Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-07-24
J. M. Hedrick, President Of the

j. M. Hedrick, President of the
Cedar Rapids, Sigourney d Ottumwa
Railroad Company informs us that
Engineer Sheldon has completed the
estimates and figures on the last line
Of the proposed road which he re-
Gently surveyed, and finds il substan-
TALLY the same length of the old
Douglass survey, and in other re-
spects reasonably good and salts
factory line. He finds the work will
require about twelve thousand yards
grading to the mile.
Judge J. M. Cary, the attorney of
the Chicago, Milwaukee s. st. Paul
railroad company, who not long ago
went over the route with Mr.. He'd
rick and others, has been in the Lake
Superior region for ten days to es-
cape the torrid heat which RACES at
Milwaukee and other large cities.
He 10 expected to return to Milwau-
kee to-day, when Mr.. Hedrick, Judge
Hubbard and other members of the
executive committee will meet Judge
Cary and the officers of the c., M. &
st. p. company, at Milwaukee and
know at once, if possible, whether
the preliminary negotiations had
with that company are to result in
the completion of the road or not.
1t has been we'll known from the out
set that President Mitchell, General
Manager Merrell, Superintendent
Gault and Solicitor Cary, of the c.,
NJ. & st. P. Co., have been heartily
and enthusiastically in favor of ma
king such an endorsement of the &C.
dar Rapids, Sigourney & Ottumwa
railroad company as would secure
its completion and operation at an
early day. But while this is the case,
and while the officers are doing all
they can for us, it must not be for
gotten that the general management
Of such great corporation, having
over two thousand miles of railroad
in operation, must necessarily to q
great extent devolve upon its board
Of directors. In this instance there
are members of the Chicago, Milwau-
kee and st. Paul railroad company
who are also directors in the North
western, the Chicago and Rock ISL
and, and the Chicago, Burlington and
Quincy railroads. 1t may be fairly
inferred that these latter roads are
doing all in their power to prevent
the Chicago, Milwaukee and ST. Paul
con pany from coming into Central
and Southern Iowa to pirate on what
they consider their own special COM
mercial fields. These considerations,
and the caution in procuring q good
and cheap line which was condition
precedent to doing anything by the
c., M. & st. P. company, ought to be
sufficient to allay the impatient. It
is no trifling matter to build one hmm
dred miles of railroad costing by and
large . round million of dollars, out
side of the grade and right of way,
and while the officers of the Milwau-
kee company, who are on the ground,
are fully committed to the great util-
ity of the scheme, reasonable men
must understand that it is q slower
process to convert the directors liy-
ing in New York and other distant
points. The Milwaukee company
has already spent q great deal of
money on the route, and we believe
that they are determined to have
an outlet from Cedar Rapids to the
Southwest ria Ottumwa, and to this
end we believe that company will en-
able our local company to build the
road. We believe these promises,
because they have been pledged to us.
But nothing is absolutely certain in
this world in the way of q railroad,
until you get ii, as our Southwestern
experience proved. That the gap be-
tween Ottumwa and Cedar Rapids
will be speedily filed by some rail-
road company, is scarcely within the
range of improbability.
In connection with railroad mat
tiers the extract found elsewhere from
Receiver Morrilrs report to the Uni
ted States Court, is important and
highly encouraging. AS we have
been informed, the Central Railroad
Of Iowa has been for years paying
from thirty to forty thousand dollars
per annum for the privilege of COM
ing to Ottumwa from Eddyville
Transfer over the old d. V. track.
This has been an intolerable burden
TO the Central ,and its needy creditors.
Being in the hands of Receiver
and being run for the benefit of its
stockholders, it is fully competent for
the Court to order the expenditure of
sufficient amount Of its receipts to
iron, bridge and equip the gap from
Muchachinock ria Kirkville to Ottum-
wa, thus making this city the perma-
nent Southern terminus of that i'm
portant thoroughfare. The idea of
paying ont forty thousand dollars per
annum rental, when an outlay of one
hundred thousand dollars on the part
Of the Central, will give them their
own and permanent extension into
this city is preposterous. The part
which the people along the route is
expected to contribute, to-wit: the
right of way and grade, ought to be
no very serious matter now in view
of the promising crops.
These two roads are within our
grasp to all reasonable appearance,
and with them, Ottumwa will be-
come not only the best railroad centre
in Iowa, but also its largest city and
most important manufacturing point.
Mark the prediction. Daily of Sat
urday.
Serious Accident.