if some great strike or convulsion of industry should result disastrously to the strikers, the main body would adopt the cause of the socialist for better or worse.
Socialism has a great many queer fancies but division of property is at the bottom of them all. This signifies the overturning of law and the temporary stopping of civilization. We say temporary because after any possible social disturbance, the worst conceivable society must right itself somehow. In the first two years of the French revolution, those calling themselves
Athe people,@ employed themselves in butchering the aristocrats and the next six [? Looked like six] years in butchering each other. But the result proved that anarchy could last forever.If there is such a coming evil, it is quite useless to run away from it. The supporters of law and order, whether capitalists or non-capitalists, ought to and must put themselves in readiness to meet it and instead of compromising the law and yielding a point here and a point there of its authority and majesty, must make a firm stand on the first well-defined issue that presents. The Trans-Pacific case appears to be such an issue.
The statement of Receiver Brown is to be taken as a true one until proven otherwise by something better entitled to evidence than the out-givings of a secret society. The Texas Pacific road ia a bankrupt corporation. It was built in advance of any real need for it. By a real need is meant such a need as would enable its operation in the country adjacent and tributary to it to pay running expenses and a fair rate of interest on the capital employed. The indispensable condition of successful industry was wanting. It was accordingly taken possession of by the officers of the law of whom Receiver Brown is one--an inferior one, to be made the most of in the interest of the creditors. Its creditors in the order of preference are: First, its employees; second, those who furnish its needed supplies; and third, those who have loaned money to build it.
Of the seven propositions submitted by the Knights of Labor to the receiver for his signature, all but one are of a kind which he had no authority to sign or agree to, because his position was that of a subordinate officer of law. He refused to sign and the Knights of Labor struck. In order to make their strike more effective, they struck on the Missouri Pacific and its leased lines also. This was the largest boycott that the country has yet seen.
It boycotts not only the Missouri Pacific, but to a large extent the states of Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri.
There are probably more working men in the city of St. Louis alone than the whole number of boycotters in the Gould southwestern system. The question now is whether Receiver Brown and Vice President Hoxie will stand firm until public opinion is aroused by the oncoming of misery to assert the majesty and authority of the law.
A telegram from Fort Worth, Texas, says that the Farmer
=s Alliance is in sympathy with the strikers and will join them in political steps to control the state. This is not at all unlikely.The farmer has been so accustomed to look upon corporations as his enemy that he will naturally join forces with any other enemy who comes in sight. Yet the alliance will be of short duration because the farmers
= interests require speedy and uninterrupted railway transportation. Moreover, in the long run, he will find that to whatever extent the artisan gets more than a fair share of the aggregate earnings of the nation--more than the share which free competition would yield--it must come out of agriculture. There is no other from which it can come. Still the farmer will probably side with organized labor in the beginning.If Receiver Brown yields to the demands presented, he must begin by asking the court whose officer he is for permission to sign a paper which is virtual abdication of his office. If Vice President Hoxie
=s statement is true--and it must be true, unless there has been some recent change in the practice of the law--no yielding on his part would affect the status of the Texas and Pacific in any degree. It would seem, therefore, that no case could be imagined upon which or where the necessity of their doing so could be more imperative, let the consequences be what they may.
Arkansas City Republican, March 20, 1886.
The Strike.
TOPEKA, KANSAS, MARCH 11. Labor Commissioner Frank H. Betton has returned from the scene of the Missouri Pacific trouble at Atchison. He takes the view that while the employees of the Missouri Pacific system were mistaken in tying up the whole system, yet the Texas Knights of Labor were justified in striking. From Governor Brown
=s statement he thinks that it was a clear attempt to break up the Knights of Labor in Texas, and he thinks it ought to be sat down on.NEW YORK, MARCH 11. The Times in an editorial on the Missouri Pacific strike says:
AThere is no justification for the continuance of this blockade of traffic which has resulted from the attempt to compel a bankrupt railroad in Texas to reinstate a man discharged for taking part in the proceedings of the Knights of Labor. It is a case in which the punishment is altogether too expensive, as applied.@
Arkansas City Republican, March 20, 1886.
The R. R. Struggle.
Elsewhere in the columns of the REPUBLICAN we publish calls for special elections in the townships of Cedar and Silverdale to vote aid to the Kansas State Line road. The calls for the townships of Spring Creek and Creswell are published in the Democrat and the Traveler respectively. The Board of County Commissioners met last Friday in Winfield. In the morning S. C. Smith and J. A. Irwin received the petitions of citizens of Walnut, Liberty, Spring Creek, Cedar, and Otto Townships for elections to vote on bond propositions to the Independence and Southwestern railroad. The petitions were granted and the elections were called for May 1st.
In the afternoon the three commissioners received petitions of Cedar, Spring Creek, Silverdale, and Creswell Townships for elections to vote on bond propositions to the Kansas State Line Railway Company. The petitions were granted and the elections were called for May 3rd.
The principle struggle was between Winfield and Arkansas City for priority in the elections, Winfield working for the former and Arkansas City for the latter of the above sets of petitions.
Messrs. Smith and Irwin gave the precedence to the former company. S. C. Smith resides in Winfield and is chairman of the board of county commissioners, and refused to call the elections for the same day and thereby give each company equal chances.
But we will go back to the beginning of this railroad struggle. Some two months ago Hon. Jas. Hill, the gentleman who built the Frisco road to Arkansas City and is now building it west along the State line, conceived the plan of building a line of road from Oswego to Arkansas City through the Border townships to connect with his western Frisco extension here and thereby have an air-line to St. Louis. He set about to execute his idea immediately. About a month ago the charter was filed for the Kansas State Line road. Owng to a press of business matters on this western extension of the Frisco, the petitions were not in the township of which aid is asked as soon as Mr. Hill intended to have them, but they were there two days before those of the Independence & Southwestern and signed by good and legal tax-payers as well as voters.
Some busy body told Winfield of Arkansas City
=s intentions and that she was going to file a charter for the Kansas State Line road. Immediately Bill Hackney jumps on the train, goes to Topeka, and tries to head off the Kansas State Line road, by obtaining the privilege of using the name of the Santa Fe road in building the Independence & Southwestern. He failed to get the necessary satisfaction at Topeka, so he determined to try higher authority. He went to Washington, and interviewed C. P. Huntington, of the Kansas and Arkansas Valley road projected from Ft. Smith to Arkansas City. That gentleman informed Mr. Hackney that he has his line mapped out and will not change it for the benefit of Winfield. Mr. Hackney saw Hon. H. W. Perkins and got him to introduce an amendment making the bill granting the right-of-way through the Territory read to some point between the Arkansas and Caney Rivers instead of Arkansas City. There the bill rests. It has never been passed as yet. The bill was permitted to be changed in order to unite the Kansas delegation in Congress.The Kansas & Arkansas Valley road will come to Arkansas City. It is a Santa Fe project and they will never parallel their line from here to Winfield just to accommodate that city.
From Washington Mr. Hackney went to Boston and saw President Strong of the Santa Fe. Here he got permission by misrepresentation to use the Santa Fe
=s name in connection with the Independence & Southwestern road to head off the Kansas State Line road and keep a competing line from entering the field. He returned home, filed a charter, and got his petitions into the townships of Spring Creek and Cedar two days later than the Kansas State Line road. On the same day the petitions were started from Winfield. Hon. E. P. Greer came down to Arkansas City to get Commissioner Guthrie to sign a call asking Chairman Smith to convene the board. Mr. Guthrie rightly refused because the petitions signed up by the proper number of voters of the townships had never been presented. Mr. Greer returned to Winfield and induced the chairman to sign the petitions himself.The chairman of the Board of County Commissioners petitions himself to call a meeting! Whoever heard of the like before?
The petitions of the Kansas State Line road were in one day before all the petitions of the Independence & Southwestern were signed up. A petition signed by Commissioners Guthrie and Irwin asking Mr. Smith to call a meeting of the board to consider the Kansas State Line petitions was presented him, but that gentleman refused to countenance it until after he had disposed of the Independence & Southwestern, although their petitions were not in at the time.
When the hour for the meeting of the board arrived last Friday morning, Mr. Guthrie refused to sit with the board. Chairman Smith was marched to the courthouse between Bill Hackney and Henry Asp. Oh, we would hate to be the slave and have those men masters. During the session of the board, Mr. Hackney called the petitioners of the Kansas State Line road s__ns of b____hs and other vile names. After a great deal of talk, the chairman finally settled the matter as stated above.
We have consulted attorneys and they inform us that the call of the Independence & Southwestern is illegal; that it amounts to nothing, and shows to what desperate means Winfield has resorted to keep Arkansas City and the border townships from getting a road. Cedar, Silverdale, and Spring Creek are now paying taxes upon the bonds they voted to build the Southern Kansas, the Santa Fe, and the Frisco into Winfield. They voted bonds to the D. M. & A. Now, when all the border townships have a chance to secure a line, Winfield is trying to beat them out of it. Will our friends out east stand any such outrage?
Arkansas City Republican, March 20, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS.]
The Santa Fe surveyors left Tuesday morning to set the permanent grade stakes from here to Sherman, Texas, through the Territory.
Arkansas City Republican, March 20, 1886.
THE GREAT STRIKE.
The Strikers Quiet But Firm--No Soldiers Need Apply.
SEDALIA, MISSOURI, MARCH 15. Saturday morning Superintendent Sibley notifed Mayor Rickman and Sheriff Murray that the company would attempt to run freight trains and asked for protection. The mayor, chief of police, and sixty policemen, and Sheriff Murray, with a large number of deputy sheriffs, repaired to the yards. At one o
=clock there were upwards of 2,000 people in and about the company=s property. Assistant Superintendent Frey and Master Mechanic Weller fired up the engine and brought it out on the main track and coupled on ten cars. An engineer and fireman and crew boarded the train, and when the engineer blew his whistle, the fun began in dead earnest. The fields on each side of the track were filled with strikers. The mayor read the riot act to them, but they crowded in on the company=s grounds when the police force and the sheriff=s drove them back. Chairman Page stepped on to the train and asked Engineer Myers not to take the engine out, and Myers left the engine. Frey asked him why he did that. AThat man asked me to,@ said Myers, Aand he is the chairman of the executive committee of the Knights of Labor.@
[STRIKE STORIES CONTINUED.]
ST. LOUIS, MARCH 15. State Labor Commissioner Kochtitzky arrived here last night from Jefferson City and held conferences in regard to a settlement of the strike, but he declned to say with whom he conferred or what was done, nor would he say what, if any, relations he holds to either side in the contest. He did say, however:
AThe strike is a mistake and it is my opinion that the Knights of Labor realize the fact, and basing my opinion on that view of the situation, it is more than probable that within four days the trouble will be settled, freight trains be running, and the embargo upon commerce raised.@ When asked if negotiations were now pending between the Missouri Pacific Company and the Knights of Labor, Mr. Kochtitzky replied: AI do not feel at liberty to answer that question directly. I will simply say that the strike is in a fair way of settlement and without the interference of some unforseen issue, it will be at an end within the next three or four days.@ Mr. Kochtitzky left for Sedalia last evening for the purpose, it is said, of consulting with leading Knights of Labor at that place.The local situation in regard to the railroad strike is entirely unchanged, and the day has passed without even an incident worthy of note. Parties have been on guard in the Pacific yards, and nobody was admitted to them without a pass from some railroad official. The strikers have also been very quiet, and none of them have attempted to visit the yards or in any way trespass upon the company
=s premises. An attempt will be made this morning to move freight trains, and from present indications there will be no interference in the yards, but what will be done outside of them or after the trains have left the city, nobody can tell.P. Sargeant, grand master of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, was asked last evening what position the fireman would take. He declined to state anything definite had been decided, etc., but added:
AWe will let you know about ten o=clock tomorrow.@ The meaning smile that accompanied this remark evidently meant that the firemen would not show their hand till the necessity should arise. The indications now are that the strikers are very confident, relying on the assistance of both the engineers and the firemen. The injunction sworn out against the strikers does not yet seem to have affected their plans.JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI, MARCH 15. Governor Marmaduke being asked in regard to the rumor that the officers of the Gould system had requested of him militia protection, said:
ASuch is not the case, and furthermore, I am of the opinion that it will not be necessary to ask for such protection. I am opposed to it except in the direst necessity. The will of the people will prevail in a few days and this will be more powerful and efficacious than the bayonet. I am hopeful that this trouble will be ended by the middle of the week at the latest. The businessmen of Missouri whose interests are now being injured more than those of either the railroad or the strikers will force an adjustment of the trouble to the end that the commerce of the country may be resumed.@
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The Winfield Courier, in great glee, shoves this little squib at us and we willingly admit every word of it to be true.
A
Mr. Perkins, of Kansas, has recently introduced a number of bills into the house for private pensions; also a bill asking the right of way of the Winfield & Fort Smith railroad through the Indian Territory.@The above only goes to prove what we say elsewhere in regard to the building of a plug from Winfield to connect with either of the Ft. Smith roads. You see, the wise men of Winfield believe that the Ft. Smith road coming to Arkansas City is more likely to be built than any other. They know not at what point they can make the connection. They may have to build a few miles into the Territory and if they should, it is very necessary that they should have permission from Uncle Sam and that is why Mr. Perkins introduced the above bill. Upon the other hand, if the Wichita, Caney Valley and Ft. Smith road is built and the above is not, the bonds will be used in building a branch to tap it. Citizens of Cedar and Spring Creek Township mark our words, and if you vote the aid, see if they don
=t come true.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The Winfield Courier speaks of Henry Asp as having been a necessity to the K. C. & S. W. Railway construction company. Bah! What are you giving your readers? Any other pettifogger could have done as much as Mr. Asp did. Why didn
=t Mr. Asp build that railroad west north of Arkansas City if he is such a giant? And why don=t he build the D. M. & A.? We can tell things on Mr. Asp which will make his hair stand on end. But we won=t do it because it is child=s play. We are talking about building railroads, Father Millington, and not of the private character of Jas. Hill and Mr. Asp. Confine yourself to the subject and don=t get so badly scared.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The report that the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe railroad is about to be purchased by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad company is, we have reason to know, not without foundation. Negotiations to that end have been in progress for some time, and may yet be consummated. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe company has already commenced the construction of a branch through the Indian Territory to a point in Texas, probably Gainesville. A link of eighty miles from that point south to Ft. Worth would give direct connection with the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, and in the event of the purchase of the latter, would give the Atchison company a continuous line to the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston, running through the heart of Texas. The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe system now comprises about 650 miles in operation, and several hundred more under construction. Its main line extends from Galveston north to Fort Worth, 346 miles, with branches from Temple northwest to Coleman, 104 miles, and from Cleburn northeast to Dallas, and under construction thence to Paris, where it is expected to meet an extension of the St. Louis & San Francisco road through the Indian Territory. It has also a branch from Somerville which is intended to run easterly to the border of the State. Altogether the system will comprise not far from 1,000 miles, and it is evident would be a most important acquisition by the Atchison company. To connect with it the latter company would have to build something like 300 miles of road through the Indian Territory. Railway Age, March 18th, 1886.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
A contract was signed day before yesterday by the A. T. & S. F. Railroad company with Barney Lantry, of Strong City, Chase County, to build twenty-eight miles of railroad from Elvira, in Chase County, via Bazoora and Matfield Green, to El Dorado, Butler County. This road leaves the main line of the Santa Fe five miles east of Strong City, and runs up the south fork of the Cottonwood River two and a half or three miles east of Cottonwood Falls.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The Winfield papers are loud in telling the voters of Cedar and Spring Creek Townships that if they will vote aid to the Independence & Southwestern, they will get a Ft. Smith connection. No doubt they will, but they will have to come to Arkansas City to get it. One of our most worthy citizens holds a document from headquarters of the Ft. Smith road written by one of the highest officials of the company, telling him that the road will be built to Arkansas City directly; that the company does not intend to antagonize any one town for the upbuilding of another; that the company has its line mapped out for Arkansas City and Wellington, and will not deviate from its proposed route. The gentleman received this letter only a day or so ago, and has it in his possession now. Bill Hackney, while at Washington, ascertained that the Ft. Smith road could not be gotten to run to Winfield. Their only hope then to get a Ft. Smith connection is to build a plug branch to connect with the Ft. Smith road as it enters Cowley County at the state line. If the Ft. Smith road is never built up the Arkansas River Valley, the schemers at Winfield have worded the proposition of the Independence & Southwestern so they can get bonds voted all the way to the Caney Valley and use them to build a plug to connect with the Wichita, Caney Valley, & Ft. Smith road. Should neither of the Ft. Smith roads be built, the townships mentioned above will not even get a plug if the bonds are voted. Upon the other hand, if aid is voted to the Kansas State Line road, it will be built beyond a doubt. Three roads are struggling to gain the State Line Territory, and if our neighbors over east of us tie themselves up in bonds to a company, which upon its face is stamped
Aplug,@ they are acting unwisely. If they vote bonds to the Independence & Southwestern company and if either of the Ft. Smith roads are ever built, they will only get a plug branch to the county seat and that is all. This is all there is to the Winfield scheme. We never until lately saw through the scheme, but the Winfield papers have given it away.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The rattle-brained fop who tries to edit the Winfield Telegram says Winfield gave Arkansas City the K. C. & S. W. Road instead of running it over to Geuda Springs. Better say, Walter, Arkansas City gave that road to Winfield and the dirty blackguards which inhabit your village tried to steal it from us. But your schemes were thwarted. We have gotten the road but not by Winfield
=s consent, and what are you going to do about it.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
A. A. Robinson, vice-president, has let the contract for building the first thirty miles of the Chicago, Kansas & Western railroad from Burlington to Hamilton, in Greenwood County, to Kennedy and Stone, of Topeka, who say they will complete the work in ninety days.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railroad, of Texas, without doubt has been purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. The Santa Fe extension south through the Indian Territory from Arkansas City will no doubt connect with this line of railway.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS.]
The strike is not now affecting the Frisco people. They are ready to receive consignments of freights for all points east.
This great strike has affected Cowley County. There has been, and always will be, a general walk-out on the Independence & Southwestern. The Kansas State Line road is having no trouble.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The Chicago & Rock Island road is chartered to build into Kansas. A branch of it is to run from the main line in Marion County to Hunnewell. If Arkansas City would take the proper step, she could secure the building of the road here instead of to Hunnewell.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The great strike is affecting this portion of Kansas to some extent. The wholesale houses of Kansas City did not make any shipments for three days. Traffic has been resumed at Kansas City now.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
The new press of the REPUBLICAN cannot arrive on account of the strike.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
A representative of the REPUBLICAN visited Geuda Springs Monday and he found that beautifully located town thriving wonderfully in anticipation of the coming railroad. For the benefit of our Geuda Spring readers, we wish to say that the grade stakes have all been set between Arkansas City and Caldwell, and we are told by good authority the grading will commence April 1.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
RECAP OF LONG ARTICLE RE RAILROAD STRIKE.
ST. LOUIS, MARCH 22. Governors Marmaduke and Martin held their third confernece with Vice President Hoxie yesterday afternoon at which the proposition submitted Saturday by the Governors was again discussed, and a formal reply on the part of the railway officials was made. ON MARCH 20, 1886, THE GOVERNORS WROTE TO H. M. HOXIE, FIRST VICE PRESIDENT OF THE MISSOURI PACIFIC, OUTLINING WHAT HAD TRANSPIRED, WHEREIN AN AGREEMENT HAD BEEN ARRIVED AT BY THEM.
[Agreement made by the officers of Missouri and Kansas in 1885 and acceded to by the railroad.]
1. That the company restore to its striking employees in Missouri and Kansas the same wages paid them in September, 1884, including one-half price for overtime worked.
2. To restore all striking employees to their several employments without prejudice to them on account of said strike.
[Third item added by Captain Hayes.]
3. That hereafter said rates would not be changed, except after thirty days
= notice thereof, given in the usual way.THE GOVERNORS INVESTIGATED AND FOULD NOT FIND WHEREIN THE MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY HAD VIOLATED THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE AGREEMENT MADE MARCH 15, 1886, TOUCHING ITS EMPLOYEES IN THE STATES OF KANSAS AND MISSOURI. THEY CONCLUDED THAT THE STRIKE OF MARCH 6, 1886, COULD NOT HAVE BEEN AND WAS NOT BASED ON A VIOLATION OF THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT OF MARCH 15, 1886, BY THE MANAGEMENT OF THE MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY IN ITS DEALINGS WITH THE EMPLOYEES IN MISSOURI AND KANSAS. COMPANY REPLIED:
AWE CANNOT RE-ENGAGE OR CONTINUE IN OUR EMPLOY ANY PERSONS WHO HAVE ACTUALLY ENGAGED IN THE DESTRUCTION OR INJURY OF THE COMPANY=S PROPERTY, OR WHO HAVE ADVISED SUCH DESTRUCTION OR INJURY. WE SHALL GIVE PREFERENCE TO THOSE OF OUR LATE EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE FAMILIES AND WHO OWN HOMES ON THE LINES OF THE ROAD. IT IS TO BE REMEMBERED THAT THE LOSS OF TRADE CAUSED BY THE PRESENT STRIKE WILL, TO A CONSIDERABLE EXTENT, REDUCE THE NECESSITY OF EMPLOYING AS MANY MEN IN OUR SHOPS AS HERETOFORE.@After the close of the conference Governors Marmaduke and Martin repaired to Hurst
=s Hotel, where Martin Irons, chairman, and several members of the executive committee of District Assembly 101 Knights of Labor, were in session, and presented to them the result of their conference with Mr. Hoxie. Both Governors made brief speeches to the committee, strongly urging them to accept Mr. Hoxie=s terms and appealing to them to end the strike at once.
Arkansas City Republican, March 27, 1886.
Arkansas City
=s Boom.The News man took a short trip to Arkansas City Saturday and returned Monday. Having saluted his many friends and acquaintances, he took time to look over the city and note the many improvements being made.
A
Arkansas City is one of the most thriving and busiest towns in Southern Kansas. No amount of back-sets seem to effect her growth. Although she has passed through two or three recent severe fires, she rises, pheonix like, from the ashes, and immediately rushes on to replace the old with the new. Old frame buildings are being removed and handsome brick buildings are taking their place. We counted work being done on eight two-story brick business houses, two three-story bricks, and one, one-story brick, or brick and stone. There was also a large number of residences in all stages of completion. The businessmen profess to be making money, and the crowds on the streets Saturday and Monday would seem to indicate as much.A
O. P. Houghton=s large dry goods store, C. R. Sipes= equally large hardware store, and the Territory outfitting store of Ware, Pickering & Co., where the scribe made his principal base of operations, certainly were as busy as it was possible to be. The real estate men also seemed to share in the hustle and activity.A
This visit made an impression on our mind and very sharply pointed several morals. Without apology, save that we have the best interests of Belle Plaine at heart, we will present them.A
In our many conversations, long and short, it was noticeable that not a man was found, in business or out, who did not believe--heart and soul--in the future greatness of Arkansas City; and they had no scruples in calling attention to their advantages. The situation, the trade, the new railroads, the advantages of every sort, real and imaginable, were presented forcibly and frequently, turned this way and that, and no time or trouble saved to make the impression deep and lasting, although they well knew that we had no thought of returning to Arkansas City and no money to invest if we did.A
The point here is just this: Every Arkansas City man makes it his chief end to boom Arkansas City, first, last, and all the time. And Arkansas City does boom, as she deserves to. It makes no difference to what part of the world you go; if you find the people wrapped up in the idea that their place is the best place in the world, you will also find them convincing other people of the correctness of that idea. Arkansas City is taking the right course to become a large city. It has convinced themselves and they are determined to convince everybody else, willy-nilly. And it is natural that they should succeed.A
If Belle Plaine was as thoroughly convinced of her glorious future as she ought to be, if her citizens would take the time and the trouble to convince the strangers who visit us that our advantages are real and not imaginary and do this with one-half the earnestness Arkansas City exhibits, we would double or treble our population this year.A
For instance, take the railroad talk. Arkansas City is as certain of obtaining three, four, or five new railroads this year as that she now exists--to hear her talk. Her citizens have talked this so much that they absolutely know it, although not a foot of soil has been turned on any one of them. Yet Belle Plaine, with 61 miles already graded, a construction train purchased, an engine built, in short, a thousand times the assurance of a road that Arkansas City has, is dubious, or professes to be. Let a stranger come into our city and every other man will say the road will be built, but accompany it with such a doleful sigh, such a wise shake of the head, that the stranger is convinced that his informant is lying under compulsion. This is no way to build up a town. The right way, the only way, is to talk about it; if necessary, lie about it. This is not necessary in our case, for our advantages and prospects need no lying, but they do need earnest and continued presentation, forcible and unwearing pressing into notice. Do this, and the people of other towns will come here and be impressed that Belle Plaine is a get there Eli kind of a town, a sure go town, a good kind of a town to tie to.Belle Plaine News.
@
Arkansas City Republican, April 3, 1886.
COMING.
To Arkansas City the Missouri Pacific. How we Boom.
The Independence Tribune publishes this interesting morsel of railroad news.
The Southwestern railway system is building from Independence to Havana, and arrangements look favorably for its extension through Chautauqua County and on to Arkansas City, and from thence into Texas.
The Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western is building ninety miles of road, centering at Independence, with all its machine shops, roundhouse, and division offices to be located there.
Engineer Waite starts out today to complete the survey of the
V. V., L. & W., south, from this city to Fawn Creek, and thence west to Caney, all reports to the contrary notwithstanding. The route is a practical one, and one that will be profitable to the company, and will be built just as soon as the main line to Independence is completed.
These routes are almost certain of early completion. The grade is almost finished on the Southwestern, and thousands of ties and great piles of steel rails are in the yards in this city, ready for the workmen.
On the Verdigris Valley route a large part of the grade is completed, and surveyors, graders, and right of way commissioners are at work, and in the yards are 300 cars of ties, with hundreds of cars of steel rails on track.
In confirmation of the above, Will E. Moore, who is visiting in that city, writes to the REPUBLICAN as follows.
Independence, March 31, 1886.
Messrs. WAGNER & HOWARD, Arkansas City, Kansas.
SIRS: I want to tell you the R. R. News I have gleaned, from the people of this city, which I think will be of interest to the people of Arkansas City.
The Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western road, of which Henry Foster of this city is president, is an extension of the Missouri Pacific from Leroy. I learn the grade is completed to the south line of Woodson County, and work is being pushed the entire line from Leroy here. At this place I find them grading, both north and south of the city, and the right-of-way has been secured as far as Caney in the southwest corner of Montgomery County. I learn from some of the parties interested that they expect to submit a proposition in Chautauqua County very soon.
Respectfully, Your Friend
W. E. MOORE.
Arkansas City Republican, April 3, 1886.
The friends of the Independence & Southwestern project tell you the Kansas State Line road will never be built because it is a Frisco enterprise, and the Santa Fe would not allow it because it owns stock in the Frisco. Wonder how it came about that the Santa Fe allowed the Frisco to come down from Beaumont through its territory. Why did it allow this invasion? The fact that the Frisco has built a branch into the Santa Fe
=s territory is conclusive evidence that the latter has nothing whatever to do with the management of the former.
Arkansas City Republican, April 3, 1886.
Lots in the new town of Cale, six miles south of Arkansas City, on the state line at the terminus of the Frisco road, will be on sale by next Wednesday. F. J. Hess has been appointed the company
=s agent. He will open a branch office at Cale. R. U. Hess will be the manager. Several merchants will move down from Winfield and open mercantile establishments.
Arkansas City Republican, April 3, 1886.
The Railroad addition is located just north of the Frisco depot. Lots for sale by Frank J. Hess.
Arkansas City Republican, April 3, 1886.
Winfield projected the D. M. & A. Road. It runs virtually through the same territory that they are asking aid for the Independence & Southwestern; they now realize the D. M. & A. is a failure and desire to tie the townships up again in bonds so they can never get a road unless it runs to Winfield. Will the eastern townships stand any such bulldozing on the part of the county seat? We think not.
Arkansas City Republican, April 3, 1886.
THE STRIKE SETTLED.
Powderly and Gould Meet and Arrange the Missouri Pacific Troubles.
Arbitration Agreed Upon.
NEW YORK, MARCH 29. Yesterday morning at eleven o
=clock T. V. Powderly and W. B. McDowell called on Jay Gould at the latter=s residence. There they met Messrs. Jay Gould, Hopkins, and George Gould. There was a general discussion of the situation in the southwest by both sides, and a better understanding was arrived at than had been had by either party heretofore. After talking until one p.m., the conference adjourned until evening. At seven p.m., the conference met again. At 8:30 p.m., Mr. Powderly had to leave to keep an engagement with Congressman John J. O=Neill of St. Louis, chairman of the House Committee on Labor, who came from Washington to render assistance if possible in settling the strike. Mr. McDowell, however, remained with Mr. Gould and his party, and Mr. Gould finally handed to Mr. McDowell the following communication.T. V. POWDERLY, GRAND MASTER WORKMAN:
PRESIDENT
=S OFFICE, MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY, MARCH 28.Dear Sir: Replying to your letter of the 27th instant, I write to say that I will tomorrow morning send the following telegraphic instructions to Mr. Hoxie, general manager of the Missouri Pacific railroad, at St. Louis.
A
In resuming the movement of trains on the Missouri Pacific and in the employing of laborers in the several departments of the company, give preference to any late employees whether they are Knights of Labor or not, except that you will not employ any person who has injured the company=s property during the late strike, nor will you discharge any person who has taken service with the company during said strike. We see no objection to arbitrating any differences between the employees and the company, past or future. Hoping the above will be satisfactory, I remain yours very truly,JAY GOULD, President.
@The executive board of the Knights of Labor have sent out the following telegram.
Martin Irons, chairman executive board, D. A. 101, St. Louis--President Jay Gould has consented to our proposition for arbitration and so telegraphs Vice President Hoxie. Order the men to resume work at once. By office of the executive board.
T. V. POWDERLY, G. M. W.
The executive board also sent out the following telegram.
To the Knights of Labor now on strike in the Southwest:
President Jay Gould has consented to our proposition for arbitration and so telegraphed Vice President Hoxie. Pursuant to telegraphic instructions sent to the chairman of the executive board, District Assembly 101, you are directed to resume work at once. By order of the executive board.
T. V. POWERLY, G. M. W.
Congressman O
=Neill arrived from Washington just in time to get the news. He said that the Labor Committee had prepared a bill which he would present to the House tomorrow in which he thought were provisions which would prevent future trouble like this. He said that some 9,000 or 10,000 people had been directly affected by the strike, and unnumbered thousands had indirectly been affected. He expressed great pleasure that the end came so peaceably. He returned to Washington at midnight. Messrs. Powderly and McDowell will meet Mr. Gould this morning by appointment.QUIETING DOWN.
ST. LOUIS, MARCH 29. The strike situation on both sides of the river was very quiet yesterday. Aside from its being Sunday, a drizzling rain, with now then a brisk shower, fell most of the day, and nobody cared to loiter about the depot and yards. The Wabash sent out one train in the afternoon, but beyond this no attempt was made to move trains.
ESCORTED BY MILITIA.
TEXARKANA, ARKANSAS, MARCH 29. The freight blockade in this city was broken yesterday morning and a freight train was sent north with freight from St. Louis under a strong guard of militia. Great excitement prevailed, and 400 strikers were assembled in the Missouri Pacific yard. The militia overawed them, however, and the train left without opposition. At Manderville, ten miles north of Texarkana, a crowd of strikers tried to sidetrack and wreck the train. The militia scattered them and captured twelve of the strikers, who were brought back to Texarkana and put in jail. The running of this train is regarded by the people of Texarkana as breaking the backbone of the strike at this point.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
The State Line Road.
A charter was filed the latter part of last week with the Secretary of State for the Memphis & Western Railroad company, with eleven directors as follows.
George Miller, Andrew Graff, James Scandriff, of Wellington;
S. B. Fleming, James Huey, and Frank Hess, of Arkansas City;
E. P. Miller and Charles Berry, of Cherryvale; John Montgomery, of Oswego; and Allen C. Kirby, of St. Louis.
The charter provides for a standard road from Memphis on the Mississippi, through Arkansas and Missouri to the east line of the State of Kansas, thence through the counties of Cherokee, Labette, Montgomery, Chautauqua, Cowley, Sumner, Kingman, Pratt, Reno, Stafford, Edwards, Pawnee, Barton, Rush, Ness, Hodgman, Trego, Grove, Lane, St. John, Wichita, Greeley and Wallace, Comanche, Clark, Seward, Stevens, and Morton Counties. The offices of the company are to be located at Wellington. The charter provides for a capital of $10,000,000.
The filing of the above charter insures the building of the State Line road. All the necessary arrangements have been made preparatory to the commencement of work as soon as bonds have been voted. Hurrah for Arkansas City and the State Line road. Join hands Silverdale, Spring Creek, and Cedar, and shout.
We have been made acquainted with some railroad news which we are not at Liberty to divulge yet, but it is glorious and good.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
A Circular.
A circular has been issued by the Santa Fe railway company telling of the various lines of road to be constructed during the year 1886 and those now under construction. The one of importance to this community is the Santa Fe extension through the Territory. Another one of importance was the building of the Independence & Southwestern. The circular states that the road is to be built from Independence southwest to Cedarvale, Chautauqua County, a distance of 57 miles, by December. This is the line of road that Winfield is asking bonds for in Cedar and Spring Creek Townships in order to head off the State Line project. This circular gives the whole scheme away. The Santa Fe never intends building farther than Cedarvale, and in that way hold all this eastern territory of Cowley County. Voters of Spring Creek and Cedar, look at the Santa Fe branch from Mulvane to Hunnewell and Caldwell. Winfield knows if Arkansas City gets an east and west road, her cake would be dough, and that is why she seeks to tie up the eastern townships of Cowley. She knows full well that the Independence & Southwestern will never be built any farther than Cedarvale. Voters, do you want a Santa Fe bob-tail?
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
EXTENDING THE SANTA FE.
A Circular Issued to the Stockholders Providing Bonds for the
Texas Line.
BOSTON, MASS., April 2. Under date of today a circular is issued to the stockholders of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad company, setting forth that by an act of congress passed in July, 1884, the Southern Kansas railway company was invested with the right of locating, constructing, and operating a railway and telegraph and telephone line as well as a branch through certain portions of the Indian Territory, in accordance with which the company located the main line, running from Arkansas City southerly in the direction of Denison and Fort Worth, and also located a branch from Kiowa, on the southern border of Kansas, southwesterly in the direction of Wolf Creek and into the Panhandle of Texas, the total mileage being about 350 miles. Congress has granted at the same time to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe railway company the right to extend its road northward, whereby a continuous line of road between Leavenworth, Kansas City, and Galveston would be formed by the extensions of corporations. The cost of constructing these extensions is estimated at $10,000 per mile, and it is supposed that the Southern Kansas company (controlled by the Topeka and Santa Fe) shall issue 5 percent, forty-year first mortgage gold bonds at the rate per mile on the projected lines, giving each subscriber a $1,000 bond at 6 percent income bond for $250. The stockholders can subscribe in the proportion of one block for each 100 shares of Atchison stock held by them on April 17, 1886, and may assign their rights. That the smaller stockholders may not be excluded, subscriptions may also be made for one-tenth of a block and for multiples thereof, and both classes of bonds will be issued in denominations of $100, $500, and $1,000. All bonds may be registered. The first installment on subscriptions will be payable May 20 and the remainder as called, not to exceed 20 perent, in any one month. Subscription may be made prior to May 3.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
Why Martin Acted.
TOPEKA, KANSAS, April 2. The governor states that the First regiment was ordered to Parsons only after repeated calls from the sheriff of Labette County, the mayor of Parsons, and many citizens of the county, representing that the strikers openly defied the civil authorities and were lawless and turbulent in all their proceedings. The first call for troops came on Monday evening last and in reply the governor telegraphed as the dispatches that evening stated that the strike had been ordered off by the national committee of the Knights of Labor, and that he could not believe there would be further trouble at Parsons. Next day, however, the civil officers renewed the demand for troops, representing that a passenger train had been ditched and several persons injured, and that the strikers at Parsons were more defiant and lawless than ever before. The governor sent the adjutant general to Parsons that afternoon, and he spent Wednesday and Thursday in the city. He addressed the strikers at their hall, appealing to them to respect the civil authorities and conduct themselves as law abiding citizens and warning them that if they did not desist from violent and lawless acts, the state would be compelled to interfere. During both days the mobs were as turbulent and lawless as before, and on Thursday afternoon, the adjutant general telegraphed the governor that all hope of inducing the strikers to respect the law or the civil authorities would have to be abandoned; that they openly defied the sheriff and mayor and that military force would be necessary to preserve the peace. The governor then ordered the First regiment to Parsons to sustain and support the civil authorities in enforcing the authority of law.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
Troops at Forth Worth.
