Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1873-07-03
Shall we have Railroad in I,ancas-
terp

caster will soon be called upon to
decide upon the question of voting
aid to build q railroad running into
Lancaster, and it is objected by some
that the Chicago and Tomah Rail-
road is to be what is called narrow
guage road, and therefore will not
be of sufficient capacity to meet the
requirements of the business along
the line of said road. To meet some
OF these objections l give a few ex-
tracts from an able work on narrow
guage railroads, which may serve TO
show TO some extent the advantages
of the narrow over the broad gauge
road
"The narrow gauge system will
very quickly make its own history.
The passenger cars are 80 feet long,
z wide and 1O8 feet high; they
weigh $4,000 pounds each and carry
50 passengers, being 4l6 pounds of
car for each passenger, while the
ordinary car carrying "a passengers
weighs $4,000 pounds or 722 pounds
per head. The stills are only 81 inch
es from the ground, the usual height
being A inches-a difference which
lowers the centre of gravity so much
that the narrow gauge cars are less
liable to be overset than the broad
cars. These cars have been drawn
at a speed of 40 miles to the hour
and have encountered gales whose
severity is too we'll known to trav-
ellers in the Colorado upland. In
fact no effort has been spared to put
them to the severest test. Their
success under such circumstances
fully insures their future perform
ance and demonstrates that the
gloomy doubts entertained by many
minds respecting narrow gauge roll
ling stock were utterly without foun.
dation and worthy emily of the past
This system saves, TO begin with, in
respect to all the heavier work OF
grading, embanking, tunnelling, &c
1t also saves an important portion
of land damages, half the expense Of
rails which weigh only 80 pounds
to the yard instead of 60 pounds, sc
that roads built on this principal
cost about { the expense ofthe broad
gauge. About /! the cost of fares
and freights is saved from the small
cost of hauling. This largely results
from the gain in strength on smaller
cars, in consequence of which on the
narrow gauge road one ton offreight
car will carry one ton of freight
while on the broad guage for every
ton of freight, there is hauled 2 3-5
tons of car. The saving on passen'
ger car dead weight, being about
300 pounds per passenger or over
30, 900 pounds for each 100 passen-
gers, an equal degree of speed is at.
tainable and greater safety"
Much more might be said in favor
If the narrow guaga system Suf-
fee it to say, that recent develop
ments show that wherever the mar
row gauge system has been adopted
its superiority over the broad gauge
has been seen and acknowledged by
all. The question then is shall we
accept of the proposition made us
by the Chicago and Tomah Railroad
company and vote the required aid,
to be paid only on condition that ICE get
the road stipulated, or shall we here
in the centre of Grant County, in
the midst of one Of the richest farm
ing and mining regions of the North
west, remain shut out from the BUSH
ness world and sit quietly down and
let our more enterprising neighbors
around US get their railroads and
run away with our business, thus de-
preciating tho value of our property
instead of voting a mall tax, build
ing a railroad and thereby develop
ing our resources, increasing and
adding to the valde of our property
and thus not only benefit ourselves,
but the whole cou nty and state.
n. G..
Lancaster, July 1, 1873.