Omaha daily bee., 1881-07-26
Iowa Railroads.

Narrow-gauge railroads in Iowa
have n precarious lease of life. No
sooner are they fairly in operation
than some broad-gauge corporation
pounces npon them and gobbles them
up. There was the Des Moines e
Minneapolis, designed to be the cen
trail figure of an oxtens We narrow
gauge system of this state. So soon
as 1t had became paying investment
the Chicago Il Northwestern cap
tured it, broadened it, and added it
to the iron web which it is weaving all
over the northwest. A few months
ago the Des Moines & Osccola narrow
gauge started out with flying colors,
and was making good headway toward
the capital, when the Chicago, Burl-
ington u Quincy came along and de-
decided to build broad gauge from
Osceola to Des Moincs, under the
corporate name of Osceola and Des
MONIES. OF course that squelohes
the narrow gauge, which is unfortu-
nate for the little road, as the grading
had been done over considerable
distance, and tho preliminary work
done the entire distance.
There is another narrow gauge, the
Des Moines Northwestern, from tlis
city, open to Panora, and bcing graded
to Jefferson, i'll Greene county. 1t is
doing heavy business and making
money. But the Wabash has got one
eye on it, and as soon as they reach
this city it is privately understood
the Des Moines IL Northwestern will
be broadened out as part OF the Wa
bash. That will leave but one narrow
gauge road here, the st. Louis, Des
Moines & Northern, which is being
pushed to Minnesota. As the owners
are confederated with the Wabash,
it is more than probable it will ulti-
mately become broad-gaugc road.
THUS all efforts to establish system
of narrow-gauge roads in Iowa have
failed. The question of financial sue
cess has had nothing to do with the
failure. They seem only to have been
in the path of broad gauge roads.
The Chicago Il Milwaukee is build
ing, or rather arranging, a new lum-
Der line from Lake Superior to Oma-
ha via Eau Claire and Menominee.
At Eau Claire the road will cross
Chippewa river, connecting with the
mills on the west side of the river,
then re-cross at Poterville, connecting
with the mills on the east side of the
river; thence it will continue to Wa
bashaw, cross the Mississippi, and
connect with the River Division.
From Wabashaw it will take the Mar
row. Gauge Division, which is to be
broadened, to Hammond; thence to
Rochester, sixteen miles, connecting
with the Iowa and Minnesota Divi-
sion; thence to Austin, and Mason
City, where it will connect with the
new Cedar Rapids & Omaha line.
This will bring Omaha 100 miles
nearer the great Wisconsin lumber
factories than by any other route.
j. G. Easton, John Lawler, and a
civil engineer are now engaged in
perfecting the combination. 1t will
require the building of sixteen miles
on easy grade from Hammond to
Rochester, and from Mason City to
connection with the Omaha line,
which is provided for in the new
Mason City & Fort Dodge route.
People along the route are moving
to get the Minneapolis & st. Louis
road extended to Des Moincs from
Fort Dodge via Grand Junction. A
committee from the latter place visit.
ed Mr.. Washburn, president of the
road, few days ago, and presented
the advantages of the route. The
matter was taken under advisement.
1t is hardly probable the company
will defect SO far to the west, and run
due west fifteen or twenty miles, and
build three expensive bridges, to make
Grand Junction point, and then
come to this city alongside the Des
Moines & Fort Dodge. They are now
within sixty miles of this city on the
east side Of Des Moines river, and
every mile of the road runs over coal
beds, which will require all the trans
portation the road can give, and for
which the demand in northwest is un-
limited
The latest railroad project is the
st. Louis, Newton q Northwestern.
This new road is to run from Newton
on the Chicago & Rock Island via
Nevada and Fort Dodge to Dakota
1t is really an extension of the New
Sharon, Coal Valley tS Eastern. A
novel feature of this new project is
that in return for tax aid voted the
company will give each taxpayer in
towns where aid is voted certificate
for the amount of tax he pays, which
is to be transferable and receivable
for freight and passenger charges to
the amount of one-fourth of each
charge until until the certificate is ell
tirely redeemed. So that virtually
the tax voted is loan to the COM
pany, The plan receives the favor of
the people. One hundred and ten
miles of IRON has been purchased, and
the work of repairing the r.ad-bed
will be pushed with all possible haste.
The road will leave the Mississippi
river between Burlington and Musca-
tine, near New Boston, thence go to
Morning Sun in Louisa county crossing
the Burlington, Cedar Rapids q
Northern, thence to Winfield and
Marshall, in Henry county; thence to
Brighton, in Washington county,
crossing the southwestern division of
the Chicago & Rock Island; thence to
Richland, in Keokuk county, crossing
the Oskaloosa division of the Rock
Island; thence to New Sharon, in
Mahaska county; thence to Newton,
in Jasper county, crossing the main
line of the Rock Island; thence to
Nevada, in Story county, crossing the
Chicago d Northwestern; thence to
Fort Dodge, crossing the Illinois Cen
tral and Minneapolis & st. Louis;
thence to Dakota, through Pocahantas