Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1902 — PLANS OF NEW SHORT LINE [ARTICLE]

PLANS OF NEW SHORT LINE

ROCK ISLAND’S TEXAS EXTENSION 'AND WHAT IT MEANS. Route Will Accomplish a Big Gain Over Distance, and Opens Up New Coal Fields in the Southwest Work. Which Has Been Rushed. Is Accomplished at the Cost of $7,000,-000-Competitors Put At a Disadvantage Details of the Scheme. By Jan. Ist the Rock Island expects to be able to open for business its southwestern extension to El Paso, Texas. This line in connection with the Southern Pacific and the Mexican Central Railroads will give the Rock Island the shortest line both to southern California and the City of Mexico, and make it a dangerous competitor of the Santa Fe. it took just one year to construct the f 46 miles of the new extension from Liberal, Kas.. to El Paso, Tex. For the purpose of complying with the Texas law that every railroad within tfnt State shall have State operating headquarters and also for general construction facilities and convenience, tue new road was placed under the charters of five different railroad corporations—viz.: The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific proper, the Chicago. Rock Islar d A Mexico, the Chicago. Rock Island & El Paso, the Reck Island & K 1 Paso, and tiie El Paso A Northeastern. DETAILS OF THE PLAN. The road from Liberal io Santa Rosa. N. M.. a distance of 272 miles, was i laced under direct Rock Island construction, withJ. H. jConlen, Vice-President of the Chicago. Rock Island A Mexico, as Chief Engineer and General Manager. while from Santa Roia to Carrizozo. a distance of 180 miles, the construction work was given to the El Paso A Northeastern, which already had a constructed line from Bl Paso to Carrizozo. 1 he road from Liberal to Carrizozo will be equipped with eighty-pound steel rails, oak or pitch pine ties, and modern ballasting. Depot, side tracks, switches, station houses, Vardings, water tanks, and Western Union telegraph lines hare all kept pace with actual road building, and when the road is opened by the first of the year it will be in as perfect condition as any of the lines of the Rock island system that have been in service for years. TO DEVELOPE COAL FIELDS. In connection witji the Rock Island-K! Paso line is the new thirty-mile Railroad which ia todevelope the immense Dawson coal fields, owned by the Rock Island, on the Beaubien and Miranda grant, in the northern part of Colfax County, N. M. This road will leave the main Rock Island rails at or near Liberal station, twenty miles southwest of the Canadian River crossing, and run through the New Mexican counties of SanMigud. Mora and Colfax. This branch will be completed by May- 16, 1902. 810 GAIN OVER DISTANCE. The completion of the El Paso line will give the Rock Island a route 222 miles shorter between Kansas City and El Paso than that of the Santa Fe between the same points, together with a saving of fifteen hours of time, the latter fact being largely due to the favorable alignment and maximum 1 per cent grade of the new Rock Island line. In connection with the Southern Pacific, the Rock Island will have a shorer line from Chicago to Los Angeles than will the Santa Fe. The construction cost of Rock Island-El Paso line will approximate $7,000,000. an average of about $16,000 per mile.-Chicago Tribune.