St. Paul daily globe., 1892-05-07

come one of the recognized leaders OF
the South Dakota Democracy. He is
an eloquent speaker, and started out
two years ago to make thorough
canvass of his state. A few days
later he was taken down with a
severe attack of sickness. and
spent the next few mouths
at hospital in this city. ,Notnwitll-
standing all this he made an excellent
run. He is just now deeply interested
in the agitation that has been COM
menced by the chamber of commerce Of
ST. Panl in behalf of better railroad
facilities between ST. Paul and the,
Black Hills. Mr.. Clark was seenat the
Merchants and asked how the people
of the Black Hills felt about the, ,.mat-
ter. sTf
Black Hills Country. ioes
"The Black Hills country" said Mr.
Clark. "tranSacts annually with: The
outside world. Between SIS, 5,00p,00Q and
S20, ,00O, geo Of business. Six years ago.
ST. Paul and Minneapolis obtained q fair
share Of it. but now gets scarcely any
| think the people OF these two, cities,
should ponder. upon this fact, and if
possible recover this enormous and pro-
fitable trade. Six years ago the visitor
to the Hills would have found several,
plain indications of the interest which I
the Black Hills and the Twin Cities
mutually felt for leach other. The st. :
Paul GLOBE was then circulated
throughout the Hills,and was the favor
ite paper. Only "a stray copy can be
found there now. The hotels were then
full of trayeling men representing ST.
Paul jobbing. hogSes. Only once in a
while does suehlap one happen in there
how. s.c.~e;tt 81.
Why this changer"
"The answer is plain, and ought to
startle the people of these two cities.
From Rapid City due south 100 miles,
and thence little south of east a dis
tance of over 500 miles, the Freemont,
Elkhorn IL Missouri Valley rail-
road was constructed to Omaha.
ana the first trains were run
in 1886. Two remarkable events oc-
cured almost immediately. Omaha
got the Black Hills trade. and shortly
afterwards experienced one of the most
pronounced of bo0mS. Yet this Black
Hills business went to Omaha by an in
direct route, but route which was far
cheaper and better than the old stage
road across the Big Sioux reservation
to ST. Paul. Now am sure that if
railroad were constructed from Pierre
across the Big Sioux reservation. dis
tance of 167 miles. that large part OF
the Black Hills trade would return to
st. Paul and Minneapolis" 3
There are many important reasons
why this should be So" continued MIR.
Clarke. "'The distance between Rapid
City and st. Paul by such route would,
I,N oil fi,.af xuOt,IH 70
slightly less than the distance between
Rapid City and Omaha by rail. The
people of St Paul and Minneapolis are
more enterpriSing as rule than those
of Omaha, and may be de-
pended OH to crowd out Omaha
competition. A large ;. number
of the merchants, cattlemen. minerS
and residents of the hills are from the
Twin Cities and are inclined 10 deal
here. Such road would proceed east
through the entire state of South Da-
kota and nearly all travel out of the
hills would naturally take that course.
Nearly all the cattle business would be
done on such road, because by it time,
and beef, and consequently big money
would be saved. The Eikhorn road last
year took 5000 car loads of cattle
Out of the Hills,
charging S100 per car and realizing
thereby half million dollars in that
traffic alone.
.'In order to obtain more direct route
than the present to market, Rapid City, 3
in the Black Hills. has begun a move-s
ment which will ultimately returlStb ST..
Paul and Minneapolis the larger part of
$40, 900, 900 worth of trade. Thereturn Of
that trade is only question of time, e,andi
depends largely OIL the cities of st. Paul
and Minneapolis themselves. Rapid
City has subscribed $50, 0,000to a conipaliy
called the Rapid City, Missouri Riser IL
st. Paul Railroad company, whicA PRO-
poses to construct a railroad from Rapid
CITY to Pierre across the Big Sioux res
eryation, there to make cOnnectionNith
the Northwestern, Great Northerlia and
Northern Pacific lines. The city of
Rapid City has, besides the subscrp-:t
ton mentioned, given to the proposed
railload fifty-three acres of ground in
the heart of the city, the estimated Z
value of which is 81 1000 per acre. The
road has been graded fifteen miles, and
the contract is let for grading thirty
miles farther. The entire line has
been located, and right Of way obtained
from Rapid City to Pierre. and passes
through fertile agricultural and graz
ing country all the way. The town of
Fort Pierre has given the company ex-
cellent terminal grounds, and the COM
pany has depot grounds and townsites
all along its line. st. Paul and Minne-
apolis should put their shoulders to the
work of pushing this enterprise along,
especially IN view of the fact that they
have so much at stake"
1.-The Black Hills produce four mill
iop doIlarS' wprth of gold two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars worth of sill
yer. half million dollars worth of coal
and several million dollars worth of
cattle annually. They have sandstone,
limestone. gypsum, marble. coal, silver,
copper, lead. antimOny, slate. lumber.
brick, tirebrick, cattle, horses and an
innumerable variety of wealth to be-
shipped on this new road in addition to