NEW YORK, April 5. The following dispatches were received this morning at the office of the Missouri Pacific Railway company.
FT. WORTH, TEXAS, April 5. Quiet prevails here this morning. Seven companies of state troops and one company of artillery have arrived here from Galveston. There moved yesterday two trains south on the Missouri Pacific and two trains on the Texas Pacific. No resistance was offered either in the city or country. A good many strikers are arriving in Fort Worth from other places. The adjutant general is in charge of the troops, which consist of 326 men and two pieces of artillery.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
Railroad News.
Thirty railroad teams from the Indian Territory, are camped in the river bottom, awaiting the report of the right of way commission on the Verdigris Valley route, before going to work.
Crow & Smith have a large force of men grading on their contract for the V. V. L. & W. Ry.
L. J. Snarr began active work on the V. V. L. & W. Ry. Grade between this city and Elk River last week.
Work in Wilson County, on the grade of the V. V. L. & W. Ry., is being pushed actively.
By next week there will be several gangs of graders at work on the V. V. L. & W. in Montgomery County.
From now on dirt will fly fast on the Verdigris Valley & Independence road.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
Among those who purchased lots down at Cale on the state line are Judge Torrance, A. H. Doane, J. B. Nipp, Curns & Manser, F. J. Hess,
R. R. Phelps, D. A. Millington, F. L. Branninger, Alexander, Lamport & Co. All of these contract to erect business buildings at once. Alexander, Lamport & Co., begin the erection of their sheds and buildings, etc., for their lumber yard at the new town today. Their stock of lumber will be in by next week. The Santa Fe does not touch the townsite of Cale nor does it come within three miles of it. The Winfield Courier misrepresents the matter when it says the Santa Fe goes through it.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
Arkansas City Victorious.
The bill granting the right-of-way to the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway Company across the Territory from Fort Smith to Arkansas City, passed the senate Thursday. It has not been reached in the house yet, although the committee has reported favorably. The Wichita and Ft. Smith right-of-way bill has been reported upon favorably, but has passed neither branch of congress. The Winfield & Ft. Smith bill has been only just introduced into the house. The passage of the bill in the senate is good news to our readers, because they all know that it means an opening up to us of a southern market. Arkansas City is at the head of the procession--Wichita and Winfield are training behind.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
WASHINGTON, April 8. The senate resumed the bill some weeks ago laid over granting to the Kansas & Arkansas Railroad Co., the right of way for a road through the Indian Territory. The pending question was on Van Wycks
= proposed amendment, prohibiting the issue of any more stock or bonds than would represent the actual cost of building and equipping the road. Several amendments were offered, but were all voted down, and the bill passed Yeas, 36; nays, 8.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
RIOT AT FORTH WORTH.
A Serious Riot in an Attempt to Run a Freight Train.
Three Officers Fatally Wounded. A Striker Killed. The Militia
Called Out. Further Threats Made to Stop Trains and Alarm Felt.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, APRIL 5. At ten o
=clock Saturday morning 1,000 people assembled at the Missouri Pacific depot to see Sheriff Maddox send out a train which he had said he would do or die. One engine with twenty armed deputies backed into the yard to take out a train of twenty cars. Sheriff Maddox and thirty deputies guarded the yards and warned the strikers to keep away. The train pulled out for the south shortly after noon, and reached the New Orleans crossing, two miles south. The suggestive quiet that marked the passage of the freight train through the city was not without its sequel. When the train left the depot, it was under the protection of a posse of officers, commanded by Jim Courtright. The train proceded to the crossing of the Fort Worth & New Orleans road, when it stopped, as customary. When the train stopped it was noticed several men were congregated on the track in front of the train. The posse=s commander approached the men and asked why they impeded the progress of the train, to which they replied that they had nothing to do with it, that they were not armed, and had no intention of interfering with the road.AMBUSHED.
As the officers returned to the train, they noticed several men sitting or lying in the grass a few yards from the track. The entire posse advanced toward the men in ambush until they had reached the ditch alongside the track when they commanded a throwing up of hands. The command was obeyed, but as the hands came up, they brought Winchester rifles with them, which belched forth a deadly fire. The posse returned the fire, it is said, with fatal effect. There were perhaps 100 shots fired. After the first fire, the posse advanced and continued firing. The ambushers retreated behind some piles of ties, which proved a most excellent breastwork, and from which they poured a murderous fire into the posse. From this position they were finally dislodged and driven beyond range of the posse
=s pistols. The casualties among the posse were found to be three: Police Officer Tulford, shot through both thighs; Special Offficer Dick Townsend, shot through the left breast near the nipple, fatal; Special Officer Charles Sneed, shot through the breast and jaw. The casualties among the ambushers is only a matter of conjection, though there seems to be good grounds for saying that three or more of them were wounded, probably fatally. The same authority says there were half a dozen or more horses visible that were ambushed, which it is believed belonged to the ambushing party. The posse carried the wounded men aboard the train, which backed into the union depot.FIXING THE BLAME.
The Knights of Labor claim that the first shot was fired by the officers, but the weight of testimony is against the assertion. Tim Wilson, who was on the engine and within three feet of Dick Townsend, who was shot in the back, states postively that the first fire came from the strikers. D. L. Stewart was an eye witness to the shooting and gives it as his opinion that the strikers fired first. Sheriff Maddox Saturday afternoon organized two companies of citizens, which were armed with Winchesters and carbines, and marched them to the depot, the avowed determination being to suppress all opposition to the law. The people were in a terrible state of excitement and appeared completely dumbfounded. The breach between the law and the strikers has been widened and the bitterest expressions can be heard on every side. There are hundreds of Knights of Labor in the city who do not appear to regret the occurrence of Saturday. It has been learned that the strikers on Friday purchased ten Winchester rifles in this city, and the names of two or three of the men who carried rifles have been learned. The Mayor has issued a proclamation appointing seventy-five deputy policemen and ordering all the saloons to remain closed until Wednesday. A petition has been sent to Governor Ireland for State Rangers and military transportation for the troops has been applied for from Receiver Shelden.
LATER PARTICULARS.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, APRIL 5. Six companies of the Fourth regiment have arrived here. Two companies of the First are also here. Brigadier General Roberts is in command. The dead body of Frank Pierce, a striker, was found yesterday and brought into town. Two others who were wounded have been located. Trouble is looked for this morning, as strikers are coming in from all directions. The train sent south yesterday reached Alrado, thirty miles distant, in safety. Attorney General Templeton, who is here with Adjutant General King, says:
ASince the authority of the State has been invoked, it shall be wielded, and trains must move, if it takes the whole military force of the State to do it.@DEPOT GUARDED.
The depot and yards were guarded last night by over 200 citizens called into service by the mayor
=s proclamation, and the streets were patrolled by armed men. There was great fear of fire during the night, and extra precautions were taken. One hundred firemen were in waiting at the engine houses for any emergency and the fires at the pumping stations were kept up to a high point all night. Offers of aid were sent from all surrounding points, and engines were kept in readiness to be forwarded at a moment=s notice. Strikers are arriving from various outside points and the statement is made that the Knights of Labor have determined that Fort Worth shall be the point where trains shall be stopped at all hazards, and that there they will fight their battle. On the other hand, the citizens declare that the Missouri Pacific trains shall move even though it costs scores of lives to accomplish it. The troops now number 235 men. Adjutant General King, Brigadier General A. S. Roberts, Attorney General Templeton, Inspector General Smith, and Colonel W. P. Gaines are on the grounds. The railroad yards are lined with soldiers and no one dares venture on the railroad property. The railroad yards are skirted by a line of saloons and low resorts. Here have been congregated all day a number of desperate looking men, some of whom are ex-railway employees. There were others also who heretofore had frequented the yards committing numerous depredations, but they did not attempt to enter the yards or interfere with railroad property. No further trouble is anticipated in the movement of trains from the yards or through the city, but rumors are heard of bridge-burning and dynamite plots.
Arkansas City Republican, April 10, 1886.
KANSAS STATE NEWS.
Among the charters lately filed with the Secretary of State was that of the Memphis & Western Railroad Company, with eleven directors as follows: George Miller, Andrew Grogan, James A. Leaveditt, of Well-ington; Samuel Fleming, James Henry, and Frank Hess, of Arkansas City; E. P. Miller and Charles Henry, of Cherryvale; John Montgomery, of Oswego, and Allen C. Kirby, of St. Louis. The charter provides for a standard road from Memphis, on the Mississippi, through Arkansas and Missouri to the east line of the State of Kansas, thence through the Counties of Cherokee, Labette, Montgomery, Cowley, Sumner, Kingman, Pratt, Reno, Stafford, Edwards, Pawnee, Barton, Rush, Ness, Hodgeman, Trego, Gove, Lane, St. John, Wichita, Greeley, and Wallace, with a branch through Harper, Meade, Barber, Comanche, Clark, Seward, Stevens, and Morton Counties. The offices of the company are to be located at Winfield. The charter provides for a capital of $10,000,000.
In anticipation of the enactment of a law opening to homestead settlement the public land strip lying between Texas on the south and Kansas and Colorado on the north, immigrants are already pouring into that region; and it is estimated that should it be opened as expected, there will be 20,000 people there before the season is over.
The vandalism at Atchison the other night by which fifteen locomotives of the Missouri Pacific were disabled, caused a feeling of indignation. A meeting was held to denounce the perpetrators of the outrage.
Arkansas City Republican, April 17, 1886.
Santa Fe Extension.
At a meeting of the Santa Fe directors in Topeka recently, the following extensions of that road were announced: Larned branch now under construction; Great Bend extension, now under construction to Rush County--this eventually to be a main line, and will add greatly to the wealth of one county; Hutchinson extension, Hutchinson to Kinsley--this line will be completed to St. John, in Stafford County, this year, and if the aid now pending in Edwards County is voted, it will be completed to Kinsley next year; Mulvane extension, being from Mulvane due west. The contract for forty miles of the road has been let, and will be built immediately. This line will soon be extended west. Work is to be finished on this extension before fall. Emporia and El Dorado Short Line, a road thirty miles in length. Independence extension, Independence to Cedarvale via Peru and Elgin, fifty-seven miles; this line to be completed before winter. Burlington extension, fifteen miles. Colony extension, twenty-five miles in length. Ottawa extension, Ottawa to Osage City, twenty-two miles; this line will be completed immediately. Work is now going on also on a line toward the Panhandle, through the Indian Territory.
The A. T. & S. F. Railroad has issued a circular announcing its intention to extend the Southern Kansas railroad from Arkansas City, Kansas, southerly in the direction of Denison and Fort Worth, Texas, and also to build a branch from Kiowa southerly into the Panhandle of Texas. The total mileage of these extensions will be about 350 miles. We publish the above so our readers in Cedar and Spring Creek Townships will know just how much of the Independence & Southwestern is to be built. It is an official report of the doings of the directors.
Arkansas City Republican, April 17, 1886.
Tuesday the Omaha, Abilene and Wichita railway company was in effect transferred to the Chicago and Rock Island company. The Omaha, Abilene and Wichita railway is to be constructed as an extension of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific system, the line from St. Joe via Topeka taking up the line from Lost Springs, Marion County, to Wichita, the other section being built to a connection with a Nebraska line to Beatrice or Fairbury. The $65,000 heretofore voted by Wichita will be allowed to lapse, the company resigning all claims thereto and instead [PAPER MESSED UP...ANOTHER ITEM INSERTED OVER PART OF THIS. HARD TO READ THE REST. Ends up:
Now is Arkansas City
=s chance to get a railroad that will be of vast importance to her. Let us strike while the iron is hot.
Arkansas City Republican, April 17, 1886.
We see by the Kansas City papers that citizens of that city have subscribed $50,000 to build what is known as the Paola link. It is to connect with the Missouri Pacific at Paola and run to Kansas City. The assurance that the link will be built will give Southwestern Kansas a Kansas City connection over the Missouri Pacific. From Paoloa the road is already constructed to Leroy and from Leroy it is being built to Independence. From Independence, the grade [AGAIN PAPER MESSED UP...LOOKS LIKE THEY TRIED TO PASTE IN PROPER WORDS???]
Something missing, followed by: as to Cana in the southern part of Montgomery County. From there the road is projected across that county to Arkansas City. [?] Henry Foster, president of the Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western railroad, says it will surely be built.
Arkansas City Republican, April 17, 1886.
The Wichita Eagle says:
AThe Santa Fe right of way down the Arkansas Valley to Fort Smith passed the senate on Friday--33 to 8. That line is settled and will be built this summer or next if the bill passes the house. This line gives Wichita and this whole valley a new and direct outlet to Mississippi. The road is to be known under the charter name of the Kansas and Arkansas Valley railroad and runs from Fort Smith to Arkansas City.@
Arkansas City Republican, April 17, 1886.
A dispatch from Ft. Worth of Wednesday says:
ANegotiations looking to the extension of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe north from here, to be connected in the Indian Territory with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe lines, have been completed. The route chosen is in an air line of about 300 miles from Arkansas City, Kansas, to Fort Worth. Work on both ends of the new line will be commenced immediately, and hurried to completion within ten months.@
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
Ho! For Galveston.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad company by its proper officers completed the purchase of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe railroad of Texas Wednesday. As at present built and operated, this road runs from Galveston to Fort Worth, from Somerville, to Conross, from Cleburne to Dallas, from Temple to Coleman, and from Alvin to Houston with several other less important lines making in all a mileage now built of about 800 miles. The projected lines are, among others, from Fort Worth through the Indian Territory to Arkansas City and St. Louis, Texas, to Paris, Texas, on St. Louis & San Francisco railway. The new lines will about equal the thousand already built so that the total mileage of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe as added to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe will be little less than 2,000 miles. The road through the Territory is to be pushed vigorously from both ends so that in a comparatively insignificent space of time the shortest and quickest route for freight or passengers from Atchison, Kansas City, or Topeka to tide water will be via Arkansas City to Galveston, the most beautiful city on the Gulf of Mexico.
The Topeka Capital says:
AThe steamership connection at Galveston of course gives Kansas a short-cut to the markets of the world with all her grain and cattle. Shipments to Europe via New York will no longer be the only possible outlet. Almost as straight as the line drops from the very funnel of the Kansas grain hopper at Arkansas City, the G. C. & C. Road goes to the Galveston docks. Here the steamship connections are made with transatlantic vessels as well as with vessels engaged in the domestic and South and Central American trade. Galveston itself is a growing city, with which it is highly desirable to be on intimate commercial relations.@
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
The A. T. & S. F. are grading in the Territory for their extension from this city to Ft. Worth. There are three camps of graders, numbering about 200 workmen. One camp is located about halfway between the State Line and Chilocco Creek; the other two on Chilocco. The grade commences at the State Line at about two miles east of the Ponca road, goes southwest to the Chilocco, and crosses that stream near where the soldiers were camped last summer on the Ponca road. One gang of graders are coming toward the State line. Another is grading between gang No. 1, and the Chilocco, and the third is working south from Chilocco. The right-of-way has not been secured through Bolton Township yet, but we are informed that the company will have a man here soon.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
A New Town.
The latest thing in the new town line is Cale, a town just laid out on the Indian Territory line in Cowley County at the terminus of the Frisco railroad. It takes its euphonious name after Mr. Cale, the general freight agent of the Frisco.
The plat was filed on Wednesday and the next day forty lots were sold and fourteen large business buildings contracted for. It seems destined to be a second Kiowa. It is also claimed that the Santa Fe extension from Arkansas City through the Territory to Gainesville, Texas, on which grading commenced this week, is laid through this town. With competing lines of road to start, it must certainly be a very lusty infant. Wichita Eagle.
Wrong, you are, Mr. Eagle. Cale will never be another Kiowa. At present there are two tents and a depot on the townsite; that is all. The Santa Fe extension does not go within three miles of the townsite of Cale. Please correct, Eagle. Your credulity has been imposed upon.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
Prepare to Fight Another Day.
[From the Chicago Herald.]
So far as reaching Jay Gould is concerned, the strike in the Southwest has been a failure. The stikers have not carried their point. A great many of them have returned to work. Others have sought and obtained employment elsewhere. The proclamation writers are out, and will stay out. It would be the part of wisdom, therefore, for all of the men who wish to work to accept the situation, cease attempts to interfere with the transaction of business and set about restoring the organization which their recent acts have done so much to weaken.
The wise man does not persist in a mistaken course. The wise strikers of the Southwest will not much longer adhere to a case which seems doomed to failure. Jay Gould they still have with them, but he and his ilk do not menace them any more than do all American citizens. The Goulds are superior to all ordinary strikes. They are not superior to a united and determined people. They may not be reached outside of the law, for the same law which protects them also protects labor, but they can be reached by new laws, to disobey which will place them in the category of criminals.
To correct the system under which the Goulds grow should now be the ambition, not only of the men who work for them, but of all the citizens of the republic. It will take time and patience to curb these modern Titans to bring them under control of American sovereignty and to lessen their power of evil, but it can be done. In the meantime, bitter as the sense or defeat may be to the strikers, they have nothing to gain and everything to lose by blindly continuing a fight that is already lost.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
The following is taken from a Memphis paper of a recent date.
A
Mr. Allen Kerby, an intelligent gentleman from Wellington, Kansas, is in the interest of a projected railroad, intended eventually to connect Memphis and Denver. Three hundred miles of this road will run through the extreme southern tier of counties in Kansas; some sixty-five miles through the southwestern corner of Missouri, and about 290 miles through Arkansas. Then there is a northwestern branch of some 180 miles projected from Arkansas City, Kansas. The people of Southern Kansas are extremely anxious to have the road built and will do all they can for it. A subsidy of $4,000 a mile is already available in Kansas. But it is important that the work should begin at this end of the line so that the road can carry out its own construction material and not be at the mercy of rival lines. Hence, Mr. Kirby [? First time it was Kerby?] and his associates desire encouragement from Memphis. He is backed by and represents such as J. B. Montgomery, vice-president of the First National Bank of Oswego; C. L. Berry, cashier of the State National Bank, and E. P. Miller, president of the security loan company at Cherryvale; J. L. Huey, cashier of the Arkansas City bank; F. J. Hess, a responsible real estate agent of Arkansas City; S. B. Fleming, a prominent citizen of the same place; George M. Miller, cashier of the First National Bank of Wellington; James Scandrett, leading dry goods merchant, and A. Grag, hardware merchant of the same place, as well as many others who are ready to aid the enterprise. The importance of this road to Memphis can hardly be overestimated. It would be worth to this city far more eventually than some of the big roads that already come here. The reason is that these roads are not particularly in the interest of Memphis, whilst the projected line would be obliged to make Memphis its objective point. It would have connections and relations entirely different from any of its competitors, most of which are run in the interest of eastern capital. This is an important question for our merchants to consider and the exchanges will give Mr. Kerby a further opportunity to present at a full meeting the merits and claims of the great enterprise and the people he represents.@
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
There seems to be a very general conviction settling down in the public mind that the strike on the Gould system of railways was more in the interest of stock gambling than labor and the remarkable change to the tone of Master Workman Powderly between his first and his second publication indicates an influence beyond that of the order itself.
Jay Gould is no saint, and he has had a hand in bearing as well as building stocks, and has a long account of revenges charged up against him in Wall Street. About these throat-cutting contests the public care little, and concern themselves less, so long as the general current of traffic is unaffected. But when it comes to oppressive rates by the railroad or suspension of train service by strikes, it is a horse of another color entirely. That the present strike may be engineered from Wall Street is not only possible, but the ear-marks are decidedly that way. Kansas City Journal.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
Dr. Cooper, of Otto, and Bob Howe of Maple City, were in the city Wednesday. They called at the REPUBLICAN office and had a most sociable chat with ye editor. These worthy citizens informs us that Cedar and Spring Creek Townships are sure to vote for the State Line Road. They take no stock in the Independence & Southwestern road.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
On Monday, May 3, the voters of Spring Creek and Cedar Townships will have a chance to secure a railroad, provided they carry the bonds for the State Line road. This road will be built; all the preliminary arrangements have been made, and the capital is secured to build it, provided the bonds are voted.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
Voters of Spring Creek and Cedar Townships, don
=t forget to come out and vote against the propositions of the Independence & Southwestern on next Saturday.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
Grading of the Geuda Springs & Caldwell road goes steadily on. About 100 teams are throwing dirt between this city and Geuda Springs. Most all the right-of-way has been secured.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
Jas. Hill has removed the old K. C. & S. W. Depot building on 13th Avenue to lots in the 4th ward and turned it into a residence. Jacob Hight built an addition to it and made it into a handsome four-room cottage.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
The time for building the D. M. & A. Railroad in Chautauqua County expires the first of August. The story that Winfield tells that Chautauqua County is bonded to its utmost, and that no bonds can be voted there is
Abosh.@ The State Line road will get bonds in Chautauqua.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
[CUT-OUT SHOWING AN INDIVIDUAL AT FRONT OF TRAIN WITH SIGN HELD IN HIS HAND SAYING
ATO WINFIELD@, A PECULIAR STICK FIGURE STANDING BEHIND THE SO-CALLED TRAIN, AND A WALL CALENDAR OR MAP THAT LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING A KINDERGARTEN CHILD WOULD HAVE DONE.]The above represents the Independence & Southwestern in full operation. Bill Hackney at the front, is engineer, engine, tender, and blow off. Father Millington at the rear, is conductor, fore and hind brakeman. In the accompanying map we present the I. & S. W. as it enters the county and runs across a corner of Cedar into Otto, then down through Spring Creek and then up to Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
A gentleman, who is visiting in the city from Fredonia, informs us that work is being pushed on the Leroy, Verdigris Valley & Independence railroad in and through Wilson County. This is a Missouri Pacific extension and runs from Independence to Arkansas City through the state line townships in Chautauqua and Cowley counties. Arkansas City will soon have the three great systems of railroads--the Missouri Pacific, the Frisco, and the Santa Fe.
Arkansas City Republican, April 24, 1886.
Arkansas City, inside of 18 months, will have railroad facilities equalled by no city in the state. The Frisco for St. Louis, the Santa Fe for Kansas City, the Southern Kansas for Galveston and all points south, the Kansas & Arkansas Valley for Ft. Smith, the Missouri Pacific for Kansas City and other eastern cities, and the Geuda Springs, Caldwell & Western for all points west of us. Now is the time to invest in real estate in Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
A CLEAN SWEEP.
AAs the Matter Now Stands, the Missouri Pacific Will Run
To Arkansas City.
@For two weeks past railroad excitement in Arkansas City has been at its highest pitch. Saturday witnessed the defeat of the I. & S. W. bonds in Otter, Cedar, Spring Creek, and Liberty Townships by very large majorities. In Walnut Township, where Winfield is located, the bonds were carried by a small majority. The I. & S. W. propositions were carried in only one township along the proposed line from the Chautauqua line to Winfield. The voters knew that building of the I. & S. W. was a myth, and gotten up to head off the Kansas State Line road, and as such, branded it, by casting their ballots against it.
Monday witnessed the victory for the Kansas State Line road and for Arkansas City. It was the grandest and greatest victory ever known in the state of Kansas. The citizens of this city and the eastern townships went into the contest with a determination to win by honest and gentlemanly methods. No money was raised; no whiskey was bought; no bulls sold, for the purpose of buying votes. Upon the other hand, the I. & S. W. projectors resorted to the most degraded and contemptible methods for the carrying of their propositions.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
The board of county commissioners met yesterday in Winfield and canvassed the returns on the I. & S. W. propositions and the State Line, with the following result.
I. & S. W. For Against.
Cedar .................. 54 142
Liberty ................ 60 89
Spring Creek ........... 57 92
Walnut ................. 119 56
STATE LINE. For Against.
Cedar .................. 145 10
Creswell ............... 142 121
Silverdale ............. 133 13
Spring Creek ........... 99 26
The Commissioners also called an election in Bolton Township to vote bonds to Ft. Smith & Wellington, to the amount of $24,000, to be held June 9th.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
Railroad Notice.
We will not be responsible for any supplies furnished our sub-contractors or men working for us in any capacity without such supplies are furnished upon our written order, and all accounts against us or our employees must be made out and furnished us by the 3rd of each month, for all goods furnished the preceding month. Take notice and govern yourselves accordingly.
WRIGHT & TILTON,
Contractors Southern Kansas R. R.,
Arkansas City Extension.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
JOTTINGS.
There is
ADanger Ahead@ for Winfield.Dr. C. S. Acker left for Chicago Wednesday.
Geo. Haysel has gone over to Grouse Creek to quarry stone.
W. D. Kreamer has moved his office to rooms in the Bittle Block.
The Y. M. C. A. bought 150 chairs for their hall from Peter Pearson.
As the matter now stands, the Missouri Pacific will run to Arkansas City.
Hon. E. P. Greer said that unless the I. & S. W. bonds were voted, Winfield real estate would depreciate one-third.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
Arthur Smith, of Cedar Township, was one of the wheel horses who worked for the State Line road and did much for the success of the project.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
We had supposed that Arkansas City
=s boom could be no greater but since the bonds were carried for the State Line road from here to Chautauqua County, her boom has increased tenfold.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
There will be a grand excursion over the Frisco line to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, May 19th and 20th. Tickets will be on sale those days at the depot in this city and will be good until and on May 23. The
ACrescent Hotel@ will be opened the 20th at Eureka Springs.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
J. F. Stedman, who removed from this city to Ft. Smith some time ago, is in the city. Mr. Stedman thinks strongly of returning to Arkansas City. He informs us that workmen and material are at Ft. Smith, awaiting for orders to commence work on the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road to Arkansas City. [Stedman??? Could it be Steadman??]
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
The Courier presents a ghastly grin at the result of the election. For the benefit of our readers who do not take the Courier, we will describe it. The picture is of a large Tom cat with a grin on its face from ear to ear and sitting upon his tale. The Courier supposed that the I. & S. W. Bonds would be voted and ordered a nice cut of the above to grin at the sand-hillers. But, oh, how bad they got left.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
The Jubilee.
Yesterday was a gala day in Arkansas City. Our friends from the eastern townships along the State Line road had been invited to come to our city and partake of the hospitality of our citizens, and assist in the celebration. It was a grand celebration, indeed. It surpassed anything we have ever had in commemoration of July 4.
Yesterday was a beautiful day. Bright and early our merchants and citizens began the decorations of their stores and homes. Everybody decorated. After one o
=clock the visitors began arriving. About 3:30 the delegation from Cedar and Spring Creek Townships came in a body. They were met by the bands of the city and escorted along our main thoroughfares, and citizens falling in the procession to the Opera House, where a most sumptuous feast awaited them, which was prepared by the ladies of Arkansas City. After one and all had eaten heartily, they adjourned to the streets. At 7:30 a grand procession was formed, everybody falling in. After the procession came the pyrotechnic display and the firing of anvils and then our citizens and their guests repaired to the opera house to give vent to their enthusiastic feeling.The vast assemblage was called to order at 8:30 by Maj. Sleeth and the following gentlemen responded to toasts.
Rev. J. O. Campbell,
ACowley County and her Railroads.@A. A. Newman,
AState Line Railroad.@Rev. S. B. Fleming,
AThe Campgaign.@F. P. Schiffbauer,
AArkansas City.@Arthur Smith,
ACedar Township.@A. L. Andrews,
ASpring Creek Township.@Robt. Howe,
AMaple City.@Dr. H. D. Cooper,
AThe long-haired Men from the Irish Flats.@Ike Harkleroad,
ASilverdale Township.@Rev. W. W. Harris,
ACreswell Township.@Dick Courtright,
ARock Creek.@Amos Walton,
AIgnoramus.@Rev. J. P. Witt,
AWinfield telegrams.@A. D. Prescott,
AThe Missouri Pacific R. R.@Col. Sumner,
AThat Spoon hook.@Mr. Neal, of Wellington,
AThe Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern.@Wm. Jenkins,
AThe Waterloo of Cowley County.@Mr. Manahan, of Cedar,
ABlessed are the Peacemakers.@James Hill made the final response, choosing his own subject.
At the close of the exercises, our guests were taken care of for the night. The most enthusiastic and friendly feeling exists in southern Cowley. Never before in our existence have we ever seen as many happy souls as there are now in the townships of Cedar, Spring Creek, Silverdale, and Creswell, and the city of Arkansas City. One cause has bound our hearts together and soon the link will be more welded by the bands of steel.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
Vice-President and General Manager Smith, D. J. Chase, general superintendent, H. R. Nickerson, superintendent middle division,
A. C. Armstrong, purchasing agent, Mr. Osborne, superintendent of bridges and building, and Commissioner Foulks, came down from Topeka on a special train Saturday morning and remained all day. Whatever their business was, they kept to themselves. They did not stop in Winfield at all. Too small a station.
Arkansas City Republican, May 8, 1886.
KANSAS STATE NEWS.
The annual report of the directors of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad for 1885, just issued, gives the following information: Gross earnings of the road, $7,363,089; total interest, dividends, and other fixed charges, including $290,525 for sinking funds, $6,858,905. The surplus which has been added to the income account is $404,1844.
The Missouri Pacific switchmen at Leavenworth have been notified that they will get the same wages paid the Chicago switchmen. Their former wages were $2 per day for switchman and $2.25 per day for foremen. The pay hereafter will be $65 per month for the working day and extra for Sunday for the day switchmen. For day foreman $70 per month and extra for Sunday work. The night switchmen get $70 per month for working days and the night foremen $75 per month, and each get extra pay for Sunday. The change went into effect May 1.
Arkansas City Republican, May 15, 1886.
In the railroad bond election in Cowley County, the latter part of last week, Arkansas City gave Winfield the severest drubbing she ever got. They downed the Winfield proposition and then carried their own by good majorities, notwithstanding the fact that from one hundred and fifty to two hundred of Winfield
=s businessmen camped on the ground and labored furiously for two weeks prior to the election. We hope the State Line road will be speedily built, as it is not only a big thing for our sister city on the Arkansas, but indirectly a good thing for South Haven. Now let Winfield build a cut-off from their city to Geuda Springs and we=ll all be flying. South Haven News.
Arkansas City Republican, May 15, 1886.
Arkansas City
=s boom is making the Winfieldites very sick at the stomach. The fact that real estate is selling too times faster and higher at the only city in the state that is the terminus of two railroads than at the county seat excites the green-eyed monster to a wonderful degree. Hear what Winfield=s representative paper, the Courier, has to say upon the subject.A
The A. C. REPUBLICAN publishes a column and a half of real estate sales down there, at fabulous prices, all but a dozen of which are sales only in the brain vacuum of the REPUBLICAN man. Not a dozen of the deeds have ever been filed for record or ever will be.@Never you mind, Mr. Courier, the REPUBLICAN has $50 that says that every real estate transfer we published last week is a bona fide one and at the price we stated in our paper. Do not think because the Courier has to stoop to lying in order to boom Winfield that the REPUBLICAN has to do the same for Arkansas City. The Courier sees Tom Soward employ two extra clerks to record the deeds from sales made in Arkansas City; therefore, he is terribly annoyed--sick unto death.
Arkansas City Republican, May 15, 1886.
In a reply to a petition forwarded to C. W. Smith, at Topeka, from our citizens, he wrote as follows, under date of May 6, 1886.
Messrs. A. D. Ayers, F. W. Farrar, J. O. Campbell, et al., Arkansas City, Kansas.
GENTLEMEN: The petition signed by yourselves and others, residents of Arkansas City, praying that this company run a passenger train on the Arkansas City Branch connection with trains Nos. 81 and 82 at Mulvane, is duly received through our agent, Mr. Ingersoll.
On investigation, I find that trains Nos. 81 and 82, between Mulvane and Caldwell, did not require us to be at the expense of an additional engine and crew, but we cannot extend the service to Arkansas City without being to a considerable additional expense.
When our line is completed from Douglass to Winfield, it will be thought desirable to extend the El Dorado Branch train to Arkansas City, and at the proper time the subject of additional passenger service for Arkansas City will receive consideration, but I think you will agree with me, on reflection, that there is not sufficient business between Mulvane and Arkansas City to warrant the extension of our present service at an additional expense.
Yours truly,
C. W. SMITH, W.
Arkansas City Republican, May 15, 1886.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe will build eleven branches this summer of average length of forty miles each, all of which will be feeders to the main line and occupy territory tributary and contiguous thereto.
Arkansas City Republican, May 15, 1886.
KANSAS STATE NEWS.
The other night a dispatch was received at the general office of the Santa Fe railroad at Topeka saying that a mob of men had taken possession of the regular passenger train at Hutchinson, and that they were running things to suit themselves. They had refused to pay their fare, and had put the trainmen at defiance. The mob was composed of a crowd of eighty men who had gone West to work on the extension of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad from Hutchinson to Kinsley. A large force was called out and when the train reached Topeka, a strategical movement resulted in the capture of the men, who showed no disposition to be ugly. They had been engaged by a Kansas City employment agency to go to that point to work on the road. When arriving there the men found they had been deceived by the agency, and having no money, they boarded the train to return. Nothing more. This being the case, the Santa Fe furnished the men transportation from Topeka.
Arkansas City Republican, May 22, 1886.
Ho, for Galveston!
Track-laying to Commence in a few days on the
Santa Fe extension through the Territory.
16 Car-loads of Material Arrive in the City
Wednesday Night for that Purpose.
How We Do Boom!
Wednesday evening 16 car-loads of material, consisting of rails, ties, and bridge lumber, arrived over the Santa Fe road in this city, for the construction of their line through the Territory from this city. We are informed that iron will be laid to the river in a few days and then the bridging of the Arkansas River will be commenced. None of our citizens were expecting work to commence so soon upon the line and it is a great surprise to us. The grade is thrown up some 20 miles into the Territory south from the State, ready to receive the iron.
Arkansas City is booming now. Real estate is selling very rapidly and at a very high figure. Railroads are being constructed from our city to the west and south. Another will be built into our city from the east before snow falls. The Ft. Smith road will be here inside of 18 months. The Douglass extension of the Santa Fe will have its track laid to Seeley in a few weeks and then the train will run into Arkansas City over the main line of the Santa Fe running to Galveston. There is no town in Kansas that has as bright prospects for becoming a railroad center as Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, May 22, 1886.
GLORY HALLELUJAH.
The House Passes the Kansas & Arkansas R. R. Bill Saturday.
WASHINGTON, MAY 15 On motion of Perkins of Kansas, a bill was passed authorizing the Kansas & Arkansas Valley railroad company to construct a railway through the Indian Territory.
The above is taken from the report of the proceeding of the house of Saturday. The bill has long since passed the senate. All there remains to make Arkansas City sure of the Ft. Smith road is Cleveland
=s signature. Saturday afternoon Mayor F. P. Schiffbauer received the following telegram from H. Wood, of Little Rock, Arkansas, and the general manager of the Kansas & Arkansas road.LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, MAY 15, 1886.
A
Our bill passed the House today.H. WOOD.
@As soon as this glorious news became noised around on our streets, everyone of our citizens congratulated his neighbor. Enthusiasm was visible upon every countenance.
The passing of the bill means a great deal for the future welfare of Arkansas City. It will give us what no other city in Kansas has, viz: Two roads to the Southern States. There is not a shadow of doubt but what the road will come to Arkansas City, provided the bill is signed by President Cleveland. For more than 100 miles northwest of this city bonds have been voted in the snug sum of $4,000 per mile, to build the northwestern extension of the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road. A proposition has been submitted in Bolton Township to vote aid, and we are told that if the bonds are voted, grading will commence soon after the election. Several hundred men are now awaiting orders at Ft. Smith to commence work.
Arkansas City will soon eclipse any city in the southwest, Wichita not excepted. Arkansas City is now at the head of the procession, and don
=t you forget it!
