San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-02-16

dian Territory. 1854 miles from 81 st.
Louis: TO Halstead. in Kansas, o3S
miles from st. Louis, and to Fayette'
Vile. in Arkansas, 800 miles from b.
Louis. II owned half OF the Atlantic q
Pacific road, the other half being the
property of the Atchison, Topeka q
Santa Fe. Preparations for extending
! the road from Pacific to st. Louis
were about completed. Work OF ex-
tension from Fayetteville to TT. Smith,
Kansas, and thence to Paris, Texas,
was forward. At Paris it was to furnish
an outlet for the anti'Gould Texas
roads. Contracts had been made Tor
the beginning of the extension from
Vinita to Albuquerque. Three nun
dred miles of the Atlantic a. Pacific
west of Albuquerque is now done. Az
every point effort was made to push
forward rapidly. 1t was to have been
finished both to St. Louis and to Texas
this year. 1t was to have reached Al.
buquerque by the time the west end
reached the Pacific. Three years ago
railroad wit said that the road began
in the woods and ended in the brush !;
that it consisted of side-track and two
streaks of rust Two months ago st.
Louis boast said it was one of the trunk
lines of the West, and when the Texas
extension was completed, would be apt
to divide up the business in that Sec
ton with the Gould lines. 1t did look
that way in fact. Gould tried to buy
it, bat he couldn't. He saw that it was
as antagonistic to the Southern Pacific
as to his own lines, and SO he went over
and talked to Huntington about it. 1t
happened that the banking house OF ).
& W. Seligman & Co. had held large
amount of st. Louis and San Francisco
stock for several years, and through
that house Huntington and Gould con-
trived to buy majority of the stock,
Last Thursday the news fell like
thunder clap on st. Louis. Whether
this coup de maitre will stop the con-
struction of the thirty fifth parallel line
is yet to be seen. As the st. Louis
owns half the stock, it is difficult to see
how the Santa Fe can force it to COM
plete the road, unless the compact OF
January 81, 1880, is so drawn that the
st. Louis must go forward anyhow. 1t
is said that negotiations have been I'M
der way several months looking to
connection with the Southern Pacific
near the Colorado river. The South
ern Pacific offered to prorate on through
business, but it was said recently to be
doubtful whether any agreement would
be reached. Also, there were rumors
a while ago that the Atlantic & Pacific
would diverge from it's line to con-
nection in Southeastern Nevada with
the California Central, which would be
the Pacific outlet of the Union and
Texas Pacific roads also. This also has
been discredited. The result on Texas
will merely be the postponement of the
of the anti-Gould
roads. Money can be had, and they
will eventually go on to the Mississippi
on their own rails. Their easiest plan
at present is to combine on the Gulf &
Pacific project aud come to Opelousas,
and thence by the Morgan road to New
Orleans. Colonel Paramore's narrow
gauge road, the Texas & st. Louis, will
be completed from Texarkana to Cairo
this year, and as it cuts across the anti
Gould broad gauge roads in Texas, it
can take their business to st. Louis for
,hem till an independent broad gauge
can be effected. The vic
;ory by Gould and Huntington is a
great disaster for the Boston people.
DON'T Do 1t.