Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1888-03-29
I'm sTATU QUO.
Hard Work Only Will Bring the
New Railroad Here-The
Situation.

That our chances of securing the
projected Chicago, Hannibal and
Springfield are as good as ever
there is little doubt, all rumors to
the contrary Notwithstanding.
Whether or not our chances were
ever very good cannot be stated,
for since the inauguration of the
enterprise we have worked against
many disadvantages No survey
has been completed from this city,
either on the north or south and
as consequence our committees to
obtain rights of way have been
forced to idleness. Columbia is
working hard to secure the prize
and, while always antagonistic to
Mexico in this matter, is even more
so since the plan of running the
new railroad six miles TO the east
of that town was suggested. To
follow this proposed survey direct
ly to the Missouri river through
the Two Mile prairie the road must
of necessity pass through this city,
leaving both .Centralia and Colum-
bia far to the west. The people of
the last named place have come of
the opinion that if the line comes
here it will not touch their town,
but follow the new survey. Con-
sequently, subscriptions are made
in Columbia conditioned upon the
road being built to Centralia. The
Columbia papers this week TEEN
with raill DAD news. They show
the people of that burg to be up
and moving. A subscription, in
round numbers, of $50,665, has
been raised in the county, and, al
together, it looks as if the denizens
of our Athens feel confident of sue
cess Gaping their efforts. The
LEDGER earnestly hopes they may
not be disappointed but this
line from an interview with Mr..
Jos. I.athrop in paper of that
town, would indicate that the road
has not been located through Col
umbia: awe intend to build the
road, and the route selected will
be, to us, the cheapest and most
practicable one" Immediately
following, in the same paper, is
this from Chief Engineer Williams,
| which shows that the cheapest
and most practicable" route does
not touch Columbia:
"As you know, railroads are
built but from one cause, and that
is for the purpose of making
money. After making a numbe.
of surveys We find that the most
direct route from Hannibal to
| Springfield is as follows: First to
Perry, in Rails county, then to
Mexico, from there across to the
Two Mile prairie to the river,
cross the river and go to Califor-
mia, and from there the way is
plain, being already worked out.
We can come IN by another way
from Perry to Centralia, down your
branch road thence to the river,
and from there to Upton, and on
down to Springfield, but the latter
route would be much more expen-
sive than the other. You may
think that we are running this
eastern line to scare you, but you
are very much mistaken. Rail
roads are built for all time and as
this is the case the line chosen
must be the best. Often mistakes
are made in locating a road and
| these mistakes cost the corpora
tiens thousands of dollars. Ac.
cording to the survey, we can build
the eastern route much cheaper
than the one through Columbia" "
Private advices indicate that the
railroad folks have made Columbia
a proposition, and while it it rather
safe to say that that town has moi
yet secured the enterprise, there
should be more interest taken ir
the matter here. A big mass
meeting, we'll advertised, should bt
called at once and a plan of actor
arranged.