Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1879-01-04
A NEW RAILROAD.
4 recant number OF the Norborne

Lux hkNS6S
has eclsred its intention to reach Kansas CITY
by an extension of the Burlington s Southwest
ern from Laclede, Mo. through Carroll ant
Raw counties to Kansas City, by the most direc
route. Several reasons have sprung up In rail
road circles to make 1t necessary for this exten
sion to be early completed. The extension o
the Chicago & Alton under the name of, Kansa'
City, st. Louis s. Chicago is one; another is tn
combination OF the Missouri Pacific, the st. L
X. C. & n and the Wabash roads, a scheme i
seems to cut Chicago of from controlling or re-
ceiv1ng any great benefit from the immense
trade now growing up in the southwest. Kan
sas City is the Chicago of the west and Chicago
Is determined to compete TOR her trade and the
extension of the B. & 8. W. Is certain in 1879.
We are aware that our people have
been surieited with sp%eculations re-
garding new railroads, and that hope
deferred has made them especially
heartsick concerning the completion Of
the Burlington and Southwestern. The
paragraph quoted above dses not offer
any direct promise of benefit to this com.
muuity, but we nevertheless desire to
make it the text for a few remarks,
which we hope may prove useful to both
this section of country and the manage
ment OF the c. b. & Q. railroad. As we
understand it the Burlington & South
western Is a bankrupt corporation, NOM
inally owning a railroad from Burling-
ton, in Iowa. to Laclede, in Missouri,
probably eve to Cunningham. a roint
a few miles nearer this place, all opera
ted by the Chicago, Burlington s. Quincy
railroad company. The last mention
cd is probably the strongest corpora
ton in the west. 1t controls roads from
Chicago to Galesburg; from Galesburg
to Burlington ; from Galesburg to Quin-
by; from Quincy to Louisiana and Han
nlbal; from Rock Island to st. Louis /;
from Burlington to Omaha, and var
ious branches, too numerous to men
ton in this article. which aggregate a
line of road over sixteen hundred miles
in length. 1t is q money-making cor
poralion. as is indicated by the fact
that its stock is quoted higher in the
uldEhCL ludu ID SuoIO u olhACOo ohy -
western road, standing in New York,
December 31st, at 11Oa, while c. s. a.
preferred stock was only quoted at LOG.
though the latter is a prosperous and
well managed road. Controlling, as it
does. direct roads from Chicago to
Omaha, and from Chicago to St. Louis.
the only thing that is necessary to place
the C. B. & Q. in good position for the
future is the possession of a road from
Burlington to Kansas City. The impor-
lance of Kansas City as An objective
railroad point is generally recognized.
1t was this knowledge. gained by actual
experience IN its freight market. which
secured the building Of the Chicago &
Alton railroad from Mexico. 1t was
this knowledge which brought the HaD-
nibal & st. Joe. a st. Joseph road, into
this market. The large immigration
which has been pouring for a year or
two past into the fertile fields of Kansas, |
and the rapidly growing mining and
live stock interests of the far west and
promise at q very early day
to concentrate at Kansas City such an
immense amount of freight, that the
capacity of the many roads csntering
there will be taxed to their utmost to
move it. We are not surprised, there
fore, to see, as is above indicated, that
the C. B. & Q. desires to have a connec-
ton, under its own control, with this
giant young metropolis. What particu-
larly concerns US is, how shall this con-
nection be made? Our answer is, through
Lexington, and VI wish to advance
some reasons for this belief. We regret
exceedingly that the snow storm caused
a gentleman Gan engineer) whom the
road sent here a few days ago, to desist
for q time from an examination OF the
country between this city and Cunning |
ham, and from Intervening our people
regarding the proposed extension, but
we are assured that with good weather
he will return and give the matter a
thorough investigation. 1t is not to be
supposed that the company will consider
al air line between Cunningham and
Kansas City necessarily the best. While
tho road has not to our knowledge used
the term 1.-THE most direct route" we
find it in the article we have quoted. A
straight line between the points runs
for the major part through a rough
and broken country in which it will be
very expensive to build a railroad, and
utterly impracticable to attain = low
maximum of grade; and tho road would
unavoidably be q crooked one,as the sim
uosity of streams and natural formations
would have to be followed to obtain a
grade at all. By q DETECTION to this
place, VIA C%arrollton or Nerborne, the
greater part OF the distance would be
over a country which presents a natural.
level grade; in addition to this, such
a line would run through a much more
productive and attractive country. Reach
ing this point it would become neces-
sary to bridge the Missouri river, a ne
cessity avoided by taking a more north
erly route and using the Kansas City
bridge. But it should be borne in mind
that the Missouri IA be bridged at Lex
ington for very much less cost than at
any other point in the state. At the
lower end of the city a reef Of rocks ex-
tends entirely across it, the substratum
of which is solid and close to the sur
face, offering a firm foundation, to be
found. when the river is low. not more
than four feet from the surface of the
water. The desirability to the road of
owning or controlling its w bridge Is
not to be lightly estimated. when the
fact is remembered that a bridge at this
place would cost no more than would
the tolls over the Kansas City bridge in
one and a half or two years. Having
crossed the Missouri we suggest the
pr%acticabillty of purchasing the Kansas
City and Eastern Marrow Gauge rail-
way, and converting it into a broad
gauge. This road is forty-two and a
half miles long. and We have no doubt
that it can be bought at q reasonable
nrice az Mr. Mitchel1 nrosidont of ths