, 1888-12-16
TO BE ABANDONED.
The Union Pacific to Forsaks the
Town of Cd bon.
Something About This Most Pecu-
liar Burg.
Built on a Shell II is Liable to Dis
appear any Time.

ANo -
that Superintendent Cumming has mott
fed the commissioners of Carbon county
that it will be useless to sink an artesiar
well at the town of Carbon. as hat station
is to be abandoned by the railway. 1t is
well known hat the company have been
dissatisfied with their mines at Carbon,
and have done considerable prospecting iu
the surrounding district during the past
year. 1t is said they have found several
prospects which will pay them better to
work than to continue working. their old
mines at Carbon. From the fact that the
company has taken up a section of land
at Medicine Bow and intend plating it as
a TOWNSHIP there is evidently something in
the rumor that the railroad line would
soon be changed from Medicine Bow to
Rawlins so as to abandon Carbon"
The abandonment of this thriving little
burgh will be a serious matter to the en-
terprising business lmen of the place, but
they may be reimbursed for losses by the
company. 1t is true that fully seven
tenths OF the residents are Fin coal
miners, the great majority of whom care
not where they toll or vote 80 long as bad
whisky may be purchased in the immedi-
ate vicinity. The Beckwith Commercial
company has a mammoth mercantile es-
adjustment there. A good hotel and
several inferior inn accommodate visitors.
Saloons are even too numerous. There
are several grocery houses, a clothing
store or two, apothecary shop and at least
one meat market. Then there are schools,
churches. and a public hall in Carbon.
The breaking up has its redeeming fea-
lures, however, for nearly all concerned
can well afford to follow the miners.
No brick or stone ediices will be vacat-
ed on the moving day, for the very excel
lent reason that children born and reared
in Carbon have never yet seen buildings
constructed of other materials than lum-
Der.
Carbon, as once before chronicied by
this writer, is a town on a shell. There
is six miles of tunnelling under the place
huu III lOCalities Tue CRUST ID Ouly u lew
inches 10 thickness. There have been
numerous cave ms along the railway run
ming through the town and a slight shock
of earthquake or a waterspout would wipe
the town Of Carbon from the face of the
earth. Fears of a frightful catastrophe
of this sort is probably one of the causes
OF abandonment. For this reason trains
move through the place slowly, watch
men continually parade the track
and the citizens have wisely re.
Trained from constructing weighty
buildings. When F~orepaugh's cir
Gus visited the place once the ele
plants stubbornly and persistently re-
fused to march through the streets and the
heavy animal wagons caused the earth to
give" in several localities. The miners
once struck against a boss who snored
frightfully. fearing that the jar would
cause a disaster. No one ever sings or
sneezes in Carbon and that place boasts
the best behaved children in the world.
Altogether it is the queerest town in ex-
~istence. Another oddity is that the
patriotic citizens dare not celebrate the
nations natal day in the usual lusty
style.
Several years ago the Union Pacific at
tempted to induce the dwellers On a crust
to forsake their homes by plating a town,
site east OF the place, but the citizens
steadfastly refused to invest in lots which
were offered dirt cheap.