Arkansas City Republican, May 22, 1886.
The Kansas Valley Line
Special Disptach to the Globe-Democrat.
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, MAY 16. Henry Wood, general manager of the Arkansas Valley route, has returned from Boston. He said in regard to the Kansas Valley railroad senate bill, which passed the house at Washington, that the mortgage on the Little Rock, Mississippi River and Texas railroad would be foreclosed at once, looking to the consolidation of this road, the Little Rock and the proposed Kansas Valley line. The incorporators of the Kansas Valley road are identical with the management of the other two roads. The bill which passed congress yesterday gives the company right of way through the Indian Territory. General Manager Wood will return to Boston next week, when arrangements will be made to begin construction of the new road. When finished there will be a through line from Arkansas City, Kansas, to Arkansas City, Arkansas.
Arkansas City Republican, May 22, 1886.
G. W. Dresser, of Winfield, H. C. Bates, of Independence, and J. D. Bates, of Knoxville, Iowa, were in the city today. Since Mr. Dresser removed to Winfield, he has become inflated with Hackney-Courier gas, and he tells us some awful big stories about Winfield
=s prospects. One, we remember, is to the effect that the Santa Fe officials have purchased 65 acres of land near Bliss & Woods Mill for the location of their machine shops, round-houses, etc. He further informed us that he saw the plans of the round-houses and one of them alone contained 80 stalls. We know Mr. Dresser to be a truthful man, but the REPUBLICAN must say his credulity has been imposed upon very badly. A round-house containing 80 stalls would be four times as large as any other round-house in the United States. Think of 80 engine stalls environing a single turn-table! The idea is absurd, very absurd! It is evident that Hackney is imposing upon the good citizens of Winfield by displaying a late Soudan war-map, and telling them it is the plans for a round-house of the Santa Fe road. We would advise our Winfield friends to cut their stories down to a semblance of the truth.
Arkansas City Republican, May 22, 1886.
[MORE
AJOTTINGS@ FROM TUESDAY=S DAILY.]Iron work has begun on the Geuda Springs, Caldwell & Western. The frog was put in west of the city Monday. Look out Geuda, we are coming.
Arkansas City Republican, May 22, 1886.
Grading on the Geuda Springs, Caldwell & Western is now under headway all the way to Caldwell. The grade is ready to receive the iron from here to Geuda Springs. John Doyle left this afternoon to put the stone work in for the bridge across the Chicaski.
Arkansas City Republican, May 22, 1886.
Martin Tully, a traveling man for a St. Louis wholesale establishment, and whose home is at Independence, Kansas, while in the city Wednesday informed us that work on the Leroy, Verdigris Valley & Western railroad is being pushed with all possible speed. Track is being laid south from Leroy, it having already been put down to several miles south of Yates Center. Track-laying is also going on out of Independence north. Grading is being done south of Independence to Caneyville, in Montgomery County. President Foster informed Mr. Tully that cars would be running to Caneyville inside of 90 days. As soon as possible, the road will push through Chautauqua County and connect with the State Line road. Before the snow falls again, the Missouri Pacific will traverse the southern tier of townships in Cowley County.
Arkansas City Republican, May 22, 1886.
East Bolton Township Items.
Farmers are wishing for rain.
Roads are dry and dusty.
The proposition for voting bonds to build the Ft. Smith railroad is taking well with the people of East Bolton. They realize that the Ft. Smith road will be a road that will meet the wants of the farmers. We are safe in saying that the bonds will carry with a good majority.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
TO GALVESTON.
We are Going as Fast as the Santa Fe Can Lay the Track.
The Grade Almost Completed From the Stock-Yards to the River.
Extensive Switches Being Put In
CTwo One-Half Mile Long andSeveral Shorter Ones.
New Stock-Yards and Other Improvements to be Made Immediately.
Track-Laying to Commence Tomorrow.
Work on the Bridge to Begin Monday Morning.
This morning a REPUBLICAN representative went down to the Santa Fe stock-yards to take notes of the operations going on there. What we saw there would make any doubting Jonah believe in Arkansas City
=s great future.Quite a number of graders are at work between the stock yards and the river, and Mr. Tilton, the contractor, told us he would have it completed by tomorrow noon, and that track-laying would commence immediately; that tomorrow afternoon and Sunday would be put in in laying the track to the river.
On Monday morning, bright and early, work will be commenced on the bridge across the Arkansas River. The timber, piling, iron sand-pipes, etc., are all upon the ground, and an immense quantity of ties are strewn all along the grade.
Several hundred yards above the stock-pens, where a slight bend of the old Santa Fe track occurs, begins the line to Galveston. It goes directly south to the river, passing through the front ends of the stock-yards. This, we are informed by the contractors, will cause the building of new stock-pens upon a more extensive scale than we now have. The old track, from where the Galveston line begins, almost to the river, is being converted into switches. We were also told that switching facilities at Arkansas City would be made superior to those of any other city between here and Newton upon the Santa Fe line.
The above facts, coupled with the facts that Topeka and Newton capitalists are investing very largely in Arkansas City real estate would indicate that Arkansas City is still in the ring and not in the slightest disfigured. We are satisfied that if any favors are to be bestowed upon any city from the Santa Fe company, they will be showered upon Arkansas City. We BOOM, with a great big B! And don
=t you forget it.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
C. B. Kilmer, the right-of-way agent of the Santa Fe company, informed one of our citizens, who was assisting in the settling of the right-of-way, that he had purchased 100 acres of land northwest of Winfield; that the purchase was made by himself, individually, and there was no talk about shops or anything else before, at the time, or after he made the purchase. So after all Winfield
=s attempt to create a boom amounts to nothing more than a small-sized mole-hill. There is no foundation for it. Their attempt to work up some enthusiasm in the town is a failure.A citizen of Bolton Township informs us that the ratification meeting, which was held last evening in Winfield, was devoid of all enthusiasm. Not a half dozen stores were lit up in honor of the occasion. The speakers of the evening had tears in their eyes even as they were telling the dear people that the Santa Fe folks had agreed to locate their shops there. But the laughable event of the day was when a procession was attempted to be formed in the afternoon to go down to the train to meet Hackney. It was impossible to obtain a sufficient number of recruits to make up a respectable crowd, let alone a procession. Finally some 10 or 15 stragglers were gathered together, and headed by the Courier Band, marched to the depot, but lo! The big Mogul did not come. This ended the afternoon exercises.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
C., E. & S. W. R. R.
Heading for Arkansas City--President Jones in the City.
President Jones, of the Chicago, Emporia & Southwestern, was in the city Monday. Mr. Jones and his company are building a railroad from some point on the Missouri River somewhere above Kansas City to some point in southwestern Kansas via Carbondale, Emporia, and El Dorado. Bonds have been voted from Carbondale to El Dorado, excepting in Lyons County. Grading and track-laying is going on between Carbondale and Emporia. Mr. Jones tells us that from El Dorado it has not been fully determined just at what point they will strike the Territory line. He was looking our city over for that purpose, and if our people are willing, will most likely run his road here. What corporation that is backing the scheme we are unable to say, although we are confident it is not the Santa Fe. The Santa Fe worked hard to defeat the bonds along the line and an especial effort to do so was made in Butler County. Mr. Jones was formerly connected with the great C. B. & Q. System. The Walnut Valley Times claims that the enterprise is backed by the Rock Island, and others say it is a branch of the Union Pacific because it is thought that it will connect at Carbondale with the Union Pacific, as a branch extends from Leavenworth to that city. But, be that as it may, Arkansas City is the natural point where the Chicago, Emporia & Southwestern should enter the Territory.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
AN IMPORTANT BRANCH.
The Bill Allowing the Construction of a Railway
Through the Indian Territory.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, MAY 19. An officer of the Atchison company said yesterday:
A
Congress has passed a bill giving the Kansas & Arkansas Valley Railroad Company the right to construct a line through the Indian Territory. This is the right in which the Atchison and the Litttle Rock & Fort Smith have a joint interest. The plans have been made for the construction of the line from Fort Smith or Van Buren, the termini of the Little Rock & Fort Smith road, and situated on the border of Arkansas and the Indian Territory, northwest across the latter to Arkansas City, in Kansas, situated on the border of that state and the Indian Territory.A
Arkansas City is a terminus of one of the branches of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, so that the result of building this new line, some two hundred and thirty or two hundred and forty miles in length, will be to give Atchison an outlet through the Indian Territory and Arkansas, via the Little Rock & Fort Smith and the Little Rock, Mississippi River & Texas to Arkansas City, Arkansas, connecting the two Arkansas Cities. At the latter place, which is on the Mississippi River, connection is made with the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas, so that in effect a New Orleans connection may be secured. The benefits to accrue to the Little Rock & Fort Smith road would naturally be many. It would obtain a goodly amount of the through business and by working in connection with the Atchison, it would undoubtedly be greatly benefitted.@This is the outline of the plans now under construction, but nothing definite has as yet been arranged. When the bill giving the right to the Kansas & Arkansas Valley to build through the Indian Territory shall become a law by the approval of the president, there will doubtless be some positive action toward arranging for the construction of this extension.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
Track-laying on the Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western has commenced in Wilson County. A few weeks more and the road will reach Independennce. In 90 days track will be down to Caneyville. Then across Chautauqua County to Arkansas City. Don
=t forget that we boom.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
The railroad news gets better and better as time goes by. The Ft. Smith, Wellington and Northwestern have been settled as a sure thing, and as Mr. Murphy says, is no longer a prospective road on paper, but an actual railroad with steam cars, etc.
Now comes a letter from Mr. A. C. Kirby, president of the Memphis, Kansas & Western railroad, which is to pass through this city, and the headquarters of which are in the city, has succeeded in working up an intense interest in the road at Memphis, and has secured the pledge of $100,000 in cash to the road in that city. He is now at work on the road in the White River Valley in Arkansas, where he will undoubtedly succeed in obtaining further franchises. Mr. Kirby is a gentleman of indefatigable energy, and declares this road shall be built through Sumner County. Many of our leading businessmen have great faith in this route. A meeting of the directors will be held at Cherryvale, this state, on May 27, at which the Wellington directors, Messrs. J. A. Scandrett, A. Graff, and G. M. Miller will be present. This road may be upon us before we are aware of it. It is one of the most feasible routes in the country, and the people along its line are enthusiastic for its early construction. Wellington Standard.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
The D. M. & A. People and the I. & S. W. Folks are at war over in Chautauqua County. Both roads are intent upon building through a pass over there in the hills. The D. M. & A. People are not working in Chautauqua and I. & S. W. Folks are. The latter have come to the disputed pass and the former is busy serving injunctions. The I. & S. W. have purchased the land upon which the disputed pass is located, and as the time expires for claiming the bonds for the D. M. & A. in Chautauqua County July 7, 1886, we are safe in saying the latter will never permit it to be built over its land, and it is an impossibility for it to be constructed over the hills. How we boom!
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]S. S. Benedict, the right-of-way man of the Santa Fe, came in today.
I. G. Lawrence, material agent of the Santa Fe, went up to Mulvane this afternoon.
Last evening two car-loads of materials came in on the Santa Fe and also 20 workmen.
T. M. Layne left this morning on the Frisco for a four week
=s visit to his parents at Cloverdale, Indiana.Nellie Tartar was arrested by Marshal Gray this morning for running a
Abaudy house.@ She was fined $10 and costs.The Frisco company are laying an extra track at the Frisco depot in this city, to be used as a repair track. Round-house will come next; and don
=t you forget it.H. B. North, formerly a conductor on the K. C. & S. W. Railway, has returned from his trip east. He will have charge of construction works on the C. G. S. & W.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
W. H. Finn, superintendent of bridges on the Santa Fe, came down from Newton today to attend to the construction of the bridge across the Arkansas River on the Galveston extension.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
C. B. Kilmer, the right-of-way agent of the Santa Fe company, has been in the city the greater portion of this week. He has been settling up with parties who own land through which the Galveston extension runs. Yesterday he paid Jack Patterson $1,000 for the damage done his farm, and $230 to Bartoni for the cutting off of his bottom land from his remaining acres.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
All Aboard for Caldwell.
Chief Engineer Wingate, of the G. S., C. & W. R. R. and Dr. Love came in Tuesday from Caldwell. Mr. Wingate informs us that the final survey of the road is completed to Caldwell; that there are 160 teams throwing up the grade between Geuda Springs and the Chicaski River; that a half mile of track was laid toward Geuda from this city; and that 15 car-loads of steel rails would arrive the latter part of this week; and then iron would go down as fast as men could lay it. In 90 days the road will be done to Caldwell. There is only one bridge of any size on the route and that is across the Chicaski. It will be 1,000 feet in length. John Doyle and his force of stone masons are putting in the abutments and piers. They found it a difficult job because of the swiftness of the river.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
The Lie Choked.
The mendacity of the Wellington and Sandhill papers in claiming the passage, through congress, of the Winfield and Fort Smith right-of-way bill through the Territory, is amusing to one realizing the pure wind of which their gush is constructed. It is just another dodge to keep up the frothy boom of their towns. All these papers know full well that Senator Hackney succeeded in changing the bill for Winfield
=s special benefit, and that the Santa Fe and Little Rock folks now dream of no other route than from Winfield southeast to Ft. Smith, with the junction of this main line in Chautauqua County. Shut up, you fellows. Everybody sees your vain purpose. Winfield Courier.In order for Brother Millington to have the above lie wash, he should have the congressional records changed. As they read, the bill was passed granting the right-of-way to the Kansas and Arkansas Valley railway from Ft. Smith in the State of Arkansas to Arkansas City in the State of Kansas, and as the matter now stands, the congressional records down the Winfield Courier; and, for the benefit of our Winfield friends, we will say the Winfield and Ft. Smith bill has not been passed upon as yet by either house, and no one has claimed it had passed, excepting Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, May 29, 1886.
Gabriel
=s Trumpet.Prepare for death, oh ye Sandhillers! With blood in our eye, we look upon ye!
>Tis a pity to plot and deliberately carry out the death of such immaculate innocence. But the Bible says, Aan eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,@ and darn our fool hides if we don=t stand by the scriptures! Turn your attention, oh you measley Sandhillers, from your State Line fraud and general cussedness, ere it is too late--ere ye grin the skeleton grin of the damned and have emblazoned on your walls, AOnce alive, now dead!@ The third and last warning. Make your peace with heaven. Sell your chattles and your reals--if anybody is fool enough to buy them--and prepare for the greatest financial crisis that ever struck a hill of sand. You have forfeited all Christian consideration and we don=t propose to bestow any. Winfield Courier.The party who penned the above must have been born in iniquity, raised in vice, educated in an insane asylum, and must have lived only in Winfield ever since, as no other city would tolerate such a venomous reptile. But as Winfield is composed mainly of such venom and stench, the gentleman must feel at home.
ASpew on us some more.@
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
Archie Raney, an employee of the REPUBLICAN office, while in bathing in the pool beyond the Frisco Railroad bridge Saturday evening poisoned his face. His eyes are swollen so badly that it is almost impossible for him to see. His co-laborers sympathize with him.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
Beware of Imitations.
There are many things that have tended to establish the undisputed prosperity of Arkansas City. One is a faculty her citizens have of attending to their own business. There are also many things that have worked to the detriment of our sister city, Winfield. One is a reckless habit of misrepresenting things, and another is an insatiate desire to grab everything that comes inside the state.
Since the Ft. Smith road was projected, the citizens of Winfield have done all in their power to turn the road to their town or stop it altogether.
AHappy would they be with either.@ They have done the same with regard to other enterprises. No sooner was the State Line talked of, than these people set to work in our eastern townships to defeat it. ARule or ruin,@ was their motto. Of course, they failed. As these incidents occurred the REPUBLICAN has shown them up in their true light, resorting frequently to the use of cartoons.If we have been loud in our prophecies with regard to the future of our city, we have given straight facts as near as we could get them and left our readers to draw their own conclusions. Our prosperity has been great. The citizens of Winfield cannot fathom the cause, but they see the effect. They attribute it all to the use of printer
=s ink, forgetting that Arkansas City has varrious and substantial facts for its grand growth and boom. They ponder. A desire to make Winfield boom seizes them. Their sages hold council and the result is the chief rushes to the Courier man and demands it to imitate the REPUBLICAN; imitate the Democrat. AI=ll do it,@ says the Courier man, Abut what can I say?@ ASay anything; make a noise. Howl >street railroad, car shops,= anything.@ ADone,@ says the Courier man, and accordingly he orders a can of red ink, goes down into his little job room, resurrects his old advertising cuts, sets up something as nearly appropriate to them as possible, and proceeds to boom Winfield. Oh vain purpose! Again, we say beware of imitators.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
DUMBNESS.
For years the people of Southern Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas have been working to get the privilege of constructing lines of railway across the Indian Territory. At last the congress awakened to the importance and necessity of the demand for these roads, and rights of way were being granted by enactment. But now steps in the chief executive of the nation, a man who was never west of Buffalo in his life, and threatens to retard these states and materially damage their property by a foolish veto based on the objection that railroads through the Territory would result in an uprising among the Cherokees. There is not a fourteen-year-old school boy west of the Mississippi who would offer so childish an objection. The Cherokee farmers will compare for intelligence very favorably with the people who live around Buffalo and Albany, and such ignorance or prejudice as is shown by the chief executive of the nation is very humiliating and it may prove very disastrous to the interests of the west. We are glad to note that the delegations from Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas called on Mr. Cleveland with some very plain direct talks. Wichita Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
A locomotive exploded last Saturday morning on the Illinois Central railway near Wildwood Station. Conductor Wm. Lindsay, brother of S. C. Lindsay, of this city, was seriously scalded.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
Wednesday two trains of iron and ties for the Geuda Springs, Caldwell & Western road came in and track-laying will commence immediately. The surveyors are two miles west of Caldwell. In 90 days Arkansas City and Caldwell will be united with the G. S., C. & W.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]Yesterday 17 more car-loads of material for the G. S. C. & W. R. R. Came in on the Frisco.
There promises to be quite a large crowd of our citizens going on the excursion to Columbus, Ohio, June 10.
Wellington will celebrate the signing of the Kansas & Arkansas railway bill by President Cleveland.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
The graders on the extension of the Douglass
= branch, says the Douglass Tribune, opened a den of copper-head snakes on the side of the bluff on John Dunn=s land, and over forty of these poisonous reptiles were killed.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
Howard
=s excursion for Columbus, Ohio, will leave on the morning of June 10 at 8:30 on the Frisco. Only one change of cars and arriving 12 hours earlier in Columbus than by any other route. Round-trip ticket only $24.05.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
A well known citizen of Winfield tells us about that Santa Fe land purchase. Kilmer, the right-of-way man, was attempting to make the purchase, when Banker Robinson thought he saw a chance for a good investment. He jumps in and buys 153 acres of the land, leaving Kilmer only four acres. And now Robinson has his 153 and Kilmer his four. How we boom!
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
Ten days more will complete the grade of the border road to this place. Better make some preparation to entertain the excursionists that will come here from the east on the 4th of July. South Haven New Era.
We second the motion. Have a barbecue and Geuda Springs and Arkansas City will all come over. Kill the fatted calf and we will help you eat it. Geuda Springs Herald.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
All Aboard for Ft. Smith.
WASHINGTON, JUNE 1. The president and party returned to Washington at 8 o
=clock this morning.The president proceeded at once to business this morning as soon as he arrived at the White House. He approved a number of bills, including an act authorizing the Kansas and Arkansas Valley railroad company to construct a road through the Indian Territory. Many senators, representatives, and other officers called during the forenoon and congratulated the president on his approaching marriage. He was in a very happy frame of mind and endured the chaffing and pleasantries of visitors on the subject of his wedding with the utmost good nature.
Arkansas City Republican, June 5, 1886.
AD. EXCURSION, JUNE 10, From Arkansas City, Ks., To Columbus, O.
Via St. Louis, Terre Haute & Indianapolis R. R.
Fare $24.05 for Round Trip.
Only one change of cars if you take the
AFRISCO LINE,@ And avoid four changes by taking this popular route, also 12 hours better time made.Stop-Over Tickets, For all Points on the
ABee-Line.@Beautiful Scenery all Along the route.
Not a Sickly Route.
Remember the train leaves this city via the
>Frisco 8:30 a.m., June 10, 1886.For full particulars, call on or address
J. L. HOWARD,
Who will accompany the Excursion.
Extension Tickets to all Eastern Points.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
Railroad Valuation.
The railroad valuation of Cowley County is rapidly increasing. The valuation by townships stands:
Beaver .............. $28,155
Creswell ............ 64,637
Fairview ............ 20,001
Harvey .............. 2,810
Maple ............... 20,459
Ninnescah ........... 54,705
Omnia ............... 37,302
Pleasant Valley ..... 61,418
Richland ............ 34,031
Silver Creek ........ 39,232
Tisdale ............. 32,629
Vernon .............. 87,022
Walnut .............. 68,742
Windsor ............. 84,004
Arkansas City ....... 12,973
Winfield ............ 19,473
________
Total: $667,734
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
The Sedan Graphic says the K. O. & T. R. R. Co. Intends to continue the road from Longton to Sedan and Peru, where it will connect with the I. & S. W. The surveyors were in Sedan last week. The K. O. & T. Road is a Southern Kansas cut-off from Chanute to Longton. This will be good news to our readers, as the I. & S. W. will build into Arkansas City.
[IT APPEARS THAT THIS MARKS THE END OF MONDAY
=S DAILY.]
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
A dispatch from Chicago says that the Rock Island today let the first of its contracts for the building of its contemplated extension in Kansas. The portion let was a section for forty miles from St. Joseph westward, which is to be graded and track laid inside of thirty days. This is to be followed by the construction of 400 miles this year, which will include one branch to the west and north into Nebraska and another due south through Topeka and Wichita to and through the Indian Territory.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
We are informed that the Santa Fe, as soon as they can begin work in earnest on the Galveston extension from this city, will ship in here enough material to lay 100 miles of track into the Territory. The supply yards will be located near the stock yards. Extra switches will be put in for the establishment of these supply yards here.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]Several more car-loads of railroad material for the Santa Fe
=s Galveston extension arrived on the freight last night.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
The bonds of the Ft. Smith & Wellington road were voted in Bolton Township, Wednesday, by a majority of 172 votes.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
Track laying will commence in the morning on the G. S. C. & W. Road. Ties have been distributed and laid several miles out ready to receive the iron. One hundred and seventy carloads of material [iron, ties, etc.] have been received at the Frisco yards in this city.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
The war between the Santa Fe and the D. M. & A., over the gap east of Peru, has finally been settled without resorting to the courts, and both roads will run their lines through the cut, which will be made wide enough to admit of a double track.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
The election in Bolton Township for voting aid to the Ft. Smith Wellington road came off yesterday and the result was almost unanimous, there being but twenty votes against it. There were one hundred and seventy-two in its favor. The vote cast is as follows:
East Bolton, 86 for; 11 against. West Bolton, 86 for; 9 against. Majority for, 152. Excepting in Walton Township, adjoining Bolton, bonds have been voted to the road for more than one hundred miles in a northwesterly direction.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
Last Saturday meetings were held in Chanute, Lyndon, and Topeka at which it was decided to consolidate into one company, to be known as the Chicago, Kansas and Western, the following independent companies which were organized during the past year and in which construction is now being rapidly pushed: The Arkansas River and Western; the Walnut Valley and Colorado; the Pawnee Valley and Denver; the Independence and Southwestern; the Emporia and El Dorado short line; the Colony, Neosho Falls and Western; the Ottawa, Osage City and Council Grove; the Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas; and the Chicago, Kansas and Western.
The above are all Santa Fe.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
Frank Wallace, while loading his dray with freight this morning at the Frisco, had the hind wheels on the wagon smashed. The work train backed into it.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
A man by the name of Daniel Hunt, who resides now in Winfield, but formerly in Bolton Township, was sent out into the disputed territory to defeat the Ft. Smith & Wellington bonds. He went over into West Bolton and began telling his
Adear old neighbors@ that they did not want this road, but he had only told a few of this fact until he suddenly discovered that his Adear old neighbors@ did want it. He then changed his tactics. Taking one of the judges of the election to one side, the brave Daniel informed him his business there was to see about purchasing his stallion. The judge displayed his horse to Daniel. Suddenly it came into his head that he did not want to buy, but that he longed to sell his own team. When an offer was made to purchase his team, he again Acraw fished,@ and finally took his departure for the swampy regions some 13 miles up the Walnut.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
Tell the Truth.
The private car of A. A. Robinson, vice-president of the Santa Fe, came in Saturday. The car came around over the Southern Kansas from Independence. Mr. Robinson and Joab Mulvane made an overland trip over the I. & S. W. Road, from Independence to Arkansas City. Here they took the car for Wellington, going to Mulvane.
The Winfield Courier, in its endeavor to keep up its mushroom growth, says:
A
The private car of A. A. Robinson, vice president and chief engineer of the Santa Fe, came in from the east today and is now lying at the AY@ across the river. It is occupied by Clarence Wells, private secretary of Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Gage, the company=s general representative. Mr. Robinson left them at Independence for an overland trip along the route and grade of the Independence & Southwestern to Cedarvale and up to Winfield. He will probably meet his car here Sunday or Monday, when he will inspect the company=s land here with a view to operations on the machine shop and round house plant. His view of the I. & S. W. Route will probably determine through which townships it will come to Winfield and where the Ft. Smith junction is to be located.@The truth of the whole matter is Mr. Robinson did not stop in Winfield at all. His car went through when all nature was shrouded in the grayish dawn of the morning. The attempt of Winfield parties to manufacture a mountain out of a mole hill is pitiful.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
Facts.
The Winfield Daily Courier, of the 28th, came out printed in red ink, as a sort of celebration of the purchase, by the Southern Kansas Railway, of a quarter section of land near the town. Winfield is doubtless whistling to keep her courage up. The extraordinary growth of Arkansas City is a constant menace to Winfield, and it will not be long before we shall witness a most extraordinary local fight between the two towns. Winfield by an unusual expenditure of money and energy may be able to keep in the lead for some little time yet, but nothing will prevent Arkansas City from becoming the larger city in the end.
El Dorado Republican.
Arkansas City Republican, June 12, 1886.
Correspondence.
The following correspondence carried on between Grover and Miss Folsom just before the marriage occurred has just come to light.
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 1, 1886.
To Miss Frankie Folsom, New York:
Everything prepared; come on morning train without fail. G. C.
To Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, Washington, D. C.
Will come only upon condition that you sign bill granting right-of-way through Indian Territory to Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern Railroad Company.
ABusiness before pleasure.@ F. F.A
Daniel,@ said the President to his Secretary, after reading the above dispatch, Abring me that bill and telegraph her that I have signed it.@ After a moment=s reflection: ASay, Daniel, do you think there is any danger of this becoming a petticoat government?@ He looked up inquiringly but Daniel had gone.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
[JOTTINGS FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]About a mile and one-half of track has been laid on the Geuda Springs & Caldwell road.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]South Haven promises to be an important town on the
G. S., C. & W. Road. It lies 23 miles west of Arkansas City in the heart of the most fertile farming country in Sumner County. It is at the junction of the Santa Fe and Frisco.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
[JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]On the Geuda Springs & Caldwell road, one mile and three quarters of track was laid yesterday.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
Hon. Ed. Hewins, of Cedarvale, is reported as saying that the L. & S. W. would build to Arkansas City in spite of any opposition. That is a fact, Hon. Ed.; your head is level once, anyway.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
P. Peters, roadmaster of the Santa Fe, informed one of our businessmen that work upon the Galveston extension would begin as soon as all preparations could be made, from this city in earnest. Arkansas City will be made the supply point. As soon as the necessary switches can be put in, enough material to lay 200 miles of track sould be shipped here.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]Who says Arkansas City is not booming? The G. S., C. & W. Road building west; the Galveston extension going south; the Ft. Smith road coming; the I. & S. W. built as far as Cedarvale and making preparations to come to Arkansas City; the Inter State Gas Company putting in the best system of water works in the state, with their western headquarters here. The cracker factory now being constructed. Fifteen store buildings in process of erection. A $50,000 hotel being put up. A $16,000 schoolhouse going up. One hundred residences being constructed; navigation upon the Arkansas just being commenced; the Santa Fe making Arkansas City the supply point for its southern extension; the Indian trade; the soldier trade; and headquarters for boomers. The above is only a partial list of the many advantages Arkansas City has to make her boom.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
Bob Hutchison is said to be plowing the longest furrow in the world. It begins at Wilson, Kansas, and extends to Denver and return. His contract calls for five 14-inch furrows on each side of the track of the Kansas Pacific railroad.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
Up to the time of going to press, about five miles of track have been laid upon the Geuda Springs, Caldwell & Western road. The company intend to get into Geuda by tomorrrow night.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
Winfield
=s Around-houses, machine shops,@ and many railroads are killing the town. Hear what the Telegram says: ATravel has been lighter on all roads leading into this city for the past few weeks than for many months previous.@
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
Vice-president Robinson and Lewis Kingman, officials of the Santa Fe, will pass through the city Monday en route for Texas. They will go over the proposed line from Arkansas City through the Territory to Texas. Their team and rig are now in the city.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
A grading contractor of the I. & S. W. Road was in the city the first of the week attending to some business matters. He has a grading contract over in Chautauqua County. While here he informed Mr. Wright, of the firm of Wright & Tilton, grading contractors of the Galveston extension, that his understanding was that the I. & S. W. Road was to be built to Arkansas City. Winfield
=s boast of getting this road appears to be more without a foundation every day.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
Col. Peckham, one of the attorneys of the D. M. & A. Road, was recently interviewed by a Sedan Graphic reporter, and divulged the following, which if true, will keep the road out of Cowley County and Winfield for another year.
A
The company propose to build this section from Baxter Springs to the west line of Chautauqua County in the eastern part of the state, and from Belle Plaine to Larned in the western part. Track laying commenced at Conway Springs this week and will be crowded as fast as possible as far as Pawnee County. The bonds in Pawnee County expire about as soon as they do in Chautauqua and in order to save the subsidies already voted, the Fitzgerald & Mallroy Construction company will ship about 1,200 teams which are now completing a railroad in Nebraska, to Kansas, in a few weeks and distribute them where they are most needed.@
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
MAPLE CITY, KANSAS, June 16, 1886.
To the Editors of the REPUBLICAN,
DEAR SIRS: Will you permit me through the columns of your valuable paper to express my heartfelt gratitude, for free advertising, to my quandrum friend or friends, for it must have taken more than one of the
Astrictly I. & S. W. supporters@ of Spring Creek Township to give birth to such a wonderful production as was the Courier article from Spring Creek last week. The article starts out with deep lamentations for the dead silence that prevails in Spring Creek (with the I. & S. W. fellows, for it is with them only) since the Winfield men were here, and says that Spring Creek is Apraying for another shower of a prospect such as the Santa Fe offers.@ Now, that is really good, especially Ashower of a prospect.@ Why, gentlemen, three-fourths of the sensible men of Spring Creek could not even see a shadow of a prospect in the I. & S. W. proposition. The fact is, the people of Spring Creek do not believe the Santa Fe would have built the I. & S. W. to Winfield had their proposition carried, but they do believe all along the line, and have the greatest confidence that the State Line will be built, and so express themselves on all occasions. It is amusing to me these fellows imitating that Atruly great man,@ Tom Soward, by quoting Ahe laughs best who laughs last.@ That saying is as stale as the I. & S. W. supporters. Better wait for the last laugh and see who gets it. As to the town of Maple City, it is located to stay, and people are attesting their faith in it by purchasing lots and making arrangements to commence business. The Maple City Town Company sold ten lots last week on which to erect business houses and residences. There is in nearly all localities some sorehead, who has filed to be the high Acock-a-lorum,@ and who attempts to defeat everything that is calculated to benefit the place or community in which he lives and will stoop to misrepresentations and falsehood (as in the case in the article referred to) to accomplish their ends. Whenever such people seek the medium of the press to give vent to their spleen and malice, they withhold their names from the public, in order to escape the odium that attaches to such conduct; but the article referred to in the Courier plainly bears the ear-marks of the writer, and it would be as well in the future to give your name, as you are known already. Remember that quacks and criminal accomplices wear slippers.AJ. L.@ ANDREWS.
Arkansas City Republican, June 19, 1886.
Special Correspondence of the Globe-Democrat.
ARKANSAS CITY, KANSAS, June 12. A new outfit of twenty-five men arrived here yesterday to commence work on the railroad bridge over the Arkansas River south of this city, on the extension of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad through the Indian Territory to Denison, Texas. This company now has nearly thirty miles of the road graded, and the road bed is now ready for the ties and rails, and several hundred cars of ties and rails are now here in the Santa Fe yards waiting for the bridge to be completed. As soon as this is done, the work of laying ties will commence.
The Geuda Springs, Caldwell and Western Railroad also commence laying rails on their extension west to Colorado from Arkansas City. This road is virtually the extension of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad west.
Last Wednesday bonds were voted in Bolton Township for the Ft. Smith, Wellington and N. W. Railroad. This road is a continuation of the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railroad now building from Ft. Smith to Arkansas City through the Indian Territory.
The State Line Railroad from Independence, Kansas, to Arkansas City is making preparations to commence work at once. Chief Engineer Robinson and his assistant went out over the line last Monday on a preliminary survey, and they make a favorable report and say that work will be commenced at once. This will make four railroads that are now being built to and from Arkansas City, and when completed, will give it six competing lines of railroad.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
A Brief Round Up.
Our readers, perhaps, do not know the extent of the boom in Arkansas City. A drive over a portion of the city this morning behind A. G. Lowe
=s roadster surprised us by seeing the amount of work being done. On Summit street a very large force of workmen are laying the water-works pipes. Probably there are one hundred men at work on this portion of the system. On South Summit street, some 15 mechanics are engaged in erecting the Newman-Pickle block. Farther south there are some 10 persons engaged in excavating for the large business block of six store rooms, mentioned in a preceding issue of the REPUBLICAN. Then down in the Leonard Addition about 15 men are doing the brick work on the new Schoolhouse. This building is almost completed to the second floor. From the Schoolhouse we went around down to the Frisco depot. On the way down we noticed a half dozen men at work on the foundation of the stand-pipe. At the spring a force of 15 hands are at work building the pump and boiler house. At the Frisco about 20 men are engaged in getting out the bridge timbers on the Geuda Springs & Caldwell road. This bridge will consist of 4,000 feet of trestle work.The yards of the Frisco would make anyone believe he was in a city of 15,000 inhabitants. A large number of teamsters were busy hauling away some 14 carloads of lumber. Scattered here and there in the vacant land south of the depot are 25 tents, inhabited by newcomers and workers on the railroad. In addition to these we saw several camps of Indians, who are up from the Territory making purchases of supplies.
Returning from the depot to the business part of the city, we find at work on the National Bank extension, new post office building, and the Johnson Loan & Trust company block, some 20 mechanics. On the new hotel building 24 men are laboring to complete it. The stone work has almost reached the second story floor.
The last place we visited where a business block was going up was J. L. Howard
=s. Here eight men are at work excavating. We do not hesitate to say that Arkansas City is becoming as no other city in the Southwest and in a few years will be the largest city in the Arkansas Valley.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
We give below, for what it is worth, an article which appeared in the Globe-Democrat last Tuesday morning.
