New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-07-07
THE TEXAS PACIFlC RAILROAD.
The WORK hat Thomas AssoOtt ha. Un-

give the general reader an idea O
the work undertaken by Colonel ThOma
A. Scott. and his associates. The Texa
and Pacific Railway Company finds fin
nished TO it's hands sixty six miles of rail
| road, from Shreveport. on Red river, t.
| LongvieW, Upshur county, Texas, which i
/ doing a good freight and passenger bust
| ness. This is the line heretofore known al
the Southern Pacific and extends frOn
Marshall, Texas, through a magnificent re
giOn, to Ell Paso del NOrte, near the bound
| ary between the United States and Mexico
thence to the junction of the ella and Col
orado riversof the west at Fort Yuma, anC
thence to. tie magnificent harbor of SaT
| Diego, on the Pacific coast which is land
locked, and large enough for one thousand
| vessels to ride with ease on its BOSOM
! There is another branch, the Transconti
mental, which begins at Texarkana, in the
county of Lafayette, Texas, ten miles west
/ OF Fulton, Arkansas, and extends through
a most fertile region of country to Fort
| Worth, in the county of TaFPant, Texas
| whereit joins the main line above described
/ and the two together pursue the route
| to the Pacific on the thirty-seeOud parallel
/ To Fort Worth, after visiting the towns OF
| Marshall and Jefferson, Colonel Scott and
| his party will proceed tomorrow, when we
| will stage it LIS miles across the country,
! reaching the railroad at Dallas whence we
| proceed through Houston and other places
to Galveston. There we board the Morgan
/ steamer for New Orleans, and so home,
| which, with the good fortune that has so
| far attended us, we hope to reach by the
tenth or fifteenth of July, or little over a
month since we left. This is a long route;
when completed we shall have travelled
nearly 5000 miles by rail, steamboat, stage
and ocean steamer. COlOnel@ScOtt and bis
chief engineer have been continually Occu-
pied during our trip consulting maps, lay
ing out routes, providing for materials,
workmen, ETC., Sc that when he reaches
Marshal, the threshold of his work, he will
give his orders clearly. Colonel Henry G.
Stebbins, vice president of the company, is
now IN London negotiating the first loan,
which, under the prestige attending this
grand scheme, will be easily secured.
By uniting the two lines referred to, char
tered by the State of Texas and by con-
gressional enactment, included under the
title of "The Texas and Pacific" Colonel
Scott secures all the lands and bonds voted
to the said Texas roads by the State of
Texas, equal in value to over twenty mil
lions of dollars This is exclusive of the
subsidies of Congress of the public lands in
the Territories, between Ell Pasr, in Texas,
and San Diego, California.
The distance from the eastern boundary
of Texas to- San Diego is about 1000 miles,
or, including the TranscOntinental road and
its branches from TexaFkana TO Marshall,
about 1900 miles. There are no engineering
difficulties of any kind to be met with; there
is no practical difficulty in regard to fuel
or water, and the country presents more ia
cilities for the construction OF a railroad
than can be found on line of equal length
on the Western continent. Comparing the
different estimates Of cost of this line, and
comparing all the estimates with the est
mated cost of all the other roads in the
Rfaf aam hn M n OF
this road can be constructed in first class
manner, and thoroughly equipped for bust
ness, at COST as before stated, not exceed
ing $4,000 Of bonded debt per mile. To aid
in the construction of this road the United
States has made grant OF its lands in the
Territories of New Mexico and Arizona and
the State of California, in all not less than
$4,000, 900 acres, in alternate sections, along
the route of said road.
The company offers its bonds, issued I'M
der the provisions of its charter, secured
by mortgage of the entire road, its fran
chises, property, rolling stock and appur-
tenances, including the fifteen millions of
acres of land granted by the United States,
and believes that no better or more salts
factory security exists. The bonds are pay
able in forty years, in gold, and the inter
est, at six per cent, with one per cent for
sinking fund, also in gold, payable semi-au-
payable at the option Of the holder, in Eu-
rope or America, as set forth in the.bOnd.
Besides the development of business is
the actually existing business awaiting
transportation, and already adverted to, in \
Texas, chihuahua, Sonora, New Mexico,
Arizona and California Mr.. Greeley, who
travelled extensively in Texas in 1871, esti-
mates that in 1880 she will have popula-
ton of 1000, 000 and that her industry and
enterprise will have far Outstripped the in
crease of population. 1t is estimated that
at least 100000 emigrants have arrived
within her borders during the past year.
and that there will be shipped from the Red
river country alone, during the present
year, rs, 900 head of cattle, 750,000 pounds
of beet, 100 600 pounds of tallow with hides,
225,00O bales of cotton, and large quantities
of wool, and that the receipts from all
sources will not be less than $50,000,0GO.
OF the through trade between California
and the Atlantic, and the trade and traffic |
of the Eastern continent, this road, from |
its superior advantages already adyerted |
to, must inevitably secure large proper !
ton. The gross earnings of the Union Pa |
cific and the Central Pacific railways COM |
bined, for 1871, the second year of their |
through business, as officially reported, |
amounted to $l7 $50, 900, of which amount |
sixty-fve per cent was local business, main |
" created by the railroad itself, and about /
hfty-three per cent, or nearly nine millions |
and half OF the above sum, was net profit |
over operating expenses. An equal revenue |
on the Texas Pacific estimating its total |
cost at say $75,00O,000, would give a return |
of over twelve per cent as the net earnings, |
and the amounts will expand in an over |
ratio as the country is settled |
and its resources developed.
But .superadded to all this is the munif- |
cent contribution of lands by the govern
ment, the general character of which is |
such as to secure their ready sale, and the |
Of sales, of which, in the terms of |
the mortgage, are devoted to the payment |
Of interest on the bonds and the purchase /
Of the bonds themselves, the latter of which /
features, it is believed will put the bonds /
ut par as soon as the company itself shall |
be able, from the sales of land, to announce |
Itself SIS a purchaser of its own bonds.
Judging from the experience of other
In the sale of government lands, /
5he inference is fairly warrantable that the |
value of the lands themselves will be amply |
sufficient to build and equip the entire road, /
thus doubling the security for the payment |
If the bonds.
The Union Pacific Railroad Company dur
ng the year 1870 sold $4,000 acres Of land, |
1t an average of $4 46 per acres 81, 240.
At like rate per acre the Is, 900, 600 acres of
5he Texas and Pacific Railway Company
would produce S61 100000.
have now given you an outline of the
asst project with which Colonel Scott is
Identified. Its magnitude is almost beyond
its prosecution and compile
ion worthy Of the lOftiest ambition. Need
ess for me to say that our young and daring
eader looks to no pecuniary- reward. That,
ne has already secured. He now aspires to
he higher object of reuniting North and
South in the bonds of increasing commerce
md lasting peace.