Hammond Times, Volume 6, Number 255, Hammond, Lake County, 17 April 1912 — Page 29

THE TIMES.

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A little over five years ago the board of trustees of the village of Gary met in a little one room frame school building: on Broadway in the vicinity of Fourth avenue. Gary at that time existed largely in the imaginations of the people. It

is true that the steel mills were in the process of construction. It is true that Broadway had been staked out to a width of 100 feet and that the grading had been done through the high and ridges, it is true that some buildings had been erected, but they were very

SENATOR F. N. GAVIT, PRESIDENT OF THE GARY & INTERURBAN

C. H. GEIST, One of Region's Greatest Boosters

few.

But Gary was large In the imaginations of the men who appeared before the village trustees aVid asked for a franchise for a street railway line. It seemed ridiculous for men to be so concerned about the matter of building a street car line in that waste of territory, but there they were fighting with all of the fight there was In them for the right to the unmade streets of the new steel city. And They JMake Good.

The franchise was granted. The Gary & Interurban, Senator Frank N. Gavit, president, was the grantee. Those connected with the project were not financial giants, even when measured I measured by the financiers of this district, and there were come misgivings as to whether or not the granting of this franchise would provide for the transportation necessities of the city. But the line was built on Broadway, an extension crept over to Hammond, the Broadway line was extended to the Little Calumet river, an extension

was bunt on Fifth avenue to Ambridge and in a few years cars were running everywhere. In the meantime the Gary & Connecting Railways Co., which was closely affiliated with the Gary & Interurban ratldal, had been building eastward from Laporte. Only recently this line was completed, making it possible to go all of the way from Laporte to Hammond on the lines of this company. Connection Important. At the same time the Valparaiso & Northern, connecting Valparaiso and Chesterton, was built. This opened up a new territory and made the beautiful lake region of central Porter county accessible to the thousands of people in the manufacturing districts to the westward. But this was not all. The work of constructing the Gary, Hobart & Eastern is being rushed forward - so fast that it is a question of only a short time when this road will be a valuable feeder to the already extensive system of the Gary & Interurban and the Gary & Connecting railways. So from a smallbeginning made by a few determined men there has been developed in the region one of tfie most

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FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS WORTHI-KSS. Every section is Judged as to its enterprise by the energy of Its peopla i.i making known to the world their own faith in their country. Faith without works Is of no effect. You may claim faith great enough to move mountains, but if you do not back your faith 'with evidence that it la a living, working reality, you win never move even an ant hill. You may have unbounded faith in the richness of the Calumet Regionresources, in the attractions of Jour town or city, in the merits of your individual business, whether it be making plna or operating a railroad, bu unless you throw the energy of your life ir.to letting the world know tho quality of your pins or the advantages of the country tributary to your line or its facilities for travel, you will never accomplish much for the upbuilding of your town, for the selling of your product or the creation of increased

transportation business. In this Issue many towns and cities, many industrial and flnanlal concerns, many transportation companies, have demonstrated that with them faith and works go hand in hand, so th'ey are making known through thesa pages what they are doing and why they seek your co-operation in the enlargement of their operations. A more splendid array of great business institutions, of railroads, c! towns end cities of exception advantages as advertisers was, we believe, never before gathered into any publication in this district. We commend them to our readers; study every page note how some cities and towns are growing with amazing rapidity; investigate these advantages; look carefully into all that is to be found In these many advertisit!j pages of this publication, and In seeking additional information be sure '

mention Thh Times newspapers.

xtensive street and interurban railway systems in the country. It is a system that traverses the most wonderful industrial region in the world and then connects it with the best farming country in its vicinity. It is Almost impossible to estimate the potential value of this line, both to its owners and to the community. And in spite of the fact that it began in a small way with many handicaps, it is now regarded as one of the best operated lines in this region. The service in Gary is what might be expected in metropolitan city. The equipment is first class in every re

spect. The people are satisfied with it and Gary demands the best of everything. Development Only Begun. And the tievelopment of the system has apparently only begun. The company has secured franchise rights in Hammond to build a branch to East Chicago and Indiana Harbor, past the plant of tho Baldwin Locomotive works. It expects later to build its Fifth avenue extensions through from Gary to Indiana Harbor and possibly Whiting. It further plans the building of a terminal into Chicago, and then it will be as complete a system of street car

lines as could possibly be desired. Very few accidents have marked the first years of the operation of the line and yet schedules are maintained and the service is satisfactory. It is really remarkable that in so short a time an efficient management has been built up. It speaks well for the resource of the men who are back of the project. The great future of the Gary & Interurban railroad lies in the 'fact that the territory which it traverses is the heart of the great manufacturing district of the Calumet region. Serve the People. This will be the, line that will pick up the worklngmen at the factory gates and carry tliem to their homes. This Is the line that Is now so advantageously located that it has been a paying proposition from the very start while interurban pioneering is usually expensive business.

The fact should not be overlooked that the Gary & Interurban line is affiliated with the Chicago-New York Air

lines, which has built a large number of miles of the finest interurban roadbet that was ever built into this territory. This wlll'eveutally be developed into a high speed trans-continental line, which will cut the running time from Chicago to New York to ten hours. While the air line has been slow in developing, yet it is really a stupendous piece of engineering and requires a

greater amount of time for its develop-; merit. But when It is completed It will have as a feeder the Gary A Interurban lines, which will then extend fan-like over a territory so populous, so wonderful in its development that it will rlvar its neighboring city in Illinois. From the little acorn the great oak is evolved. From a four-mllts line on Broadway a system of street and Interurban railroffds has been developed that Is second to none in- the region. This system is the only one in the region which has anticipated the growth of this territory and has built its extensions and established its connections accordingly.

The income of the American Federation of Labor from all sources during the last quarter of 1911 was $42,834.90. The seventeenth biennial convention of the United Brotherhood of Cavpenters and Joiners of America is to be held in Washington, t. C-, next September. More than 700 motormen and conductors in San Francisco, Cal have joined the International Street and Electric Railway association within the last six months. ; Tho number of volunteer organizers commissioned byhe American Federation of Labor In 1911 was 1.594. There are now 1,647 volunteer organisers coinmissioned by the federation.

THBRB IS ALWATt A "BEST PLACE" TO BUY. TIMES ADS TEH YOU WHKRB

What Is The Population of Your Qty

within th

Commerce ignores Corporate Boundary Lines. It follows lines of Traffic which in turn follows Lines of Least Resistance. Transportation is the First Requisite of Commercial Greatness. Transportation Made Chicago. A City without Transportation is Marooned. It will Die of Commercial Starvation. TDo ExtiendsuiBnti off a Factfirawro SisHouuD (Bc'saHeo RJezy HMeo Mr Real Estate. Buyer: Don't ask the Population of a City. Ask the Population of the Territory within the Five Cent Fare Limit. That alone is an Estimate of its Real Commercial Importance. Hiffltt Moms Wil PcQeinnniliic Fnntare MeaDfly Vatoes.

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