Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1882 — THE IRON HORSE. [ARTICLE]

THE IRON HORSE.

A Heim me of the Raihvsy Construction of 188*4. [From the Railway Age.] Early in the beginning of the present year the impression began to prevail that the construction of new railways in this country had for a time practically ceased, the result, it was believed, of a natural revulsion from the furore for extensions which had characterized 1881. That year, it will be remembered, was poted for the construction of a far-greater railway mileage than any previous year in the history of tio countrv, aggregating between 9,000 and 10,000 miles. This seemed to be adding to our railway system at an excessive and unwarrantable rate, and it was assumed that a marked decrease would ensue. Thus far, however, this year, these predictions have not been justified, but, on the contrary, strange to say, the mileage of new roads already completed is far greater than during the same period for any previous year, and considerably more than twice as great as that for the first five months of 1881 even. To show these remarkable fifcts we have taken pains to obtain information as nearly complete as possible of the progress of track-laying on each road in the country, from which we have made a summary by States, and present in the following table a statement, so far as we have it, of the miles of track laid in the United States during the five months from Jan. 1 to June 1, 1882, giving also the number of lines concerned: track laid from jam. 1 TO JUNE 1, 1882.

State or Territory. No. Lines. Miles. Alabama. 2 13.50 Arizona J Arkansas 2 121.00 California 2 78.00 Colorado. 2 253.00 Dakota 1 12.00 Florida 2 61.00 Georgia. 4 131.00 Idaho 2 43.00 Illinois * „92.00 Indiana SIB - ? 0 . lowa 207.50 Kansas 5 116.00 Louisiana 1 24.00 Maryland. 2 9.50 Minnesota 3 32.00 Michigan 1 ?J- 00 Mississippi 2 14.00 Missouri 3 48.0 J Montana 1 68.00 Nebraska 2 138.40 Nevada 1 15.00 New Jersey 2 9.00 •New Mexico 1 6.00 New York 10 149.79 North Carolina 1 63.00 Ohio 9 '203.71 Oregon 1 59.00 Pennsylvania 6 71.79 South Carolina 2 48.00 Tennessee 4 4 UK) Texas 10 734.00 Utah 1 50.00 Virginia 4 92.00 Wisconsin 4 81.00 Wyoming 1 14.00 Totals in 36 States and Territories. 120 3,180.19 From this table it will be seen that during the past five months tracklaying has been in progress in thirty-six States and Territories upon at least 120 roads, and that within that time no less than 3,480 miles of new railway have been added to the United States. These figures, moreover, are necessarily incomplete, as quite a number of roads have not yet responded to our inquiries for information, and on a number of others tracklaying had but recently commenced. Although, as has been said, construction during 1881 was remarkably rapid, yet at this time last year only about 1,500 miles of new track had been reported, or less than 45 per cent, of the aggregate for the present year, and not much more than 15 per cent, of the total laid in 1881. A similar rate of construction. for the remainder of this year would show the prodigious total of about 23,000 miles for 18854, but, of course, no such increase is now possible. That railway construction has by no means been suspended, but that, on the other hand, an enormous mileage is to be added, is indicated by the large number of companies recently incorporated, as well as by the fact that preliminary work is in progress on many other lines which have not reached the stage of tracklaying. By running through our own files since Jan. 1, we find that we have referred to no less than 225 companies either newly incorporated or in process of construction, these being in addition to the 120 covered by our table of tracklaying, and in addition to the others on which tracklaying is in progress but has not been reported. We believe it safe to say that there are at least 350 lines, covering at a moderate estimate a total of 25,000 miles, upon which work is now either in progress or is proposed to be commenced during the present year! Of course, some of these projects may"not speedily be undertaken, and a financial revulsion would put a temporary stop to many lines now under construction; but if the coming harvest throughout the country is good, and business does not experience a serious set-back, it is not unlikely that the mileage of railways constructed during 1882 will nearly equal the remarkable record of 1881.