Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-12
THE DENVER OF TEXAS.
Fort Worth the Rsilre&d Center Of
TtxEs-A City Of Rsptd GrsWih.
A Few Facts
About the Railways, the ounmsroe and
! the Present ARPects Of tbs OIty-The
Connection with Denver.
Denver Daily News.

prisIng class of business men which GEM
prises the energy of the north sDd west
and the best blood OF the "NeW South"
with brilliant commercial future such
as no town ih the great southwest has be-
fore it-Fort Worth may opuy be termed
1.-THE Denver of Texas" 1t is in every
respect q western town. Situated in
q commanding position at point
which may almost be termed the frontier
Of the largest and one OF the most prom
Using states OF the American Union, VITA
marvellous record Of growth behind it,
and bouEdless possibilities before 1t, it is
too wide awake and energetic to be
southern, too quiet and orderly to be
soutnwestern-lts nerve and dash and
push stamp it as liv3 child Of
the great and growing west with whose
history it is now identified, and with
whose future 1t is nov destined to be
forever associated.
THE CITY'S LOCATION.
Its location Is q delightful and heaith!ul
one, on nigh rolling plateau on TriBity
river, Just at the jur ction Of North and
Clear forks The North f0rs, dark,
muddy stream. comes down from the
moth. The Clear fork, brign. beautiful
river, skirts the town oa The west, anu
Joins with the other to form the Trinity,
ON the northern edge of the city, which
BENDS sharply to the south ana Winds its
way about the town. Thus the river
surrounds Fort Worth On The
north, west and east. It's banks are
iripged with groves Of oak and
oy broad, cultivated tom lands, which
rise in almost precipigous bluffs TO the
slightly rolling mesa on which stands the
queen city OF the new southwest. Toe
view Of the landscape to be obtained from
III top of the courthouse or other ele-
waited buildings is inspiring, comprising
as 1t does PANORAMA Of plain aud river
and garden and grove, amid which the
city of Fort Worth sits enihroned, with
its great iron arms of railway reacbiug
out to the north, south, east and west
and the din OF its traffic ever contrasting
with the quiet pescefulness Of its natural
Surroundings.
Nor is it's commercial position less for
tupste. 1t is, in approximate figures, 100
miles from the northern border of the
state, 200 from the eastern bord=r, coo
from FL Paso, 400 from Houston and
Galveston, and 450 from she western and
northern lin, 8 Of the Panhandle. To it
must come, and through it must psss, all
the trade of Western and Northern
Texas, including the Panhandle trs tfic
large, but destined to increase hun
dred, perhaps thousand, fold j;
as the varied resources Ct this vast
territory are developed, and 1t becomes
peopled oy the thousands, II not millions,
who are already looking to it for homes
The territory Immediately tributary to
Fort Worth is larger than all New Eng
lard, and is capable Of sustsiniCg large,
compact, thriving community, whose
stesdy growth In wealth and all the ele-
meuts of industrial lii will find reflex
in Fort Worth and secure to it the COM
mercisl prominence and prosperity which
so certainly awaits it, the light Of which
even now gilds the city snd inspires il
with hope and courage.
GROWTH AND HISTORY.
The growth of Fort Worth has been q
marvel; its history finds no )unterpart IL
that of any VT stern or southwestern town
not even Denver. In aeingle decade it has
sprung into vigorous existence, and i'm
pressed It's name upon the map of the ma
ton in q manner never TO be tfaced
Twelve years ago 1t was bat little town
on the edge Of he cattle country, and but
little more than cowboy camp. Then
came, in 1876, the first rsilwsy-the Texas
AID Pscific.-ano Fort Worth began TO grow,
Thers WAS struggle between the reck.
lessness of the range, and the commerce
and culture which cities epgender, and
the order which municipal life eDfoTces
The conflict was as short as
It WAS decisive, ana civilization
won the day. have not seen o
cowboy in Fort Worth, nor 3 drunken OF
disorderly man on the streets; the people
are IS courteous as they are enterpri ing,
and the community IN general one Of the
most orderly and lsw-eoiding to be found
in any city on the confident.
The Texas and Pacific, which gave Fort
Worth Its first railway connectior, WAS
1876. Tie population # the city was
exteDsi Of the line to-
with the Pacific coast. 10 1880 came the
Missouri Poetic aud the rrausconti-
nsntsl; snd In 1881 the Gulf, Colorado
and Santa Fe. In 1882 the building OF
the Fort Worth and Denver was begun,
t4tenulpS W WlCDl'h rams dDu securing
the trade Of the Panhandle, and
now within few dsys OF
completion to Denver. In 1887
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fs AID
the Fort Worth and Rio Grinde were
opened, and March z, 1883, the st Louis,
a kansas and T.xas ran lis first train into
Fort Worth.
Thus the city has become the railway
center, not only OF Northern Texas, but
Of the entire state. Toe extension Of
many of these lines, aud the pr j9ctIon
of many new ones, like the Fort
Worth Western, Is only matter
of time, and Of no far distant time either.
As Western Texas develops these various
lines will be pushed out nortnwes st,
west and southwest, covering the coun-
try with their network of iron, and con-
veIgiDg their growing trs filc toward s
common center at Fort Worth.
Two causes have contributed toward
this rapid concentration OF railroads st
Fort Worth-the natural advantages Of
it's location and the liberal enterprise of
its business men. The cash ana land
sub crip,ions made by Fort Worth to rsil
roads Stree 1876 aggregate 81, 800, 000-a
large sum, but an exp ndit1re which has
proven s eplendi and remuneratiye in