Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-04-13
CAPITAL FOR new MEXICO
A Party Of New York Capitalists En-
Route to Lincoln County for the
Purpose of Examining Its Re-
sources with the View of
Railroad Construction.
HON. c. B. EDDY, CHIEF PROMOTER
If the Proposition is Deemed Feasible
Construction Work will Commence
at Once on Line from El Paso
to White Oaks, Lincoln
County, N. M.

Special to the New Mexican.
Ell Paso, Texas, April 13, lS97.-Hon
G. B. Eddy, promoter of the new railroad
from FL Paso to White Oaks, N. NJ, lef
st. Louis on Sunday night last with {
party of eight capitalists who will be
come interested in the building of the
road, should they be satistied with the
route and the country through which the
line of the road has been located. They
will arrive here today, thence to San An.
tonic, in Socorro county, where they will
be Wednesday morning, then the party
will leave that place for White Oaks on
Thursday and will spend about ten days
Lincoln county examining the min.
eral resources and coal properties IN and
near White Oaks, the Salado and
other sections of Lincoln county, thence
the party goes overland to FL Paso,
Texas, where final arrangements for the
active operations will commence, should
the examinations be found satisfactory.
W. A. Hawkins, esq, solicitor for the
railroad, will meet the party at San An
tonic and 60 with it on this inspection
tour of the line of the road and of the re-
sources of the country through which the
line is to pass. The expedition is com
posed of wealthy capitalists, and is one
of the most notable parties that has ever
left New York City on such mission.
The party travels in the special car
"Newport," which will return to Ell Paso
from San Autonio and there await the
return of the party; commissaries, camp
ing supplies and all other necessaries for
comfortable trip have been sent ahead
from Denver and are now at San Antonio
waiting the arrival of the party. Mr..
John A. Eddy, of Denver, is now in charge
of them at San Antonio and will accom-
pany the pacty.
Mr.. Eddy and his associates have worked
for two years to bring this about, and
have had experts in the field most of the
time, examining the resources of the
country adjacent to the proposed line of
the road, and recently much activity has
been displayed In this line and some very
favorable reports have been made by
this party does not settle the matter
entirely, but if the party should be satis-
fled with what it sees and discovers, dirt
will fly very soon and the road will be
built in e hurry. The enterprise of build
ing the Ell Paso.White Oaks road is being
promoted purely on a coal, coke and
mineral basis. II ls foregone concln-
sion and established beyond peradven-
ture, that neither the Santa Fe nor the
Thurber coal could compete with the coal
that could be laid down in the Ell Paso
market and the Mexican Central market
from the Lincoln county coal fields.
This market includes the Southern Pa
cific as far west as Yuma, the Mexican
Central railroad, the smelters in Arizona
and Chihuahua and further south and the
Southern Pacific as far east as Ssnderson.
The principal coal fields are the Salado,
near Fort Stanton. These are far more
extensive and of an infinitely better
grade of coal than are the White Oaks
coal fields.
The present coal market at Ell Paso
amounts to about $4,000 tons of coke per
month including the consumption of the
smelters at El Paso-in Arizona and Obi.
huahua. The coal sales at Ell Paso
amount to about 10000 tons per month.
This amount of coal comes from Cerrillos
and Blossburg in New Mexico and from
Thurber in Texas. The coke in the Ell
Paso market is from Cerrillos and Bloss-
burg in New Mexico, from McAlllster in
the Indian Territory and from Birming-
ham, Alabama. The percent of ashes in
the coke determines the value of the lat
ter; the Oerrillos and Blossburg coke
commands about Sc per ton in the mar
ket at Ell Paso, the percentage of ashes
being about 16 per cent in the Oerrillos
coke. In addition to the vast amounts
the new railroad will open up and which
are extensive enough to furnish an i'm.
mediately large and constantly increasing
traffic, the new road will also open up
one of the finest potato sections in the
United States, namely the rich farming
sections of the Sacramento to the noun
tains. There are dozens of fine valleys
in these mountains where the equals to
the best Greeley potatoes can and will be
grown in large quantities, as soon as rail
transportation can be secured to haul
them to market.
The magnificent and vast timber re-
sources of the White and Sacramento
mountains will also be made useful by
the road, if built, and will aid in increas-
ing the volume Of traffic. The length of
the road will be about 1855 miles and will
be nearly all down grade from White
Oaks to Ell Paso, and as the heavy freight
will 60 from the north to the south, this
is great item to be considered. All but
20 miles of the road will be in New Mex
loo, only the first 20 miles being in the
state of Texas.
Mr.. O. B. Eddy is we'll known as man
of great energy and perseverance, and
even from the most conservative stand.
point it must be admitted that the con-
stfuction of the Ell Paso-White Oaks rail.
road is beginning to look very much like
a certainty.
Another possibility in the matter Of
railway construction, lies in the direction
Of a project Of which Hon. q. B. Eddy is
the chief promoter. This scheme con-
tenn mplates road from FL Paso, Tex, to
White Oaks, Lincoln county. A party OF
interested capitalists are now en- route to
an inspection Of the resources Of Lincoln
county.