Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1875 — Railroad Conference. [ARTICLE]

Railroad Conference.

A conference of leading citizens of Hamilton and Marion counties along the proposed line of the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Railroad Company, and the officers of the road, was held at the Board of Trade Rooms. About fifty persons were in attendance at the meeting, which was called to order by Judge A. L. Roache. Prof. E. T. Cox was nominated chairman, and Dr. Moore secretary. By request, Mr. W. H. Haymond, president of the road, stated the objects of the meeting. The company was in a very prosperous condition under the circumstances. All of the line between Chicago and Delphi has already been placed under contract, and within sixty days after the frost has left the ground, the road the whole distance will be graded and ready for the iron. We

have been enabled to secure important franchises, worth millions, for absolutely nothing, and will run into the very center of Chicago on an independent line. We have already expended something in the neighborhood of §IOO,OOO, and have guarantees of large •‘Subsidies along the line. The road has heretofore been known as the 1., D. and C. road, but by the terms of a contract entered into not long since, by which the branch between Chicago and Indianapolis becomes a link of the line that will be built from Chicago to Charleston, South Carolina, to be known as the Chicago and South Atlantic, a route destined to be a far more important business thoroughfare than the Baltimore and Ohio road. All we want

of you is to guarantee the means to grade, bridge and iron that portion of the line between Delphi and Indianapolis, and we wiil do the rest. We do not require money in advance, and notbing need be paid until the road is built and wc have convinced you that we mean to keep our part of the contract. W e have formed a combination or syndicate, and in a very few days, before the close of the week, we will have closed arrangements for the bonding of the road for $15,000 per mile, which will furnish us means to construct the toad, after which the stock to which you have subscribed, or subsidies you have voted, will be paid, and the bonded debt liquidated. The road once built, the Chicago and South Atlantic company will stock and equip it, according to contract. The advantages that must accrue from the successful consummation of the enterprise were alluded to in glowing terms, and in conclusion, he vouchsafed the information that the route between this city and Delphi had not yet been decided upon, and the one selected would depend entirely upon the disposition of the people to aid the project.

Mr. J. M. Ridenour reviewed the enterprise from its inception and extended his hearty endorsement. Dr. Moore said that the enthusiasm of the residents in the northern part of Hamilton county in favor of the enterprise was marked and unmistakable. Mr. George Teters, of Boxleytown, favored appropriations, but wanted the cooperation of all that section of the country through which the route would pass. Mr. Thomas Harvey, of Carmel, spoke for his representatives, and said that they were friendly to the project, would grant the right of way gratuitously, and might vote subsidies, but in the latter instance would require a consideration for every cent so voted. Dr. Kerr, of Broad Ripple, Richard Mendenhall of Carmel, Marion Clark, of Washington township, Jesse Bond and others, gave their views. The meeting adjourned without action, and in fact no definite action was desired, the conference merely having been called to give the people a chance to express their sentiments, which were almost unanimous in favor of the project.— lndianapolis Journal.