The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-01-01
THE GREAT ROCK ISLAND ROUTE.

We are debtor to f. ST, JONI Esq, genera
ticket and passenger agent of the Chicago Rocl
Island ana Pacific Railroad, for the compli
ment of Il copy Of his beautiful Christmas an'
New Years Greeting for lSS0Sl to the pat
rons Of the great iron road to which he stand
IN so important a relation. The "Greeting" l
q vcritable little bJou indeed-a sixteen pag
affair, with decorated cover, gotten up in tn
best "St. Nicholas" style, with plenty of prett,
lpictures-not as an advertising dodge-but de
failing, IN comlcal Mother Goose" rhymes
the ,ribulations of poor Santa Claus IN gettin!
over this vast continent IN SO brief time with
his reindeer team, and announcing that here
after he proposes To exchange his reindeer
and sleigh for locomotive and train of gor
geous Pulmans
And when he does so no doubt he will trav
ell by The Great Rock Island Route;" for by
it he can reach not only every important poin
on this continent, but It's connections are such
that he can buy through tickets and nave HI,
baggage checked to any point all over tn,
"wide-wide world"
To come down TO PLAIN facts and solid sense
the Rock Island road Is assuming proportion,
that border on the marvellous 1t is true, by q
union ola series of independent roads the Van
derbilt, the Jay Gould, and the Pennsylvania
combinations" may control more miles OF
road, but as an independent system of It's own
under one headship and no inside wheels, the
Rock Island in many important regards ex.
ceeds them all.
The total length Of the Rock Island road and
its branches is now 1871 miles represented
by capital stock Of $40 100000, and no water
ing. Its main line extends from Chicago by the
nearest and most direct route to Omaha: also,
again by the nearest and most direct route,
from Milwaukee to Kansas City, Leavenworth
and Atchison; besides having branches from
Bureau junction to PEORIA from Peoria to
Rock Island from Washington to Knoxville,
To-. from Des Moines to keokuk; from NJ.
Zion to keosauqua; from Newton to Monroe
from Des Moines TO Indianola and Winterset:
Atlantic to Griswold and Audubon, &c, &c.
Thus on Its own rails II runs from two to four
daily passenger trains, with Pullman dining
cars and sleepers from Chicago to Omaha
from Chicago via Peolia to Kansas CITY,
Leavenworth and Atchison; and from Milwau.
kee to the same cities by the Milwaukee and
Rock Island Short Line" via Elkhorn, Boloit
Mt. Carroll, Ill.,, and Davenport and Cameron
Iowa; making IN either case regular connec
lions with numerous outlying points by its
branches
But such is the extent and Importance of
the Rock Island system that, without the need
of allowing itself to be Swallowed up" by the
Gould, Vanderbilt or other combinations, 1t
can command connections with all of them on
the most favorable terms, so that 1t is able to
run through trains with unbroken links over
all the great Pacific, the great Eastern and
Southern routes. When you step into any
Office of the Rock Island Railroad therefore,
and desire to go anywhere beyond the reach
Of Its own rails, there is no need of buying a
ticket to Chicago, for instance, and there buy.
ing another TO New York Boston or Montreal 4
or TO st. Louis and there another to New Or.
leans or Galveston but ask for a through
ticket to New York Boston, Cincinnati or any
point you can name East of the meridian line
from Calumet to London or Constantinople;
or West from Blue Island to San Francisco,
Shanghai, Jeddo, Calcutta, Bombay or Jerusa-
lem the Rock Island people will sell
you a through.tcket, with through checking
Of baggage, on their own exceptionally favor
able terms and you need only to place your
self implicitly in the hands of its agents and
conductors to reach in comfort and safety any
point within the bounds of civilization youI
may desire to visit
Ies-it is an immense concern, and we are
proud of It as our own peculiar railway, that
first put Ottawa in communication by iron
bands with all the outer world It's rails are
not only thousands of miles in length, but it
has the best road bed, structure and equipment
Of any road we ever Travelled upon. And it is
not only one OF the largest, but one of the best
corporations on the continent Al
hoct iiohi thC 10Y VI SonpiCtlOu
Chicago to Rock Island it has paid handsome
dividends on its stock, sometimes up to 10 and
10 per cent, and on every stock board Rock
Island always stands among the best, never
selling below par, and to-day at 14O And as
a symptom Of this good management, com
nending 1t particularly to the good will of the
newspaper fraternity, it is to be noted that the
Rock Island always has been liberal ADVERT.
ser Its way is not to scatter free passes to editors
and ask for "puifs," but it sends them large
standing advertisements, TO be paid for at lib
sral rates in miles oftravel or cash, thus making
Il thoroughly business transaction in astrict-
strictly business way The reader will under
stand, therefore, that this Is not written as o.
puff, or praise for pay, but that 1t is such a
nj ,r,huta M ,po thipk ;u Ioooryat from,