The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-01-23
THE TEXAS PACIFIC ROUTE.

the TEXAS PACIFIC ROUTE.
CNew Orleans Demccrat.l
The recently consummated arrange.
ment with the Texas Improvement
Company, by which the speedy COM
pletion of the Texas Pacific Railway
from Fort Worth to Ell Paso on the
Rio Grande is assured, may be regard
ed Is having definitely settled the long
mooted and hotly contested problem
of a competing trans-continentalS South
ern line, and it will now remain to be
seen whether single road, under the
auspices of Gould and Huntington,
will result In bringing about the era of
prosperity In the South SO long and
stoutly maintained In the past as the
inevitable sequence of the completion
of either of the proposed competing
enterprises. At the first glance 1t would
seem as though shippers would thus
be placed entirely at the mercy of a
powerful monopoly, which will un-
doubtedly be the case If Mr.. Gould
should succeed In getting control Of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe road,
now being vigorously pushed toward
the Pacific coast. Tho Philadelphia
AuANAACA9 SkSSoNAuS VI Vu0 HlCctAuX To.
Gently held In that city, remarks that
although the interest of the Scott party
in the Improvement Company is small,
no immediate change in the manage.
ment of the road is contemplated, and
that as the contract was made with
capitalists outside Of the company, the
latter will not for the present have any
voice In the affairs of the railway COM
pany. There seems to be no doubt as
to Mr.. Gould's having endeavored to
get control of the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe road; but having failed
in the attempt, the probability is that
he will exercise a greater influence In
the syndicate than appears from the
statements already made. Thus, with
the control of the Central and South
ern Pacific roads in the hands of Mr..
Huntington, and the Union and Texas
Pacific roads in the possession of Mr..
Gould, the new combination will have
the power to dictate such freight and
passenger rates as they may choose, un.
less, as previously intimated, the COM
pletion of the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe road should force them to
more liberal tariffs. In any event, the
new combination promises the begin
ming Of a harmonious effort 10 give the
South what she has long and ardently
wished for-a direct highway to the
Pacific ocean. "The cost of complet-
ing the road to FL Paso," says the En-
quirer, "will bring its total bond and
stock capital up to an amount per mile
but little more than one-third that of
other roads, particularly the now COM
pleted trans-continentai lines. 1t will
have over twelve hundred miles of
road and total encumbrance of less
than S4O, 900 per mile. There are now
in operation three branches OF road-
ono from Texarkana, on the Arkansas
line, to Sherman, Texas, a distance of
l54 miles; one from junction to Mar
shall, Tcxas, sixty-eight miles, and the
main line from Shreveport, La, to
Fort Worth, Texas, 222 miles. The
road is also completed thirty miles
west of Fort Worth, making n total
completed road of 474 miles. Tho large
floating debt contracted for construc-
tion has either becu liquidatcl or pro-
vided for by refunding. The entire in.
debtedness OF the company was &c.
S12, ,3G6 Mt the beginning of 1877.
Its exact amount Mt the present time is
not known, but it is understood that a
considerable reduction has been made.
The earnings of the months ending
November 80, 1879, were @1,297,I7 20
ana the expenses $GO2, ,50S 3d." The
completion of tho Southern Pacific
road to FL Paso, and of tho Texas
Pacific between IIl Iaso and its west
ern termfnf, will ut once connect the
Pacific coast with the Texas system of
railways, and by means of the road
from New Orleans to Houston, to be
opened for traffic In a very few months,
and of the New Orleans and Pacific
and Vicksburg and Texas roads, the
Crescent City's prospects will be largely
enhanced.
An elephant constituted the great at
traction Of a travelling mcnagcrie that
arrived in Amsterdam a few weeks
ago, and was permitted to camp out
in ono of the public gardens there. An
old gentleman, inspired by tho cle-
plants amiable expression of counten-
auce, with the conviction that he would