The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1879-03-22
Railroads and Mining.


com 2etent and well instructed judges
that the next great movement in which
the capital and energies of the country
will engage will be the construction of a
vast system of railroads beyond the Mis-
sissippi in the southwest, and the devel-
opment of the inestimable mineral wealth
of that section. 1t is a region that will
absorb as much of both as there will be
to draw upon for the remainder of the
present century. Our dispatches from
Washington inform us that the workers
for the Texas Pacific Railroad, after SIX
years of constant labor, have at length
abandoned all further hopes of success.
The Scott movement westward entails the
same kind of obligations on the Treasury
which the Union Pacific did, and for that
reason it has failed so far to secure that
support in Congress which may have
been counted on. 1t is, perhaps, just as
we'll for the country to stop and think a
little seriously on this whole subject.
When railroad is needed it is, of course,
better that private capital should con-
struct it. And it generally will do so, if
the hone Of getting the Government to do
it instead is rot strong enough to paralyze
private energy. We see at the present
moment a railroad in process of building
from the Pacific Coast eastward at the
rate of one and one-haf miles daily, its
best known objective point being the
Mississippi river. Its builders ask neither
grants OF land nor guarantees Of interest
on their corporation bonds by the Gov
eminent; but, well assured of the rich
resources and general Importance of the
country they are traYersing, are perfectly
satisfied to find their way as fast as they
can to the Texas frontier at their own
cost. So long as the very enterprise
called for is being executed by private
citizens, 1t is assuredly better to let it go
forward to completion than to launch am
other one that engages to intersect it
somewhere on the way, but hesitates to
proceed until it can have its bonds guar
anteed by Congress. The Pacific side
builders say they can get along well
enough without Government assistance,
asking for nothing more than to be let
alone. The Atlantic side party, on the
other hand, insist that nothing can be
done without the help of the Government,
although urging also that the road which
they contemplate is one Of the most press
ing necessities of the time. In that case
it surely ought to pay them to build it.
The development of the railway system
in the southwest beyond the Mississippi
must go hand in hand with the develop
ment of the vast mineral wealth OF that
section. It is the simple fact of the eXis-
tence of the latter, yet to be exposed to
the world as one of the marvels of this
marvellous age, that will invite and even
compel the construction of railroads. The
California Southern Pacific Road has al
ready been built for long distance this
side of YUMA and is rapidly crossing the
great silver country of Arizona The
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fee is push
ing its way westward. And from the
capacious port of Guaymas a road is all
ready to be built into the heart of Ari-
IONA, which is the real prize for which all
are contending. Gov. Fremont says, in
his very recent Report on the Territory
to Secretary Schurz, that Arizona "is
the natural gateogay OF commerce and
travel between the States east of the Mis-
sissippi and California and the Pacific
Ocean.
'ETrue to the instincts of commerce, the
northern road has swept round through
California and is entering Arizona from
the west, while other great roads are con-
verging into it from the east and north.
Passing together through this gateway OF
Arizona, the united roads will enter Mex
leo by a trunk line which will be nour-
ished by ten millions of people and the
sea at Guaymas, while its branches
will penetrate the States" California
and Nevada have hitherto engross-
ed public attention as mining States, but
Arizona promises to come to the front
very soon and lead them both. It is con-
sidered By the best informed judges to be
the richest mineral region in the world,
silver being its characteristic. Humboldt
predicted for it what is to-day being rap
idly verified. 1t is the real point of meet
inc for the great metallic veins of the
Southern Cordilleras and the Sierra Ne
vada and Rocky Mountains, and at such a
point the richest mines are sure to be
found. Surface indications as well as dig
ging are verifying the fact continually.