Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-12-17
HISTORIC EVENT.
THE SALE OF THE ATcHlsoN, TOPEKA
 AND SANTA FEE ROAD.

on the Historic Santa Fe TraiI-Interest-
 Ing Facts Recalled Relating to the Build
 ing of the system-The Trail Before the
 Railroad.
 The sale of the Atchison railroad in Topeka is the most notable incident of the kind in this or any other country. The extent of the system and the amount of money involved ill the transaction were never equaled in any like transac- ton. public or Hrivate. The immensity If the deal may be better comprehended by the fact that the system proper em- bfaees l. 592 miles of roadbed, on which there are now being used 834 locomo- lives. 27, 059 freight cars, 596 passenger clsrs. besides Pull1nans, express, mail, dining and other cars in great number. The traffic frequently requires the oper ating department to handle for weeks af a time no less than 20 freight trains over a given division every 24 hours. There are more than 20,000 pay checks Issued by the Topeka office every month.
 The Atehison system has been built Practically during the last 20 years, and originally it was intended to be rail road paralleling the historic Santa Fe trail. oyer which should be transported with greater ease and speed and at re- dnced rates tho "commerce of the plains, which had ill the early seven ties assumed enormous proportions.
 The famous Santa Fe trail was legal N established by treaty which was concluded Aug 10, 1895, on the banks of the Neosho river, in a fine piece of ] Timber. The incident caused Kit Carson to mark on the hend of cheese box | with a piece of charred wood "Council l 5 Grove" and nail it on a tIee where that | Historic town now stands. That treaty | was made with the Great and Little | 0sages by government commission ap- | pointed by authority of congress to "ne- l qotiate treaties with the Indians for q | wagon road through tho great American desert, !" and it was stipulated that the | Indians should hold sacred the rights of | the whites to travel that read unmelest- ed This stipulation was so generally 1 observed by all tho plains Indians that, | eyen during many of the Indian raids, 1 the whites were generally safe from dep. l Relations as long as they remained on the trail.
 Late in the eighteenth and early in the present century the Spaniards, in their greed and jealousy, sent forth the edict that their territory i'll tho south 1 west should be carefully guarded from any intrusion from the Americans to the north and east. Already the Ameri cans had come to regard the Spanish | Possessions in Mexico with all increased l longing and eoyeteusness on account of 1 the reported fabulous wealth of gold 1 ssild silver. Up to 1891, when Mexico gained her independence, it was at the hazard of life itself that any American Attempted to penetrate that sealed up country At that time the frontier of American civilization was on the Mis- souri river, and the western border of that state was occupied by bold and | Adventurous people, and when this treaty was made, guaranteeing protec- i tion alike to citizens of this and the re- public of Mexico, this newly established | Santa Fe trail immediately sprang into great importance It started from Fort | Leavenworth and from Independence Landing, formed a junction at No. | l10," just below Lawrence, struck the Arkansas near where Great Bend is now Situated, followed the river 100 miles, 1 crossed and passed through the sandy | country for about 60 miles to the Cimar- &ron, which stream it followed to near the southwest corner of Kansas, thence in a general southwesterly direction to Santa Fe. 7S0 miles from Independence Landing.
 
 For four years prior to the treaty at z Council Grove many attempts had been made, with indifferent success, to reach the fabled iich country of the Mexioans. 8 The Great American desert was infested with bold bandits of almost every race and color. Caravans of pack mules at tempting to cross the plains were forced to proceed very slowly, always on the $ alert, moving like an invading army z ever ready ta repel tho sudden attacks < of all unseen and almost unknown ene- my. h the spring of 1924 the first wag- % on train reached Santa Fe with sup plies. and before winter it returned to # the river laden with fine furs and sll- % yer. That train contained over 200 wag- ons, each drawn by six to ten yoke of oxen. Over 100 days were required to reach Santa IFe, the distance now being covered in 28 hours. This commerce of the plains grew to such proportions that # ill 1S5e there were on the trail no less < than 3, 800 men in some way engaged in this traffic. Ill that year there were registered at Council Grove 1, S27 wag- ons,. 429 horses, 5,31G mules, 15,7l4 A oxen and G7 carriages, or passenger ve- # hieles. During that year there were # 9,60S tons of freight carried over the route, equal to about 500 carloads. There was oyer $2, 500, 900 directly in- vested in this business, with another $1,000, 1000 as an incidental investment. New York Times.