Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-08-25
ANOTHER TRUNK LINE.
WICHITA AND HER MISSOURI RIVER
RATES
The Shortest Possible Railway and
Guaranteed Competition for
AL Time to Come.


scheme. in the end, would become a
great factor iii building up Kansas City IS
only possible rival, two hundred miles
distant, and lying in nearly an opposite di-
rection from the proposed terminus of that
road Yet time, subsequent develop
ments and the demands of trade is
making of that enterprise, which
was intended to bolster I'D the Missouri
town, at the expense Of two bright
Kansas towns, an instrument Of de-
struction to It's original patron. The
Missouri river being destroyed as bas-
ing or terminal point for the Chicago
trunk lines, these roads are seeking the
most feasible and least expensive out
lets to the territory beyond. The
cheapest and speediest way to do this
is to acquire the road bed
Of some already constructed railway
for the sake of the terminal facilities and
right of way.
Immediately following the destruction
of the Missouri river as a basing line,
which destruction came about primarily
! By the Rock Island building into Kan
sas, and the Santa Fe building to Chi
cago, and was made complete by the de-
cision Of the Kansas railway commits
sioners, in response to the memorial of
Wichita, the Wyandotte 6 Northwestern
road was reorganized and recapitalized
and the announcement made that
the company had bought the old Carbon
dale line and that an extension would be
made from Tongapoxie to Lawrence.
and another from Carbondale to Wichita,
making the most direct and shortest line
from the Missouri river to the CONNER
cial metropolis Of southwest Kansas and
of the Indian territory.
Of course no well informed business
man believes, for a moment, that the
Wyandotte & Northwestern was con
solidated with the Carbonate road and
both capitalized or stocked for four and
half million dollars additional, as
local enterprise. Undoubtedly behind
the movement is one or another of the
trunk lines terminating at the Missouri
river, all Of which lines realize that
under the new order of things they must
extend into Kansas. That which d.
rectly concerns Wichita and the south
west is the extension itself, not who is to
make it or in what new trunk line inter
est it will be operated. The Chicago,
Milwaukee & ST. Paul, which reaches
the Missouri river at or near Leavenworth,
has lease on portion of the Wyandotte
road, which lease lets the c., NJ. & ST. ?.
road into Kansas City; from which fact
it is argued by some that this great cor
poration, 50 largely controlled by the
Armour and other packing interests, are
really at the back of the new southwest
ern movement. Others again are equally
emphatic that the Alton system will con-
troll the new line to Wichita. The Alton, |
more than any other Chicago road, has !
suffered from the extensions of the San
ia Fe eastward and the Rock Island |
westward, and the only way out of her
present boycott is an independent extern
sion of her own into the supply field of
Kansas.
But. as remarked, Wichita is interest
ed in the fact Of the construction, more |
directly interested than can be any other
city, whoever may control it. The line |
from either Kansas City, as the Atoms,
or from the point On the Missouri river
where the Milwaukee taps it, is the |
shortest and most direct line from the |
Missouri to Wichita ever constructed or
ever proposed. The short line not only
fixes the traffic rate, but this
short line, in such an interest,
Will afford Wichita with the uncon-
promising competitor which has been at
the bottom of all the late western traffic
wars.
Ii is now announced that the link be-
tween TonganoXie and Lawrence viii be
completed and in operation next month.
In answer to a communication from the
secretary of the Wichita board of trade
Superintentendent Summarized. under
date of August 10, says that the engin-
GERS have just completed the resurvey
Of the Carhondale line and started on
the goth over the Wichita extension.
The Carbonate line reaches some
forty miles southwest of Lawrence.
which taken with the other portions of
the road already constructed covers
about eighty miles Of the two hundred
between Wichita and the Missouri river.
Superintendent s. further states in his
letter that number of lines will be sur
veyed OF which complete profiles and
estimates will be made, so that the most
feasible and best route may he decided
upon between the Missouri river and
Wichita, the coming great commercial
OF the southwest. The new
line viii also cover the entire coal field
of Usage county. as ii is covered by no
other hne. which adds another item of
interest to The construction. II
The Kansas City. Lawrence & Wichita
not only tba~afor> =