Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-08-09
THE HEADQUARTERS.
Fort Wortli's Claims Therefor as In.
licated by n Prominent Railroad
Official.
In Conversation with II Gazette Reporter
Reasons Why Our Chy should
he selected.

The following is the substance of /,
conversation with II prominent railroad
Official, and one in position to know
whereof he speaks upon the subject o.
the selection OF our city as the Southwest
ern headquarters, of the Southwestern
railroad system:
In the summer of ls72 Col. Thomas A
scott, president of the then Texas paciH,
railway, arrived in this city in compan,
with number OF the members of hi.
company, and after some conference
with our citizens asked and obtained n
donation of $50 acres of land lying immc
diately south of this city and upon which
their depot and other buildings now
stand, and in addition thereto a bonus of
100000 was voted them by the county.
conditioned upon their building the rail.
road to this city by II certain time.
These gentlemen expressly stipulated
that the land would be used for railroad
purposescNclusively, and represented that
this amount of land was necessary ror
they proposed placing here eventually,
At that time they were pushing the
road rapidly west from Shreveport, with
this as the objective terminus, which
was evidenced by their having contracted
through this county for ties for the
road, and corn and oats for thhe grading
camps The panic of 1873, which fell
upon the country when the road had
reached point Immediately east Of
Dallas, and IT was only possible for the
company 10 complete the line to that
place, where 1t remained for three years,
during which time, the contract with the
the city and county lapsed, and they
were necessitated to get new deeds TO
the real estate prior to extending their
line To this city in July, 1876.
During this period Dallas had gained
great strength in point of population and
finance, and made strong fight for the
machine-ShopS and headquarters of the
road, To little avail, however, for the
original arrangement of Col Thos. \ a..
Scott and his associates was slowly
but surely consummated in the SUCCESS
full completion of the TRANSIT Continental
division, of which this city Is the tcrmi-
nus, while being the central point on the
Missouri Pacific line,
The original scheme has been Iostered
through Gen. G.. NJ. Dodge, than whom
Fort Worth has no better friend, aud that
our city will be the general headquarters
of the Southwestern system can only be Il
matter of time, as the selection at an
early day of the location therefor will
fully demonstrate.
The management of this system of
roads from Dallas, which is simply Il
wny-station on the Texas 4 Pacific, with
none other Of this system except the Dali
las 4 Wichita, which is controlled 10y it,,
would necessitatc the sending OF all or
dcrs 10 this place, and in fact
II sub or branch office, so TO speak. with
which to work the system; for, as Mr.
George Noble, the late Texas 4 Pacific
superintendent, once remarked, while
working from Marshall, that II was
neither at the end or in the middle, and
it was like working doublc-headcd road
10 work II from that point.
a map of the Southwestern system will
convince the most Skeptical OF the fact
that Fort Worth is the central point and
OF necessity ought to be the general dis
tributing point for that system OF roads.
Her interests demand il rs do those of
the company. Her position favors, aud
the inducements she offers exceed those
offered by any other point in the state.