The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1869-01-22
LOCATION OF THE PEORIA 4 ROCK
ISLAND r X. VIA CAMDEN AND
COAL VALLEY,
The Road Leased to mar, Gable,
Grand Consolidation to Give Us a St. Louis
and New York Railroad.

At a meeting Of the board of directors o.
the Peoria 4 Rock Island Railroad Compa
ny, held at Peoria, few weeks ago, the
finance committee Of that company was dI.
rected to make arrangements for ironing |
and operating their road. On Thursday |
1.-THE 2lst) that committee by telegraph &C.
cepted the proposition of P. l.. Gable, Esq., Of
this city President and owner Of the Coal
Valley railroad, to iron the road and operate
it in perpetuity, under lease,
Thus is ended the controversy in regard |
to the route and the completion Of the Peo' |
ria road-Snd we trust to the satisfaction Of
the public generally. The route will be via
Camden and Coal Valley. twas found that
i would requireSljO, OOOadditionAl means to
grade, bridge, and tie the road by the Moline
route and the question which the directors
had to decide was, whether they should &C.
cept Mr., Cables proposition, or, BY rejecting
it, run the risk Of not being able to raise the
means necessary to build the road by that
route.
Arrangements are now nearly completed,
between Mr.. Gable and the Peoria, Pekin
and Jacksonville railroad company by
which the two roads will be virtually consol.
dated, and, in connection with the Chicago,
Alton & ST. Louis railroad from Jacksonville
down, operated as Rock Island & St. Louis
railway giving US Just what we have long
desred-a direct route to St. Louis without
change ofcsrs. The importance Of this fact,
to Rock Island and vicinity, cannot be over.
estimated by our people. The Peoria, Pc.
kin d Jacksonville road will becompleted and
running from Peoria to Jacksonville next
month, and if satisfactory arrangements
shall not be made with the Chicago, Alton,
q ST. Louis road, the p. p. & J. company
will at onco extend their line to st. Louis,
or rather, to the Tsrre Haute l. Alton road,
using that road instead of the Chicago, Al.
ton L 81. Louis 10 go to St. Louis.
As this road will draw all St. Louis bust.
ness, for at least 90 miles on the G. r. /. &
p in Iowa, and for like distance on the
Western Union and as passengers between
st. Louis aud St. Paul would naturally wish
to avoid the tedium Of an entire trip by
steamer, it must do heavy St. Louis bust.
ness, making Rock Island the great point of
,ranshiPmeut.
At the same time, this road will furnish
us with q competing line to Chicago via the
c. B. & Z, at GAlva, with no greater dis.
lance than the present route. 1t will also
give US new line to the Atlantic cities,
over the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw, from
Peoria, saving US over 100 miles in distance
when compared with the present Chicago
route, practically making Rock Island al.
most as near New York or any of the eastern
cities as Chicago now is, in point of time.
The people of Rock Island and vicinity
must be gratifed with the fact that we have
man among US who has the nerve, and the
intellectual and pecuniary ability to under.
take and complete this heavy job and we
doubt not if some gentleman from Europe
or the east had shown as much evidence of
his willingness TO do what all have so long
desired to have done, that he would be
thanked by resolutions of public meetings of
our citizens, and by our municipal authori.
ties. AS 1t ~, however. there may be very
few who will see in this undertaking of Mr..
Gable no evidence public spirit and en-.
terprise, but will look upon it merely as an
effort on his part to still further increase an
income which already exceeds that of any
one in Illinois, outside of Chicago and
Springfield. But such persons should re.
member that the inducement to all men who
engage in such great enterprises is the hope
OF gain, and that any other person who
would have undertaken the work would
probably have been actuRted by similar mo.
tives, in that respect. And they should also
remember that, i'll this case, Mr.. Gable, being
entirely above the need of anything more in
the way Of pecunisry comfort, may be actu
ated by some desire to benefit the locality in
which he has cast his lot, as well as to add
to his already large fortune.
We believe that, even the friends of the
Moline route, although unable to secure the
location as desired by them, will yet rejoice
to secure the road, aud will, henceforth, give |
the undertaking their sympathy and moral
support, particularly as it costs them moth.
ing, and as no pecunary aid is called for.
The tax payers will, of course, be glad to
be relieved of the $4,000 debt voted last
spring and We see no reason why all can,
not rejoice that we are to have new eastern
and southern route opened by which the
business of Rock Island will be largely in.
creased.
THE UPPER RIVER IMPROVEMENT.