The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-03-03
DalIos ana Cleburnc Railroad.

DALLAAi Mhfcn =, lhO'
10 the Editor of the Dallas iierald
SIR-Since work has been resumed
on the Dallas and Wichita railroad,
aud ns there IL no doubt now but what
the cars will soon be running over that
road 10 Denton, II occurs TO me that IL
would he very important move for
our citizens to organize company for
the purpose Of building n narrow guage
railroad from Dallas TO Cleburne, In
johnson county. There IL no enter
prise that could be named that would
40 Dallas more good than the building
ofa narrow guago railroad TO Cleburne.
Dallas gets her largest trade from the
southwest, section of country that IL
ropldly liIling up with IN industrious
and enterprising class of people, and
when the Texas and Pacific railroad
is completed TO Fort Worth (which
will be done sooner or later Dallas
will simply lose u large share Of tho
trade Of the Southwest unless the Dali
las aud Clehurn Railroad is built, the
building of which would retain all
the trade Dallas gets from that section
now (Which would be greatly increas-
ed by the completion of the road, and
addudliLlonal territory further to the
Southwest. Cleburne aud Johnson
county would be benefited by the
building of this road II would save
to Johnson county annually at least
seventy-hve thousand dollars (T5,0O0)
In the singleitem ofireights to say moth
ing of the enhancement of the value of
real estate and the products of the
country and it would make Cleburne
one of the most important points in
the interior Of TeXas. There would be
no estimating the benefits that Dallas
would receive from the building
of II railroad to Cleburne. II would be
safe to say that her population would
be increased to ut least fifty thousand
in less than five years; would cause
real estate TO advance not less than
one hundred per cent, and IL would
cause thousands of dollars to flow into
Dallas az once, to be invested in manu-
featuring enterprises, and Dallas would
he the market and distributing point
for section Of country Of at least
twenty thousand square miles in area
No one who has seen the country
southwest of Dallas will say that the
advantages of railroad to Cleburne
have been over-estimated. 1t takes
money to build railroads. The ques"
ton naturally arises then, where and
how can we get the money TO
build tho Dallas and Gle
burne Railroad. will answera
let the enterprising citizens of the city
Of Dallas and johnson county get to-
gether and II they cannot raise suil-
cient capital to build and equip the
road, let them raise say one hundred
thousand dollars, which would be am
ply sufficient 10 grade, bridge and tie n
narrow guage railroad from Dallas to
eXuend the one hundred
thousand dollars in grading, bridging
and teiug the road, and that, with the |
the land grant that the company could
count on getting from the State, would
be all the collateral that would he nee
essary to get sufficient CAPT
tai to buy the iron and rolling stock.
Indeed, If capitalists could be induced
to look at the country through which
the road would run, it would, in my
opinion, only be necessary to grade
the road. There would be no better
paying road in Texas than the Dallas
and Cleburne road.
The city of Dallas and johnson
county can easily afford to raise one
hundred thousand dollars to put in
railroad from Dallas to Cleburne; In
fact either one of them could afford to
raise that amOtIIt and honnta IL If