Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1902 — The Gifford Road In Lake County. [ARTICLE]

The Gifford Road In Lake County.

Crown Point Register: | There is not only a possibility ' but a strong probability that the | Gifford railroad will strike Crown Point, instead of Lowell. All that remains to make it an assured thing is a combined effort on Crown Point’s part and the co-operation of the land owners along the proposed line. Mr. Gifford, together with Attorney Jesse E. “Wilson, of Rensselaer were here Saturday looking -the situation over and while here Mr. Gifford said he would make a proposition to the land owners if they wanted a railroad and cared to furnish the land that he would furnish the money to build it. He has at present three routes surveyed through Lake county. One is through Lowell and connecting with the belt line at Chicago Heights; one going between Cedar Lake and Crowq Point and connecting at Dyer, and the other thrqugh Crown Point and connecting at Hartsdale. Of these he has two under favorable consideration, the Lowell route and the one by way of Crown Point, with a preference for the latter, if all other things were equal. Great inducements have been offered him by the Chicago Heights people to make that point the terminus, and the Lowell people are using their best efforts to secure the road. One of the advantages of the Crown Point and Hartsdale route is its comparative cheapness of construction and} the influence of the Indiana Harbor promoters, who desire the road to connect with the new Michigan Central branch that runs from Hartsdale north to the Harbor, The Harbor people need a closer connection with the coal fields of southern and central Indiana and with the southern terminus of the present Gifford road built farther south a direct line would be easily secured tp the big coal fields and the road would be a dividend payer from the start.