The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1893-02-02
AN INTENSE TRAFFIC BILL.
Redwood Falls Pays Over S150,0O0
to the Northwestern Railroad
A Lovely Spectacle For St. Louis
Officials to Gaze Upon
R. R. Talk.
100000.

4nat is ABOUT the amount paid Tor
freight by the business men of Red
wood Falls to the Chicago & North
western Railroad Co. during the year
1897; and that is why the business
men of this city claim fayors, which,
as yet, they have not received; and
those are the figures which they will
hold up to the new officers of the Min
neapolis & st. Louis road as an in
ducement for that company to run its
line into Redwood Falls.
1t was with some difficulty that the
above unofficial figures we're obtained.
ID. Lee Beecher, the agent here, re-
fused to divulge the earnings of this
station, referring the representative
to II. G. Garvin, the general agent at
Winona. Of course, Mr.. Garvin knows
exactly, but he is not giving anything
away that will boom this city at the
expense of his road, and when re-
quested by letter for the freight and
passenger traffic receipts, he dictated
the following, which was received
here Monday:
Replying to your letter of the 9th
inst :, asking for our receipts of Pass
enger and Freight Traffic at Redwood
Falls for 1892, by months, as 1 wired
our agent this morning, it will be i'm
possible for us to give you these
figures, as it is one af the rules of our
company to Withhold such information,
it not being considered public proper
ty. Personally, I would have been
glad to accommodate you in the mat
ter. Yours truly,
81. G. GARv1N.
In the meantime, or rather in an
ticipation of the reply from this cor
poration,a personal canvass was made
OF nearly every business man in Red
Woo, and after great deal of trouble
in looking over their books and freight
receipts, and then adding 10 per cent.
for freight of which the company
alone has record OF, the above figures
were arrived at. Of the 100000 the
four elevators at this station paid in
the neighborhood of $4,000, the
Laird Norton Co. and the Winona
Lumber Co. over 5000 and the bal
ance is scattered among the business
men in sums ranging from $500
down to SIS, the machine men, the
general merchandise stores and the
groceries giving the highest figures.
An effort has also been made, and
successful at that, to secure an ap-
proximate estimate OF the amount of
money paid the st. Louis road for the
same period, and the figures, while
large, pale into insigni6cance before
the amount paid to the Northwestern,
which Redwood county and Redwood
Falls gave $4,000 in bonds for run
ming % miles of road from Sleepy
Eye to Redwood Falls. The amount
paid for freight received at North
Redwood station is between $4,000
and $1,000, while the amount paid for
outgoing freight was $4,000, a total
Of just about one-fifth of the amount
paid into the hands of the Northwest
ern.
The passenger receipts could not be
ascertained but it is safe to venture a
prediction that they are one-half if
not three-quarters or fully as large as
the freight receipts, and would make
the net earnings of the Northwestern
line at this station in the neighbor-
hood of $l5O,OOO or s2OO,OOc.At North
Redwood they will go as high, if net
higher, than the freight receipts, e. g
the larger share of the passenger tra,-
fic is to St. Paul and Minneapolis over
that line.
This is what the business mems
committee on railroads have to show
to the railroad officials, in addition to
the fact that three-quarters, if not
four -fifths of the freight that comes
to Redwood Falls, comes from St.
Paul and Minneapolis, and if the Min
neapoIis and St. Louis road were to
run into this city they would natural
ly get all Of it,and the amounts would
he reversed. The st. Louis efforts t1
build up town at the foot of the bill
1t the expense of this city has proved
failure, and the sooner that it gets
INTO line with progressive Redwood