Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-04-15
Trr construction of our east and ve.,

TEE construction of our east and west
 overland railroads now attracts capital
 and commands the energies of some of
 our most experienced railroad men, but
 the time is not far distant when their
 energie- and capital will be turned m an
 ther direction. The AtlaBtlc * Pacific
 wIil be completed to a connection with
 the Southern Pacific during the present
 season. The Northern Pacific IS being
 pushed a- fast as men can do 1t. There
 WAS Dut 250 miles on the firstof January
 last reminding to close the gap between
 the end of the railroad track in Mon
 'ans and NoKon, Idaho, of the western
 divisiOn extending east from Puget
 Souud, which will, without doubt, be
 closed during the present summer. We
 shall then have four grsat over
 land lines from east % west, either one
 of which will be 2,o0O miles or more in
 length. By looking over the latest rail
 road maps, it will be seen that while We
 have tor Vlll have soon) four lines from
 east to west. there are no continuous
 lines from north to south. While the
 need of such roads is not so great as the
 east and west roads, there is DO doubt
 btN such roads will be built in short
 time. Denver now has railroad oOnnec-
 tion south, which is beIng rapidly ex-
 tended iuJo ld Mexico. There Is also a
 road completed from that city north in
 the direction of the Black Hills, l96
 mlles Coming west to Ogden We find
 north and south roads leading out again
 from ihe Union Pacific. The Utah &
 Northern, narrow gauge road, extends
 north 4l5 miles to Butte. Montana, and Is being extended north to Helena.
 From Ogden south the Utah Central,
 which is % broad gauge road. is com
 plated to Frisco, 2S0 miles. and is beng
 further extended iu thIs direction. Thus lt will ht seen that there is a beginning here of about 700 miles of north and spUth road, and it is only question of time when it will be completed to a con nection with the Gulf of California, which may be done by building to Tue son, For we shall have our railroad to Port Lobos and tue Calabasas branch completed before the former could reach here. There are good grounds for believing that this connection will. in tm.. be made. Aside from the local business that would accrue to such a road there are some of the most lex- telsive and valuable iron mines in southern Utah, known iu this country, which couii ie opened up by the ex- tersion of the Utah Southern, SO as to tap the coal fields and the timbered lands or Arizona. We are not aware that auy coal has been found ID Southern U,au, aud lut little or no timber exists, cIl-equ-nty both coal and timber must be secured m order to utilize the iron ore. There are those who thlnk that, when rl- Northern Pacific and the Atlantic and Pacific roads are completed, that railroad building in the West is done. In our opinion the building of railroads ia the Western States and Territories has just begun. Look at Colorado. a country that does not possess half the
 jvutages that Arizona does, vet by courage. energy and money it Las been t-iriy griIir'ned with railroads, and has Jrabied it's wealth and population in less than i've year-, and has built up city that Is equal or surpasses many Eastern cities which have existed for m re than a century. When vol hear men talsiug of a finished country in the Wr>-. lr is safe to conclude that such leu are not posted, and that they have Is,d through tle past decade without having observed what has been going ,n. Fifteen years ago Kansas had less .h0u 21H,+us people; ta day she has a 9 P6latiou of thirteen hundred thous- lld-. Ten years ago Colorado dId not possess ualf the population that Arizona I1er t"-iay; she DOW has a population Of 3Dn,o'0, and i- growing rapidly. By ouss-vlug waat has been done in the E.s uf --ttiing up and improving other countries, we can come very near cal .I'atiuu what may be done in the future D, Ar.z ma. What we need Is nor lie, ! .ore push, more energy, with full -trmina,iou to make the most of what se have at our disposal