St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-25
REACHES THE MILLIONS.
The Interurban Passenger Traffic
Is Something Enormous.

For the last two years the board OF
trade has periodically discussed the
matter of trying to get the several rail
road companies whose lines run be-
tween Minneapolis and st. Paul, to
make reduction in the fare charged
for passage between the two cities. So
far nothing has come OF THESE discus
sions. and the same old rate of 80 cents
for passage one way ana 90 cents
for the round trip is still charged.
A number of schemes for building a
rapid transit elevated ROADS between
the two cities have been talked OF, and
a wear ago it was generally supposed
that such a road was to be built at once,
but for some reason all these projects
have failed to mateTalize. No reason
has ever been given for their sudden
abandonment and it is the prevailing
idea that the short line railroad officials
could explain why an elevated road
has never been built, if they
chose 10. The fact that such
a road would pay from the
very start and yet has never been built,
although several companies with UNI
limited capital have been incorporated
for this very purpose, has been the
cause Of this prevailing opinion that
short lineiroads have in:Some waystopped
its construction. The passenger travel
between the two cities and to the inter
veaing stations between the main de-
pots has reached such an enormous fig
ure that any one investing money in
such an enterprise is absolutely certain
TO receive back in short time the full
amount of his investment in divi-
dends. Outside of railway circles there
realize to what vast proportions this
traffic has grown: they know it is i'm
mense. and they know that the never
quiet short line trains are invariably
crowded, but when reduced to cold
figures the result is, to say the least.
certainly startling. The GLOBE has
taken the trouble to ascertain from the
books of the several railroad companies
the number of passengers which they
had carried during the past year, and
the total number is something over
100000. This magnificent number
does not include the passengers
carried to the interurban station
of st. Anthony Park, Hamline. Como.
Merriam Park and Manchester, but is
only the passenger who went from one
CITY to the other. Neither does 1t in
clude the passengers travelling on
through ticktto lToHi tue I-dot VI hcss,
who were compelled to pass through
the Twin Cities, nor passengers en-
route to the East or West on tickets
purchased in the Twin Cities. These
figures were collected with infinite diff
Guilty, but they may be relied upon as
being approximately correct. For in
stance. the average summer sales of
tickets from Minneapolis to st. Paul by
the Manitoba road was over $1,000 per
month. of which one-third were
single trips and the .balance round
trips. This would be equal to about
LIS, 900 single trips. and if the st. Paul
Office sells about the same number of
tickets it would make $4,000 people
travelling over the Manitoba road. be-
tween the two cities, in a single
month. From the figures obtained from
the other roads it was found that about
one-Half of the traffic between the two
e.itie, ,NaS over the manitoba road, and