Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-03-14
The Railroad.

Agreeably to notice in the BULLETIN,
last week, Messrs. VIM. Greene, A s..
Belt, Thos. II. Benton, Jr., }. w. Traer
and C. c. Cook, representing the b., c..
r. & NJ. Railway Company, arrived in
our city on Tuesday, with view of as
certaining the minds of our people rela-
tive to aid in the completion of the Post
Vile branch of said road through our
city. Meetings have been held on Tues.
day, Wednesday and Thursday evenings,
| at which the above named gentlemen
have made thorough exposition of the
wishes and intentions of the company,
and explanation of the failure Of the COM
pany to complete the road last fall In
place of the tax Of over $50, 900 then for
fcitcd, the company now asks our people
to raise $4,000 by subscription, and
would like an answer within two or three
weeks. The meeting on Tuesday evening
appointed soliciting committee, which
has since been enlarged, and now consists
of the following gentlemen: II. Bryant,
T. Munson, S. s. Clark, Geo. W. Bcmis,
+. Leach, c. Dickson, t. j. Curtis, J. J.
Travis, A. B. Clarke and G. A. Clarke
Some of our citizens have subscribed lib.
eral amounts ut the meetings, and the
committee have been and are at work
vigorously, but there has not been that
measure Of success yet attained as will
warrant us in saying that the building of
the road through our city is assured.
Almost everybody is satisfied that the
present time is critical and decisive
point IN the history Of our city, and that
we are henceforth to advance or retro
gade, and that rapidly, as events shall
turn this year. All acknowledge the
importance of this second railroad to our
prosperity, and realize that we cannot af-
ford to lose it, but large number Of our
people believe, or profess to believe, that
we will get it whether we pay for it or
not. We are thoroughly convinced that
this security is fraught with danger
The example Of Mason City, Iowa City,
Upton and Manchester should be a
warning to us not to indulge in false
security on this question. Those towns
would have been glad to secure the ad
vantages they once had offered to them
and rejected, by the payment of double
the original demand, but found it too late.
We are assured that this aoiU be the case
uith ne if we now fold our hands and do
nothing. The company have bona tide Of
fers from parties cast Of us, made since
its failure to reach Independence last
fall, which will warrant it in abandon
ing all i. has done on this line. The
survey shows feasible route through
Ouasqueton and Winthrop, and those 10
calities, with large farmers and land
owners in the north part of our county,
will jump at the chance to profit by our
want of enterprise.
| If we have ever been honest and can
did in anything, we are so now in the
expression of the conviction that the al
titude of our people toward this PROPOSE
ton will be the test of our future great
ness or decay as community. 1t is not
alone the road that is to bring us pros
perity, but it is the ability to hold and
attract those other adjuncts to prosperity
dependent upon ample and competing
railroad facilities, manufactures, trade,
and industries of all kinds. that makes
this question vital one now. We are
already late in the race with towns
around us. We cannot afford to aca t
longer for railroad facilities, nor can we
ever get them near so cheaply. Let us
profit alike by the example of comnuni-
ties which have been liberal in this re.
gard, and those that have been the re-
verse of liberal, so that we can share the
prosperity of the one and avoid the fatal
mistakes of the other.