A
The chief interest in railroad movements is now centered in the Burlington, which is engaged in perfecting its arrangements for completion of its southwestern lines into Kansas City and gaining an entrance to St. Louis from the west first and then from the east.A
T. J. Potter, vice president and general manager of the Burlington system, who recently returned from Boston, where he laid his plans before the board and heavy stockholders of the company and received their approval and hearty endorsement, will leave Chicago today for a tour of inspection, which will take him over the proposed Kansas City extension and, possibly, bring him to St. Louis. He has reiterated his statement to the effect that he will remain with the Burlington and will not become president of the Bee Line system, his trip east having been made in connection with the proposed extensions heretofore referred to in these columns. With a line completed to Kansas City and an entrance effected to St. Louis over its own roads, the Burlington will have secured the control of its territory, which it must possess in order to feel safe from the encroachments of competitors, and very little time is to be wasted in the consummation of that end.A
Among the offers made to the Burlington is one from the Burlington, Eureka & Beaumont, organized to construct a line from Paola via Burlington, Kansas, to Wellington, or via Eureka to Arkansas City. $43,000 have been voted to the project, and it is understood the two companies are in correspondence with reference to a transfer of the title. It is probable that General Manager Porter will announce the choice of the three routes offered for extension of the Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City after he has personally investigated the advantages offered by each, and that the work will then be vigorously prosecuted, as the people all along the route are enthusiastic in their desire to secure the Burlington.@
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
A. A. Robinson, vice-president of the A. T. & S. F., and Louis Kingman, assistant chief engineer, arrived in the city today on the noon train. They were on their way to Texas, going over the proposed route to the Gulf. They left this afternoon, after making all the necessary purchases of supplies for their trip. Strange to say they will make the journey upon the imposing vehicles known as the
ABuck-board.@
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
Chas. G. Smith, correspondent of the Great South West, is in the city. It is published in the interest of the Missouri Pacific railway and the towns through which that great railway system runs. From the map Mr. Smith carries with him, we see the Missouri Pacific pictured as running to Arkansas City and Winfield. This place is the terminal point.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
About two weeks ago the mud-hole Courier informed its readers that A. A. Robinson, of the Santa Fe, was going over the L. & S. W. Route and would designate through which townships it would pass to the mud-hole from Cedarvale. That journal has as yet never brought Robinson in nor told us through which townships the I. & S. W. would run. Its silence is exceedingly painful. For the sake of suffering humanity, Courier, don
=t leave Robinson out on the I. & S. W. Route too long. Run him some way.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
Track laying on the Denver, Memphis and Atlantic railway commenced at Conway Springs Monday and will continue at the rate of a mile a day for the remainder of the year. Large piles of steel rails and ties are in the yard. The completion of this road from Chetopa to Valeda, in Labette County, a distance of 20 miles, is just announced, and regular trains will be put on between Chetopa and Coffeyville July 10th. Grading is in progress as far west as Sedan. A locating party will start west from Kingman this week.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
The G. S. C. & W. Road was completed to Geuda Springs yesterday. It was an
Aepoch@ in the history of that town. The people are very jubilant over their future prospects.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
Information came in yesterday that work on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad south of Arkansas City is temporarily stopped, owing to a misunderstanding in regard to running through the Ponca Reservation. The line is being relocated from Willow Springs, Indian Territory to run west of the Poncas.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
A. A. Robinson, vice-president and chief engineer of the Santa Fe, was in town in his special car on Monday and went down to Arkansas City. Mr. Robinson is by far the best railroad man in the west, and what he can
=t tell about a road after passing over it on a train isn=t worth knowing. Wichita Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
The Florence, El Dorado & Douglass branch of the Santa Fe railroad has been extended to Winfield and the cars will soon be running on that line south from Douglass. It intersects our Santa Fe branch near the crossing of the Southern Kansas, this side of Winfield. Wichita Republic.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
[JOTTINGS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]A. S. Taylorr, general stock agent of the Frisco, is in the city.
Six carloads of freight came in yesterday on the Frisco for Geuda Springs.
Neff & Henderson shipped three carloads of hogs this morning to Kansas City.
The Geuda Springs & Caldwell road will run an excursion train to Geuda, July 3rd.
Mrs. J. C. Pickering left today via the Santa Fe, on a visit to Central City, Iowa.
J. M. Craig
=s house beyond the Frisco railroad in the 4th ward is nearly completed.Today 14 carloads of lumber were sent to Geuda Springs, consigned to Alexander, Lamport & Co.
The bonds for the Ft. Smith & Wellington road are carried in Walton Township by a majority of fifty votes.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
At a meeting of the directors of the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska railroad at Fairberry, Nebraska, last Saturday, they decided to complete their road, a portion of which is now graded from St. Joe, Missouri, to Wichita, Kansas, within one year. This is the Kansas division of the Rock Island road, and our people will do well to watch it as it enters this portion of the state and see that Arkansas City is placed on the line.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
Rumors have been current for some time past that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe has determined to build an independent line from Kansas City to Chicago; and the fact that surveyors in the employ of that company have been making surveys between the Mississippi River and Chicago rather tended to confirm these reports. A Chicago paper learns from a reliable source that those surveys are made for the purpose of concealing the real objects of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. There can no longer be any doubt it says that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe is really trying to secure an independent line to building a new line, but means to secure control of one of the already existing roads. There has been an impression among railroad people for some time past that the Santa Fe is trying to effect a traffic arrangement with the Chicago & Alton. It transpires, however, that the owners of both roads are averse to such an arrangement, as it would not materially help the interests of either company. This scheme therefore has been abandoned, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, it is learned, is now trying to secure control of a majority of the stock of the Alton and thus virtually become its owner.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]The G. S. & C. Track is laid three miles west of Geuda.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
Railroad Racket.
The building of the Kansas City & Panhandle road is a settled fact beyond the shadow of a doubt from Reece to Arkansas City via Latham and Burden, running through the townships of Harvey, Silver Creek, Sheridan, and Liberty in this county. The people are jubilant in all the townships through which the road will pass. The majority of the directors in this company are prominent officials in the Ft. Smith & Wichita railroad, which all know is one of the Missouri Pacific system of roads. The building of this road means sharp competition between the Missouri Pacific and the Santa Fe, the two most powerful roads in the west, and places Burden at the front as a railroad point. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
Facts.
The Winfield Daily Courier, of the 28th, came out in red ink as a sort of celebration of the purchase by the Southern Kansas Railway, of a quarter section of land near the town. Winfield is doubtless whistling to keep her courage up. The extraordinary growth of Arkansas City is a constant menace to Winfield and it will not be long before we shall witness a most extraordinary local fight between the two towns. Winfield by an unusual expenditure of money and energy may be able to keep in the lead for some time yet, but nothing will prevent Arkansas City from becoming the larger city in the end.
El Dorado Republican.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
It is reported that the arrangement between the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the St. Louis & San Francisco, by which the latter will become practically a part of the Atchison system for all operative purposes, has been about completed. One part of this agreement, it is said, is that the San Francisco and the Atchison will together make an outright guarantee of 4 percent interest on the $16,000,000 of Atlantic & Pacific first mortgage bonds, provided the bondholders will consent to the reduction of the interest to that rate. The San Francisco is also to build this year a new line of 200 miles from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Paris, Texas, which will give it a connection with the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, which is now a part of the Atchison system. This arrangement also makes the San Francisco the St. Louis end of the entire system of the Atchison lines.
Arkansas City Republican, June 26, 1886.
The Kansas City & Pan Handle.
The Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad will now be built without a doubt from Reece via Burden to Arkansas City. This road is in the interest of the Gould system. Reece is a point on the Ft. Smith & Wichita line, ten miles west of Eureka. It is the point where they now have and intend to keep the machine shops and the general division headquarters of their entire southern Kansas system. Our people learning that they expected to run from Reece to the Kansas south line and on to the Pan Handle country of Texas, induced them to organize the company with the addition of two directors from Burden and two from Arkansas City and begin immediate work to secure the necessary aid for the construction of the road. In Cowley County there will be built some 55 miles of road. They ask about $2,000 per mile--half what either one of our other roads cost us. All that is necessary for us to say in answer to any argument that may be presented by parties interested in other roads and other towns, that the Gould folks will not build this road, is that six of the directors of it are men now interested in the Missouri Pacific road, and the fact that they are the men who have charge of the location and construction of all the roads in the southwest of this great competitor of the Santa Fe road is ample proof that we will get it. What we do want is this road. It will secure for us an air-line to Kansas City and Chicago, and also a direct line to St. Louis, and a road that will ever be a competitor to the present road. We hope that all of the friends of Burden will see the necessity of securing this road, and not be deceived by promises that may be made by companies of men organized with a view to defeat this project and leave us without any additional roads. Now is the time to work. It is evident that southern Kansas will within the next two years have all of her railroad prospects developed, and if we lose this opportunity, our doom will be fixed and we will be left without a competitor to the Santa Fe road. Propositions for aid to this road will be submitted to the citizens of Harvey, Silver Creek, Sheridan, Liberty, Pleasant Valley Townships, and Arkansas City within the next ten days, and we have no doubt but what they will be met with favor by all the interested parties in these townships. Burden Enterprise.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
Everyone who rides over the Independence & Southwestern that was
--or the Chicago, Kansas & Western, as it is now known--remarks upon the smoothness of the track and the evident solidity with which it is built. It is a fact not generally known, however, that this line is laid with heavier rails than have yet been used anywhere else in the state of Kansas on any line. This fact alone would confirm, if any confirmation were needed, the theory that it is the intention of the Santa Fe to make the line southwest from here their main line to Texas and the cattle regions of the southwest, and that it is proposed to do a heavy business over it. The right of way has already been condemned to Cedarvale and on to the west line of Chautauqua County.
Independence Star and Kansas.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The Railway Age says:
AIt is now certain that the railway building of 1886 will far exceed that of the two preceeding years, and, indeed, surpass that of most of the years in the history of the country. The greatest activity thus far has been in Kansas, where 301 miles have been added on twelve different lines. Florida follows with 207 miles on eight lines; Texas with 195 miles on six lines; Wisconsin with 184 on four lines; and Illinois with 171 miles on five lines. Nebraska has added ninety-one miles on six lines. In none of the other states have more than sixty miles been laid thus far, but in many of them, as well as those just named, preparations are actively going on for track-laying to a large extent during the next few months.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]C. H. Berry, banker at Cherryvale, is visiting in our city. Mr. Berry thinks of buying city property.
Yesterday 15 carloads of freight and material for the G. S. C. & W. Road were shipped to Geuda.
Kingsbury & Barnett have tickets on sale for the Geuda Springs Fourth of July excursion next Monday.
Geuda Springs will have her fourth of July celebration on Monday, July 5. An excursion train will be run from this city over the new road. Fare, round-trip, 30 cents.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Saturday the citizens of Geuda Springs had a big time over the advent of the G. S. & C. Road into their town. About 500 people were there and enjoyed the foot-races, base ball games, etc. Happy are the citizens of Geuda.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The cheek of the government mule is only exceeded by the people of Winfield. A diagram showing all the railroads centering at Winfield on paper--some 21 we believe--is printed on their 4th of July posters. Some months since the REPUBLICAN presented to its readers a map showing up the railroads that were sure to come to Arkansas City. We were tickled to death to think they had not imitated us. Our joy was but of a few months
= duration, for behold they present to the world an imitation of the REPUBLICAN diagram upon their fourth of July posters. Hereafter we shall copy right everything we produce; unless we do, the Winfield papers will steal it.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
Railroad Talk.
W. S. Reece, the president of the Kansas City & Panhandle Railroad Company, spent this week submitting a proposition in the townships of Silver Creek, Harvey, Sheridan, and Liberty to subscribe stock in the Kansas City & Panhandle Railroad Company and has met with very flattering success. The people all along the line are enthusiastic over the line. The corps of surveyors will run the line through in the next two or three weeks. Work will be commenced at Reece, the point of departure from the main line of the Ft. Scott & Wichita, as soon as the aid is voted along the line and pushed through as rapidly as money and men can do the work. This is the very best line for the townships mentioned that it would be possible to get and the people so recognize it. The building of this road insures Burden
=s future and will make a good town in Harvey, Sheridan, and Liberty. Let the good work go on. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
Another Atchison Project.
Special Dispatch to the Globe-Democrat.
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, June 24. Henry Wood, general manager of the Arkansas Valley route, returned today from Boston, where it is understood he went to confer with the owners of his lines in Arkansas, relative to the building of the Arkansas Valley line through the Indian Territory to Arkansas City. He expresses himself as highly delighted with the result of his visit, and says the line will be constructed as soon as the necessary preliminary arrangements are completed, and that there is an abundance of capital to push the work. It appears that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe company has taken an interest in the proposed line; and before work is commenced the two companies desire to determine definitely as to these interests, in order that there may be no misunderstanding in the future. It may be that two roads will jointly build and operate this proposed road.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]Some individual greased the track of the Frisco last evening for the distance of four rails on 13th Street. The incoming freight did not experience any great difficulty in passing over the greased rails.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
Two of the D. M. & A. Surveyors stopped at the Central Hotel Monday night. They were viewing out a final location of the D. M. & A. Said they would be through here with the permanent survey inside of two weeks. There is one party locating between Sedan and Cedarvale, and the other between Cedarvale and Dexter. Dexter Eye.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The track of the Geuda Springs & Caldwell road has been laid some 15 miles west of this city. It will reach South Haven, we are informed, by July 4th.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The railway construction in the United States for 1885 was 3,190-1/2 miles of main line, making the aggregate mileage in the United States at the commencement of 1886 128,569 miles.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The city of Tarsus, in Asia, where St. Paul was born, is going to have a railroad. Our Arkansas City friends were not on hand in time to secure the bonds of the Asia Minor townships and the other fellows got them. Winfield Courier.
But we were on hand in time to secure the State Line Bonds; and the other fellows were not on time to secure the I. & S. W. Bonds, which J. E. Conklin says would have been worth a million of dollars to the other fellow
=s town.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The petition for calling an election in the townships of Harvey, Silver Creek, and Sheridan to vote bonds to the Kansas City & Pan Handle road are all signed up. Petitions are to be circulated yet in Liberty and Pleasant Valley.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
How Winfield can have the gall to ask Pleasant Valley Township to divide herself to vote bonds for another railroad is more than we can understand. We hope the citizens of Pleasant Valley remember how Winfield forced the Frisco out of their township lines, after promising that it should run through the center, and not be put upon by their wiley schemes.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The K. C. & P. H.
Arkansas City is going to build a railroad to Kamschatka by way of Burden and Behring
=s Straits. When this is done Burden will be the capital of Cowley County and the sand hill the capital of the United States. The road will only cost $5,000,000,000, including the bridge acrross the Behring straits, and Nat. Snyder, A. A. Newman, and Jim Hill have the money deposited in Jim Huey=s bank to do it with.Mud-hole Courier.
Oh, no, Courier, you are partly mistaken in the above. Arkansas City does not intend building the road mentioned; the Missouri Pacific folks are going to do it for us, you know. Then again, you get your I. & S. W. Route mixed up with our Kansas City & Pan Handle line. For the information of the Mud-hole denizens, the REPUBLICAN states that the line spoken of above will run from Arkansas City via Burden direct to Reece in Greenwood County. The remainder of the above items is true.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
Frank Greer, the maker of gas for the Courier, has gone to Chicago to become an anarchist. Perhaps we will get the truth once in awhile now that Frank has gone. Chas. McDonald will act as scribe until the elongated pencil shover returns.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
Grading on the southern Kansas railroad from Kiowa has been completed nearly as far as Fort Supply. The grade for the Santa Fe extension from Arkansas City has been completed as far south as Ponca Agency. The latter road will pass about fifty miles east of here.
Cheyenne Transporter.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The Arkansas City Republican has invented a new name for Winfield to take the place, or else serve in connection with Wind-field. The new name is Mud-hole. Shame boys! Why not live in peace and harmony like the cross road village at our east and the metropolis of Southern Kansas. Independence Daily News.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The Verdigris Valley, Independence and Western railroad is now completed from Neodesha to Altoona and a gap of only eight miles remains to be filled up between that place and Buffalo. When this is done, which will be within a week, the entire construction force will be put to work south of Neodesha, and the iron horse will speedily roll down over the Elk into the precincts of the prettiest and most prosperous town in southeastern Kansas. Independence Star and Kansan.
Soon the Verdigris, Independence and Western railroad will be running cars into Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The capitalists of Winfield are trying hard to defeat our city out of the railroad they have under consideration by trying to tie up the several townships through which the road will run by trying to get the people to vote bonds on two or three of their paper roads which they carry around in their vest pocket with them. They need not be so anxious. They think they control the Santa Fe, but they will find out that they do not control the Missouri Pacific just at present, and Burden will get her railroad all the same and don
=t you forget it.Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
The New York Evening Post is informed that the Atchison and the St. Louis & San Francisco roads are likely to be made practically one line for operative purposes, with the latter road, the St. Louis end of the Atchison system so far as business to and from the Atlantic and Pacific and California generally is concerned. The arrangement involves a reduction of interest to 4 percent on the 6 percent bonds for $15,929,000 secured by mortgage on the 575 miles of Atlantic and Pacific road between Albuquerque and the Needles, at which latter point connection is made with the Mojave branch of the Southern Pacific. The inducement for the Atlantic and Pacific bondholders to surrender 2 percent of their interest is a joint guarantee by the Atchison and
>Frisco companies.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
We hear many persons cursing Winfield and some of her shrewd businessmen and yet there is not a single man in Cowley County, the Canal Town not excepted, but what feels proud of our County Seat and her grand achievements. Dexter Eye.
Oh yes, we are proud of our county seat and would be of her grand achievements if she ever had any. We are proud that such a gang of shysters live at the county seat. We are proud of our county seat because if another town attempts to get a railroad, it steps forward and attempts to defeat the attempt. We are proud of her grand achievement of carrying the I. & S. W. Bonds, and the manner in which her campaign was conducted. We are proud of her because she now attempts to divide several townships against the will of the people, so as to build herself up to their detriment. We are proud of her because, if another town gets up a scheme for her own benefit and not for the county seat
=s, she will jump in and try to kill the aforesaid town. Oh yes, we are proud of our county seat and her grand achievements.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
Fourth of July Excursion.
The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. will sell Excursion Tickets for the Fourth; one Fare for the Round Trip between stations not too distant to return July 6th. Tickets on sale July 3rd, 4th, & 5th; limited to return including July 6th.
O. INGERSOLL, Agent.
Arkansas City Republican, July 3, 1886.
Frisco 4th of July Excursion.
One fare for round trip to Winfield, Cherryvale & Cale. All other points within 150 miles, one and one third fare. Tickets on sale July 3rd, 4th & 5th, good to return on July 6th.
Passenger trains leave Frisco depot at 8:30 a.m., going east. Accommodations at 8:00 p.m., going east.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]A petition is in circulating asking that Arkansas City vote $20,000 worth of bonds to the Kansas City & Pan Handle road.
Winfield, besides sticking bonds on the county for the D. M. & A. Road, are now endeavoring to get the townships along the proposed line to vote aid.
The Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern railroad company submitted its proposition at Hutchinson Saturday last. Bonds have been voted all the way from Arkansas City to that point.
Butler has the largest railroad mileage of any county in the state, being 152-1/2 miles. The same county has also the largest valuation of railroad property, being $911,784.89.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
The grading on the D. M. & A. Road is completed almost to Cedarvale. The grade will be completed to that town. The men in Chautauqua County are being discharged. It looks as if the D. M. & A. Would linger quite awhile at Cedarvale from some cause or another.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
From the Kansas City Times, we learn that the railroads interested have succeeded in forming a pool of the livestock business of Southwestern Missouri and Southern Kansas: the Santa Fe, the St. Louis and San Francisco, the Missouri Pacific, the Ft. Scott and Wichita, and the Kansas City and Southern roads. An agreement was reached only after a protracted fight between the Missouri Pacific and Fort Scott. Much good is expected to accrue to Kansas City from the pool. Rates will not be advanced; those in Missouri, on the contrary, being reduced, but the agreement is iron-clad and will prevent the Frisco from taking the business at cut rates. Last year
=s similar pool was formed on junction point business; but as local points were not included, the agreement was easily evaded and lasted but a short time. The present agreement, however, embraces the local points as well, and will place Kansas City on an equal footing with St. Louis, despite the high rates of the southwestern lines, which have hitherto enabled the Frisco to take most of the business.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
President Reece and Secetary Harkness, of the Kansas City & Pan Handle Railroad Company, left on Tuesday for Arkansas City, and have not yet returned. Reece Sunflower.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
The commissioners called the Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad election three days prior to that of the C. K. & W. in Sheridan Township. The former company ask only $2,000 per mile; the latter nearly $4,000.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
Seven railroad elections have been called by the Commissioners during their present session. The C. K. & W. Propositions will be submitted in Dexter, Liberty, and Otter August 17th; D. M. & A. In Sheridan and Tisdale on the same date, and the Kansas City & Pan Handle in Sheridan and Silver Creek August 14th.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]Sufficient number of names have been obtained to the Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad petition in Pleasant Valley Township to call the election.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
Frank Waldo has accepted a position with Wm. Decker, the A. T. & S. F.
=s licensed trader. Frank leaves tomorrow for his quarters along the line in the Territory.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
Propositions are being submitted in the townships along the proposed route of the Kansas City and Pan Handle in Butler County. The elections are being called and the word comes to us that the project is booming.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
Mayor Schiffbauer, Amos Walton, President Reece, and Director Harness of the Kansas City & Pan Handle road went up to Liberty Township last night and held an enthusiastic railroad meeting. They inform us no trouble will be experienced about carrying the bonds.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
W. S. Decker, the licensed trader of the A. T. & S. F. Extension through the Territory, leaves tomorrow for Salt Fork, where he will establish his first store. Mr. Decker is a gentleman and a thorough businessman. The REPUBLICAN wishes him success.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
The Winfield Visitor says:
A
The county commissioners in session yesterday passed upon some road petitions and ordered elections to be held in Harvey, Silver Creek, and Sheridan Townships, on August 14, upon the propositions of the Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad.A
This proposed road is a Missouri Pacific branch from Reece to Arkansas City.@
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
At a citizens meeting held at Rose Valley Schoolhouse in Liberty Township on Wednesday evening, June 7th, held for the purpose of submitting propositions of the Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad, the following were the proceedings.
Mr. Fisher was chosen chairman, Messrs. Walton, Reece, and others spoke in explanation of the enterprise. Motion made by Mr. Cochran that the township vote $18,000 township bonds, to be issued to the first railroad completed and operated through the township. Mr. Reece, President of the K. C. & P. H., promptly agreed to enter into such an arrangement if the C. K. & W. would agree to enter into such an arrangement. The proposition of the K. C. & P. H. was then submitted, and owing to some disaffection in reference to location of depot, and for this reason the motion to accept was decided lost by the chairman. Motion made that a committee of five be appointed to confer with the officers of the K. C. & P. H. and formulate a satisfactory petition to submit to the voters.
The following gentlemen were chosen as that committee: J. A. Cochran, S. C. Randall, James A. Easterday, Y. C. Topin, Geo. W. Moore.
Motion made that this committee be instructed to submit the resolution of the meeting to the officers of the C. K. & W. R. R. Co.
Motion carried. After adjournment the committee met the officers of the K. C. & P. H., and agreed to an amended petition. This meeting was harmonious and enthusiastic for the K. C. & P. H.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
The council convenes tonight to take action upon the petition for an election to vote bonds to the K. C. & P. H. Road.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
Thirteen carloads of cattle went out over the Frisco yesterday. The shipment was made by G. W. Miller, of Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
J. B. Southard, a substantial citizen of Otto, was in the city today. Mr. Southard was a valuable worker for the State Line bonds.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
We are glad our citizens are taking the right view in regard to the Santa Fe R. R. (I. & S. W.); i.e., it is the one thing needsful to boost our town and township beyond everything in the County, except the Metropolis and the Canal town, and, by the way, if the latter doesn
=t quit her fooling with that $900 brass monkey town, she may be accorded the third plce on our calendar. We always feel friendly for Ark=s. City; but we hate to see her try to down us and especially Liberty Township by going through another State Line arrangement with those fellows. We like your grit and think too much of you to call you ASand Hillers,@ but we ask you to don=t. Too thin! Too thin!Dexter Eye.
We want to inform the Dexter Eye that the people of Burden are not doing anything to defeat Dexter
=s railroad prospects. We want a railroad built to Burden and we are going to get it too. At the same time we have no objections to any other point in Cowley County getting just as many roads as they can. Every road built into Cowley County adds so much to our assessable property. Burden Eagle.The words of the Eagle do honor to him who spake them. Arkansas City wants the railroad and Burden wants it. We are not trying to hinder Dexter for getting her Santa Fe. All we are after now is our Missouri Pacific.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
A
As the matter now stands, we think it best to let the people know that Arkansas City and Burden are building a railroad so that the farmers can let down their fences and open their barn doors before the snorting engine plays sad havoc with the timbers.@ Visitor.It is a wonder that the Winfield papers give Arkansas City and Burden as much space as the above. Their actions show that they are afraid of us and our new railroad, and it was wholly unlooked for. We extend our heartfelt sympathies to poor Winfield. She was a good hamlet, but her death is certain. She dies hard, and in her death agonies gives Burden a kick on account of her prosperity. Kick away--throw as many slurs as you choose--and when you want to enjoy city life, move to Burden or Arkansas City. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
President Reece and Director L. V. Harkness, of the K. C. & Pan Handle were in the city Thursday on the route to Arkansas City, where they will submit the proposition at once. The petition for Silver Creek and Sheridan Townships have already signatures enough to call elections. The Harvey Township petition has not come in yet, but will have signatures enough to call the election by Monday when the board meets. Everything seems lovely while the goose hangs high.
Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
The Kansas City & Pan Handle R. R.
The above is the name of the new road to be built to Arkansas City from Reece, in Greenwood County, via Burden. It is a Missouri Pacific enterprise. At Reece it is to connect with the Ft. Scott, Wichita and Western, which runs directly to Kansas City. By having the Kansas City & Pan Handle road constructed, we gain an almost air-line connection with Kansas City, besides getting a railroad that is directly antagonistic to the Santa Fe. Cowley County will be traversed by a road where none now exist, giving her that much more assessable property as well as a competition in freight rates. We have no competition in railroad matters now. The Frisco and Santa Fe have combined their issues, and therefore what we want and must have in Cowley County is a system of railway directly in opposition to our present system before our prosperity can reach its zenith. We now have a chance to obtain it, and at a very slight expense, compared with what we have given for our other roads. In the county there will be fully as many miles of the Kansas City & Pan Handle as there is of the Frisco. The company is asking at about the rate of $2,000 per mile--half what a railroad generally asks in the way of a subsidy. In Harvey Township $12,000 is asked for; in Silver Creek, the township in which Burden is located, $25,000; in Sheridan, $15,000; in Liberty, $15,000; in Pleasant Valley, $15,000; and in Arkansas City, $20,000. In Harvey, Silver Creek, and Sheridan Townships, the petitions have been submitted and the elections called. We have been informed that there is no doubt but what the aid asked will be voted, all along the line in Cowley, although Winfield and others will and are setting forth their greatest efforts to defeat the propositions. Winfield parties are submitting all sorts of propositions for the voting of aid for the building of all the imaginary lines of railway possible. They are in Liberty Township asking some $18,000 for the Chicago, Kansas and Western; also in Sheridan asking $20,000 for the D. M. & A. It is a peculiar coincidence on the part of Winfield, that everytime this part of the county endeavors to secure a new railroad, she will come out in the same townships with a scheme to build a road from somewhere to nowhere. The people of the county are to be no longer misled by her paper railroad schemes and will shut down upon them like the citizens did in the Border township.
The Chicago, Kansas & Western is a Santa Fe project and is but another name for the I. & S. W. On paper it runs through the townships of Otter, Dexter, and Liberty Townships to Winfield from Cedarvale, but in reality will run to Arkansas City, for which place it is chartered. Although the Santa Fe officials, after the defeat of the I. & S. W. Bonds, informed the mud-hole schemers that they would not entertain any more propositions to build the C., K. & W. Road to their city, they keep on trying to get the townships to tie themselves up in bonds, so that it will not be possible for any other portion of the county to get a road unless it runs to suit them. Not satisfied with their attempts to secure bonds for one of their fraudulent roads, they have introduced their old standby, the D. M. & A., into the arena, and are asking bonds to the tune of $4,000 per mile in Sheridan and Tisdale Townships for it, notwithstanding that county bonds to the amount of $140,000 have been voted. Should this road be built, it will get a subsidy of $8,000 per mile, a sufficient sum to build it. Why should Winfield seek to impose such an outrage upon Sheridan and Liberty Townships? It is because they seek to defeat the Kansas City and Pan Handle. Their object is plain enough to everyone. No sooner was it known that Arkansas City was endeavoring to bring the K. C. & P. H. here, than Winfield steps in and begins submitting propositions for imaginary roads.
In conclusion, we wish to say that the Kansas City & Pan Handle will be built, provided the necessary bonds are voted. President Reece informs us that 30 days after the aid is granted that is asked, work will begin and in six months the cars will be running from Reece to Arkansas City. Let us put our shoulders to the wheel along the line and secure the prize, for it will be a grand benefit to us all.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
RECAP OF MAYOR
=S ELECTION PROCLAMATION FOR KANSAS CITY AND PAN-HANDLE RAILROAD COMPANY...PRESENTED BY HARRY P. FARRAR, A RESIDENT TAXPAYER OF ARKANSAS CITY...ASKING FOR BONDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $20,000. PROCLAMATION ISSUED JULY 10, 1886. SIGNED BY F. P. SCHIFFBAUER, MAYOR; AND A. D. PRESCOTT, C. T. THURSTON, C. G. THOMPSON, JAMES HILL, A. A. DAVIS, MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARKANSAS CITY. ATTESTED BY JAMES BENEDICT, CITY CLERK.ELECTION TO TAKE PLACE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1886.
Arkansas City Republican, July 10, 1886.
RECAP OF MAYOR
=S ELECTION PROCLAMATION...PETITION PRESENTED BY JAMES L. HUEY, RESIDENT TAXPAYER OF ARKANSAS CITY, FOR PROPOSITION TO VOTE STOCK FOR THE TEUDA SPRINGS, CALDWELL & WESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY IN THE AMOUNT OF $7,500...SIGNED BY MAYOR F. P. SCHIFFBAUER; ANDA. D. PRESCOTT, C. T. THURSTON, C. G. THOMPSON, JAMES HILL, AND O. INGERSOLL, MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL; ATTESTED TO BY JAMES BENEDICT, CITY CLERK. ELECTION TO TAKE PLACE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1886.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
Going to Arkansas City.
LITTLE ROCK, July 15. Instructions have been received from the company
=s office in Boston to proceed with the surveys of the Kansas & Arkansas Valley railway extension through the Indian Territory. Several parties will be put in the field at once to make the survey and locate the line ready for construction.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM SATURDAY
=S DAILY [JULY 10, 1886???].Elsewhere in the DAILY REPUBLICAN we publish two Mayor
=s proclamations of elections. One is for the voting of aid to theG. S. C. & W., and the other to the K. C. & P. H. Road. The first asks for $7,500 in city bonds; the last for $20,000. The election will come off on the 11th of August. The council convened last night and this morning and considered the petitions in order that they might be published in today
=s REPUBLICAN. This accounts for our weekly coming out behind time and the scarcity of local news in the DAILY.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
Winfield is trying to manufacture capital against Arkansas City, over in Cedar and Spring Creek Townships, because we are going to run the Kansas City & Pan-Handle road into our city. They tell our friends over there that the K. C. & P. H. is gotten up to do away with the State Line road. But we are glad to be able to say that the old meddling mud-hole cannot work up any feeling against us. The friends of Arkansas City are too staunch to be led astray by any of the
Aforked tongues@ of Winfield. Right here we wish to say that the State Line road will be built and the days are not many yet when the citizens east of us will know all about the project. Only this morning we were informed by members of the company that the building of the State Line road was as much of a certainty as the fact that the bonds have already been voted. Once and for all let it be known that the building of the K. C. & P. H. Road to Arkansas City does not in the least affect the State Line project. We know whereof we speak.[END OF ITEMS FROM SATURDAY DAILY...JULY 10, 1886???]
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
The St. Louis & San Francisco.
The movements of the St. Louis & San Francisco railway company are being watched with considerable interest now, and especially so in this vicinity, where the line is regarded as an important key to and from the west, with the natural inference that all extensions and improvements made by that line will eventually inure to the benefit of St. Louis. Recently the Globe-Democrat referred at length to the intention of the Frisco with reference to the Indian Territory line, extending a distance of 163 miles, work upon which is to be inaugurated during the present season. The line has now been fully surveyed, and the next move in order will be the letting of contracts, and for this purpose Chief Engineer Dunn will arrive in St. Louis soon, and will be met by a number of contractors, who will submit their bids upon the work. It is probable that the award will be made within a very short time. Just so soon as this part of the work is accomplished, active operations will be inaugurated, and before the season closes, the Frisco will have made considerable progress in this important extension of its territory. Under the present management the company promises not only to keep step with its past reputation for energy and activity, but to add to the vim and progressiveness which has characterized the conduct of the line. It is now admitted to be a powerful system, and does not propose to be outstripped in the race for the coveted business.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
Mayor Schiffbauer went up to Winfield this morning with the Pleasant Valley K. C. & P. H. Railroad petition all signed up by the required number of tax-payers. He will lay it before the board of commissioners, who will take the proper action upon it. There will be about seven miles and a half of road in Pleasant Valley. But $15,000 are asked for in bonds.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
In Liberty Township two railroad companies are asking for bonds. One is the Chicago, Kansas & Western; and the other is the Kansas City & Pan Handle. At a recent meeting in the township, a resolution was passed that the first company building through its limits would be entitled to claim the bonds. The Kansas City & Pan Handle folks readily agreed to the resolutions and to take the proper action upon them. There will be about seven miles and a half of road in Pleasant Valley. But $15,000 are asked for in bonds.
[BELIEVE THIS CONCLUDES ITEMS FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
F. W. Baird, M. Wheeler, and W. D. Garwood, officials of the Frisco from Springfield, Missouri, are in the city. They are here for the purpose of inspecting the line from here to Geuda Springs. We are informed that the first Frisco passenger train will be run to Geuda Springs this evening.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
Those who imagine there is but little travel on account of the hot weather would be surprised to take a trip to Kansas City over the Santa Fe. The Santa Fe is a great road. Two trains of twelve coaches each leave Kansas City twice a day, and there is not a seat in any car.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
The signatures to the petitions which were circulated in Liberty and Pleasant Valley Townships asking for an election to vote bonds to the Kansas City & Pan Handle road were obtained in two days. We mention this to show how enthusiastic the people northeast of us are.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]The committee sent from Liberty to Winfield to interview the
C. K. & W. fellows, concerning the first railroad building into the township claiming the bonds, reported that not one of its representatives could be found anywhere. The commissioners have, therefore, called the K. C. & P. H. election on the 14th of August and the C. K. & W. on the 17th.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
The election for voting bonds to the Kansas City & Pan Handle road in Pleasant Valley and Liberty Townships was called by the board of county commissioners yesterday to come off on the 14th day of August. The elections all along the line in Cowley County have been called and they all occur on the 14th day, excepting in Arkansas City. It occurs on the 11th. The K. C. & P. H. is booming and don
=t you forget it.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]President Reece and Secretary Harkness, of the Kansas City & Pan-Handle Railroad Company, returned home yesterday after a two weeks
= trip through Cowley County in the interest of the company. They came back hot and tired, but very much elated over the favorable prospects of the road. The people of Winfield, backed by the money and influence of the Santa Fe Company, are doing all in their power to defeat the proposition. But the farmers and businessmen of Harvey, Sheridan, and Silver Creek Townships, in each of which an election has been ordered for August 14th to vote upon the proposition, are not fools and perfectly well understand that Winfield and the Santa Fe system would not be fighting the propositions were it not for the fact that the proposed new road will build up other towns, create new interests antagonistic to them, and will be of benefit to the section of country through which it passes, giving the farmers and others a competing line to the great market of the East. As we said before, the people along the proposed route say they want the road, and it only remains with them to secure it. If they vote the aid asked for, the road will be built and completed, and the cars making regular trips between Reece and Arkansas City within the next six months.Reece Sunflower.
[END OF TUESDAY
=S DAILY JOTTINGS.]
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
The contractors on the C. K. & W. Road over in Chautauqua County are employing colored men to work in the rock-cut southwest of Havana. The heat is so intense in the cut that white men cannot stand it, and as colored men are able to bear it, they will be employed.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
Arkansas City is to vote on two propositions for aid to railroads. One is for $7,500 aid to the S. G. Q. R. E. C. X., and the other is for $20,000 to the X, Y, Z, and N. G. P. These are both trunk lines. One runs from Burden to Maple City, and there connects with the other, making the shortest air line on the earth to its axis
--Arkansas City. Visitor.
