The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-09-23
THE A., T. & S. F. ROAD-A SCRAP
OF HISTORY.

The construction of the Atchison, To
peka s. Santa Fe railroad is to be push
ed forward to the Arkansas without
any intermission. The funds are pro
vided, all plans matured, and the worl
will be pushed ahead with the creates
possible rapidity. A section of forty
miles southwest of Emporia, extending
somewhat beyond Cottonwood Falls, il
to be placed under contract immediate
| ly. This section of the road is an ex.
ceeding favorable one for rapid work
The line will follow the valley of the
Cottonwood, which is remarkably level
with few streams to bridge, and those
small ones.
The company have definitely deter
mined not to commence work on the
line between this city and Atchison un-
| til the road shall have been completed
/ to the Arkansas river. The considera.
| tions which have led to this determine.
| ton are practical and controlling. Its
7 obviously to the interest of the compa-
ny to make their splendid lands in the
Southwest available, and this cannot be
done until the road shall have been bull
through them, rendering them easy OF
access, and establishing rapid and con-
venient Communication between intend
! ing settlers and their future markets.
Then, the control of the Southern cattle
trade is a matter of great, probably par
| amount Importance. Only the slightest
knowledge of the country is necessary
to show that, when the road shall have
reached the Arkansas, it will be in q
more favorable position to command
this business than any competitor.
We take it that the town lot fever
will soon commence to rage in the vi
cinity of the Arkansas. 1t has not been
determined at what point the road will
strike the river, but wherever that point
may be, large and prosperous town is
certain to spring up. We understand
that it will be the policy of the compa-
ny to donate a site to the Texas inter-
ests, which are expected to develop the
locality and to make the town the great
depot and emporium of their colossal
traffic. There will be many interested
in ascertaining the location of this IA
Vored spot.
The present brilliant prospects of this
mammoth railway enterprise form sig
nal illustration of the great results
which often follow from insignificant
causes. All old settlers recollect that
terrible year, the memory of which
seems destined to be eternal, and which,
even at this distance of time, serves as
id. 1t was in 1860, when the then in
habitants, who had endured so many
sacrifices and had experienced so much
of sorrow and disappointment, were
looking forward to years of peaceful
and profitable industry, content if only,
by earnest labor, generous soil should
afford to them a moderate compeHsa-
ton for all that they had lost and feared
and suffered. How these hopes were
disappointed we need hot remind the
reader. a terribly destructive drouth
hung over our newly-cultured fields
like poisonous blight, crushing every
expectation even of moderate harvests,
and presaging inevitable disaster.
1t was just at the period when these
distressing indications became painfully
apparent, that party of Topeka gen.
tlemen conceived the Utopian idea of
setting the Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe railway enterprise in active opera
ton, not alone or even primarily be-
cause of any immediate necessity for the
work itself, but in order that employ
ment might be furnished to large num-
bers of needy persons, who were likely
to become objects of charity if some
such opportunity for self-support were
not offered. Thaddeus Hyatt, the large
hearted philanthropist, was then at At
Gibson, and as he was possessed of con-
siderable capital, the gentlemen to
whom we have alluded conceived the
idea of inducing him to embark in the
enterprise.
Accordingly, one bright morning
unfortunately, all the mornings were
bright in those days-this party, con-
sisting of Edmund G. Ross, now United
States Senator; Col. G. X. Holiday !;
Jacob Stafford, now Judge of the SUI
preme Court, and Col. Dan. Horne, set
out for Atchison, which was then, as
now, "great railroad CENTER" Con pa
per,) for the purpose of consulting with
the celebrated eastern philanthropist and
certain Atchison gentlemen, including
a since noted individual, who was soon
to become unenviably prominent in an
other scheme of philanthropy. These
gentlemen were "hard up,"-had not
money enough to pay their hotel bills,
and so they laid in a supply of cooked
rations to- satisfy their hunger during
what was then a long and toilsome jour
ney. They were sparing of the little
pocket money which they did possess,
and so they slighted,Jack Curtis ferry
and forded the Kaw.
Well, they reached Atchison, and
found that the great Hyatt was then I'M
der n financial cloud; having no ready
means at his command, he could only
furnish good wishes and encouraging
words, and these could not be made inn
mediately available. Nothing remained
for them but to draw upon their own
unlimited means (prospective.) They,
therefore, with half dozen equally
wealthy and liberal Atchison gentlemen,
magnanimously subscribed four thou
sand dollars each to the capital stock of
the company, and then mutually felici-
tated each other that at last the enter
prise was on solid financial basis!
Years passed and, strange to say, even
with this munificent endowment the
work languished. But these sanguine
gentlemen, with others equally san
guine, never lost heart; they nursed the
enterprise through a struggling preca-
rious infancy, and at last had the su-
preme satisfaction of seeing it firmly
established as among the most flourish
ing adventures of this prolific and pro-
gressive age. All honor to the resolute
men who quailed not in the presence of
manifold discouragements, and who, not
despising the day of small things, build
ed better than they knew.