Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-02-18
She Railroads of Kansas.
By JAMES HUMPHREY.

mat OCCASION.
She Railroads of Kansas.
By JAMES HUMPHREY.
If, at the date Of the admission of Kansas
into the union az state, the whole popula-
lion then existing upon her soil had been so
grouped as that all her traffic or commerce
could have been carried over railroads, 400
miles of roads would have been the utmost
which that traffic would have supported. At
that time, for several reasons, Kansas did
not present the most promising field for the
display of railroad enterprise. 1t was re
mote from the far east, the most populous
regions of the country, whence the chief
stream of immigration was expected
to flow to people the west. The great
controversy which had lent stimulus
in the territorial days had been settled, and
this inducement had ceased to operate. Be-
sides, while sufficient was known to afford
reasonable assurance that the eastern half OF
the state would sustain an agricultural popu-
lation, the western half was universally be-
ieved to be subject to climatic conditions
that rendered it unsusceptible to cultivation.
Yet, In that early stage of the states career,
and amidst unpropitious surroundings, there
were men in Kansas who possessed faith
as to her future that was prophetic, and a
courage that seemed the inspir alton of the
widest hopes. There were companies al
ready incorporated whose projects in
s9lVed ;,. the building i.hi .s OF 1:sso miles
mile of which, and 4S6 miles in addition
were built within twelve years from date of
the act of admission-1wo of the lines thus
projected had penetrated the savage wilds of
the far western border, disputing the hither-
to undisturbed possession of the red man of
that comparatively unknown country. These
last embraced an ambition that could not he
nod tt,s tot
terprises founded upon bold and far reach
ing ideas, which sought to bind together
the material interests of this state to those OF
the vast territories beyond, reaching out with
hands of steel, to gather the swelling traffic
of mountain and plain and pour over the
highways of this central state
continent Those conceptions have reached
a practical realization and railroad projects
conceived, commenced and matured in Kan
sas have spread then arms over Intervening
states and territories to the Mexican line
and the Pacific main, and are numbered
among the gigantic achievements of the
present age.
The growth of that part of the country
west of the Missouri river the past quarter
of century in population. business and
wealth, is fairly represented by the develop
ment of its railroads. In all the vast coun-
try now traversed by the Pacific railroad
systems, there was at the date of admission
of Kansas into the Union. but
about twenty. miles of railroads.
At the present time the railroad mileage in
that territory exceeds that of Great Britain
and Ireland by 1000, miles that of
France by 1900 miles, and is equal to the
constructed railroads of the German En-
pire, being in round numbers $4,000 miles.
It is estimated that the total railroad mile
age of the world at the present time, is near
Al
are within the limits of the United States
only 81 sos miles less than one-half of all
the railroads on the face of the globe.
The railroads operated in this state, in
Guiding those portions of the Kansas system
operated beyond its boundaries in adjoin-
ing states and territories embrace
q mileage of 9,417 miles,. These en-
ploy an army of workmen, exclusive of the
general officers, and their immediate assist
ants, of 3, AIS men, or nearly one-third az
many rs the whole population of Kansas at
he date of its admission. At that time, in
all the region served by these roads, there
was but little interna! traffic, that which ex-
tsted was conducted by means of river and
teams. For the year ending June 80, 1885,
the roads named carried over their lines
Is, 5rI,395 tons of freights, consisting of
grain and other agricultural products, flour,
provisions manufactures, animals. lumber,
coal, mineral products. merchandise, etc.
This enormous mass of freight was hauled
great distances, and when reduced to the
2,TL,1l,6n tons hauled one mile.
If this volume of freight had
TO be moved by the primitive means of
transportation existing prior to the advent
Of railroads over the same distance, it would
require the services of OBJ, 2S3 men, and
would cost 500. 755, 126. The cost of moving
it over railroads was $40 537 ,943 %.
no MI nf {ha
earth's surface, which has proceeded at a rap
id rate the past few years, and which Is still
going on in every quarter of the globe, &C
companying and cheapening the methods of
distribution of the products of land and la
Dor from place to place, withdrawing from
unprodactive utilities an increasing proper
ton of the labor formerly absorbed by this
species of service, is now being pro-
foundry felt III every department of
productive industry, not in this coun-
try only, but all over the
civilized world. The cheapening of
the process of transportation reduces the
prices of commodities and secures their
more equal distribution, and this is an un-
mixed blessing. The turning of an immense
increment of labor from the business of
transportation to the work of direct produc-
ton. OF the increase of material objects,
involves the reduction of wages and profits,
and this result is justly contemplated with
alarm. L ne process or eliminating labor
by machinery will 90 on increasingly with
its concomitaIit results of lowering prices,
wages and profits. The great problem in
political economy is to maintain just rela-
tive equality in these three elements.
At the present time there are 5000 miles
Of railroads in Kansas. ncltSive of side
tracks. In the eastern half of
the state for two hundred miles
west of the east line there is
not farm more distant than twenty miles
from a railroad, and not many that far dis
tant. Nearly every road that has been pro-
jected and built in the state has bssn pushed
along faster than the increase of population
and business seemed to warrant. vet vii
mately the state caught up and bUs:n Sc
came to the support of the road. Eut mis-
constant pushing out of railroad construc-
ton upon the verge of the frontier settle
n snts has had the effect of rendering the
lands accessible and attractive to the immi-
grant, and has crowded the frontier with un-
exampled rapidity to the Colorado DO der.
There is no state better equipped
with railroads than Kansas Is to-
day. Measured by her population.
she has n greater relative mileage than
either of the New England or the Middle
states: than either of the great states of the
west except Iowa and Minnesota, and her
railroad facilities are equal to those existing
in the last named states.