The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-04-07
TIE BANANA ROUTE.

TIE BANANA ROUTE.
Alexander Delmar Tells About the Country
Through Which it Passes.
a reporter Of the Chicago Tribune
recently s'corralled'' Alexander Del
mar, former director of the Bureau
OF Statistics, and elected from that
gentleman the following statement of
the country through which the much
boasted route passes:
The new towns are filled with the
vllest classes on earth. Murder is an
every day pastime to them. They fol-
low the pay cars; they murder paid off
hands they wrecked a train recently
near San Marcial, and still more re-
Gently murdered a conductor at Las
Vegas. These new towns are filled
with assassins and harlots, and woe
betide the train-hand or passenger
who wanders beyond the immediate
protection of the line; and even this
amounts to little. The practical i'm
pediments to travel on the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe arise out of the
lawless and desperate character of the
Wretches who people its newly made
towns. The Indians are peaceable,
the Mex1cans are inOffensive, but the
people of the new camps are the vilest
and most dangerous on earth. They
will have to be killed off or driven
away before this road will be safe to
travel over. The managers seem to
be aware of this, and are using every
exertion to clean them out. A few
months time will suffice for this; but
meanwhile great mischief is to be
apprehended.
DEFINING, NEW MEXICO.
Deming is the name given to a
very recently established station on
the Southern Pacific Railroad. It is
at the point where, according to the
maps, the Rio Miembres crosses the
line; but in point of fact there is no
river there. The Miembres sinks
into the sand some miles north of
Deming. The town consists Of a
dozen or two of clap-board shanties
and tents and about fifty freight, pas
senger and construction cars of the
Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe railroad, which roads here
come together, but do not as yet cross
one another. There is no station
house; there is no hotel; there is no
safe p :e to sleep in except the cars !;
and even these are exposed to the
molestation by the cut-throats and
rutfians who have made this place their
headquarters. They are variously
known as 'cow-boys,' holy terrors,
and 'hells angel's.' They are armed
like pirates, with pistol and bowie
knife, and belt of cartridges around
their waists. They shoot all day and
all night shoot 1T marks, at travellers,
at the laborers on the railroads, and
at one another. They amuse them
selves by compelling every ungarded
person to throw up his hands, and
enrich themselves by robbing them
in broad daylight. During the night
I slept at Deming a perfect fusilade
was kept up in the vicinity. Of
course all this will disappear in the
course ola few weeks. Station houses,
hotels, restaurants, and local police
will be provided by the railroads but
at present Deming is perhaps the
worst place of it's size on the CONT
nent. g..
Iconsider 1t substantially desert
from the Arkansas river to the Mex
lean line. Its agricultural supplies
must come either from Kansas or Cal
ifornia and. considering the wretched
appearance of farms in western Kan
sas, and their tokens of rude cultiva-
ton and poverty, am inclined to be-
monopoly of supplying the entire area
between the line Of the Rio Grande
and the Sierra Nevadas. III.
What about the mines of New
Mexico?'' 'sIgathered great many
details on this subject, but to do it
justice would require more time and
attention than I can we'll spare at pres
ent."
Do you believe that the new route
to California, by way of the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe and the Southern
Pacific, will supersede the old route
by way of Omaha and Ogden 2" s.Per-
haps it may in time, but not at present.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe is
too long, too tortuOus in places, and
too new as to entertainments to invite
the thorough traveller. The swarm of
assassins near the border is not invit.
ing. On the other hand, the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe is rich corpora
ton. Its managers are energetic,
skillful men. The road has been
pushed with unprecedented rapidity,
and with less immediate regard to de-
tails than will probably soon prevail.
A few weeks may see great improve
ments in its management, and by sum-
mer time it may prove to be quite as
commodious for through travel as the
old line"
German Oddities.
German brick-layers do not carry
the bricks up in a hod. They
are generally thrown up. One man
stands at the pile in the street. and
one man is placed on each staging to
throw to the man above through a
hole in the scaffolding. By the sue.
cession Of relays bricks are thrown up
five stories. I have never seen a
s'muff : made, but l usually watched
the game from the other side Of the