St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-04-22

amount OF the stock already subscribed
has been taken by this very class of
men, thus securing to you, inevitably,
the good will and cordial support of
the whole community through which
your road will run.
The principal streams crossed by
either line Of your road, and indeed
very many of the smaller ones, furnish
an amount of water abundant for all
purposes of milling and manufacture
ing, required by the wants of a thick
ly settled and well improved farming
country. Upon the Turkey and Cedar
Rivers at various points, arc already
erected good substantial Touring and
saw mills, which are not only supply
ing the wants Of the country immediate
ly around them, but are sending large
amounts Of their products, manufact-
ured from the surplus grains Of their
location, to portions of the State
further west and north, and which are,
as yet, comparatively unsupplied with
manufacturing facilities among them
selves. At West Union, Fredericks-
burgh, Bradford and other points not i'm
Immediately upon any stream of water
affording sufficient power for mechani-
cal proposes, are erected good sub
stantial steam mills, which are busy
to the extent of their capacity. Other
and additional machinery is being put
in motion as fast as it becoms neccs-
sary, to enable the inhabitants to
prosecute their agricultural pursuits.
The question of the amount of BUSH
ness which any country, adapted as is
that along the line of your road, to
the raising of wheat, barley, oats,
buckwheat, corn and potatoes, and
the products of farming and grazing
countries generally, is not easily to be
determined, and can only be approx
matcly arrived at by a comparison
with other western roads running
through a country similar in the
character of its soil and extent of cul-
t!vation. Such estimates have been
made in advance of the building Of
railroads, but have been almost as
often widely enormous, the net earn
ings being dependent in no wise upon
the business done, but upon the
amount which a road has cost in it's
| construction.
1t is in the history of the past three
months, that western roads running
through prime agricultural country,
have been sunk to utter worthlessness
to their stockholders by reckless waste
Of the money and means of company,
in their construction, the question of
their ever paying having been put be-
yond doubt, by the enormous amount
wasted by the extravaganza and
frauds of a dishonest directory. I'm
der such extravaganza waste and reck-
lessness of money, no extent of country,
however productive in its soil, nor
however we'll its resources might be
developed, could afford business of a
sufficient amount to make a railroad
remunerative to its stockholders. Out
of the investigation of the ruins of
railroad companies that have thus
made shipwreck of not only them
selves, but the entire railroad interest
of the west, comes the conviction of
our policy of doing no more work
than can he paid for without borrow
ing the money to do, is the only safe
policy. And while other good roads
have been made unproductive by a
} foolish, not to say fraudulent waste OF
: money, l am confident that the country
tributary to your road will make i
one Of the best paying roads ever
built, if the policy now being pursued
be strictly adhered to.
! Thus far have only spoken of the
country between the Mississippi River
and Clear Lake as tributary to your
road, not being able to speak of the
country spread from that point west
to the Missouri River from personal
observation, but enough is known to
satisfy me fully that upon the entire
line the country is well adapted to cul-
tivation. Upon this point very much
valuable information has been afford
cd me by those with whom l have con-
versed, who have been over the entire
route to the Missouri River, and who,
from frequent journeyings arc familiar
with the general characteristics of the
country, and from whose representa-
tons / am induced to believe that
scarcely an obstacle will be found in
the way of direct line, with easy
and cheap grades, and that scarcely
forty acre tract of land will be found
that is not susceptible of cultivation.
This at first thought might appear an
extravagant statement, but it is made
with very full knowledge gained
from a member of your board, who re-
sides midway upon your route, and
from others equally reliable, who
speaks alike Of its peculiar adaptable
ity to the pursuits Of agriculture. 1t
is also represented by those familiar
with the country, that there exists
coal fields, equal in extent to those of
other western states, and which can
be made easily available by small
comparative expense in mining. If
this be fact. it is consideration in
its bearings very influential upon the
future of your roads, for it will only
require those facilities which your
road will furnish to make them pro-
ductive and relnunerative to you as
freight. Add to the above facts the
one that Iowa is justly celebrated as
one of the best wheat-growing States
in the Union, and that there is no
portion Of your State which yields a
larger product of this grain than that
part of northern Iowa, through which
your road will run, and you have ma
terials the most abundant from which
to derive the certain conclusions that
your road will not be without an abund-
antly rcmunerative revenue to your
stockholders.
This point I might illustrate by the
addition of a few figures which l think
will not be extravaganza, when COM
pared with the business of roads SINH
larly located.
The capacity of country to sup
L