The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1869-06-10


want to sec-must acknowledge tho
truth of what we say, must admit
the correctness of every statement
that has been made, of every argu-
ment that has been urged in these
columns and elsewhere, looking to
the west alone.
But there is another connection,
dwelt upon less, which I'VE regard as
being equally important with that of
the favorites route to the Pacific
That the road from Leavenworth to
Galveston, Texas, will be completed
at an early day,sis everywhere ad-
mitted to be fact. That when.
completed it will bo by far the best
route between the southwest and
the manufacturing cities of the east
is equally true. If we were to sup
pose that the road in question wero
to stop at Galveston, definitely, the
connection would still be important,
dividing as it does the finest cotton
lands under tho sun and best grazing
territory in America. But the road
isnot to stop at Galveston; its rami.
tications will be extended to the Rio
Grande; the rich copmerce borne
down upon the bosom of that nigh
ty river will be reached, and the rich
est States of northern Mexico will be
laid under contribution. And when
in five or ten years Uncle Sam takes
TO his bosom the fertile valleys and
the rich vineyards of Mexico, when
he has stretched forth his hand to
pluck the fruit already ripcning on
the stem, the road will be pushed on
to the City of Mexico, over a prac-
ticable route, and wih not be second
in Importance among allthe railroads
of the world. The aluring riches of
the mines and soil Of that large ter
ritory will find its oatlet--its only
outlet-in this way. Long trains of
cars laden down with cotton and su-
gars, and golden ores, and all the pro-
ducts of the tropics will roll on to
eastern marts, and commerce will
pay tribute to the loeksand dams thro'
which it is obliged to pass. Shall
Ottumwa share in this? Shall she
participate in tho thousand advanta-
ges arising from the building Of this
southern road2 Or,shsll her rivals,
with superhuman energy and will,
wrest from her the laurels already
won, and divert the shower of gold
belonging to her, and her alone.
This is not fancy picture. All
that We have predicted will come to
pass, and more. With the building
Of this road capital will be attracted
hithcr. With the railroad facilities
that we will then have the rapids of
the Des Moines river will be turned
into mine of wealth. The water
power will be improved; manufacto-
ries will be erected, and ten thousand
,spindles will proclaim to the world
that we have prints and sheetings
and wooden fabrics to exchange for
the cotton and groenbacks of other
communities. Ottumwa will become
a manufacturing town as well as q
railroad centre. Eastern capitalists
will invest their money here because
they can here be independent of cx-
tortionate and grinding monopoly
Labor will be attracted, population
concentrated, and Ottumwa will be-
come tho distributing point, not for
simply q few contiguous counties, but
for whole States ana Territories, for
the plains and mines of Colorado, for
tho broad Texan prairies, and for the
now isolated parts of Chihuahua and
New Mexico. The question simply
resolves itself into this: Shall she
reap these ten thousand advantages,
or shall she let them so by default?--
Shame on you gentlemen who obsti-
nately lay back, willing to see your
town shorn of her glory and her
strength, and willing to see her own
diadem crown tho brow of rivals
II ore alert.