The above are but other names for the D. M. & A., and the
C. K. & W., which will run to Arkansas City instead of Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]A charter was filed yesterday with the secretary of state for the St. Louis Kansas and Northwestern railroad, to run northwesterly for the Geuda Springs, Caldwell and western railroad at or near Anthony, through Harper, Barber, Kingman, Pratt, El Dorado, Kiowa, Hodgeman, Ness, Jane, Scott, Wichita, St. John, and Wallace Counties to the west line. Directors: C. R. Mitchell of Geuda Springs; W. D. Carey, N. M. Powers, D. A. Millington, Ed. P. Greer, and S. C. Gibbs of Winfield; Alonzo Stephens and W. H. Gostlin of Chicago; and N. Towle of Hammond, Indiana.
[RECKON THAT IS THE REASON GREER WENT TO CHICAGO???]
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
The track on the Geuda Springs & Caldwell road is laid over into Guelph Township. The grading is done to within a few miles of Caldwell, and the surveyors have gotten as far west as Anthony. The depot at Geuda is almost completed. It will be done this week.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
It is now reported that the Santa Fe Railroad Company are sending men and money into the townships along the proposed route of the Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad for the purpose of endeavoring to defeat the propositions to vote bonds in said townships in aid of said last mentioned road. Burden Enterprise.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
The citizens of Liberty Township are solidly against the
C. K. & W. Road because the proposition says when the road is built or leased, the bonds can be claimed. The people in that township think it is only a scheme to get bonds for the C. M. & A., and say they don
=t intend to put $8,000 per mile to build a road just to benefit Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
H. Parks Snow, Burden
=s big merchant, came over yesterday on one of his frequent business trips. He has just been offered $17,000 for a section of land in Sheridan and Liberty Townships--results of the D. M. & A. Winfield Visitor.Guess again, Mr. Visitor, you are wrong; it was not the result of the D. M. & A.; but the K. C. & P. H. Burden Enterprise.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]The Courier, speaking of the Kansas City & Pan Handle road, says:
A
Now any sensible man would decide at once that their Pan Handle road will never be built, simply because no man with money would invest it in such a wild scheme and no railroad company would expend three millions of dollars to build a road over such a country, where the grading will be such a tremendous expense, when there is no prospect that the business of the road will ever pay six percent on one-tenth of the money.@The above is like all the rest of the Courier
=s lies. We are told the road bed to be occupied by the Pan Handle is one of the finest and one of the most level there is to be had. The only bad place is at Reece, just as you come out of the city, for about three miles. The Ft. Scott and Wichita has five miles of track laid in this direction over the rough country and is to be utilized by the Pan Handle folks. It was a mighty fine road bed as long as Winfield stood a show of getting it, but since its coming to Arkansas City, it appears to be worthless in the eyes of the Courier.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
The Winfield Courier, in a two column article yesterday, attempts to paralyze Arkansas City and the Pan Handle road, and especially the latter, in the eyes of the citizens of Liberty Township. It goes back to the time we carried the State Line bonds, calls us frauds, and our project a fraudulent scheme to tie up the eastern townships, so that Winfield could not obtain the Ft. Smith road. We will not dwell upon that subject, because our friends in the county know the true status of the contest between the I. & S. W., and the State Line projects. The battle was decided upon the merits of the two propositions in favor of the State Line. Everybody was satisfied with the result then except Winfield, and is now. The citizens of Cedar, Spring Creek, and Silverdale Townships know the State Line road will be built. We will not say more, because it is unnecessary. We triumphed, therefore, we can afford to be charitable. But to return to the unfolding of our tale.
Several months ago a charter was filed for the building of the Kansas City & Pan-Handle road from Reece via Wellington to the Pan Handle country. The enterprising citizens of Burden saw this was an opportunity to get another road. They took advantage of it by sending a committee to wait upon the directors of the K. C. & P. H. Road. That visit followed by a second caused the charter to be amended so as the road could be built via Burden to Arkansas City from Reece. The committee after its second visit to Reece came to Arkansas City and asked the assistance of our citizens. The outcome of all this maneuvering was the formation of the K. C. & P. H. Company, with W. S. Reece, as president. In it are four prominent members of the Ft. Scott, Wichita & Western railroad, and the positions they hold as follows: J. H. Richards, general manager; W. P. McNair, assistant superintendent; and Messrs. Geo. Smith and ____ Prosser, of St. Louis, directors. This is proof positive that the road will be built and is no wild-cat scheme, because men so high up in railroad circles would not allow their names to be used in connection with a fraudulent project. Then again if it is a wild-cat scheme, why did Winfield send Henry Asp to President Reece, as soon as it was learned what was going on, and promise him if he would build the road to his town from Burden and then to Geuda Springs, he would give him a subsidy of $4,000 per mile. Upon getting
ANo@ for an answer, Mr. Asp left in great indignation, telling President Reece he must look out for his bonds if he came to Arkansas City with his road. No sooner had Mr. Asp gotten home and reported, then Bill Hackney began the working up of the C. K. & W. scheme in Liberty Township. We simply tell this fact to show the citizens of Liberty and other townships interested that the C. K. & W. is only gotten up to defeat the K. C. & P. H. We know the above to be gospel truth and it will not be denied by any honest Winfield citizen.In conclusion, we wish to say that the K. C. & P. H. will be built. The company offered to submit a proposition in Liberty to the effect that the first road of the two now asking bonds building through the township, should have the bonds. The C. K. & W. folks could not see it in that light. They know full well that their road will never be built and the K. C. & P. H. will; consequently, they prefer taking this only chance and, if possible, tie up the township in bonds and defeat that portion of the county from obtaining a road. Citizens of Liberty, you want a railroad. Now is your chance to get it, by voting bonds for the Kansas City & Pan Handle proposition on August 14, 1886.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
[SUPPLEMENT.]
Amos Walton was here yesterday and just before leaving was heard unburdening himself concerning the State Line project. He said,
AThat scheme is dead. Arkansas City listened too long to Jim Hill, but we=ve got to keep up a howl to keep those townships from tying themselves up, or our railroad prospects are forever dead.@ Visitor.In reply to the above, Mr. Walton over his own signature in the Democrat, denies the above as a lie out of whole cloth, and gives it as his opinion that the State Line will be built.
Arkansas City Republican, July 17, 1886.
[SUPPLEMENT.]
H. M. Maidt, the Silver City mailman, who comes from Arkansas City, informs us that the Santa Fe extension south from that point is being pushed right through the Territory, and that by the first of next January, it will have been completed to a point forty miles east of here. The surveyors running the preliminary line were here last week after supplies and worked on south. We are told that the preliminary runs only 25 miles east of here, yet we have no good authority for this. As near as we can learn, however, the road will most likely be built on the line between the Iowa Indian reserve and the Oklahoma country south to Gainesville, the Santa Fe thus connecting its recently purchased system of roads in Texas with those in Kansas. Cheyenne Transporter.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
The Dexter Eye Put Out.
MAPLE CITY, KANSAS, JULY 21, 1886.
Editors Republican.
DEAR SIRS: The Dexter Eye of the 17th inst., contained the following editorial.
A
Dr. Cooper and Mr. Andrews were over from Maple City Tuesday, and from their talk and actions, they are very solicitous of Dexter=s welfare. They seemed very much afraid if we voted aid to the Santa Fe that we would lose the D. M. & A., and they would get it. They pointed out to Mr. Truesdell the feasibility of that route going by Maple City and Arkansas City to Belle Plaine, how much cheaper, etc. Just as if Dexter and Winfield were not named on the charter and the bonds in both county and township did not call for these points. All right, boys, if you think the people of Dexter Township can be fed on such taffy as that, you are badly off. After you were fools enough to defeat the only road you will ever have a chance of getting, you come up here to imbitter people against the Santa Fe so you can or may have a chance to still induce the road you defeated to come through your place. We acted fair with you and did not mix with your affairs. But now you and Arkansas City are in with Burden to down us. Raising all kinds of tales and doing all in your power on the sly and every other way; working on men who are opposed to bonds from principle. Let me tell you, betrayed ones, you can=t come that game on Dexter Township, and we think that Liberty and Otter are onto your racket and we=ll down you two to one. Save your money and keep your hands off.@Poor old Dexter! Still pulling chestnuts out of the fire for the benefit of your
ABosses@ at the ADuck Pond.@ You have lived so long within the foggy influences of Grouse Creek that you are full of malarial poison, and therefore billious; and that makes you jealous--so much so, that if any person from a neighboring town visits your befogged burrough on business, your denizens rush out on the street corners and listen with jealous fear, thinking the visiting neighbor is working against your town. Trying to down you, bah!Now take friendly advice and come out on the broad prairie where you can enjoy refreshing, life giving breezes. It will cure billiousness. Come to Maple City where you can live without fear of being downed, and where you can enjoy the benign influences of a real live Rail Road Boom. The State Line will get there, and don
=t you forget it.It is true that Dr. Cooper and Mr. Andrews visited Dexter (God forgive them) on business. It is not true that they sought to influence men on rail road matters. In conversation, Mr. Andrews casually remarked, in the hearing of the drowning Dexterites, that he did not believe the Santa Fe company ever intended to build the I. & S. W. to Winfield, even if the subsidy was voted, and that if he lived at Dexter (and he is happy he does not), he would rather increase the subsidy of the D. M. & A., and thereby prevent that road from running north of Dexter by way of Burden to Winfield. Not one word was spoken by Andrews or Cooper about the D. M. & A. running by way of Maple City to Arkansas City.
Now, Mr. Eye, if you should have any more such spasms, please report and Dr. Cooper will administer an antidote for malarial poison.
MAPLE.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
The Rock Island people are delivering railway ties at Wichita, and it is announced that work on this line will commence there soon, it being the intention to build both ways.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
Will V. McConn, editor of the Belle Plaine News, came down today to visit over Sunday. Will informs us that the D. M. & A., is laying iron east from Conway Springs to Belle Plaine, and that Belle Plaine is booming in consequence.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM SATURDAY
=S DAILY.]The D. M. & A., is done from Conway Springs, in Sumner County, to Norwich, in Kingman County, and regular trains begin to run between the two places next Monday. Today, Saturday, a special excursion runs to Norwich and a big jubilee will take place.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
Two gentlemen from Cowley County, who put up at Councilman Hubbard
=s livery stable, informed him that the Santa Fe company were sending men and money into the townships along the proposed route of the Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad for the purpose of endeavoring to defeat the propositions to vote bonds in said townships in aid of said last mentioned road. Their opinion was, however, that the bonds would carry. Reece (Kansas) Sunflower.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
The special train that went out from Wichita to Kingman Thursday morning had on board W. B. Strong, A. A. Robinson, E. P. Purcell, L. Severy, and Hon. George R. Peck, of the Santa fe; Edward Kinsley, president, and Mr. Wales, auditor of the Wichita & Western. Supt. Hill accompanied them to Kingman. The Santa Fe party returned to Wichita about 8 o
=clock, and after looking about for half an hour, proceeded south to Arkansas City. El Dorado Republican.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
An election has been ordered for August 14, in Harvey, Sheridan, and Silver Creek Townships for a vote upon the proposition of the K. C. & P. H. R. R., when everybody will turn out and give an unanimous vote for the bonds. It is perfectly well understood that Winfield and the Santa Fe system would not be fighting the propositions were it not for the fact that the proposed new road will build up other towns, create new interests antagonistic to them, and will be of great benefit to the section of country through which it passes, giving the farmers and others a competing line to the great markets of the east. The people along the proposed route say they want the road, and it only remains with them to secure it, which we have every hope will be done. If they vote the aid asked, the road will be built and completed and the cars making regular trips through Burden within the next six months. The farmers can readily see by exercising the slightest judgment what benefit it will be to them when we have as firm a road as the above. Don
=t let Winfield and the Santa Fe use you as a tool any longer, but proclaim your rights and maintain them. Vote for the bonds. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
Many of the readers of the REPUBLICAN will remember some pictures upon Winfield
=s Fourth of July bill of a railroad marked theM. B. & W. This road was to have been the Missouri, Burden & Winfield. Hackney was to have been president of the company; E. A. Henthorn, secretary; John Eaton, treasurer; Capt. Nipp, Soward, and other Winfield parties, directors. This road was gotten up at first--before the C. K. & W. scheme was invented--to defeat the Kansas City & Pan Handle. Winfield begged Burden to join them, but the latter refused. The road was to have run from Eureka to Burden, thence to Winfield, and on to Geuda, and was to be a Santa Fe road, according to Hackney. Finding the M. B. & W. wouldn
=t work, the C. K. & W. was invented. One by one the mighty schemes of the county seat take a tumble.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
The Ft. S. & N. W. R. R.
Contract Let and Work to Begin at Once.
We have from time to time for the past year told our readers that the Ft. Smith R. R. would be built and the people of this county given a southern outlet to market. Of late it has been somewhat of an annoyance to be frequently confronted by the farmers who were always sure to demand of us an answer to the question,
AWhen is work on the Ft. Smith R. R. to be commenced?@ For a time we succeeded in dodging the question, but we were finally compelled to admit that we did not know. But today we are happy to say to our readers that we do know, and we will tell you all about it.Wednesday, Mr. James Hill, principal of the firm of Hill, Mason & Co., one of the most extensive railroad builders in this country, visited this city, and closed the contract for the construction of the Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern through the State of Kansas. The surveyors will be on the ground next week and proceed at once to survey and permanently locate the line. As soon as that part of the work is completed, which will be within thirty days, the graders will go to work. The company have plenty of ties and iron and all other material necessary for the construction of the line and work will be pushed as fast as money and men can do it. The contract calls for the completion of the line and cars running thereon by the first of February, 1887. This is the full text of the whole business and all we can do now is to remind our friends that the whistle of the engines on the Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern will furnish you music by the agreed time. Wellington Standard.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM SATURDAY
=S DAILY.]The Hutchinson Daily News has the following concerning the workings of the Ft. Smith in that county.
A
The Ft. Smith road is not so well known from the fact that only lately has it been possible for such a line to be built; but in fact it means still greater things for Reno County than the Rock Island as it is a through line to New Orleans, giving us a market for corn, wheat, oats, and all our products, while in return we get coal and lumber at less than one-half of the present prices. Look on your maps and see the route and at once you will say, AHurrah for the Ft. Smith!@ From New Orleans the Huntingdon system now runs up Red River to Ft. Smith. From Ft. Smith to Arkansas City, this state, the right of way has been granted to the same system, and from Arkansas City to Wellington, Hutchinson, Nickerson, and onto Nebraska, chartered under the name of Ft. Smith, Kansas & Nebraska. This road will come into Reno County from the southeast and run northwest to Hutchinson and Nickerson, running about thirty-five miles, and asking $125,000 in the county bonds.@
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
Cowley County has no competition at present in railroad matters. We have naught but the Santa Fe. The one corporation controls our great county. But we have a chance to introduce a line indirectly opposite to the ones we now have. The K. C. & P. H. is a Missouri Pacific enterprise. We must have competition in railroad rates before we can prosper to any great extent.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]The Engineering News and American Contract Journal, published at New York City, says, under date of July 3, that
AThe State Line Railroad from Independence, Kansas, to Arkansas City, is making preparations to commence work at once.@By the above notice we know positively that the State Line road is to be built and built immediately. The News would make no note of it unless definite arrangements had been made for its construction.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
We are reliably informed that the Santa Fe company are amassing vast amounts of material at Independence, to be used in the construction of their road across the Indian country and down the Texas
APan Handle,@ and to Ft. Worth, a distance of about 400 miles. This confirms us in our belief that the road running through Peru is to be the main trunk of the Chicago, Kansas and Western Railroad.Peru Times.
The C. K. & W. R. R. will come to Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
The Winfield Courier of last Wednesday gives its readers two columns of editorial bosh in favor of the C. K. & W. Railroad and against the K. C. & P. H. Railroad. They may cry impossibilities until their lungs are sore, but on the 14th day of August bonds will be voted to the latter road and in six months from that date the keers [?] will make regular trips from Reece to Arkansas City, ignoring the mud-hole and their miserable attempt to defeat the bonds.
Burden Eagle.
[DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE WORD
AKEERS@...???]
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
As a Liar.
As a liar the Winfield Courier is entitled to the whole bake shop. The article on the Chicago, Kansas & Western, in the daily of the 14th, is a tissue of lies from beginning to end. The facts are that Arkansas City did not go to old man Reece until the businessmen of Burden, who have been looking up a connection with the Missouri Pacific railroad, had the arrangements for the building of the Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad from Reece to the State Line via Arkansas City completed, and suggested to them that they ought to become interested in the movement. The map of Kansas showed at a glance that the building of this road from Reece via Latham & Burden to Arkansas City was almost an air line and would give direct connection with Kansas City and St. Louis via the Missouri Pacific; also that it would be a very easy line built because of the level country through which it runs. Their people then became interested; and the major of Arkansas City, Frank Schiffbauer, and Amos Walton were made directors of the road, it being insisted upon that six of the ten directors should be Missouri Paciffic railroad men, two at Burden and two at Arkansas City.
To show the fallacy of the position of the Courier, we quote as follows.
A
Now any sensible man would decide at once that their Pan Handle road will never be built simply because no man with money would invest in such a wild scheme and no railroad company would expend three millions of dollars to build a road over such a country where the grading would be such a tremendous expense, when there is no prospect that the business of the road will ever pay six percent on one-tenth of the money.@Everyone in Cowley County knows that no easier line to build could be found in Cowley County than the proposed line of the Kansas City & Pan Handle. Here is the milk in the cocoanut.
A
If there was a reasonable probability that this road would be built, Winfield would Abe tooth and toe nail@ for it because it would surely come to Winfield as that it ever reached Silver Creek and because it would be of advantage to the townships along the line.@The Courier admits that if it came to Winfield, it would be an advantage to the townships along the line. Now if the road connects the townships along the line with Kansas City, St. Louis, and the Pan Handle of Texas, it would seem that the said townships can live through it, even though it does miss Winfield. Again, we quote:
A
What inducement would the paltry sum of fifteen to twenty thousand in bonds each from six townships not aggregating $100,000, scarcely $1,000 a mile, be to the building of a hundred miles of such road, costing $20,000 to $30,000 per mile?@Our readers will remember when the Courier, not three years ago, insisted that railroads could be built for $6,000 to $8,000 per mile through Cowley County, and now when the K. C. & P. H. proposes to build for $2,000 per mile, they say it
Aain=t enough money.@It is well known that Winfield
=s scheme is to vote every dollar the different townships can vote so as to tie them up so they can=t vote any assistance to any road that don=t point to Winfield.The Kansas City & Pan Handle road does not ask for the limit the townships can vote; but simply asks for a fair amount and propose to put up the balance themselves and build the road. Another point is that the majority of the directors are Missouri Pacific railroad men, and as is well known, that road has wanted for some time to get into Cowley County to compete with the Santa Fe for our business.
There is no intention on the part of the road to defeat the D. M. & A., in Sheridan or any other township, but they do propose to build this road, and the friends of this road in Sheridan Township will also vote for the D. M. & A., Winfield to the contrary, notwithstanding. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
Arkansas City.
At no distant day the city at the confluence of the Arkansas and Walnut Rivers in Cowley County, is destined to become one of the greatest manufacturing cities in the West and will certainly be far ahead of any city in Southern and Western Kansas. Located between the Arkansas and Walnut on the east with a fall of twenty-two feet between the two rivers, the advantages for cheap water power are unlimited. This power is now being utilized to a very limited extent only; but the canal, three miles in length, and at once to be lengthened two miles more, in order to do away with the dam on the Arkansas, affords ample power to run one hundred mills. The fact of the business is, that all the water in the Arkansas can be utilized for this purpose, making it the grandest water power in Kansas.
Arkansas City is also the natural gateway to the Indian Territory and to the Pan-Handle of Texas, making it the most desirable and accessible distributing point for all that vast, rich extension of territory. It is located in the midst of one of the most productive stretches of country in the Great West, capable of furnishing products sufficient to supply the necessities of a little world.
And now it has taken initiatory steps toward a new Era of prosperity. The Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad is reaching out in that direction; and the people of Arkansas City and of the eastern half of Cowley County are reaching out their arms, welcoming it with hospitable hands.
It
=s a glorious country, down there in Cowley County, literally Aoverflowing with milk and honey.@ The Kansas City & Pan Handle wants Arkansas City and the future great manufacturing city of Southern Kansas wants the Pan Handle. Reece Sunflower.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
Chicago, Kansas & Western R. R. Extension.
Work on the Elinor and El Dorado extension is advancing rapidly, the grading having been completed to the new town of Richards, in Chase County, Kansas. The grading between Douglass and Winfield has been completed, and in a short time solid trains will be running from the interior of Oklahoma by way of Arkansas City and El Dorado, to connect with the Santa Fe at Emporia. On the completion of the line between Arkansas City and Ft. Worth, through trains will be run to Galveston by this route. It is expected that the Santa Fe
=s new outlet to Galveston will be open for traffic within six months.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]Arkansas City will have three new railroads by January 1, 1887. The K. C. & P. H., the State Line, and the Ft. S. W. & N. W. How we boom.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]Graders of the G. S. C. & W. Road are coming into this city to work on the canal extension. A large force of hands are engaged in clearing the stumps and debris from the land along the survey preparatory to the digging of the ditch.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
This morning the surveying corps of the Ft. Smith & Wellington road began running the line from Geuda Springs, northwest through Sumner County. Grading and track-laying will begin as soon as the final survey is made. Jas. Hill, of this city, has the contract for building the road from here across the state of Kansas.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
E. M. Hewins, of Cedarvale, arrived in the city today. He informed a REPUBLICAN representative that Cedarvale would soon have two railroads. The C. K. & W. has the grade thrown up within two miles of Cedarvale and the C. M. & A. to Sedan. The surveyors of both companies are located at Cedarvale. Which way from there they are intending to head, Mr. Hewins was unable to state.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
We clip the following deservedly complimentary notice of one of the Ft. Scott Wichita and Western
=s most able and energetic officials from the Wichita Eagle.A
Mr. Joseph H. Richards, the general solicitor of the Ft. Scott & Wichita railroad, and of the Wichita & Colorado, or Eagle Line, was at the late meeting of the directors elected first vice-president of each of these corporations. The promotion is not only deserved upon his part, but a wise one for the companies. The J. H. Richards referred to in the above is one of the most prominent members of the Kansas City & Pan Handle.@
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
The Winfield Courier says J. H. Richards, who is connected with the Kansas City & Pan Handle road, is not the vice-president of the Ft. Scott & Wichita road. When the Courier makes that statement, it willfully prevaricates. To prove that Mr. Richards is what we say he is, we refer our readers to the item in Tuesday
=s daily, taken from the Wichita Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
A. A. Robinson, Chief Engineer and Vice-President of the Santa Fe road, has just returned to Topeka from an overland trip from Arkansas City to Gainesville, Texas, over the proposed route of the extension now being built through the Indian Territory. He says the line will run nearly due south from Arkansas City, crossing Deep Fork at its head, passing forty miles east of Reno, near Kickapootown on the North Canadian, and through Ft. Arbuckle to Washita River at Old Kickapootown, and thence directly south to Gainesville. He reports the route an excellent one and the country rich and well wooded and watered. Cedarvale Star.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
We are sorry to see Dexter take it so much to heart, especially the building of the Pan-Handle Road through Harvey, Silver Creek, Sheridan and Liberty to A. C. People that live in glass houses should be careful how they throw stones, and they must remember that chickens will come home to roost. Burden Enterprise.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe company has placed an order for 10,000 tons of steel rails with the Cambria Iron Company. These rails are to be used in extending the road from Paris to Dallas, Texas. The new branch is to be called the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe road. The order is to be filled as rapidly as possible for the work is to be rushed right ahead.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
Hackney, Siverd, and Asp are telling it about Winfield that if Ed. Greer is not returned to the legislature this fall, The Santa Fe company will not put its machine shops in Winfield. Good Lord! We thought Winfield had already secured those machine shops, and that the Santa Fe had paid therefor the sum of $22,500. If Arkansas City had only known sooner that this question was not settled, our people might have been working to secure these shops. Either Hackney and his detestable crowd have been lying all these weeks, or they are lying now. It strikes us, however, that this puts a rather comical face on Winfield
=s pretentions, and will have very little weight with solid thinking people.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
The contract for building the Fort Smith, Wellington and Northwestern railroad has been let to Hill, Mason & Co., of Arkansas City; and work commenced Tuesday. The work will be vigorously pushed and the line completed to Clearwater before Christmas.
Arkansas City Republican, July 24, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]Certain Winfield parties are telling it around in Liberty and Pleasant Valley Townships that Ike Harkleroad, while in Winfield recently, said he felt like hiring some Winfield man to kick himself out of the country because he supported the State Line road and that he was confident now that the road would never be constructed. Ike was in to see the REPUBLICAN yesterday, and he was about as wrathy as a man could be. He desires us to say that the men who are peddling the above saying as coming from him are liars, and that he is as certain that the State Line road will be built as that the Sun rises in the east. Ike further said that he was going to Winfield to look up the originators of the lie and make them swallow it if he had to choke down them. And Ike meant what he said.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Railroad Remarks.
When the propositions were submitted to Cedar, Spring Creek, and Liberty Townships last spring, the submission was fully authorized; and if the bonds had been carried, the road would have been built over the route therein marked out, let it cost what it would. Since then by cursory inspection of the ground, they've learned more about the topography of the southeast townships in this county, than the route marked out, especially that part through Cedar Township, which would have been tremendously expensive, so expensive that it would have been far better for the company to have selected it after a careful survey of their engineers and built the road without bonds than to have built over that route and receive all the bonds proposed. So the defeat of these bonds was a kind of relief to them as it gave them a chance to first select their own route by actual survey before submitting propositions for bonds again. Winfield Courier.
The remark preceding the above would lead the casual reader to believe that the Courier was attempting to say that the I. & S. W. Company authorized the submission of the propositions in Liberty, Cedar, and Spring Creek Townships. That journal does not say so although it endeavors to hold out that this is what it is trying to say. The REPUBLICAN happens to know the I. & S. W. Company, or the C. K. & W. Co., as it is now, never authorized the submission of those propositions, although they may have been fully
Aauthorized;@ but it was by someone else. If the bonds had been carried, the road would never have been constructed by the above mentioned company because the route was impracticable for it, and, as the Courier truthfully states, would have been Atremendously expensive.@ We reproduce the above clipping principally to bear us out in the assertion in yesterday=s daily that the Missouri Pacific would never build the D. M. & A. Road to Winfield via Dexter. We stated that the surveyors had twice run the line and each time reported that to build it would be tremendously expensive, costing as much as $30,000 per mile, and that it would be cheaper to build the line the route they desire without bonds than with the bonds the route they do not desire.We hope the Dexter Eye will make a note of this. When the Courier and the surveyors both make the same report, there must be some truth in it. By this, it will be seen that Dexter has pulled with the wrong parties this time to secure a railroad.
Concluding we would say that we know the defeat of the propositions in Cedar, Liberty, and Spring Creek Townships was a relief to the Santa Fe or I. & S. W. Company. Simply because the company would have to antagonize Winfield by not accepting the bonds and no company wants to antagonize a town of any proportions without a just cause.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
The Courier and the Visitor are both very much exercised because of the C. K. & W. propositions being withdrawn in Liberty, Dexter, and Otter Townships, and are trying so hard to explain why it was so. Both journals send up bitter wails. Yesterday we gave the Visitor
=s explanation. Today we present the Courier=s. Our readers will be surprised by the announcement of the withdrawal of the C. K. & W. propositions from the townships of Liberty, Dexter, and Otter, and there will be a disposition to kick somebody as having exceeded his authority in calling those elections. Now we do not understand how the mistake occurred, but we feel certain that the party who acted in the matter believed and had reason to believe that he was authorized to proceed as he did. Being anxious to have the road built as soon as possible, he may have mistaken the discussion of the details of the matter for instructions to proceed at once.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Winfield, Beaver Township, and Geuda Springs have combined to build an independent railroad from the first named place, through the second, to the third. The charter will be filed in a few days. The directors for the first year are L. F. Johnson, J. H. Watts, J. W. Browning, of Beaver Township; Chas. G. Furry and C. R. Mitchell, Geuda Springs; and P. H. Albright, S. H. Myton, J. E. Conklin, J. R. Clark, and J. L. M. Hill of Winfield. A glance at the directorship shows the standing of the company.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Yesterday, according to the Winfield papers, the deed for the 157 acres of land to the treasurer of the A. T. & S. F. Railway company, E. Wilder, was filed for record. This land, it is claimed, is for the machine shops of the Santa Fe. Perhaps it is and perhaps it is not. In our opinion, it is the latter. At any rate we shall see what we shall see--namely, that Winfield has no assurance of the shops, roundhouses, etc.; not even a water tank.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
The Frisco Outlet.
The St. Louis and San Francisco has fully concluded the arrangement for a Pacific coast outlet, giving a through line to the Gulf at Galveston, Texas. The Frisco, which is working with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, has joint control of the Atlantic and Pacific outlet to the Pacific ocean, and when the line from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Paris, Texas, contracts for which were recently let, is completed striking the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe, lately acquired by the Atchison, the direct route to Galveston will be perfected. This will give St. Louis another direct and short route into Texas territory. Globe-Democrat.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Arkansas City
=s Weather Report.A
Hot! Hot! Did you say?@ The REPUBLICAN reporter was just settling comfortably into the barber=s chair this morning as the above ejaculation from a remote corner attracted his attention. He quietly slipped a nickle into the barber=s paw, with a hint to keep his mouth shut, and turned his reportorial ear in the direction of the aforesaid corner. Two parties were discussing the subject of the heat in southern Kansas. One, a tenderfoot right from Canada, was complaining about the high altitude of the thermometrical mercury and had ventured the suggestion that it was hot. His companion was an acclimated citizen, whose only claim on our glorious free institutions consisted in the fact that he occasionally deposited liberal fines in the city treasury and paid tax on three worthless canines. He immediately entered upon an elaborate elucidation of the question of temperature to the ready-to-be-initiated newcomer.A
Hot! You don=t mean to insinuate that this caloric condition of the atmosphere is uncomfortable? Why, pard, we fellers what is used to it count this a tol=able cool day--in fact, really chilly. You oughter jist abin around this >ere sand hill last week. I reckon your taller would abin so completely fried as to be no >count, even fur soap grease. Darn my fool soul, if the sun=s heat didn=t rip one end uv a green sheetin= board offen the roof uv the cracker fact=ry, doubled it over, an= pulled the nails cleam thro= the board, heads an= all. Large pavin= rocks curled up like melon rinds. Where the sun had a clean sweep at the rear of the brick an= stone buildins, the walls >spanded so=s to h=ist up the roof and pitched it to=ards the street. Our ice men had to handle last winter=s solidified Walnut River fruit with tongs and gloves, the chunks was so hot. Every thermometer was tetol=ly wrecked, cept a few what was lowered inter deep wells for preservation. Even the merc=ry in some on >em clim up the well rope an= >vaporated. It gin a man an= two boys a right smart tussle to ketch a decent breath. Railroad firemen had to pack their fire boxes with ice an= fan the steam gauge to keep down the pressure. On Friday the 2:15 Santa Fe train struck a cut up north here a short ways, jist as the wind went down a bit, an= >pon my word, the heat jist swelled them >ere rails that shoved the whole track an= train a mile clean tuther side uv the secon= station north afore the engineer could sock on the air-brakes.@The fellow halted to take breah and his victim was about to ask how it was possible for a human being to survive such a roasting, when the infernal barber called out
ANext.@
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
John Doyle came in yesterday from his work of bridging the Chikaski, to take charge of putting in the headgates of the canal. The bridge across the Chicaski is not yet completed. He informs us that the track of the Caldwell road was laid to within five miles of South Haven when he left.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]The surveyors are now at work on the line of the Ft. Smith, Wellington & Northwestern, having commenced work at Geuda Springs Tuesday. The work of surveying the line through the Territory is also progressing and ere long the graders will be at work throwing dirt.
Wellington Standard.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
The latter part of last week switches and steel rails were received at Winfield for the building of the Douglass extension. We are informed work is to be begun immediately on this branch, and as soon as completed, train service will be extended to Arkansas City. This will give us four Santa Fe trains per day.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]The Courier Again.
In an attempt to answer an article in the Arkansas City REPUBLICAN, the Courier of the 20th says:
A
Again it says of the K. C. & P. H.: >In it are four prominent members of the Ft. Scott, Wichita & Western railroad and the positions they hold are as follows: J. H. Richards, general manager; W. P. McNair, assistant superintendent; Geo. Smith, and ___ Prosser, of St. Louis, directors.=A
Mind that these are the offices those four men hold in the Pan Handle instead of the Ft. Scott & Wichita. Neither of them were ever heard of before in railroad circles. Prosser is the only one of them we ever heard of before and he lives at Latham and has some town lots in that place, but he can do no more toward building a railroad than the average citizen of Sheridan or Liberty township.@The Courier wilfully and maliciously misrepresents when it says
Amind these are the offices those four men hold in the Pan Handle instead of the Ft. Scott & Wichita.@Everyone knows or can easily find out, that J. H. Richards is the general manager of the Ft. Scott & Wichita. They know equally as well that W. P. McNair is the assistant superintendent of the Ft. Scott & Wichita.
The Courier grows facetious when it says that
AProsser is the only one of them ever heard of before and he lives at Latham.@ It is true there is a man named Prosser living at Latham, but not one of the directors of the Pan Handle ever saw him. The Prosser who is a director of the Pan Handle lives in St. Louis and is the contractor who furnished the material to build all the Missouri Pacific extensions in Kansas for the past three years.The Courier maliciously lies when it says these are the four offices those four men hold in the Pan Handle. Mr. Richards is vice-president of the Pan Handle and Mr. McNair and Mr. Prosser are directors. The facts are that these men hold the positions named in the Ft. Scott & Wichita and the Courier knows it.
In this issue we clip from the Wichita Eagle a notice concerning this same J. H. Richards, showing that he has been recently elected vice president of two other Missouri Pacific lines. Still the Courier says,
AWe never heard of him before.@ As a first-class liar the Courier is a success.Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Kansas and Arkansas Valley.
Van Buren, Arkansas, July 22.
A committee of the citizens of Van Buren today met Col. H. Wood, general manager of the Arkansas Valley route, in regard to the proposed line to Arkansas City, Kansas. The committee offered Mr. Wood sufficient ground for shops and yards on condition that Van Buren would be the terminal point of the Kansas and Arkansas Valley road. Col. Wood seemed much pleased with the land, and also with the way he was received. Work will be commenced at once. The corps of engineers are now ready to start.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]Conflicting rumors touching what the Santa Fe people really intend to do as between Winfield and Arkansas City are flying about. Some people go so far as to intimate new arrangements and a new policy in which Wichita and the Santa Fe are to be more closely identified.
