The Weekly Arizonian., 1869-07-17
The southern Pacific.
F .oD, .h. Loniarille courier-J OurnaI.l


 In your issue of June 2d the following. para> ora uh appeas, speaking of the railroad from Shreveport to Marshall:
 There is now no reilroad enterprise Ill the country that is attracting more attention or that can present more cogent arguments Ia, vorinp its extension across the continent. And met here 1t is we'll to remark that we are ad" yyMed that. of all the railroad projects now hefore Congress soliciting aid, this is the only one making any progress and, what IS still more worthy of notice, it is the only one ID which parties interested have sufficient conh- dence to invest their money.
 Whilst the writer can have DO possibl oeJec~ ton to the progress of that enterprise, It IS certainly an untrue statement which IS made aboye if this Marshall < Shreveport line IS |" now before Congress soliciting aid, and IS the only one making any progress, 1t IS news to the writer, and will be to many other persons
 The Memphis, Fl Paso and San Diego Pacl- fic railroad company has been, and la before Cong res., and has twice been endorsed within the last four months The right of way to the Pacific was passed in the Fortieth Congress, by I2l to A5 in the Forty-frst Congress by lO2 10 49 No action has been taken by the Senate, though forty one Senators have expressed their intention to support it. In the late cone yention at Memphis the unanimous expression of opinion was for this line, and the friends of the measure acted upon the suggestions ot one of the Executives Board, Col Blanton Duncan, who was member of the Pacific railroad com- mittee and had full powers from his company. The Senate committee upon public lands report ed back, April 8, 1869, the bill with the prOviso amendatory of the House resolution;
 "That said company shall, within two years. build brach road from Marshall, Texas, in as direct line westerly as practicable to con- meet with the main line of their road at or near the 2Oth meridian of west longitude"
 Thus the Senate seems to have ignO, ed any claims on the part of the Marshall and Shreve- port road to extend its line, and Gas the friends of the Memphis and Fl PasO then thought) rather uniustly. The Memhis and El Paso Dire ctors did not ask for this amendment, nor do they desire it. And if the Shreveport people can build the line within the time prescribed, and can give ppOper assurances hat no peDal- ties will ensue from their failure against the Memphis and El PaSo, there will not be the slightest objection on the part of the latter road to permit the former to build this branch and take all the benefit. Indeed, it will require all the energy and all the influence of the Direc- tors to attend to their own main trunk of nearly 2,OOO miles. The act of Congress provides;
 That the said company shall complete the construction o! at least fifty miles of their road from Jefferson, Texas, within one year, and hedhrHu6GS Ie fifty miles at least GF saId Ia road, and q failure to comply with this condition shall forfeit so much of said right of Way as is not occupied by the completed road of said company, and shall fully complete and eouip their whole line of road within ten years from the approval fthis act
 Ky this proviso the government insures good faith and diligence upon the part of the conn pany Ten millions of first mortgage bonds have been sold upon the Paris Bourse, the onIv American railway securities which are quoted in that exchange. A telegram from Gen. Ere. mont of the 2Oth May, was read to the Mem phis Convention
 Our bonds are selling on the Paris Ex- change at 79, gold.'
 That equals ll2 in greenbacks, at prese mt rates of gold and exchange. The money tbns secured will build and equip about 300 miles of the road The iron is contracted for, and the llne will be pushed as soon as Fremont re- turns from Europe, and the Directors determine minor details.
 The Memphis and Fl P;.so will be built with in five years
 It IS the route above all others in which l louisville and Kentucky are interested, for the lne ot travel from the Pacific to all the Eastern cities north of Norfolk must come through this State. The development of Northern Texas md the access to New Mexico, Arizona, Chi luahua, Durango, Sinoloa and Sonora will Irlng more commerce to Louisville than all | he now enjoys. And with her traffic more | han doubled, her population will increase cor. espondingly, and her proportions will be | metropolitan before ten years have passed.
 B. D