The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-09-12

Blunt is about ten miles north from
Huron, SO that the actual extra track.
age-first north-then south and north
again to. get into Pierre by the Chicago
4 Northwestern line is not less than
twenty-five miles, If we take the present
line as the base parallel from which to
figure. Now, why does the Chicago &
Northwestern road find it necessary to
first shoot north from Huron's parallel
to reach Blunt, thence bend so far south
wardly and twist it's tortuous way like
q corkscrew down Medicine valley, only
to again turn to the northwest at
Rosseau and SO on into Pierre? The
city OF Pierre is on an exact parallel west
OF Huron, and yet instead OF an air
line route the Northwestern added one
fourth to that air line distance i'll neces-
sary tr,ckage between the two cities
other things being equal. It is claimed
and generally admitted that the Morrill,
western company has always employed
an able corp OF civil engineers as have
been %procurable, and if so, they must
naturally have selected the most FEAST
BILE route into Pierre when the survey
was originally made, and yet w find
that between these two cities they were
compelled to add twenty-five percentum
to original cost Of construction, an an
nual operating expense, ever since and
Tor all time to come, in order to getdown
to Pierre's level. Why was it? We will
tell you. 1t is the natural topography
OF the country back or east OF Pierre
that compelled it. Nature has inter-
posed those obstacles and nature pur-
poses to keep them there. They were
put there to stay. AS long as everlast-
ing ''gumbo knobs' and Everlasting
rock hills" shall stand, will they frown
down upon the hapless surveyor who
attempts to put another line into that
city.
These conclusions are forcibly thrust
upon all who know her surroundings.
In arriving at those conclusions some
aids may be found when we remember
thai it is o a full decade-ten years
> since the first locomotive stood where
Pierre now stands. Ten long years.
, And yet during all that time no Other
, road has found it an object to attempt
, entrance to those precincts. Let it be
r remembered that the Chicago anG
Northwestern line is the first and only
: line running into Pierre. When thai
company laid out its line its surveyors
had the choice OF all the routes dow
into Pierre from the high prairie lands
to the eastward. No other company
was there to bother her, no injunctions
were on hand to drive her from thi!
route to that route, and not q solitar,
white mans farm interviewed to swerv'
their line to the right or left from any
route her engineers might select. Sin
was rs free as the eagle Of the air tt
choose her pathway down to wher,
Pierre now stands. and she exercised
that freedom. She chose the only route
that was at all feaslble,-the only route
that could be considered at all cheap (9)
or safe, and finally succeeded in planting
a locomotive where Pierre now stands
But what did she do by her work;
She demonstrated to herself and to al
the world that no rival line could evel
reach the same point without a vast
expenditure OF money in tunnels, cuts
. fills, bridges and entertainments, and
= nature not having changed an atom
since, the same terrible obstacles to tn
entrance OF other roads to Pierre inter
vene today that did ten years ago, an
we have seen that the route used by tn
r Chicago and Northwestern is such a
one as bars out all ambition OF duplics
er ton by other lines, wen though a Mar
chester and Birmingham stood whel
he Pierre stands, and with a veritabl
o Egypt in fertility and resources beyon
her to beckon on the capitalistto inves
y ment. If the Chicago and Northwestern
IL was compelled to throw away twent,
ID five per cent OF trackage and subsequer
es earnings to reach her site, and whe
1t doing SO had the world from which t
Sc choose her route, and with all those a,
I'd vantages in her favor, could only fin
lg entrance by the corkscrew line she no
is uses, how can it be expected that ii
Is will ever be a railroad center-even I
&c the smallest degree-and even with fort
capitalists in her possession. And if
Of this we add the utter dearth OF Undue
ty ment beyond her save such as can |
ne reached easier, more quickly and chea,
re er by either one of two other routes, 4
OF the Hills country it does not take mue
H. OF q railroad analyst to see the cor
1t plete flattening out of all prospects.
as boom she herself as much as she ma,
of Nature and common sense are again
e her. And cold cash is very apt to COZ
suit common sense before burying itse
irretrievably in railroads as we'll as
of anything else. Keep your eye on Fore
City and Chamberlain. They are tt
;, future railway crossings OF the Missouri
lie -Exchange.
REFS IN BRAZIL.
Hotels are few and ill-conducted j
It. Brazilian coast towns, but there al
le excellent French and German restaul
ants in Bahia and Pernambuco. Whe
oe one has the bill to settle he finds tn.
,e the score runs into the thousands. Th
W basis of currency is an imaginary uni,
- the refs, 1000 of which make a milreis
~ worth apart from exchange, about s
st cents. The lowest nickel coin is 1C
i'll refs, worth 5 cents. Below these 81
m copper coins, 20 reis, being equivaler
e. to l cent. If one dimes with a frien
at a restaurant the score will amoun
- To z 6QQ 1.oic-a raai1lt cto~ r.tlinn "a IL