Wichita Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
The Dexter Eye is knocked out entirely by the item taken from the Winfield Visitor and published elsewhere in the columns of the REPUBLICAN. The C. K. & W. propositions have been withdrawn and we wonder now how the poor Eye will explain its assertion that the C. K. & W. was sure to be built. A. A. Robinson, vice president of the Santa Fe, places the Eye in a very awkward position.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Hon. J. H. Richards, of Wichita, Vice President of the Kansas City & Pan-Handle Railroad, is Vice President of the St. Louis, Ft. Scott & Wichita Railroad. W. P. McNair, one of the Directors of the Kansas City & Pan-Handle Railroad, is Assistant Superintendent of the St. Louis, Ft. Scott & Wichita Railroad, and whoever says to the contrary is a prevaricator and a scoundrel, and the word of truth is not in him. Reece Sunflower.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Winfield has always boasted that she don
=t interfere with any railroad prospect in Cowley County that don=t interfere with her interests. We should like to know what interests they have in a railroad from which they are not asked to contribute anything. The road don=t run within 10 miles of them and all they are asked to do is to keep their hands off. Still they are spending both time and money to beat the bonds. Consistency, thou art a jewel. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Henry Asp is telling his acquaintances in Pleasant Valley, Liberty and Sheridan Townships that J. H. Richards, vice-president of the Ft. Scott, Wichita & Western road, is in no wise connected with the Kansas City & Pan Handle; that he has it from Mr. Richards himself. To prove that Mr. Asp is not telling the truth, we refer the citizens of the above named townships to the charter of the K. C. & P. H. Mr. Asp will, no doubt, produce a letter purporting to be from Mr. Richards about August 13, stating that he is no member of the Pan Handle company.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]Capt. Siverd, while in the city yesterday, informed a REPUBLICAN representative that Hon. Bill Hackney, the attorney of the Santa Fe, had no knowledge of the submission of the C. K & W. propositions in Liberty and other townships until after the elections were ready to be called. It is supposed that other Winfield parties drew up the propositions. This proves that the idea of building the C. K. & W. road to Winfield never existed except in the minds of Winfield men and is done to defeat the east portion of the county in getting a road.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
We are informed by reliable parties that the D. M. & A. surveyors have run two lines to Dexter from Cedarvale and each time they bring back the report that the country is so rough that a road cannot be constructed to that place at not less than $30,000 per mile. From the actions of the surveyors, it appears they have abandoned that route. They are now surveying southwest from Cedarvale to the mouth of Rock Creek. No one knows where the engineers are headed for, but it is generally supposed over east that their destination will be Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
A gang of Santa Fe graders came in from Hutchinson the latter part of last week and they are camped down by the depot awaiting orders. Another force is expected to arrive here daily from the same place. Both gangs will go down in the Territory to work on the grade. We are informed that shortly 4,000 feet of side-track will be laid in the vicinity of the stock yards to receive the material, iron, ties, etc., which are to be used in the Galveston extension from this city. The company will have when this is done some three miles and a half of side tracking at this city. Material for 200 miles of track will be shipped here then. It will be a gain day for Arkansas City, when track begins to go down on the Galveston extension.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]The C. K. & W. Proposition Withdrawn.
The calls for elections which were submitted in Dexter, Otter, and Liberty Townships, have been withdrawn in accordance with the instruction of Mr. A. A. Robinson, of the Santa Fe company. Mr. Robinson, in his letter ordering their withdrawal, states that the propositions were submitted without any authority from the company; that the Santa Fe R. R. Co. never allow propositions to be submitted to vote bonds to any of their lines that they do not intend to strictly comply with. Hence the propositions must be withdrawn. He does not feel justified in agreeing to build on any line until a survey or investigation has been made on the line, and that a survey or investigation shall be made of this line very soon.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
The Visitor is sorry that their propositions were submitted prematurely. But the mistake was made, and it is too late to cry over spilled milk. The town
=s prosperity did not depend upon the building of the line and its growth will not be retarded in the least by the withdrawal of the propositions. Winfield Visitor.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
To the People of Otter, Dexter, and Liberty Townships.
The petition for elections and the submission to you of propositions to vote bonds to the Chicago, Kansas and Western railroad company, was submitted without authority of any kind or character, from said railroad company, and I have directed the
ADexter Eye,@ in which said propositions are being published, to discontinue the publication of the same; and no election will be held under said call, or if there should be, you are requested to vote said propositions down, as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad compnay, of which the Chicago, Kansas & Western is a part, never submit propositions that it does not intend to comply with, in letter and in spirit; hence it will be bound by no propositions submitted without its authority. And these companies will not be prepared to submit any propositions until the route shall be located or at least investigated further, which will be in a very short time.W. P. HACKNEY,
Attorney A. T. & S. F. R. R. Co., and C. K. & W. R. R. Co.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Santa Fe railroad men are arriving in the city daily. A gang of some 300 go down along the route this week. Capt. Price, one of the grading contractors, informs us that the line from here to Galveston is to be in operation by Feb. 1, 1887. Graders are now working both ways and are strung out all along the route. Iron will go down soon. Preparations are being made in this city to receive the material.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
P. Hamil came down from Newton yesterday. He informs us that the Wichita Eagle
=s statement about the Santa Fe office being moved from Newton to Topeka is false and there was no cause for the publication of the statement. Mr. Hamil also tells us that as he came down he saw a force of Santa Fe graders at work two miles and a half north of Winfield putting in the long ties so as to merge the Douglass extension into their Arkansas City line. Mr. Hamil will remain in the city several days.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
The Mudhole Visitor reminds us of the boy who rushed into the house and exclaimed to his father:
AThere are one hundred dogs fighting out in our front yard.@ AOh no,@ replied the father. AWell, there are fifty,@ answered the hopeful. The father shook his head negatively. AWell, I know our dog is there, anyway.@ A short time ago the Visitor announced with a triumphant flourish that fourteen new railroads were to be built into Winfield. Its readers were dubious and have been pinning that journal down until it is forced to remark, AThe K. C. short line will be built all the same as will the Opera House and other buildings contemplated.@ The REPUBLICAN anxiously awaits to see if this will be true.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]A refrigerator car has been put on by the Santa Fe Company for the accommodation of produce shippers. This car will leave Arkansas City every Tuesday for Colorado and New Mexico.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Today about 75 Railroad teams arrived in the city from Hutchinson. They are Price & McGavock
=s and are on the way to the Territory to fulfill their grading contract on the Santa Fe extension.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Ye reporter is informed that the K. C. & P. H. R. R. Co., has harmonized the dissatisfaction that existed concerning the indefinite location of the depot in this township, Pleasant Valley, as expressed in the proposition. The company have filed stipulations binding themselves to locate the depot within one mile of South Bend Schoolhouse. There is now a strong probability that the bonds will carry.
Hackney correspondent in the Courier.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Will Moore returned from his overland trip to Independence. He tells us that the D. M. & A. is rapidly materializing in Chautauqua County; that a large force of hands are grading there and also in Montgomery. As the survey now stands, the road will run a mile south of Cedarvale, striking Cedar Creek at the Cowley County Line, and coming up it. The Santa Fe have a larger force at work in Chautauqua County than the D. M. & A., and they will soon have their line into Cedarvale.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]Whenever men of communities resort to villification and lying in endeavoring to carry their points, their case is desperate indeed. Endeavoring to defeat the township propositions in Cowley County to vote aid to The Kansas City & Pan-Handle Railroad, some of the people of Wind Field (especially the local editor of the Courier) have resorted to this gutter-snipe species of warfare. These lies and slander, however, will be of no avail. The people of Cowley County must by this time have learned the low character of the man and will treat with contempt his slanderous statements. We don
=t believe there=s anything too low to do, in the scale of human depravity, that the Wind Field Courier will not do in its insane attempts to defeat the building of the K. C. & P. H. Railroad through Cowley County. But the road will be built just the same! Paste this on your nose.Reece Sunflower.
Arkansas City Republican, July 31, 1886.
Winfield
=s Board of Trade Repudiates Its Debts.The Board of trade of Winfield employed C. Gaston Smith to write up that city in his
AGreat Southwest.@ He did so and now they refuse to pay for it. We have seen Mr. Smith=s effort and it is creditable considering the subject upon which he had to work. The reason pay is refused is because the Missouri Pacific was run to Arkansas City by Mr. Smith. Appended we present a clipping from the Courier.A
The Board of Trade refuses to accept and pay for the snide two dollar cut shown in the AGreat Southwest@ fraud, which was attempted to be palmed off for the first-class twenty-five dollar work of art contracted for. So the said contractor threatens, if the Board of Trade does not shell out, to sue, down Winfield and Cowley County by another fraud pamphlet, and to run the M. P. into Arkansas City. If he can do anything worse for Winfield than he has already done by his said cuts and write-up, we cannot understand how. If those were done for the purpose of benefiting Winfield, we hope he will take the other tack next time and work to kill her. Here is his terrible threat to do so.A
John A. Eaton, Esq., President of Board of Trade, Winfield, Kansas.A
Your favor of the 22nd inst., just reached me and to put the case mildly, I am paralyzed. The engraver followed copy very closely and for a bird=s eye view, it certainly is not a bad one. I have also paid for it and as per contract, forwarded you the electro. The cut of your building was made as per Mr. Smith=s instructions to me and is a facsimile of the litho we had for copy, and is not a bad piece of work. The space given to Winfield and Cowley County is all I agreed upon and the matter is certainly to the point and facts given in detail. The fact that the map shows the Missouri Pacific to Arkansas City is a matter for the future to decide, and I for one do not doubt but that it will be built there. * * * * *E. O. R. EDHOLM,
2733 Thomas Street, St. Louis.
@
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
Tannehill Tidings.
August 3rd, 1886.
The old settlers here claim that more rain has fallen in the last ten days, in this township, than at any previous time at this particular season of the year, since the settlement of the country.
The railroad boom has just struck us. We believe this scheme has been under consideration for some time; but has just boomed upon us with all its power. The Winfield, Geuda Springs & Southern railroad company offer to build a railroad from Winfield through Beaver Township to Geuda Springs, giving us two depots in Beaver Township, one within one-half mile of Tannehill, the other just across the Arkansa River on the corners at section twenty.
They ask us in return for these benefits (?) To vote bonds to the amount of fifteen thousand dollars. Heretofore the taxpayers of this township have been strenuously opposed to township bonds, but a grand change is plainly visible. L. P. Johnson, J. W. Browning, and J. H. Watts have been made directors and are working for the bonds. These gentlemen are among the heaviest taxpayers in the township and their actions in the matter will have considerable weight.
Ye reporter has always been opposed to railroad bonds in this township, and we think we can produce several good reasons for our opposition; because of the peculiar location of our township with reference to railroad facilities already obtained, but we will not presume to take up the space of any paper to explain our position.
M. H. Markum
=s letter in the Courier of July 29th with reference to county superintendent clearly defines the position of the two candidates mentioned. We hope the Republicans of this county will give this question a fair and just consideration before they act.Elder Vawter and Prof. Wood of Winfield were invited to give a temperance lecture at Tannehill on last Sunday evening, but failed to put in their appearance. We were compelled to resort to home talent for the evening
=s exercises. Some excellent music was rendered, and Miss Balou gave a declamation which was finely executed, and illustrated in an impressive manner the death dealing powers of the demon alcohol.LAPSUS LINGUAE.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
The Wealth of Kansas.
TOPEKA, KANSAS, August 3. The state board of equalization has just completed its labors. The total amount of taxable property in the state is $277,110,883, or 11-1/2 percent over last year.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
The Topeka correspondent says in the Kansas City Journal: The Santa Fe is pushing work rapidly on the Texas main line running south from Arkansas City, having finished the surveyors through to Fort Work, let most of the contracts for grading and building of culverts and bridges, and have now finished twenty miles of road, which is ironed and ballasted, and rolling stock been placed for construction purposes. The work on the south end has not been finished for the reception of rolling stock much further than they had a month ago, but will rush work immediately.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
Too much study is said to affect the mind, and we are of the opinion that the Courier has studied so much over the K. C. & P. H. that their minds are irreparably affected. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
This morning the larger portion of Price & McGavock
=s teams, Santa Fe contractors, broke camp in this city and pulled for the Territory to commence work on the Santa Fe extension. There were 56 wagons and teams.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
The management of the Missouri Pacific company announce the opening for business of the Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western railroad are now ready for business: Vernon, Kansas, eight miles from Le Roy; Yates Center, Kansas, 17 miles from Le Roy.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
The prospects for the carrying of the bonds as aid to the K. C. & P. H. Railroad have never been more favorable than at the present time. The recent rains have raised the hopes of the average farmer above zero, and next comes the news that Winfield has exceeded her power in the railroad business in connection with the C. K. & W. Road, as stated in the Courier of the 27th under the signature of W. P. Hackney, and which was simply one of their old tricks to tie up the townships and prevent other roads that were liable to build through them from getting the required aid. We will have the K. C. & P. H. Road here as sure as fate, and Winfield can study some other feasible scheme by the time we want another road. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM SATURDAY
=S DAILY.]In its two column bunglesome article telling its readers where the D. M. & A. And C. K. & W. Roads were going to be built, the Courier winds in this gentle hint against the veracity of the editor of the REPUBLICAN:
AIn the next award Tom Ochiltree will lose the belt as the boss liar of America, and the loins of the editor of the Arkansas City REPUBLICAN will be adorned with the wampum. The latter has already graduated with the highest honors in the school of Hades under the tutorship of Prof. Satan, the father of lies.@We are proud to publish to the world the above
Asheep-skin,@ so willingly granted us by our venerable instructor, Father Satan Millington. But our natural modesty forbids us accepting the honor thrust upon us without some show of appreciation; therefore, we are compelled to state that we have withdrawn from the contest in favor of the editor of the Courier. There are now only two boss liars struggling for the championship of America: viz; the editor of the Courier and Hon. Tom Ochiltree.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
Frank Greer reports an interview purported to have occurred between C. B. Kilmer, purchasing agent of the Santa Fe, and himself. It is rich, rare, and racy; and we have been trying to make ourselves believe it. But it is an impossibility. It sounds too much like a general re-hash of what has been going on in the Courier for the last six months. Then again, Mr. Kilmer is purported as saying it was the intention of the company to do so and so, and not is. The local editor of the Courier, when he writes up an interview, should always take in consideration the tense of his verb. We are willing to wager one of the
Adollars of our dads,@ that the Courier outfit have never seen Mr. Kilmer.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
At present our people are thinking of nothing but railroad building. Fourteen new lines are now in progress in Kansas and more than one being sprung every day. Courier.
The above is an Extract from the purported interview between the local editor of the Courier and C. B. Kilmer. From it we should judge that either Mr. Kilmer or the Courier knows very little of what the Santa Fe Company are doing. For the enlightenment of our readers, we would state that under the C. K. & W. Charter alone, there are 19 lines of road in progress. None of them yet being completed, Frank, you should examine the charter when you write another interview.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
A
Arkansas City=s cats paw of Maple City, signed AMaple,@ is a sooner of the first water, and is so held and esteemed by the citizens of that community; the only redeeming quality about him is that he acknowledges enough to convince anyone that they did all the Eye accused them of.@The above is from the Dexter Eye, and is the resort of a blackguard when he can advance no argument.
AMaple@ is a gentleman.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
Tuesday was the day of the special election in Bluff Township to vote aid to the border road. Several gentlemen from Winfield and Caldwell put in the day in the interest of the bonds; but when the vote was counted at night, it was found that 150 votes had been cast against the proposition and only 21 for it. Sumner County Standard.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
We see by the Courier that the Chicago, Kansas & Western (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe) railway has withdrawn its township bond propositions, which were recently submitted in that county to secure the extension of the Cana Valley road from Cedar Vale to Winfield. This means something, possibly very much more than is suspected by the average citizens of Winfield. El Dorado Republican.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
[JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Track is laid to within one mile of South Haven last evening on the G. S. & C. Road.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
The Dexter Eye has this truth,
ANo railroad company will build a road that will cost $30,000 per mile.@That is what the REPUBLICAN has been telling Dexter all the time about the D. M. & A. coming there.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
Saturday a gang of Santa Fe graders and trackmen came in and commenced work on their extra switches down by the stockyards. Four thousand feet of tracks are to be laid. It will be finished the latter part of this week and then work is to begin on the bridge.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
The mud-hole Visitor howled Saturday because the REPUBLICAN announced that the Santa Fe had filed that 157 acre deed for record. By a reference to our back files the Visitor can see that we stated once before that the purchase, of which it talks so much, was made.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
Hon. Amos Walton of Arkansas City, one of the Directors of The Kansas City & Pan-Handle Railroad Company, was a visitor to our city the first of the week. Mr. Walton drove with his team over the proposed route between Arkansas City to this city, and reports the line an easy one to build--no heavy grades and no acute curves. The sentiments of the people of the different townships, so the gentleman informed us, is overwhelmingly in favor of voting the aid asked.
Reece Sunflower.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Capt. Siverd was down today from Winfield. He informs us that parties up there are working up another railroad scheme. Bill Hackney, Ed. Greer, Mart Robinson, Bro. Kinney, and other Winfield capitalists have filed a charter to build a railroad to the moon. He came down to tell us, he said, so that we could get in our call for an election for a cross road first. We thanked the Captain for his information and wish to inform him that Arkansas City only deals in railroads possible to build. We never file any moonshine charters for railroads; but when there is a chance to secure a railroad, Arkansas City always get there first. We do not meddle with railroads to the moon, Captain.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
A
It is stated,@ says the El Dorado Republican, Athat the Douglass extension of the Florence, El Dorado & Walnut Valley road will make connection with the Wichita & Arkansas City line two and a half miles north of Winfield.@And we add that it is a fact.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
The Chicago, Kansas & Western Railroad Company has withdrawn the proposition for aid in the townships of Otter, Dexter, and Liberty, Cowley County, and W. P. Hackney, attorney for the road, has caused notices to this effect to be published in the papers of that county.
Reece Sunflower.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Winfield has gotten out a charter to build a railroad from Yates Center via Howard. They claim the enterprise is backed by the Missouri Pacific folks and yet a glance at the names of the members of the company fail to reveal one of the M. P. officials. The company is composed of citizens from Winfield, Howard, and Yates Center. There is not even the name of an eastern capitalist in the directory.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
F. J. Hess informs us that upon examination of the records at Winfield he discovered that the deed for that 157 acres of land, of which we hear so much in the Winfield papers, has been filed. The record shows a transfer of the land to E. Wilder, but that is all. Who E. Wilder is the record fails to state; consequently, it looks as if Mr. Wilder had bought the land for himself.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
From the Topeka Capital, we learn that it is asserted that through agents the A. T. & S. F. has secured a majority of the bonds of the Chicago division of the Wabash. This, it is still alleged, explains the proceedings lately taken in the United States court before Judge Gresham--an application for sale of the road in foreclosure, and separation of that particular division from the rest of the system. The property covers about 245 miles from Chicago to Bement and is bonded at $4,500,000. It is an excellently built road and one of the best paying divisions of the Wabash.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
Otter Township is quite indignant over the manner in which they have been duped by Winfield in regard to railroad matters.
ANovice,@ the correspondent of the Courier from that township voices the sentiment of the people. AWe see by the Courier that the proposition in this township has been withdrawn on account of being submitted without authority. Now, we are getting tired of this kind of work. This is the second time Winfield has saddled costs on this township; and if it has been done without proper authority, the men who got up this scheme should be compelled to pay the costs.@
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]REECE, BURDEN, AND ARKANSAS CITY.
Directors
= Meeting of the New Road.R. R. Phelps and E. A. Henthorn, of Burden; Mayor Schiffbauer of Arkansas City; W. S. Reece and L. V. Harkness, of Reece; together with J. H. Richards and W. P. McNair, directors of the Reece, Burden, and Arkansas City extension of the Missouri Pacific held an important meeting in this city yesterday. This enterprise is now well on its feet and its speedy construction, we are informed, will soon follow. It traverses a fine section and practically links Arkansas City and Burden by another line to Kansas City. The Kansas City and Pan-Handle evidently is no paper road, but one which will prove a very important link in the Missouri Pacific system and the Eagle congratulates the committees in interest. Wichita Eagle.
The above shows that Messrs. Richards and McNair, of the Ft. Scott, Wichita and Western road are interested in the Kansas City and Pan-Handle.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
When Vice-President Smith, of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, was in St. Louis Thursday, he held a lengthy conference with the
>Frisco officials, and it is understood both lines favored closer traffic arrangements than now exist, and it is believed that the >Frisco will be the St. Louis end of the A. T. & S. F. Vice-President Smith was very anxious to secure a conference with the Missouri Pacific officials, but as Vice-President Hoxie is in the east, he failed to do so. What the object of such a conference was is difficult to surmise, but the close of the present year will doubtless find the A. T. & S. F. with much more desirable St. Louis arrangements than are now possessed, and it is possible that Colorado may be included in the arrangement, although that theory is now said to be without foundation by all parties concerned. Topeka Capital.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]Kroenert & Austin sold a bill of $3,200 worth of groceries to the firm of Price & McGavock, grading contractors on the Santa Fe, last week.
Frank Parker was arrested this morning for running a dance hall down by the Frisco depot without license. He was fined $6 and costs.
Jacob Hight is in from out on the G. S. C. & W. Road. He and his men are now building a depot at Camden, the station west of Geuda.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
Dr. Love, the gentleman who has charge of the surveying corps on the Ft. Smith & Wellington road, was in the city today. He has run the final survey from Geuda to Wellington and will continue the line on up to Hutchinson. Grading is to be commenced between Geuda and Wellington shortly. This road passes through as fine a country as there is in Kansas, and has bonds voted to the extent of $4,000 per mile all the way from Arkansas City to Hutchinson.
Arkansas City Republican, August 7, 1886.
[MORE JOTTINGS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]The Rogers Coal Company, of Wichita, has purchased 50 acres of land of Bud Beck, just across the Arkansas River. They intend opening up a sand-bed and the land purchased of Mr. Beck is to be used for putting in railroad switches. Work has already commenced upon them. The Rogers Coal Company has for years been operating a sand-bed at Wichita, shipping several thousand carloads of sand annually. Upon recent investigations they found sand here far better than that afforded at Wichita, and the facilities for conducting an enterprise of this kind, superior. So they have closed their business there and will establish it here. They employ some 12 or 15 men the year around. Besides establishing a sand-bed here, they will in all probability open up a branch coal yard. The REPUBLICAN bids this new enterprise welcome.
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, November 3, 1886.
From Our Exchanges.
UDALL RECORD: S. C. Smith, of Winfield, Wm. B. Norman, of Udall, and J. A. Irwin, of Cambridge, have been appointed commissioners to condemn the D. M. & A. right of way through Cowley County. They will commence the work in the near future.
WINFIELD TELEGRAM: The Southern Kansas is doing an immense cattle business and the capacity of the road is taxed to the utmost. Ten thousand head of cattle are awaiting shipment at Kiowa.
Arkansas City Traveler, November 3, 1886.
The vote on the Rock Island bonds in Sumner County, on the 25th ult., was carried by a majority of 732.
Arkansas City Traveler, November 3, 1886.
A Threatened Explosion.
A woman who lives over in Arkansas City by the side of the Frisco R. R., where there is a heavy grade, says that she hasn
=t slept any for the last six months, except when she goes to meeting.She says that everytime a freight train starts for St. Louis and gets just in front of her door, the pesky old engine stops and refuses to go a step further; and when the engineer and fireman begin to put on more steam, the nasty old thing just paws the earth, puffs, snorts, and spits coals of fire as big as goose eggs all over her front yard.
Although this kind of a matinee has become somewhat monotonous, she thinks that she could get along very well if the engineer and fireman didn
=t get mad during the performance.Just as soon as the engine gets stuck, every engineer and fireman on the line for two miles up and down the road become raving mad and cuss each other until the air becomes so completely impregnated with sulphur that the chickens in the neighborhood have all disappeared.
The lady avers that she is willing to stand her chances in the presence of half a dozen freight engines, but when a lot of railroad men begin to spit fire and the blue blazes of profanity sizzle out of the pores of their body, she takes the children and goes down into the cellar, expecting every minute that the whole calamity will be blown into eternal smithereens and knock the bottom steam out of the real estate market in Arkansas City. Geuda Crank.
Arkansas City Traveler, November 10, 1886.
Geo. A. Hand, master of transportation of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific railroad, was among the passengers to the city on Monday. He left the same evening, but purchased eleven city lots during his brief stay. He was so impressed with the favorable chances of real estate investment here, that he declared if he had $50,000 at his command, he would put it all into Arkansas City sand.
Arkansas City Traveler, November 10, 1886.
As we intimated yesterday morning Jennings & Troup served a temporary restraining order on the county commissioners, notifying them to not give to the F. E. & W. V. R. R. the bonds of Walnut Township. The order was granted by Judge Torrance in Chambers on a showing that the company hadn
=t kept their contract with the township. The stipulation required a line of road to be built from the north line of the township to the corporate limits of Winfield, which would have given them five miles of track. The matter will have to come up for final hearing before Judge Torrance, when the order will either be made perpetual or dissolved. Winfield Visitor.
Arkansas City Traveler, November 10, 1886.
The Southern Kansas Grade.
Charles Hale was in town on Saturday, from the Southern Kansas grade in the Territory, to procure supplies for his camp and take along a mowing machine. He and his brother, Frank, are working for C. Stubblefield, who has a contract to grade ten miles of track some distance south of the Cimarron. The grade lies along a ridge dividing Chisholm
=s Creek from Deer Creek, composed of rich alluvial soil and easily worked. The Hale Bros. have six teams there and their party consists of nine men. Prairie chickens abound, and many of their meals are made flavorous with this delicious game. Deer are to be seen occasionally, bear tracks are frequently visible, and panthers are within the reach of those who covet adventurous sportsmanship. The grass is green and in good condition, and Charles takes a mowing machine with him to cut fodder for his animals. The brothers expect their engagement to last into February. The track is laid to the Willows, the present rate of track laying being 1 2 miles a day. The grade to the Cimarron is nearly completed, and the graders are moving southward to start on fresh contracts. There are some heavy cuts and fills to make and quite a number of bridges to build; some of the so-called creeks being deep channels worn by rain torrents, which are dry most part of the year. The material for this bridge work has been delivered in this city, and will be sent forward on the construction train as fast as wanted. Oklahoma is entirely free of boomers, but there are enough families in the country accompanying the graders to make a good sized city as soon as settlement is permitted.
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, November 24, 1886.
Kansas leads all the states in the number of miles of railroad built during the present year. Dakota stands second and Texas third.
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, November 24, 1886.
From Our Exchanges.
LARNED REPUBLICAN: The graders on the D. M. & A., are still working toward Larned, and will arrive here by the 1st of December if not before.The grading is all completed through Stafford County to near the Pawnee line. Track-laying is not completed to the city of Stafford yet, and has been suspended for thirty days from the lack of rails. They are now coming at the rate of two car loads a day, but the company think it best to suspend the work till the other rail can be repaired and then rush it right through.
Arkansas City Traveler, November 24, 1886.
Messrs. Wright & Tilton, contractors on the Southern Kansas railroad, were in town on Monday. Mr. Wright has several heavy contracts in other parts of the state which engage his attention, and Mr. Tilton directs the work in the territory. His force is now at work some distance south of the Cimarron.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 1, 1886.
From Our Exchanges.
CEDAR VALE STAR: The track of the D. M. & A. has reached Peru, 8 miles from Sedan, and will be to the latter place before this paper is issued again, or by the first of December. We now feel confident the cars on our second railroad will reach Cedar Vale by New Years.
STAR AND KANSAN: The Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas railroad is graded from Kiowa southwestward into the Indian Territory for a distance of 57 miles.
BURDEN EAGLE: A meeting of the directors of the Kansas City and Pan Handle railroad company was held in this city November 24, at which the president was authorized to sign the contract for the construction of the road from Reece to Arkansas City. The contract was given to T. J. Prosser, of St. Louis, who has built all the Missouri Pacific extensions in Kansas for the past three years, and work will be commenced as soon as the survey is completed and the line located, which will be done within the next thirty days.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 1, 1886.
Condemnation Notice.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Notice is hereby given that we the undersigned commissioners, appointed and duly authorized to lay off a route along the line of the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway in Cowley County, Kansas, will on the 17th day of January, A. D. 1887, commence at the Southwest corner of the NW 4 of section 31, township 34, range 4 east, in Cowley County, Kansas, and proceed to lay off along the line of said Kansas and Arkansas Valley railway, a route for such proposed railway, upon such location as may be desired by said company, not exceeding one hundred feet in width, except for the purpose of cuttings and embankments it shall be necessary to take more for the proper construction and security of said railway through as much of said county as may be desired by said company, and also such land as may be deemed necessary for side tracks, depots, workshops, water stations, material for construction (except timber), right of way over adjacent lands sufficient to enable such company to construct and repair its roads and stations and right to conduct water by aqueducts, and the right of making proper drains, to have the same carefully surveyed and ascertain the quantity of land necessary for said purposes, out of each quarter section or other lot of land through which said route, side tracks, etc., is so located, and to appraise the value of such portion of any such quarter section or other lot of land and assess the damages thereto; and when we shall find that such portion of such quarter section or lot belongs to different owners, will we appraise the value and assess the damage of each such owner
=s interest.And will also proceed and lay off the following described land, for yards, side tracks, depots, and workshops for said railway company, to wit: Commencing at a point 287.8 feet east of the southwest corner of the NW 1/4 of section 31, township 34, range 4 east, extending thence east along the center line of said section to right of way of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad 25.765 chains; thence north 3.88 chains, thence west 23.765 chains, thence south 3.88 chains to point of beginning, containing 10 acres more or less. All in the NW 1/4 of section 31, township 34 south, range 4 east, Cowley County, Kansas. Also commencing at a point 287.8-10 feet east of the southwest corner of the SW 1/4 of section 31, township 34, range 4 east, Cowley County, Kansas; extending thence east along the center line of said section to right of way of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad 25.765 chains, thence south 5.82 chains, and thence west 25.763 chains, and thence north 5.82 chains to point of beginning containing 15 acres, more or less, all in the SW 1/4 of said section 31, township 34 south, range 4 east, making in all twenty-five acres more or less, for the use of said railway company for yards, side tracks, depots, and shops.
S. C. SMITH,
J. D. GUTHRIE,
J. A. IRWIN,
Commissioners.
[Note: Hard to read! May have some figures wrong. MAW]
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, December 8, 1886.
From Our Exchanges.
MULVANE RECORD: There are ties enough in the material yard in Mulvane to lay between 40 and 50 miles of track, and steel enough for about 21 miles. Enough of this will be used to make the track from Norwich to Spivey, and the balance will be used to build east. Material yards will be established at Spivey for the western extension. About sixty men are at work in the yards here at present.
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, December 8, 1886.
LEON [? Not sure of first name] QUILL: The contract is let for building the Kansas City & Panhandle railroad from Reece to Arkansas City, to T. J. Prosser, of St. Louis. And work will commence in the next 30 days.
CEDAR VALE STAR: The stock yards at this place are lamentably deficient in size. Shippers have to keep their stock in private corrals from the time they reach here until the cars arrive to load them into, because of the railroad stock yards being so small. It is to be hoped that the matter of enlarging the yards will receive immediate attention.
HAVANA VIDETTE: We had occasion to cross the track of the D. M. & A. Road the other day, and are compelled to announce it the most shoddy affair we have seen in Kansas. In fact, it is scarcely equal to Sherman
=s railroad building in Georgia, a part of which was built at night. Some of the ties are 3 inches apart at one end and 24 at the other, and some are 3 feet apart at both ends. Besides this, the grade is wholly inadequate to a first class road. We are told that where the water is sometimes 6 and 8 feet deep, there is only about 4 or 5 grade. Evidently it was gotten up for speculation.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 15, 1886.
The Courier is agitating for the immediate construction of thirty 50 feet front business houses, as a more efficient means of establishing confidence and drawing in foreign capital than all of Winfield
=s railroad projects. But it will be hard to find moneyed men now ready to risk their money in an experiment that may fail of its purpose. Winfield now has more business houses than there is need for, and what use is adding to the number? By the way, where are those fifteen business houses whose erection was determined on during the fall?
Arkansas City Traveler, December 15, 1886.
Jacob Hight, our first ward councilman, came in on Friday, his contract to build passenger stations and division houses on the Geuda Springs and Caldwell railroad being nearly completed. He has built the Geuda Springs, South Haven, Hampton, Hunnewell, Falls station, and Caldwell passenger stations and division houses at the three places first named. These division houses are two story buildings, 16 x 32 feet, with a kitchen 14 x 18. The passenger station of the Frisco road (also built by Mr. Hight), is admired for its excellent finish, and the other stations along the line to Caldwell are of a similar character. Mr. Hight will finish his contract during the present week, then he will come to stay awhile and renew acquaintance with his family.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 15, 1886.
From Our Exchanges.
WINFIELD COURIER: Col. Scott, Judge Soward, Judge Parks, S. Manser, Capt. Hoffman and J. W. Curns go to Kellogg tonight to hold a meeting relative to the voting of $15,000 in bonds by Vernon to the Wichita and Winfield railroad.
WINFIELD VISITOR: A general order from the Union Pacific road is now said to be in the hands of the printer authorizing the change of all time pieces of the road from twelve hour clocks to those of twenty four hours. This change on the Union Pacific will probably have the effect to cause similar changes on other roads.
STAR & KANSAN: The D. M. & A. Railroad has got to do some lively work to obtain the ninety thousand dollars voted by Chautauqua County to aid in its construction. The terms of the contract require that the road be built to the west end of the county by January 1st; and as it is now only completed to Sedan, it seems very doubtful if the remaining twenty miles can be finished in time.
Arkanss City Traveler, December 22, 1886.
C. M. Scott has been furnishing the railroad contractors with bailed hay.
The railroad commissioners are to be here January 17th, to condemn the right of way for the Fort Smith railroad.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 22, 1886.
The Southern Kansas Grade.
Charley Hale came to town last week from the Chickasaw country (where he and his brother, Frank, are working on the Southern Kansas grade) to purchase a good team of horses and procure supplies. The Hale Bros., have a sub-contract from Price and Bell, their engagement being to grade miles 141 and 142, of this firm
=s contract of 21 miles. Their work is along a bend in the Canadian River, which runs due south, past the former negro settlement, and on this side of the river, in the Chickasaw nation. The grade is completed 182 miles, Price & Bell=s contract begins at that point. This is a rich farming country, being well watered with creeks, the soil fertile, and the climate mild and salubrious. A few miles south is the famous Paul=s Valley, one of the finest tracts of bottom land to be found anywhere. The Chickasaws number about 2,500 and are largely intermixed with white blood. Their reservation adjoins the Choctaw nation on the west, and the two tribes hold their national councils together. The Choctaws outnumber their more progressive brothers five to one, and restrain their revolutionary tendencies by a negative vote. A large number of whites have found homes in the Chickasaw nation, a portion being adopted into the tribe by their marriage with squaws, and others being professed by hired to work for Chickasaw citizens. But this invasion has been carried to such a length that even the easy going Chickasaws have become alarmed, and a recent act of the council ordered the explusion of all those persons who have no marital affiliation or official employment to warrant their residence.A number of boomers, also, have found their way into this inhibited land, but two troops of cavalry keep them on the move, and this advance guard of incoming civilization is having a hard time. The Hale Bros., have six teams employed on their sub-contract, the men have a pleasant camp, are favored with nice open weather, and enjoy abounding health. The Canadian at this point has a wide sandy bed, and the bridge that spans it will require to be heavy and durable and fully a mile in length. The Southern Kansas road runs to Gainesville, Texas, and there is yet a hundred miles of the grade to be completed.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
A
Jay Gould, by the acquisition of the Little Rock & Ft. Smith railroad, has changed the future railroad system of the southwest in more ways than at first may seem posible. In announcing his intention to only build the L. R. & F. S. Railway to Ft. Gibson, and then connect it with the old M. K. & T. Railway, thence to Chetopa, and then connecting with the D. M. & A.@The above is taken from
AObserver=s@ correspondence in the Winfield Courier. The writer shows his ignorance when he says Jay Gould purchased the Little Rock & Ft. Smith road. The dispatches announcing the sale of the Little Rock, Mississippi & Texas road to Gould stated positvely that the Little Rock & Ft. Smith road did not pass into his hands and that the management of that road was not affected. A dispatch yesterday announces the sale of the Little Rock, Mississippi and Texas road has fallen through and it is still under the old management and will be sold over. There is a further display of ignorance when AObserver@ announces that Gould will build the road up the valley to Ft. Gibson and stop, connecting there with the M. K. & T. Gould never made any such announcement as that. If his intention had been such, he never would have said anything of the kind. Railroad magnates never make their private business public. The Aannouncement@ was only a Asurmise@ of AObserver.@
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
It is rumored that many changes go into effect on the Santa Fe after the 1st of January, 1887. Among others the tickets will be taken up by train agents, and not by conductors, as heretofore. Conductors will accompany the trains for the sole purpose of looking after the trains. Swichmen will receive Chicago prices after that time, viz: day men 25 cents per hourr, night men 27 cents.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
Not Gould
=s.LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, Dec. 29. Today the federal court set aside the sale of the Little Rock, Mississipi River, and Texas railroad to Jay Gould, because of a misunderstanding of the purchaser of the state law relative to redemption. The property will be re-advertised for sale.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
[ITEMS FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Rev. Barker was presented with a handsome watch and chain by members of his congregation.
Buffalo Bill wishes to take Geronimo aboard with his Wild West show, and exhibit him as the last king of the Apaches.
