The herald., 1895-12-11
HISTORICAL SKETCH
Record Of the Growth and Development Of
the Santa Fc

Record Of the Growth and Development Of
the Santa Fe
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
railroad system, which was sold yesterday,
comprized 10000 miles of track. The
first line of this great system was built and
opened for travel in 1870. 1t ran for a
distance of sixty miles from Atchison,
Ham,, to Topeka, the state capital. Short
ly afterward the road was extended to the
southwest, to the coal fields of Usage
county, Kansas. and on down to Emporia,
a distance. From then on the
road was year by year eX-
tended along the valley of the Arkansas
river, securing as result the large cattle
t.ade which previous to that had been
driven north to the Kansas branch of the
Union Pacific road. In the interim little
flat-boat town at the mouth of the Kaw
river known a. Kansas City had been
coming steadily to the front. The Mis-
souri, river had been bridsed at that
the line of the Kansas Midland running
from Topeka to Kansas City. This was in
1870. The1 came the grasshopper year
and all Kansas was paralyzed. But
when the recovery came the Santa Fe peo-
pie. undaunted, started in to push their
The enormous land grant of the company
in Central Kansas was sold to actual set
tiers and branch roads were built. The
main line was extended down the old Santa
Fe trail and by 1880 Ell Paso was reached.
The stock and bonds of the Santa Fe COM
pany by this time we're sea ,ered all thro Ugh
the New England states. Small blocks of
it were held in almost every hamlet in
Massachusetts. In Holland and other
European centers of capital the bonds and
stock of the company found an easy sale.
An extension was built into Denver. Then
the Santa Fe reached out for the Pacific
coast. The old Atlantic and Pacific road
was taken hold of. The Santa Fe guaran-
teed the bonds of the company and under
this guarantee the bonds were sold and a
line was built across mountains. deserts
and plateaus to the Needles, California.
Mr.. Huntingdon, anticipating the arrival
Of the Santa Fe, started to bu. d
meet it. At the Colorado river
he joined the Atlantic and Pacific. In the
meantime the Santa Fe had built up it's
southern California system and was to
join the Atlantic and Pacific at Barstow.
AT err quite a little dickerng the Atlantic
and Pacific pushed Mr.. Hun!ington's line
from Needles to Barstow and fixed traf-
fc arrangement to get into AN francisco.
In 1887 he line I. Chicago "; bull and
a road south from Arkansas City, X an, 10
Fort Worth, Tex, was constructed, where
a connection was formed with the Gulf,
Colorado and Santa Fe road. which ex-
tended south to Galveston. Hundreds of
miles of branch lines were constructed in
Kansas. hese great building operations
completely wrecked the finances of the
company. In 1856 its stock sold at 226.
The capital was douhled and. according to
the sale made yesterday, the stock itself
was hardly worth the paper it was written
on. 1t sold yesterday for 1917 in New
York city. The men whose giant intellects
direct the Atchison system have made no
mistake. They merely anticipated the
needs OF the great and growing west. The
management of the great system has al
ways been in the hands of men of broad
gauge, and liberal policy has been pur-
sued. The Santa Fe has always had as
much of soul in it's management as it ia
possible for any great corporation to have.