Udall is terribly wrathy because the D. M. & A. Is about to miss her and lays all the blame upon Winfield
=s door-stoop.One of our young men asked his best Winfield girl what she found in her stocking on Christmas morning. She answered,
AHoles.@Rev. Fleming was presented with a large and handsome upholstered chair by the Ladies
= Aid Society Christmas Eve as an acknowledgement of his faithful services.The A. M. E. Church people, not to be behind their white brethren, celebrated Christmas Friday evening in grand style. They had literary exercises and a big tree loaded with presents.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
Yesterday afternoon Antonio Bertoni, of Bolton Township, sued the S. K. Road for $300 damages. The S. K. Road went through his farm, agreeing to put in crossings, fence the track, etc. But failed to do it. Judge Lindsay rendered a judgment for $282. The attorney of the railway was not present, and it is supposed the case will be appealed.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
On Friday afternoon the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway company made application to Judge Guthrie of the district court at Topeka for the appointment of commissioners to condemn land as an addition to their shops and yards. This land is needed for the purpose of establishing locomotive works. The Santa Fe having grown to be one of the most powerful railroad systems in the United States, has decided to build its own locomotives, and on good authority it is stated they have located the establishment at Topeka. The land will be bought at once, and the locomotive works will be built the coming year. Topeka Capital.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]Chief Engineer Wingate has let the contract for the building of the stone roundhouse over at Bluff City, the division of the Frisco.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
The extension of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road from Kansas City to Chicago, will have a very important effect upon the other lines between these cities. The new line will be just 450 miles long, while the distance by both the Chicago & Alton and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy at present is 488 miles, and by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 521 miles. If competition should be unrestrained, the present lines would have to increase their speed or shorten their lines materially to make as quick time as the new line.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
[ITEMS FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]In the matter of railroad building for the year 1886, Kansas stands at the head of the procession with a total of 1,520 miles of main line.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe pay car has made its last run. It is not yet known, outside of headquarters, what plan will be adapted for paying. The pay car was taken off to reduce expenses.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
The construction train of the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic reached Cedarvale and will easily reach the west line of Chautauqua County by today, in time to secure the entire subsidy of $140,000, voted by Chautauqua County. It is a well built road, and runs the entire length of the county from East to West.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
Yesterday we published an item, from the Courier, stating that the D. M. & A. had located its line through the town of Winfield. The chief engineer, Mr. Garis, called upon the Telegram and denied what the Courier published, and says the information given the Courier had not the slightest foundation; that he has run lines on other streets, and that the Courier in this report, as in reported interviews with him, when no representative of that paper had ever interviewed him, does him a grave injustice.
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
The location of the Santa Fe Shops always has been a bone of contention between Winfield and Arkansas City, each town claiming them. The REPUBLICAN makes a proposition to the journals up at the county seat. In order to settle the dispute, we are willing they should have the shops one week and we the next. This week Winfield has had them all week and we have never disputed their right or title. But, next week, we want them and we don
=t want to be disturbed in our enjoyment of them by the rude journals of our neighboring town by their exclaimning Athem=s our=s.@
Arkansas City Republican, January 1, 1887.
As a natural result of the bitter competition now going on between the Missouri Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe companies in Kansas, it is not entirely improbable that, as is reported, the former has decided to build a line to Chicago by extending its Missouri Kansas & Texas line, now terminating at Hannibal, Missouri, to Chicago, a distance of about 250 miles. The Missouri Pacific would then have an almost direct line from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston, as well as into the heart of Texas at various points and into southern and western Kansas. It would also have a line from Chicago to Kansas City by way of Sedalia about the same length as the shortest existing between those two cities and thus parallel to the Atchison road through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory, and Texas, although still leaving the latter company undisturbed in New Mexico, Arizona, and the Pacific coast country. The report referred to however is now denied on apparent authority. Railway Age.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
About Arkansas City.
The following is a sample of the thousand and one letters which come to postmaster Sinnott daily. Having not the time to answer, he handed us this letter of inquiry, which we gladly answer through the columns of the REPUBLICAN.
Jamesport, Missouri, Jan. 8, 1887.
Postmaster, Arkansas City, Kansas.
DEAR SIR: What is the population of your city? How many railroads have you? If you are expecting any new ones, where are they from? Is the city built on both sides of the Arkansas River, or is the city all on the east side of the river? How wide is the river at your city? What is business property selling at? Is the dry goods business well represented? By answering above questions you will greatly oblige. Enclosed find stamps for answer. Yours Truly, SAM W. BUZARD.
Arkansas City has a population of 7,000 people. At present she has three railroads
CtheA. T. & S. F., from Kansas City to this point; the Southern Kansas, from here across the Indian Territory to Gainesville, Texas; and the Frisco from St. Louis. We are expecting four new roads and in fact we will get them during the year of 1887. Bonds have been voted to each of the four, along the entire route of the proposed roads and the companies are only waiting for warmer weather to begin construction. The first road and the one most important to Arkansas City is the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road, which runs from Ft. Smith, Arkansas, across the Indian Territory up the Arkansas River Valley here. Bonds have been voted from the state line nine miles south of us to 200 miles northwest of us in order to build a continuation of the Ft. Smith road from this city across the state of Kansas. Besides getting this road, we will also have the company
=s machine shops, roundhouse, and the end of the division. The Kansas and Arkansas Valley road, as will be seen by the above, will be one of the greatest factors in the upbuilding of Arkansas City. The next road, is the State Line. It will be built into Arkansas City before the Ft. Smith road. It runs from Independence, Kansas, to this city along the state line. The road is being built by the C. K. & W. Company and is constructed to Cedarvale, 30 miles east of us. In the spring it will be built here. The route has already been located between Cedarvale and Arkansas City. At Independence the C. K. & W. connects with the Southern Kansas for Kansas City. The third road is the Kansas City & Pan Handle. It is a Missouri Pacific connection and leaves the Gould road at Reece for this city. Bonds have been voted for the project all along the line with the exception of in two townships. The construction of this line has been let to E. J. Prosser, of St. Louis, who, we are informed, will push the work as soon as the weather becomes sufficiently open. The Wellington and Northwestern road is the fourth to be built into Arkansas City. This road originates in this city, runs northwest via Wellington to Hutchinson, and then to Denver, Colorado. Bonds have been voted along the route for 150 miles and the contract for its construction has been let to James Hill, one of the best railroad contractors in the state. In addition to the above, there are other companies who have charters for railways coming to Arkansas City. As there has been nothing done toward them but the preliminary work, we refrain from a mention of them. At present we have the divisions of the Santa Fe and the S. K. Road. Everything tends toward Arkansas City as being the Kansas City of Kansas in point of railroads.The city is located on the east side of the Arkansas River, on the high divide between the above and Walnut River, three miles of where the latter flows into the Big Sandy. Our location on this divide gives us a superior sewerage system over any city in the west, consequently health is excellent. Two bridges span the Arkansas River, each about 1,000 feet in length here.
Business property is selling very reasonably, considering the great prosperity of our city. The prices are varied according to location. We do not give them, but recommend a correspondence with any of the real estate firms who advertise in this paper.
We are well represented in the dry goods business, but we believe there is room for more. During 1886, Arkansas City has had an immense growth. 1887 promises as much more, and we believe Arkansas City will have treble the boom this year that she enjoyed during 1886. Manufactories are coming to us, owing to the excellent and cheap motor furnished by our canal from the Arkansas to the Walnut River. Manufactories are already well represented. We have four flouring mills, the largest cracker factory in the state, one large foundry and machine shop, two planing mills, pork-packing establishment, etc.
In conclusion, we wish to state that if the above gentleman, or anyone reading this, should desire to change their location, we would advise them to visit Arkansas City. They will be pleased, and call the day blessed that they came.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
The commissioners of Cowley County will commence condemnation proceedings on the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road on the 17th of this month, from the state line to Arkansas City. They will also condemn the grounds south of the city necessary for the company
=s machine shops and roundhouses, etc.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
Says the Courier: Wm. Smith came into Winfield from the D. M. & A. camp of J. B. Coltes & Son, six miles beyond Dexter, last night, with word that a laborer, unknown, assisting in the Flint Hill cut, was killed Thursday by a rock from a blast. Fifty men saw, or were in the vicinity, and knew the killing was accidental. An inquest was unnecessary. The man when killed was fully two hundred yards from the blast. He was sitting down with a crowd of railroaders, chatting jokingly while waiting for dinner, which was just about ready. The stone weighed several pounds and struck him on the temple and the side of the head with terrific force. He didn
=t know what hit himCdying instantly.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
It looks very much as though the D. M. & A. intends to run over the route of the W. & W., which has bonds for a road along the line. The people along the line will not care. The railroad is what they wanted. Winfield Telegram.
First it was Col. Scott, of Louisville, Kentucky, a noted railroad builder, who was going to construct the W. & W. Then it was the Rock Island company that would build it as soon as the bonds were voted. Later still it was to be the main line of the Ft. Smith road. Now it is the D. M. & A. company which will build it. It appears the W. & W. is about to
Adie a bornin?@
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Today the election for voting bonds to the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road in Silverdale and Creswell Townships occurred. Reports reach us that the bonds have been carried in both townships.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
The Winfield Visitor says: A turntable is being built at the Santa Fe depot for the accommodation of the F. E. & V. V. Railroad. Heretofore the engines had to be run back before they could be turned.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]The Santa Fe has obtained right-of-way for a double track between Kansas City and Topeka. The additional track is rendered necessary by the large increase in business that will grow out of the Southern and Chicago extension. The track will be laid next spring.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
It is rumored that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad company will bid against Jay Gould at the sale of the Little Rock, Missouri River & Texas railroad, which is to be resold January 15. This road was sold December 15 by order of the United States court and was bought by Gould
=s agent. After purchasing the road, Gould found that there was debt due by the road, and that the parties holding it could by the laws of the state anytime within twenty years redeem the sums by paying a certain percent on the money invested. Gould was not willing to take any risk, and petitioned the United States court to have the road resold, which petition was granted.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
R. R. Phelps came over from Burden today. He tells us the Pan-Handle is making active preparations to begin work in the spring. At present bonds are being voted between Reece and Leroy. At Leroy the road is to connect with the Missouri Pacific. Then to Paola and then on to Kansas City. The road is being constructed between Kansas City and Paola. The line is already built to Leroy. In the spring the road will be built to Arkansas City. Take down your map of Kansas and look at the above route. You will see that it is an air line from here to Kansas City and that it is a much shorter route than the Santa Fe. The Pan-Handle is looming up beautifully and will be into Arkansas City long before the D. M. & A. is running cars into Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
The contracts for part of the work on the Santa Fe
=s extension between Kansas City and Chicago will be let in a few days, and there is a large number of contractors to bid on the work. The work is to be commenced from a point about fifty-five miles out of Topeka and built eastward from there. The line has not been fully located, and the contracts will be let only in 20 mile sections.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]A preliminary line was surveyed from Moline and Longton to Cedar Vale this week by a corps of Santa Fe engineers, who report a fine route. The chief engineer remarked that he had found no better route across the country in Southern Kansas. It is understood that the company is contemplating an extension to connect with the Longton cut-off to Chanute when the line is completed to Texas, which will be in the early summer. Cedarvale Star.
From the above it looks very much as if Winfield would lose her Longton cut-off road, which she boasted so much of. The S. K. people want as near an air line as they can obtain and at the least expense possible from Kansas City to connect with their extension from this city to Texas. They have already built from Chanute to Longton. From the last named place the road will be constructed to Arkansas City via Cedar Vale.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
The Bonds Voted.
Yesterday, in the townships of Creswell and Silverdale, bonds were voted to the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road by an overwhelming majority. An exceedingly large vote was polled, which serves to show how largely at stake the townships mentioned above have the welfare of Arkansas City at heart. The people, by their votes yesterday, cemented the tie which binds the city to the country and the country to the city. They saw that by aiding Arkansas City to get the Fort Smith road, the value of their homes would be greatly augmented. That they would lend a helping hand in building a city of greatness at the confluence of the Walnut and Arkansas Rivers. The vote in East Creswell was 84 for the bonds and 15 against; in West Creswell, 77 for and 13 against; majority for, 133. In Silverdale the vote was 106 for and 36 against. The majority was 70 for. In consequence of the voting of the bonds, real estate has taken on an advance. The Ft. Smith road is now assured us, with its shops, roundhouse, and division quarters. Work will most likely begin on the new road from the state line northeast about the time the remainder of the bonds are voted in this city.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
To give our readers an idea of the kind of a grade the D. M. & A., has to contend with in order to get to Winfield from Cedar Vale, we copy the following squib from the Cedarvale Star.
AA car of powder, making seven large wagon loads, was hauled to the front on Tuesday. This is the fourth car of powder that has been required for the heavy blasting in the Flint Hills, and the work is but fairly begun. One rock cut is 35 feet deep and 400 feet long, and there are several cuts nearly as heavy between the head of Cedar and Winfield. One of the embankments is 55 feet in height, where the road crosses a canyon. It looks like mountain work, sure enough.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
A grand excursion will be run to Bluff City over the Frisco next Tuesday. All those who wish to see this much-talked-of booming town can take advantage of this opportunity. The rate there and return is only $1.50. Apply to Snyder & Hutchison.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
The engineers are complaining that they cannot make the fast time expected of through trains on the Chanute-Longton cut off because there are so many stops and railroad crossings to interfere
Csix in eight and a half miles from Benedict to and through Fredonia. Independence Star and Kansan.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
Snyder & Hutchison will run a special train to Bluff City, next Tuesday, leaving Arkansas City at 10 a.m., arriving at Bluff City about noon. The Mechanic
=s band will go with the excursion. Fare from Arkansas City and return $1.50. The excursion will be free to all who purchase lots in Bluff City.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]Roddie Jordan, six-year-old son of James Jordan, broke his right arm between the elbow and shoulder yesterday. He and a companion were walking across the long Frisco trestle work at the foot of Fifth Avenue. Roddie had gotten some distance on the trestle, when he became light-headed and fell. The distance to the ground was 10 feet. He fell on his side, his arm beneath him. He was carried home and Dr. Fowler summoned, who dressed the fractured bone. It was quite a serious accident, and might have resulted fatally.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
[ITEMS FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]H. Endicott, Sr., sold his two acres of land across the Santa Fe this morning to Uriah Spray for $6,000 per the agency of Lowe, Hoffman & Barron.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]Report comes to this city that work on the D. M. & A. grade between Cedar Vale and Winfield has been suspended, the hands paid and discharged. If this proves to be the fact, it settles the question of the building of the road through the county by way of Winfield. Democrat.
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
M. S. Teter was down from Beaver today looking up his chances for register of deeds. He informs us that the election has been called in his township to vote bonds to Winfield
=s proposed D. M. & A. Branch. $15,000 is asked. The township will get eight miles of road. This is less than $2,000 per mile. When the Pan-Handle company asked $3,000 per mile in Liberty, Winfieldites told the voters no railroad company would build the road because the subsidy was entirely too small. If a railroad company would not build a road with the aid of $3,000 per mile, what would a company do with $2,000 per mile? [TETER???TEETER??? THAT IS THE QUESTION.]
Arkansas City Republican, January 15, 1887.
The Winfield Tribune is worried for fear that Burden may think Winfield has tried to divert from Burden some of her prospective roads. Please do not be concerned, for of course Burden would not for a moment allow herself to think such a thing of Winfield, a city so celebrated for its unselfish and disinterested treatment of all its neighbors. Oh, no! Of course not. Did not Winfield offer us the
AFrisco,@ provided we would pay for the survey via Burden, which we did to the tune of some $600, but unfortunately Winfield found the route impracticable, a misfortune over which they (Winfield) wept many bitter tears? Then again during our canvass for our Pan-Handle road, Winfield thoughtlessly started a Short Line scheme, and yet more unfortunately the said Ashort line@ was proposed to run through the same townships as the Pan-Handle. Yet worse the scheme defeated the Pan-Handle in Harvey Township. Had Winfield at the time known what she is now aware ofCthat the Ashort line@ would never be builtCshe most certainly would have withdrawn the proposition as she has since done. By the way, Winfield is now trying to relieve the minds of our citizens of the delusion that the Pan-Handle or the Wichita & Southeastern roads will never be built, we know that is disinterested, for don=t they want us to vote all our aid for a sure thingCa road to go via Burden to Winfield. The magnitude of such disinterested philanthropy must be seen to be appreciated. Our time is too limited and space too crowded to give a further history of Winfield=s generosity. We, however, have a large stock of it on hand and may at some future time give them a full benefit. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
The Santa Fe settled the question of its Chicago extension, by letting the contracts Thursday for the building of the Missouri portion of the road. The route selected runs in a direct line from Kansas City to Fort Madison, Iowa, where it crosses the Mississippi. The Mississippi will be crossed by the extension at Sibley, about nineteen miles east of Kansas City. Work will be commenced as soon as the frost leaves the ground and will be pushed forward in order that it may be completed before the end of the present year. The contracts for that portion of the road between Fort Madison and Chicago have not yet been let.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
Green is now the danger signal on the Santa Fe instead of red.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
Jay Gould has filed a charter with the secretary of State for the building of a road, commencing at a point in Cherokee County, thence westerly through the counties of Labette, Montgomery, Chautauqua, Cowley, Sumner, Harper, Barber, Commanche, Clark, Meade, Stevens, and Morton to the west line of the state.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
This morning the commissioners came down from Winfield to condemn the land for the Kansas & Arkansas Valley R. R. Company. At the request of the company, the board adjourned for 30 days. The condemnation will occur then.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
I. D. Flesher, train dispatcher at the S. K. Material yards in this city, has been promoted to the position of material agent, vice I. J. Lawrance, resigned. M. V. Coombs, of Newton, fills the vacancy caused by Mr. Flesher
=s promotion.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
A small force of workmen are laying track up Cedar Creek on the D. M. & A., and will continue as the weather affords opportunity until the Flint Hills are reached, when a halt will necessarily be made for several months. Cedarvale Star.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
The D. M. & A. have until June 1 in which to build across Cowley County in order to secure the bonds
Conly four months time. Two months of this time the weather will prevent work and there are no powers on earth which can make the cuts between Cedarvale and Winfield and get there in time to secure the bonds.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
J. D. Love came up from Ft. Smith, Arkansas, last evening on a two week
=s visit. Mr. Love is employed in the engineers= office of the Little Rock & Ft. Smith railway company. He informs us that five miles of the grade of the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road is completed. The Little Rock, Mississippi River & Texas road is to be sold on the 28th of this month. This road runs from Little Rock to Arkansas City, on the Mississippi River.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
Agent E. C. Osborne came down from Wichita today. He was en route for Ponca Agency, Indian Territory. Mr. Osborne Friday night, at Wichita, got on the wrong train and was badly hurt in attempting to get off. He boarded the Missouri Pacific passenger for Kansas City thinking he was on the Santa Fe coming to Arkansas City. Shortly after the train started he discovered his mistake. He pulled the bell rope, but the train did not stop. He attempted to jump off, but fell, and was quite badly hurt. He lay in the gutter beside the railway track 12 hours before he was picked up. He was taken to a hotel and attended by physicians. He was sufficiently recovered to return to his home today.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Metallic Railway Ties.
The subject of the introduction of metallic railway ties as an imperishable and economical substitute for the present article has led an authority in this line to write that, after much track walking and observation of the condition of wooden cross ties in various stages of decay, he concludes that the principal cause of their short-life is not natural decay, but decay hastened by frequent laceration and breaking of the wood fiber by the rail spike, the breakage in every instance being from the surface, which is unsheltered from weather, and subject to constant strain from passing trains. Experiments in stone and iron ties, he says, have proved very unsatisfactory, the wood tie being declared by railroad men unequaled. Anything that will render the service of the latter more lasting must prove a great boon. His own observation leads him to believe that a rail chair which will prevent the mutilation of the tie in question, and at the same time avoid the strain and wave motion imparted to rails by passing trains, will add to the average life of the wood tie nearly one hundred percent, and would at the same time decrease the cost of track maintenance.
New York Sun.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
[ITEMS FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]One day last week there were thirteen railroad engines in the Santa Fe yards of this city. There are from five to seven every day.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]Phil Puffer, engineer on the Douglass branch, had his arm pinched off last evening just as he was pulling into Winfield. Cars loaded with ties were on the track, and Puffer ran his engine into them. He got his arm between the engine and tender, and the collision pinched it off. The fireman jumped and escaped with only a few bruises.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
A portion of John Linton
=s farm was swept over yesterday evening by fire. The Frisco road runs diagonally across Mr. Linton=s farm and the 80 acres on the east side of the track is where the fire occurred. It caught from a spark from the engine. The grass was entirely burned off, and considerable timber destroyed. The damage done will amount to $300. Mr. Linton will begin suit for damages.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
The county commissioners, yesterday, completed the canvass of the vote of Creswell and Silverdale Townships and ordered them to subscribe in the sums of $15,000 and $10,000, respectively, to the capital stock of the Kansas & Arkansas Valley railroad company.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe will enter St. Louis over the St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado, of which it has acquired control, and will push through to Kansas City as rapidly as men and money can do the work. The Atchison will not be openly known as owner of the Colorado until its completion to Kansas City, but will furnish the money and direct the construction of the new line.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]The Santa Fe company are shipping in material to their yards in this city at the rate of 125 car loads per day. Five trains come in and go out daily.
Arkansas City Republican, January 22, 1887.
Parties who wish to connect with the train on the Santa Fe Douglass branch at Winfield can do so by taking the early morning Santa Fe passenger. The accommodation and freight leaves here at 10 o
=clock a.m., and runs direct to Florence over the Douglass branch. There is no change of cars. All freights on the Douglass branch run direct, to Arkansas City, from Florence. They also run here from Newton. Here the trains are made up and run south through the Territory over the S. K. Road.
Arkansas City Republican, January 29, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]We understand that preparations are being made to commence work on the Pan Handle not later than March 1st. The right-of-way through this city has been accepted by the company. Everything is lovely and the goose hangs high. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, January 29, 1887.
This morning the Santa Fe company began the building of a switch southwest from the material yards to the Carder farm. This company already has about five miles of switches at the material yards.
Arkansas City Republican, January 29, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]By tomorrow the Adams Express Company will have its route on the Frisco extended to Bluff City. The big moguls of the company come in this evening for that purpose.
Arkansas City Republican, January 29, 1887.
W. A. Conway, one of Bolton Township
=s best farmers, was awarded $400 damages in the district court of Cowley County yesterday. The K C & S W road was built through Mr. Conway=s farm and the company only awarded him $130 damages. Mr. Conway sued for $1,200 and was awarded the above sum. J. W. Hutchison was the only witness used by the railroad company.
Arkansas City Republican, January 29, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]Trains on the S. K. Road are now running 75 miles down in the Territory. The bridge across the Cimarron River is 1,000 feet in length, we are informed.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
B. Lantry & Son have commenced the shipment of stone from their quarry near this city to Kansas City for the abutments of the bridge across the Missouri River on the Santa Fe
=s proposed route to Chicago. They will ship 25 car loads immediately. Messrs. Langtry & Son are Santa Fe contractors and they say the stone they get here is the best in Kansas; that it will stand the weather better and longer than any stone in the state. The Santa Fe confirms this assertion by using it for the building of one of their main bridges on their Chicago line. The stone interests of Arkansas City are just beginning to receive proper recognition. Lantry & Son will develop the stone interest of this vicinity to its fullest extent for years to come.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
[FROM SATURDAY
=S DAILY.]Winfield has on hand a new railroad scheme. It is the Missouri & Kansas Central. They want Burden to take a hand in it, but that town will have none of it.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
The report comes (and from a good source) that there are several hundred men camped at Reece, ready to commence work on the Pan Handle as soon as the weather will permit. This does not look as though the Pan Handle was dead as has been reported by our friends up the country. Leon Quill.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM SATURDAY
=S DAILY.]Another D. M. & A. surveying corps came in this morning en route to Arkansas City. It is under a Mr. Curtis and will run a line from the sand hill to some northeastern connection.
Winfield Telegram.
The above item coming from a journal in a rival town can certainly be accepted as the truth. As we stated in yesterday
=s daily, Mr. Curtis came here. The remainder of his corps stopped in Winfield, he informed one of our citizens, because he believed it was impossible to obtain hotel quarters here. He knew the town was booming and realized how hard it was to get hotel accommodations in a booming city, consequently he left his men at Winfield until he could make arrangements here. Yesterday afternoon Mr. Curtis and his brother, our Will, commenced looking up a route from here to connect with the D. M. & A., over in eastern Cowley. They crossed the Walnut River near the mills and will go out over the second bottom of the Grouse.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
The D. M. & A. surveyors ran a line this morning from Archie Dunn
=s ice house northeast to First Street, thence north and northwest along the north line of the townsite.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
Last week there occurred a reduction in freight rates on the Santa Fe. First class freight was reduced from 85 cents to 75 cents per hundred from here to Kansas City. Second class from 75 to 65 cents; third class from 68 to 57 cents; and fourth class from 62 to 49.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
The Santa Fe
=s New Solicitor.The legal department of the Santa Fe railway company has undergone quite a change within the last two weeks. The directors of the company in an executive meeting held last week decided to employ a solicitor for each judicial district in the state through which any line of the company
=s road runs, or in which any business of the company is likely to arise. Heretofore W. P. Hackney has been acting as solicitor of the company, for Southern Kansas, his territory embracing several judicial districts.It was not infrequent that the company has cases standing for trial in two different districts at the same time, necessitating the appointment of an assistant or else neglect the company
=s business in one district or the other.This led to the employment of a solicitor for each judicial district. Col. Sam Sisson of Harper City has been chosen solicitor of the 19th judicial district, embracing Sumner and Harper counties, while W. P. Hackney assumes the control of the legal department of the company
=s business for the 13th judicial district. Wellington Standard.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]Cedarvale is having a petition circulated for the eastern part of Cowley County to be attached to Chautauqua County. The people of Otter Township do not desire it.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
John Drury was over from Maple City today. He was very exhuberant because the D. M. & A. was going to run to Arkansas City. He and Bob Howe have dissolved partnership and will hereafter conduct business separately.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
The Southern Kansas extension from this city through the Territory has reached the Ephraim River. Track-laying has been stopped for a few days, waiting for the bridge to be constructed across the river. Iron has been layed 80 miles from this city into the Territory.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
Mrs. G. B. Moore and children arrived in the city last evening from Independence. In Winfield they took the street cars from the S. K. to the Santa Fe depot. When about half way the car jumped the track and Mrs. Moore and children were compelled to get off in Winfield
=s muddy streets, seek the sidewalk, and walk to the depot. Winfield=s street car line is a glorious institution.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]Engineer Curtis and his corps last evening had run their D. M. & A. preliminary survey some six miles east. So far the route, he says, is a very practicable one. The grade is slight. The corps will run the line direct to Cedarvale before returning to this city again. When that is done, they will come here and run a line on the south and west sides of the city from where they cross the Walnut. They desire to ascertain the best way to get out of the city.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
The bill granting the right of way through the Indian Territory to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific road, through the efforts of Representatives Dockery and Peters, passed the house yesterday by a majority of 155 to 44.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
F. W. Pate, the Santa Fe relief agent on the eastern division, was in the city yesterday for speculating purposes. He bought a one-third interest in three blocks of lots in Summitt addition. He left this morning for down in the Territory. He will go to Topeka in the morning.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
A gentleman who resides in the north part of the city o Winfield was met on the street near the Courier office yesterday morning by a friend of Arkansas City. In the conversation which followed the Canal City man asked his friend how Winfield
=s boom was progressing. The reply was, AIt is busted. We got bad news this morning from the east. The D. M. & A. road is not coming to Winfield at all, but is going direct to Arkansas City and our town will be dead again as soon as news becomes general.@ The man=s name who made the remark is Mr. West and we are surprised at his lack of knowledge. We would suggest that someone start a paper in Winfield and devote it to giving the news. The REPUBLICAN more than five months ago stated that the D. M. & A. would not go to Winfield. Mr. West should enroll his name on our subscription list and he will get the news.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
[ITEMS FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]The Rock Island extension is to be completed to Caldwell, Kansas, by June 15.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
The D. M. & A. survey parallels the State Line route most of the way between this city and Cedarvale.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
Chief Engineer Martin, of the Valley Railway extension to Arkansas City, Kansas, has completed the estimates for the route and it will average not far from $11,000 per mile. Van Buren Press.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
J. D. and J. M. Love have purchased 35 acres of land of John Love near Frisco depot. They will plat it; already they have begun the grading of streets. The consideration was $35,000.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
Conductor Johnson, of the S. K. Road informs us the track-layers have reached the Cimarron River. They crossed the Ephraim River Wednesday. It will take about five days to bridge the Cimarron.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
An engineer belonging to the D. M. & A., surveying corps was in the city last evening and spread the report that chief engineer Curtis had received orders to proceed to Cedarvale immediately and returning, locate their line, south and west from that town.
Arkansas City Republican, February 12, 1887.
Mr. Simpson
=s bill, limiting the amount to be voted by counties in aid of railroads to $2,000 per mile, passed the house on Monday by quite a large majority, that the maximum amount to be voted could properly be limited to half the present amount. There is said to be considerable opposition to the bill in the senate.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
[ITEMS FROM SATURDAY
=S DAILY.]The mail route will be extended to Caldwell on the Frisco the 21st of this month.
The Telegram says p-o-s-s-i-b-l-y Winfield will give Arkansas City a branch of the D. M. & A. That is a good one, when we already have the main trunk line coming into our city.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]Chautauqua County has three railroads, but gets her mail by way of Moline on a broken down spring wagon, drawn by a pair of badly discouraged and spavined horses. This country
Awants a change!@
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
An item which escapes the notice of the Winfield newspapers was in regard to the
D. M. & A. right-of-way condemning board convening on the 9th and adjourning until the 21st of this month upon the request of the railway company. This is the fifth time the commissioners have adjourned by request.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
A Wholesale Point.
As a wholesale center Arkansas City has the advantage of other cities in this portion of the state. With the advent of the Pan Handle, D. M. & A., State Line, and Fort Smith railroads, we will have a better grip than any place west of the Missouri River. Already we have several large wholesale grocery houses. The drummers who travel over the States of Kansas, Indian Territory, Texas, and Arkansas, representing Arkansas City institutions will reach 25. This is but the beginning. During the summer and spring several large firms of well known financial and commercial ability are preparing to begin operations on an extensive scale, and the wide awake commercial tourist will soon place his autograph on all the hotel registers of the cities, towns, and villages within our reach. As soon as Oklahoma is opened, Arkansas City will have new territory to supply. And when all the Indian lands south of us are thrown open to white settlement, we will be the Kansas City of the Arkansas Valley in size as well as location.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
A couple of gentlemen went up to Winfield the other day and having a few hours leisure there concluded to see the town. They therefore utilized a real estate man for that purpose. The innocent real estate man drove them over the city several times, telling them as they passed the college that there were several hundred residence buildings under contract to be built near that institute soon, and also a hundred business buildings under construction in the city.
AAre there any towns of any importance south and west of here?@ asked the alleged speculators. ANone whatever. There is a village of several hundred people out here on the Frisco named Caldwell, and a little station on a sand hill at the mouth of the Walnut, but you will see by the map that Winfield is the only town of any importance in Southern Kansas. By the way, let me show you the new county map.@ The map was opened. AWho in______ got up such a _____ _____ thing as this?@ AWhy, there are five railroads running in Arkansas City and roads running to Arkansas City and only three to Winfield.@ The two prospectors left the heartbroken man raving over the new county map, which by the way, was certified to by County Surveyor Haight, of Winfield, as being correct. The D. M. & A. was represented as running to Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]The D. M & A. survey parallels the State Line route most of the way between this city and Cedarvale. REPUBLICAN.
Yes, it
=s another parallel caseCwith the State Line route. Telegram.Yes, we believe now it is another parallel case. Let
=s see; Winfield=s most prominent railroad man, Hon. E. P. Greer, says the State Line road will be built this summer. Yes, it is a parallel case, wherein Arkansas City scooped Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
The majority of the bonds in each ward is as follows: First ward, 187; Second ward, 184; Third ward, 169; and Fourth ward, 242. Yesterday
=s vote decided that we would have the terminal facilities of the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road, and also the Ft. Smith & Wellington road.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]S. H. Mallory returned from New York City yesterday. He turned over one hundred and twenty-five miles of the D. M. & A. Railroad to the Gould people. Wichita Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
By telephone we learn that Caldwell is having a boom. The Journal intends starting a daily, the first issue to come out Monday. Yesterday Caldwell voted bonds for a D. M. & A. connection and she will most likely get the Rock Island.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
The Courier says the grading contract for the D. M. & A. is to be let today between Dexter and Winfield and that dirt will be flying in ten days. Strange, is it not, that the grading contract should be let when the line has never been located? The engineers have only run a preliminary survey.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
We venture the guess; mind, only guess,
Aas the matter now stands,@ the Missouri Pacific will be built from Reece via Burden to Arkansas City; also from Cedarvale via Burden to Wichita. Where did we say the D. M. & A. would go? Oh! Where? AThe rose by any other name would smell as sweet,@ or in the words of the immortal William, Awhat fools we mortals be.@ How we boom. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
Winfield is all
Abroken up@ over the new county map just issued. It shows Winfield with all the railroads she has, and the D. M. & A., completed through the county by way of Akron and Udall. Arkansas City has five railroads passing through the city as follows: A. T. & S. F.; Frisco, Kansas & Arkansas Valley to Ft. Smith; AState Line,@ and APan Handle.@ The map certified to by county Surveyor Haight as being correct.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
We are authorized to say that the iron for the Pan Handle has been purchased. From letters we have seen and from news received for other sources, we say most emphatically the Pan Handle will be built, notwithstanding the disinterested lies of Winfield. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, February 19, 1887.
Tuesday the Courier announced that on Wednesday the grading contract was to be let for the D. M. & A., between Dexter and Winfield. Wednesday has come and gone and the contract is still unlet.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
What has become of the I. & S. W. Road, which Winfield was going to have from Cedarvale? Let us see. It was promised by the Winfieldites that within 30 days after the Santa Fe ordered those bogus propositions withdrawn from the townships they would have others submitted. This was last May. Winfield
=s 30 days are rather long.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
AAll on Location.@
The natural advantages which Arkansas City has over any other town in Kansas cannot be denied by anyone on general principles. Not later than the first of June, the Southern Kansas extension will be connected with their Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, Texas system. This places us on the Southern Trunk line from Kansas City to Galveston, the direct air line. This gives us a shorter line to Galveston, New Orleans, & Memphis than any other Kansas town. Let us see, Kansas City to Arkansas City via new short line, via Ottawa, Emporia, Elliner to Arkansas City, via Douglass about 215 or 220 miles. From Kansas City, via Topeka, Newton, and Wichita 279 miles. The Pan Handle line will be built up Grouse Creek to Reece and through Eureka to Burlington. This places us under 200 miles of Kansas City. We are destined to be the great commercial centre of this southwest territory.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
A
As the matter now stands, the Missouri Pacific runs to Arkansas City,@ Lawyer Jennings was heard to remark in his office at Winfield; AGould told me himself that he would accept Arkansas City=s proposition.@ Let us see. Arkansas City=s proposition to Mr. Gould was to run his main line of the D. M. & A. into our city and leave the county seat entirely out. We boom.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
Beaver Township is extremely indignant against Winfield relative to their action last Tuesday in the D. M. & A. Bond election. A large delegation was at Winfield yesterday to protest against the commissioners canvassing the vote, claiming that they have knowledge of several others who were bribed to vote for the bonds. The Beaverites are now turning their faces toward Arkansas City as a trading point. They vow they will no longer deal with Winfield merchants.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
Dr. H. D. Cooper and Deputy Sheriff Joe Church were over from Dexter this morning. The doctor informs us that Dexter is booming; that her population is increasing rapidly. In the last thirty days he has attended the birth of thirteen babies in Dexter, his partner, Dr. Hawkins, 27. Joe Church says he took the census in January and there were 450 people in Dexter then; consequently there are now 500. Both gentlemen claim they will get the D. M. & A., to Winfield, and also to Arkansas City. Steps will be taken shortly to incorporate the city.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
From a private letter to Mayor Schiffbauer from W. V. Reece, president of the Kansas City & Pan Handle road, we glean the following: The prospects for the building of the road in early spring are good.
AYou have heard it said that big bodies move slowly and the Missouri Pacific is a big body. As soon as it is anything like fine weather, I will drive down and see you. In fact, I am holding myself in readiness to take engineers over the route between Reece and Arkansas City. I believe the steel rails for the road have been ordered.@ The Pan Handle is materializing.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
Arkansas City is furnishing the stone for the new bridge across the Missouri River near Kansas City, to be built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe road. El Dorado Republican.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]The Missouri Pacific has accepted the D. M. & A. from Chetopa to Sedan. From the last named to Cedarvale, it will be accepted as soon as permanent bridges replace the temporary ones at the crossings of the Big and Middle Cana Rivers. If the weather continues favorable, the heavy work in the Flint Hills will be finished probably in 30 days, and then the building of the road to Arkansas City will be pushed forward rapidly.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
We paid a visit to the Santa Fe stone quarries north of the city this morning. They are located at the side of the railroad track at the foot of the large mound north of the city. There were twenty quarrymen getting out rock and five cutters dressing the stone. Messrs. Langtry & Son inform us as soon as they can get the quarry properly opened up, which will be in a short time, they will employ about 100 men in getting out rock, besides a large number of cutters. Last week they shipped 19 car-loads of the rough stone
Cthe dressed stone they are not shipping. These gentlemen also informed us that the stone they were getting was, without question, the best in the state of Kansas, and that the quarry was a fortune to the men who owned it. The Canal City=s stone interests evidently lay Winfield=s in the shade.[EARLIER ARTICLES STATE
ALANTRY & SON@...??? NOT SURE WHICH IS CORRECT!]
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
Clippings.
Next Monday the hack line between here and Arkansas City will be discontinued and the Frisco will take charge of the mail and carry it as far west as Caldwell. Geuda Springs Herald.
Arkansas City has been booming so loud and fast for the last two years that everytime we go there we have to keep a sharp lookout not to get lost. Geuda Springs Herald.
It is reported that the cash rates turned in since the train collectors were placed on the trains on the Santa Fe have increased $600 per day.
The annual interest on Canada
=s indebtedness goes on at the rate of $21 per minute or $126 an hour.Arkansas City is to have a $100,000 hotel. Cedarvale Star.
The Rock Island has reached Topeka.
There are rumors of several important changes in the original plans of the railroads at this point. One is that the D. M. & A., will run to Arkansas City from here, and instead of going to Winfield will turn at or near Dexter and run by Burden and Wilmot to Wichita, utilizing the subsidies of the Wichita, Cedar Vale and Southeastern for that purpose. It seems hardly probable that the original intention of going to Winfield will be abandoned as valuable subsidies have been voted on that line and furthermore the connection with the completed portion to the westward can best be made by following that route. Another rumor is that the Southern Kansas will not be extended up Cedar Creek, but will turn at the bridge and swing round by Lookout Maintain and take the Rock Creek route and the State line subsidies for Arkansas City. It is said this is by far the most direct and practical route, and can be built on much easier grades than the route west via Cedar Creek.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]The Wellington Postal Card had an interview with Vice-President Burns of the D. M. & A. Road, who stated that the road would run to Wellington provided the citizens desired it. Mr. Burns says the road will be built from Oxford or Belle Plaine to Wellington. Mr. Burns is mistaken. The D. M. & A. will run to Wellington from Arkansas City, connecting with its own line at Conway Springs and other Gould lines at Hutchinson. While we willingly admit that Mr. Burns desires the D. M. & A. to be built over the route he speaks of, the power behind the throne will not permit it. The main trunk line of the D. M. & A. will extend from Chetopa via Arkansas City, Wellington, to Conway Springs, connecting there for the north and northeast.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
It would be rather amusing if, at the spring election, four council women should be elected. Should the event occur, the ladies must be energetic and willing to leave their babies with their paternal sire and run up to Wichita, Topeka, or New York, whenever it is necessary to have a conference with Jay Gould and other boys in regard to railroads.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]On the 1st of March the townships of Richland and Silver Creek, Cowley County, will vote on propositions to aid in the sums of $16,000 and $10,000 respectively, the Wichita, Cedar Vale & Southwestern Railway. The proposed route is as straight as an arrow and traverses one of the best agricultural sections in Southern Kansas.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]The whole southwest part of Kansas is overrun with railroad engineering parties, and a man can hardly drive a day
=s journey in any direction without running into such an outfit.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
At Florence, the Legislative excursionists, on their way to Wichita, were confronted with a banner hanging on the outer wall of the depot, and bearing the inscription:
AYou are on a bum, and we are on a boom.@
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
The New York underground railway company is ready to begin work, and $3,000,000 has been raised for this purpose. The privilege for construction is so extended that when the plan is completed it will be a subterranean gridiron of the city.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
Monday was the 21st, the day the D. M. & A. right of way condemning board was to meet in Winfield and go over the right of way from Cedarvale to Winfield. We suppose they met and adjourned again because the Courier failed to have its column blow about the right of way being condemned.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
To our minds the El Dorado, Oklahoma and Chihuahua railway project will become a part of the Lawrence, El Dorado and Texas (Union Pacific) line when built. This is feasible and just the thing to do. We can
=t well see how El Dorado is to get through the year short of four new railroads. That is about the size of it. El Dorado Republican.As the above road is to run to Arkansas City, it is very evident we will have the Union Pacific road. They all come.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]John Danks returned this morning from a three days trip to Caldwell and Bluff City. He was over to repair Latham & Co.
=s construction engine. He informs us Caldwell is nothing compared with Arkansas City; only a very few buildings going up there at present. At Bluff City the railroad company are building a four stall stone roundhouse. They have a better depot there than any place else on the line out from Beaumont and there is also more side track. The improvements of R. R. Company look as if they were intended to be permanent. Bluff City=s growth will retard Caldwell=s.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
After March 1, the Frisco will put on two passenger trains from Beaumont to Bluff City, one in the morning and one in the evening.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
The Santa Fe has bought the right of way for coal under several thousand acres of land near Leavenworth, and will start a coal shaft at an early day.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
The construction of the Santa Fe railway has cost that company in Kansas $41,475,894.05, according to the annual report of the railway commissioners.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
Several car-loads of A. A. Grant
=s grading outfit came in yesterday from where they had been at work on the S. K. Road in the Territory. They are camped near the depot awaiting further orders.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
The New Mexico legislature has passed a law making it a capital offense, punishable by death, to maliciously attempt to wreck a train or place obstruction on a railroad track. The governor has signed the bill.
Arkansas City Republican, February 26, 1887.
It is stated that the money to build the Santa Fe from Kansas City to Chicago ($15,000,000) is already secured, contracts for building the road are already closed, and contracts for 110 first-class locomotives are already given out.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
John Drury was over from Maple City today. He tells us of an attempt made by certain parties to hold a railroad meeting over there the other night. The meeting was called per Winfield
=s influences, but the good people had scarcely assembled until the entire crowd resolved to adjourn. The object of the meeting, it was claimed, was to get Spring Creek Township to vote bonds, subject to the State Line bonds, to a road to run to Winfield. The true object we believe was an endeavor to tie up the township in bonds so that the D. M. & A., could not get aid to come to Arkansas City. Just at present, Winfield is trying to tie up every township in the county. We are proud to know that Spring Creek is not to be duped by their promises.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
[ITEMS FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]A. Ward, superintendent of construction of station houses of the S. K. Road, went to Topeka this morning. Before going Mr. Ward purchased 10 acres of land beyond the cemetery; consideration $2,000.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]The Santa Fe has resumed the sale of tickets to any point on their road to Deer Creek in the Territory. The order went into effect yesterday. Passengers can take the
Acovered cars@ from now on into the Territory.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM TUESDAY
=S DAILY.]Hon. W. P. Hackney informed the writer that Arkansas City would get the D. M. & A. Road. According to William, the road would run down the river from Wichita via Winfield and Arkansas City to the mouth of Grouse Creek, and we suppose connect with the Ft. Smith and the Gould line from Cedarvale. This would be the D. M. & A.
=s main line. The line now projected across Cowley County via Dexter, Winfield, and Udall, connecting at Belle Plaine, would be a branch. The road from this city would connect at Wichita with the Missouri Pacific, and go on out northwest via Hutchinson. Don=t the above look nice on paper? And, perhaps, when Gould reads and sees the wisdom of William=s remarks, he will construct the road to correspondCwith his own ideas.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
Again, with startling headlines, the Courier announces she has the Santa Fe shops, that surveyors are there locating the site, etc. That ancient chestnut is surely worn out by this time. The only thing which keeps Winfield from having a big boom is the big lies which her newspapers are constantly promulgating. Confidence abroad and at home has been completely destroyed in Winfield by her newspapers. They mean well, perhaps, but lack judgment. This criticism is offered in a friendly spirit. We wish Winfield to grow right along in order to keep Arkansas City spurred up. When we have no rivalry as it has been since the State Line bonds were voted, we do not work hard enough for our town. Stick to the truth, neighbor, and you will sometime grow to the size of Wellington, perhaps.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
The Ft. Smith Road Coming.
A dispatch in the Kansas City Journal says:
APresident Converse, of the Little Rock & Ft. Smith railway, issued a circular to the stockholders yesterday, announcing that the directors of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railway had voted, subject to confirmation by the stockholders, to exchange their shares for Little Rock & Ft. Smith railway shares, in the ratio of three shares of the former to four of the latter. The executive committee of the Little Rock recommended the acceptance of the offer. The construction of a railroad through the Indian Territory, it is understood, will be at once undertaken by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railway.@
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]The bonds for the Wichita and Cedar Vale railroad scheme carried in Burden Tuesday almost unanimously.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
In an editorial yesterday, the Courier says her people do not believe in Winfield. Well, we don
=t see how they can. They have nothing to pin their faith to. When Arkansas City says Winfield will be on the branch of the D. M. & A. Road, they believe it because they know it is true. We are glad to learn that the citizens of Winfield have confidence in Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
Today is the last day of congress. It is more than likely there will be an extra session. The President has not yet appointed the Inter-State railroad commissioners.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]Alfred Hurst, of Bolton Township, brought suit in Judge Kreamer
=s court yesterday against the St. Louis & San Francisco railway company for the killing of a fine Galloway cow. Owing to a defect in the papers, the case was dismissed.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
Austin Bros., our wholesale grocerymen, filled a very large order for a Dexter merchant this morning. Dexter should have railway connection with Arkansas City. Although that town is nearer Winfield, and the roads better, the merchants there claim they can do better here.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
A
Kicking Bird,@ the Wichita Eagle=s correspondent at Topeka, said that a Boston syndicate were in Topeka Wednesday in consultation with Col. John Murphy, general manager of the Fort Smith, Wellington & Northwestern road for the purpose of the construction of the road. This road will give an increasing boom to the southwest.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
The gravel ballast for the Santa Fe road all over this state was furnished from the gravel pits in the river east of the city. And now comes the S. K. Road across the Territory, which will be ballasted with the same material. Thousands of car-loads of gravel will be shipped from Arkansas City south for ballast on the new road this summer.
Arkansas City Republican, March 5, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]A. C. Scott (which stands for Arkansas City Scott, we suppose) came down from Iola this morning to look after his real estate investments here. Mr. Scott informs us that he stopped in Winfield a few hours and the moment he landed at the depot a feeling of gloom and depression appeared to settle on him. As he went up main street, the feeling of oppression became greater and he could not get rid of it. The town was so quiet that it had a graveyard appearance. Addressing a citizen he met, he asked after Winfield
=s boom. The citizen said, with a sigh, AWe had one about three weeks ago, but now it is gone; Arkansas City captured it, nipped in the bud. They have taken and run us off on a branch of the D. M. & A. Road and captured the main line themselves. Winfield will soon be a ghost. We are already in a comatose condition.@ Mr. Scott boarded the train for Arkansas City at 10:30 and the moment he set foot on the Sand-hill his depressed feeling flitted away. The rustle and bustle of our city made him feel like a new being and we found him in one of our real estate offices buying business lots, acre tracts, and resident lots. Mr. Scott is an attorney for the Ft. Scott & Wichita railway. He will remain in the city for several days.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
Winfield received a black eye Thursday. Vernon Township voted against her proposed D. M. & A. scheme. They wanted none of it and wouldn
=t have it. The majority against the proposition was six. A new proposition is to be submitted immediately.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
This is no chestnut. Last Saturday night the Santa Fe shops came down from Winfield on the midnight train and are now located on the Santa Fe
=s land south of the city. Last week was the end of their stay in Winfield. They have come to Arkansas City to remain and never more be returned to the AWinning (?) Winfield@ on the Walnut.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
The S. K. Road from this city has been laid about 110 miles into the Territory. From Gainesville north track is laid 50 miles. There is yet about 30 miles of grading to do.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
S. Matlack went to New York this morning. He will be gone a couple of weeks, and will bring back with him Jay Gould
=s shops, 14 railroads, and a spring stock of goods. Should he fail in getting the former two, he will bring back the last named anyway.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
The board to condemn the land south of the city for the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road convened in the city yesterday afternoon and then adjourned for 30 days. The adjournment had scarcely been made when a telegram came from New York to proceed with the condemning. The board will convene at an early day now and complete the work.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
[ITEMS FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY]The Frisco switch to the flouring mills was completed today.
The report is denied that the Frisco company has sold out to the Missouri Pacific.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
After the 5th of April editors will be deprived of their railroad passes. We are informed that the Santa Fe have already issued orders to take all editorial passes up after the above date.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]L. S. Cambern, of Erie, Kansas, is in the city. He is here to institute, this evening, a Rebekah degree of the I. O. O. F. Lodge. Mr. Cambern is the Grand Instructor of the State, but is here as Deputy Grand Master for the above purpose. Mr. Cambern informed us Arkansas City was, in his opinion, destined to be the Kansas City of Kansas. He informed us that Erie was going to get the
C. B. & Q. Road and that its projectors stated to him the destination of the road was Arkansas City. He said further that it seemed to him that the majority of the roads chartered in Kansas were bound for Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
G. J. Gaskill, of the Grand Trunk Line railway, with headquarters at South Bend, Indiana, arrived in the city last evening. He is out here on a vacation and is spending it in buying Sand-hill property. He has already bought $10,000.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
COMING.
The Arkansas Valley Road.
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, March 10. The directors of the Kansas & Arkansas Valley railroad met here today and ordered the immediate construction of one hundred miles of road from Van Buren, Concord County, Arkansas, to a point beyond Gibson, Indian Territory. The engineer corps will begin final survey Monday and the construction material in large quantities is already arriving at Van Buren. The road will be an extension of the Missouri Pacific system.
Arkansas City Republican, March 12, 1887.
A special in the Globe-Democrat says: Work will again be resumed on the Kansas City and Southwestern Railway next Monday, and will be completed into Kansas City by the 1st of April. When this connection is completed it will give Paola St. Louis mail as soon as the Kansas City mail. The building of the Pan-Handle from Reece to this point this summer, gives Arkansas City the same connection.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The Rock Island.
The Rock Island crosses the country from northeast to southwest with its new line near the head of the Whitewater, at or near Peabody, from there a line to Arkansas City via Douglass would run almost due south, through the finest country on the face of the globe, rich with the products which the railroads are pressing into Kansas to handle, and insuring profitable business for all time to come. The length of such a line would be about seventy-five miles, every mile of which would be through a most excellent country.
It seems that these facts have been laid before the Rock Island management, and naturally enough they immediately appreciated the advantages offered. A local company is being organized to work up the franchises and the work is to be rapidly pushed to completion. The prospects could not be more promising, for every part of the country along the proposed line is anxious to secure the Rock Island road, and it is plain to all that it is business that the Rock Island is after. Douglass Tribune.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM SATURDAY
=S DAILY.]The Vera Cruz railway, says the Mexican Financier, began using steel ties in 1884, and now has some 20,000 in use. Forty thousand have been ordered from England, where they cost $1.25 in gold each, and chartering its own vessels the Vera Cruz Company can lay them down at a cost not to exceed $2, Mexican silver. The wooden ties, displaced, cost from ninety cents to $1.62 in silver. The life of the steel tie, it is believed, will be from thirty to fifty years. In India steel is being used in place of teak, one of the best woods.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The Big Deal.
NEW YORK, March 16. It is generally believed on Wall street that the control of the Baltimore & Ohio has passed into the hands of a syndicate, and the story is current among parties who are generally accepted as good authority that Jay Gould has acquired a quarter interest in the syndicate and has paid $1,400,000 in cash on the agreement. Russell Sage is also named as a member of the syndicate. According to the reports the Western Union takes the Baltimore & Ohio telegraph lines, Dinsmore the express business for the Adams Express Company, and the Pennsylvania railroad the road.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
Parties going east can leave either at night or morning and reach St. Louis in less than 22 hours without any change of cars. Close and prompt connection at St. Louis with all trains for the east.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The Frisco has put on its second passenger between here and St. Louis. The train arrived direct from St. Louis this morning at 9:25 o
=clock. This end of the road is rapidly materializing into the main line of the Frisco. The regular time is 7 a.m.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
Archie Dunn goes to St. Louis in the morning to buy two carriages to run to trains and to carry passengers to any part of the city. Archie has retired from the Southwestern Stage Co. Our citizens can look for something elegant in the carriage line.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The railroad managers who are reducing the baggage allowance, taking up editorial passes, etc., and spitefully trying to punish the traveling public because congress passed the inter-state commerce bill, are on the wrong track. It is such actions which compels congress to pass restrictive laws against them.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
Speaking of the businessmen of Arkansas City, the Geuda Springs Herald says:
AWith a class of businessmen she has, it is no wonder that Arkansas City keeps up her boom. There is certainly no town, except our own, in the state that we would prefer to see make a great city, and there is none at present with a brighter prospect of making it. We are getting ready for the street cars to run between our towns and it will not be many years at the present rate of progress, before we can ride to Arkansas City every fifteen minutes on the street cars for a nickel a trip.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
Winfield is making a great blow about her getting the D. M. & A., and says work has begun on it. The truth of the matter is the line of the D. M. & A., has not been located into Winfield. It is also true graders are working on the line for about four miles out of Winfield. Another gang is working on a six miles contract southeast of Dexter. There is only 10 miles of the road located in Cowley County or at least that is all of the line that has been filed for record. June 10 is drawing near. Perhaps the D. M. & A., folks will claim her narrow gauge bonds, but in our minds they will never have a chance to.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The three
>busses came up from the Santa Fe depot this afternoon, loaded inside and out with passengers. About six >bus loads had to walk up.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The train was several hours late today. The cause was the train was so heavily ladened with passengers coming to Arkansas City that on arriving at Wichita another train had to be sent for at Newton to convey all to this city.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
A dispatch from Little Rock, Arkansas, states that the directors of the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road have ordered the immediate construction of 100 miles of road from Van Buren. The engineering corps began making the final survey yesterday.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
Meeting of the Business Men
=s Club.The regular meeting of the Business Men
=s Club occurred last evening. The attendance was very large. Several new members were admitted. The railroad committee made its reports. It reported Arkansas City=s railroad prospects bright; better than ever before. The D. M. & A., was coming here this summer sure. The Pan Handle enterprise had been investigated and it was learned that its building would occur very soon. A representative of the company was in New York now, completing arrangements for its construction. That parties had agreed to furnish means for its building and a company had agreed to take it. The Ft. Smith road was going to be built by Jay Gould. The contract for 100 miles of the road had been let from Van Buren. This carries the road forty miles northwest of Ft. Gibson, Indian Territory, up the Valley. According to the provisions of the franchise, Gould had to build 100 miles of the road in order to hold it. The idea that Gould would build only to Ft. Gibson and then stop, coming to Chetopa, Kansas, on the M. K & T., connecting with the D. M. & A. there, had been abandoned on account of the 40 miles of Adead@ road Gould would have on his hands. Besides a haul out of the way of 138 miles would have to be made should the M. K. & T. plan be utilized. From Arkansas City to the end of the first hundred miles, the distance was only 127 miles. The Committee thought that from recent developments they would be justified in saying and guaranteeing that the Ft. Smith road would be constructed the way nature intendedCup the Arkansas River Valley to Arkansas City.The secretary read a communication from Jim Fisk, a wandering disciple of the
Aart preservative,@ who asked aid in the sum of $10,000 to establish a morning newspaper with press dispatches. The matter was referred to the committee on manufactories.After the transaction of some other minor business, the meeting adjourned.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
Good News
CThe Santa Fe=s Plans.ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, March 15. It is semi-officially stated the original western objective point of the St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado railroad, which was Kansas City, will be abandoned and the line be turned in a southwestern direction from Versailles, Morgan County, Missouri, and extended to connect with the Atchison, Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe road at, or south of Arkansas City. In time the road will no doubt be extended from Versailles to Kansas City, but the policy of the Atchison company seems to be to connect the Gulf road with St. Louis first as it can compete at once with the Missouri Pacific for Texas trade.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The Rock Island.
A special dispatch to the Wichita Eagle from Peabody says:
AIntimations have been given directly from Mr. Lowe that the Rock Island intend to continue their line from Peabody directly south down the grand fertile valley of the Whitewater and Walnut via Potwin, Augusta, Douglass, and Winfield to Arkansas City. Arrangements to work up the franchises are in progress and the people along the proposed route are all ablaze with enthusiasm. Score another for Peabody. Will have six railroads within another year.@
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]Last evening a corps of surveyors came to the city. This morning they began running lines east on the south part of the city. What company they represent is not known to us. The only information we could obtain was they were getting ready to build a railroad. Outside parties say they are State line surveyors, others Ft. Smith, and still others D. M. & A.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM THURSDAY
=S DAILY.]How funny the Arkansas City Republican is! It is very amusing indeed. The editor still holds out the idea that the D. M. & A. does not intend building to Winfield, or, if they do, that they will not get through in time to save the bonds and the sand hillers roar and hold their sides as they laugh at his wit. How smart the young man is getting to be. If he will come up here the first of June, we will see that he gets a ride on a rail
Ca D. M. & A. RailCinside of a palace car. Winfield Visitor.How cute! We will be there June 1. June 2 we extend an invitation to the entire city of Winfield to come down to Arkansas City and take a ride in a palace car on the MAIN line of the
D. M. & A. This is a pleasure you cannot enjoy in Winfield.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The Southern Kansas railway yesterday began running its passenger engines through from Kansas City to Chanute, changing at Chanute instead of at Ottawa as they have always done in the past. This is carrying out its agreement with the city to make it the end of the first division out of Kansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
The directors of the Rock Island Road met yesterday. The charter will be filed today. We are informed that the name is to be: Whitewater & Walnut Valley R. R. The proposed route: To start from Peabody and run by way of Potwin, Augusta, and Douglass to Arkansas City.
Augusta Journal.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
General Manager Smith, of the Santa Fe, on Wednesday issued a circular revoking all free passes prohibited by the Inter State Commerce Law. It is held for the present that free passes can be issued to none but employees of the road, and no passes will be issued otherwise until an opinion is had from the Inter State Commerce Commission.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
President Lowe, of the Kansas extension, has given his word that his company will build from their main line south down the Whitewater and Walnut via Douglass to Arkansas City without delay. The Rock Island is coming to Douglass! Douglass Tribune.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
Straws show which way the wind blows. And when railroad officials begin buying land around a city, it is a pretty good indication that that city is going to get something handsome.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
It used to be the Courier at Winfield claimed the shops for both the Santa Fe and Southern Kansas. Now, it claims only those for the Santa Fe
=s Southern Kansas road. They are all Acatching on@ up at Winfield at last. Arkansas City has the Santa Fe shops.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM FRIDAY
=S DAILY.]Geo. Lower, agent at Decatur of the Frisco, was in the city today. He called at the REPUBLICAN sanctum and entertained us with pleasant talk this afternoon. He informed us Arkansas City was a very substantial city. He will run several excursions to this point this summer.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
A special dispatch, under date of March 15, to the Globe-Democrat from Decatur, Illinois, says:
AThis evening ex-Mayor Haworth, Hon. James W. Haworth, City Attorney Mills, William Traver, John A. Brown, Michael Troutman, Dr. Wallace, and others, a syndicate of Decatur citizens, representing $500,000, left for Bluff City and other points in Kansas in a special coach, for the purpose of purchasing town lots and lands. The party appears to have inside information as to safe and profitable investments. They will be absent several weeks.@The above party passed through Arkansas City Wednesday to Bluff City, but returned this morning to Arkansas City and were here all day looking at and buying real estate. They were highly pleased with Arkansas City; consequently, their investments were quite heavy. The party is accompanied by Geo. Lower, the agent of the Frisco at Decatur.
Arkansas City Republican, March 19, 1887.
At the meeting of the Missouri Pacific directors in New York, Jay Gould was elected president, S. H. Clark, vice president, A. L. Hopkins, second vice president, and A. H. Caleb, secretary and treasurer.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
GETTING READY TO COME.
Spanning the Arkansas River at Ft. Smith.
An enthusiastic citizen meeting was held at the Academy of Music Saturday night, to hear the report of the committee appointed some days ago to canvass the bridge question. There was a large attendance of representative businessmen.
The Secretary of the meeting, T. H. Barnes, being called on to state the object, made a clear statement of all the facts ascertained by the committee and submitted resolutions for the ratification or rejection of the meeting. From the remarks of Mr. Barnes, it appeared that the Gould system would, perhaps, receive favorably a proposition from Ft. Smith to donate 20 acres of ground for machine shops, switch yards, etc., to widen the alley now occupied by the track of the system and donate six lots in block 509 reserve addition for depot, bridge landing, etc., in consideration of which the company will bridge the Arkansas River, from the Choctaw to the Cherokee shore, the bridge to cost $500,000, one-half that amount to be taken by citizens of Ft. Smith in bonds of the company. Fort Smith is to be made the end of a road running from Arkansas City, Kansas, to this city.
During the progress of the meeting, Col. Henry Wood and Maj. Gibson, of the Valley route, entered the hall and took seats in the rear.
Hon. J. H. Rogers, Capt. Jno. Mathews, and Maj. T. H. Barnes were appointed a committee to escort the railroad magnates to the platform. Their appearance was hailed with great applause, and there were loud calls for Col. Wood, who at last came forward and made a few appropriate remarks. Col. Wood could see no reason why the arrangement in view could not be consummated, although he could promise nothing positively. Maj. Gibson made remarks to the same effect, after which the meeting adjourned subject to the call of the committee.
All in all, this was the most sensible business meeting that has been held this season, and we do not doubt but that it will be fruitful of good results. Ft. Smith Daily Times.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
Girard, Kansas, is just feeling the effects of a boom that is coming, more especially since it is assured of the fact that the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Colorado railroad will run its line from Versailles, Missouri, to a point south of Arkansas City, connecting with the Gulf & Colorado in the Indian Territory. Kansas City Star.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
J. W. Irons, of Silverdale Township, was in the city today. He informed us a corps of D. M. & A. Surveyors ran a line diagonally across a portion of his farm yesterday, which will cut off about 40 acres of his land. Mr. Irons says if the company would build their line of road 20 rods south of the present survey, he would give them the right-of-way.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
Is the Globe-Democrat aware that the Courier is constantly making use of telegrams manufactured in Winfield and sent to the G. D. And then quoting the same as originating in the G. D. Office? Anyone can see that the articles were telegrams sent from Winfield. The Courier knows that the A. T. & S. F. and S. K. Shops and division headquarters are located at Arkansas City, and work will commence at A. C. within thirty days. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
Frank Miller, who has been working on the S K road down in the Territory, was seriously hurt Saturday. With other workmen he was riding on a hand-car or truck, on which iron is conveyed to the front, when he became dizzy and fell off, backward. He was on the front end of the car and he fell beneath the wheels, the front one passing over his leg. The car was thrown from the track. The injured man was picked up and brought to this city sometime Saturday night on the construction train. He was laid on the depot platform, where he remained until about 10 o
=clock Sunday morning, when Mayor Schiffbauer was notified. He secured Dr. C. R. Fowler and went down. The injured man was taken into the depot and as there was no hospital here to receive him, he was taken to the county infirmary at Winfield on the afternoon train. Dr. C. R. Fowler accompanied him and he and Dr. Pugh, of Winfield, attended the badly injured man. His hip was broken and his leg severely cut and bruised. Both physicians remained with Miller until 2 o=clock this morning. It seems rather out of place that Cowley County should have to take care of the Santa Fe=s army of wounded. All injured and sick workmen who have become unable to attend to duties, while at work on the Territory extension, have been brought to this city and left. And as a consequence the city or county has had to put up for their maintenance.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
50,000 or More.
We are going to be a city of 50,000 people or more. And why? It is almost useless to still argue the many advantages we have, but a few more points let us produce. Useless; why? Because acts speak louder than words. Daily we see scores of capitalists from all over the east coming. A few hours here suffices and they invest thousands. Here we are located only a few hundred miles from the vast cotton fields of the great state of Texas with our great Northern States above us. All these to supply with cotton goods and our many lines of railroad reaching out in all directions. Then best of all the capitalist, the manufacturer, goes to the head of our canal, there to see the inexhaustible supply of water to be utilized into power. You need not wonder that invariably they go into ecstasies over our prospects. Large investments is the immediate result. Then again we have the finest building stone, millions of tons, the best quality of sand, inexhaustible, beds of limestone, brick clay, unsurpassed in the land. Even now it is surprising to any eastern man how cheap building can be done here. And soon we will secure the Ft. Smith railroad, which will enable us to get still a much larger discount on our lumber. We can build much cheaper here than in Eastern States. This I know for I have fully investigated the ifs and ands, and let me say right here, no wonder we boom. Then most of all we are all united. All labor for the up building of our fine prosperous, booming city.
AIn unity there is strength,@ and now to our little rival sister towns let me say, boys, I guess you are left.Yours,
CLOSE OBSERVER.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
William B. Strong, the president of the Santa Fe, receives a salary of $25,000.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
S. M. Reed, a railroad gentleman from Cincinnati, Ohio, is in the city today investing quite largely in real estate.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
A. E. Parkinson writes from Ft. Smith that that town gave $250,000 Monday for the construction of a steel bridge across the Arkansas River. He further says the Kansas & Arkansas Valley road is a sure thing and that it will be built to Arkansas City.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
It is estimated that over 1,800 locomotives were built in the United States during the past year. They cost about $15,000,000.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
The Santa Fe is fixing the bridges between Kansas City and Topeka for a double track, which will be built this year.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
This morning
=s train brought a large number of Illinois people to the city. Some will locate here and others are here to prospect and invest.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
From now until the 31st of the month the Santa Fe will sell round-trip tickets to California, good to return for six months, for $60.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
The Santa Fe will have a new timecard Sunday. There will be no changes except in the time of the night train, which will arrive 40 minutes later.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
The railroad outfit of A. A. Grant & Co., which have been camped down by the Santa Fe depot for several weeks, left this morning for Pueblo, Colorado, where they go to work on an extension to Denver.
Arkansas City Republican, March 26, 1887.
The Rock Island railroad has a capital stock of $42,000,000. This includes the recently acquired loan of $15,000,000, for the construction of its Kansas systems.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
Another Road for Arkansas City.
DODGE CITY, KANSAS, March 30. The following railroad companies were organized at this place today, which have filed their charters with the secretary of state: The Dodge City, Montezuma & Trinidad, and the Rock Island, Dodge City & Denver railroad company, each with a capital stock of $2,500,000, in which are comprised the wealthiest capitalists of western Kansas. The first named road is to be a narrow gauge, while the latter is to be of standard gauge, and its southeastern terminus will be at Arkansas City, Kansas, while its western terminus is to be Denver, Colorado.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
The Southern Kansas will be in operation through the Indian Territory by May 31st.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
The Pan Handle railroad company will begin to throw dirt on its road about May 1. Leon Quill.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
The Frisco is laying a double track from west of the depot across the Arkansas River to connect with the Cale branch.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
W. S. Reece, President of the Pan Handle road, says he has $12,000 to bet that the road will be built. Now growlers shut up or put up! Our El Dorado friends will make a note of this. Leon Quill.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
News has reached us, which we are not at liberty at the present writing to make public, concerning the Kansas City & Pan Handle railroad, which insure us that road beyond a doubt. Work will commence as soon as all the arrangements are completed and will be pushed through as fast as possible. Burden Eagle.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
MORE ITEMS...FROM MONDAY
=S DAILY.]It was a terrible accident which befell Frank Sherman last night at the Santa Fe depot. Mr. Sherman is brakeman on the freight which arrives here in the evening, and last night when the whistle sounded for down brakes, he started to run along on the top of the cars to brake. He was nearer the edge than he supposed and he fell between the cars. Several cars passed over one off his legs, which was badly cut and bruised and broken in four places. The wounded man was picked up and brought up to Geo. Druitt
=s restaurant, where he received medical attention. Drs. Acker and Fowler were called in. Sherman is resting easy as possible. His folks were sent for at Mulvane last evening. They arrived on this morning=s train.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
The Arkansas legislature has passed a law to compel railroads running into the state to erect depots near the boundary lines and hold all trains at these points thirty minutes.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
We are informed that the track of the S. K. Road is laid in the Territory to the north Canadian River, a distance of about 140 miles. The track-layers are awaiting the completion of the bridge. There still remains about 30 miles of track to be laid. It will be completed by May 1. Then Arkansas City can take a ride to the gulf coast and we will boom.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
R. F. Fitzpatrick has tendered his resignation as an employee of the Santa Fe, to take effect as soon as he can be relieved. R. F. Has made a popular agent and his friends will regret not seeing his face behind the ticket window at the Santa Fe depot. He has made several fortunate real estate speculations lately, which allows him to retire from hard labor.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
[MORE ITEMS...FROM WEDNESDAY
=S DAILY.]Thos. Madden, who was arrested a short time ago, had his preliminary this morning before Judge Bonsall. He was up for selling whiskey in a railroad camp down on Cottonwood Creek. Sufficient evidence was adduced to hold him for trial and he was bound over in the sum of $500 to appear at Wichita at the next term of the U. S. Court. Failing to give it, he was remanded to the Cowley County jail.
Arkansas City Republican, April 2, 1887.
The county commissioners met in special session Tuesday and considered petitions in regard to voting aid to the Missouri & Central Kansas railroad. Elections were called for in Windsor and Harvey Townships. May 3 is the day set for the election in both townships. The commissioners discharged Miller A. McAfee from custody. He was up for the non-payment of costs in an assault and battery, committed in this city. The board will convene in regular session April 12. We glean the above from the Visitor.
[SANTA FE WORKING FORCE ENLARGED IN A. C.]
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1922
James Woods, Sr., the baggage man at the Santa Fe depot, reports that the working force in the yards is being added to and the stock of material is being greatly enlarged. The grain door stuff has been transferred to Newton, while more bridge and heavy timber stuff is being brought here.
[4 KILLED, BIG DAMAGE, BY WIND.]
MONDAY, MAY 22, 1922 - FRONT PAGE.
RECAP: Wind storms swept into several towns of Oklahoma and Kansas yesterday afternoon, leaving four dead and thousands of dollars in damaged property in their wake. At Muskogge two enginemen were killed by the locomotive being blown off the track. At Westfall two children are reported killed by the wind. Cars were blown off the rails at Guthrie where the wind reached high velocity. A tornado swooped upon Watonga, causing $50,000 property damage.
The heaviest damage of the storms was done to trees and crops. At Winfield scores of trees were blown down and several buildings unroofed. At Oxford a few small buildings were demolished and trees torn from their roots. None was hurt at either of these places. Fruit and crops were damaged by hail at Oxford. Trees were blown down between Udall and Belle Plaine. Five inches of rain fell at Coffeyville and four inches at Wellington. Wire service was demoralized between Arkansas City and Wichita and the street car lines and Interurban system in Arkansas City and Winfield were put out of commission. Lights in both cities went out. Little damage was done in Arkansas City or the surrounding country.
NOTE: REASON FOR THIS SHORT RECAP....SEE RELATED STORIES IN
AVIATION FILE ABOUT ARMY FLYERS LANDING DIFFERENT PLACES
DUE TO STORM.