The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-09-29
KANSAS AND THE SANTA FE.

nam 9AS A4N0 4GA@S S~@~N - IA - 49,
When the construction of the Atchi-
son. Topeka & Santa Fe railroad
was begun at Topeka, probably
it's most enthusiastic friends had
no. thought that in a quarter of a
century it would become the greatest
railway system in the world, with its
tracks extending from the great lakes
to the Pacific ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico.
In view of what has been accomp-
lIshed the exercises today were most
fitting celebration of the close of the
first % years of the roads history.
The history of the progress and devel-
opment of the great railway system is
so intimately connected with the his
tory of the progress and development
of Kansas that it is no less fitting that
so large a number of Kansas people
should lend their presence to the occa-
sion. In celebrating the accomplish
ments of the Santa Fe they are cele-
brating their own success.
The road was a pioneer among pion-
GERS 1t was organized at the state
capital, hardly more than a village
then. Its projectors went bravely to
work, without any financial assistance
from the government. They built and
built, the road prospered and Kansas
prospered with it. 1t has encountered
difficulties, has had obstacles to sur
mount, has been beset at times, with
croakers but it has triumphed over all
these so that it might very appropri-
ately adopt for it's motto the words
which appear upon the great seal of the
state
The story of the Santa Fe Trail is
familiar to thousands of Kansans.
When the road was completed from
Atchison to Emporia the limit was
thought to have been reached. Its
actual extension to Santa Fe was
hardly thought of. That part of the
name was attached for purposes of eu-
phony.
But it did not stop long at Emporia
II went on to Newton; then to Dodge
City; then to Trinidad; then to Albu-
querque; then big jump was made to
the Pacific ocean and the Gulf of Cali
fornia. 1t became necessary to stop
then. No further progress westward
could be made. The management then
conceived the plan of entering Chicago
and it was hardly thought of before it
was done. Then came the line to the
Gulf of Mexico.
When the people of Kansas assemble
in Topeka in 1922 to celebrate the gold
en- anniversary of the Santa Fe there
can be little doubt that its trains will
be running from ocean to ocean.
The personal interest and sense of
proprietorship which the people of
Kansas feel in the Atchison. Topeka &
Santa Fe road is not without ample
excuse. They have contributed
largely to make it what it is today.
They have produced the cattle, the
wheat, the corn. the hogs, the potatoes,
and the hay to fill it's cars and to pur-
chase the lumber. the coal and the
manufactured articles which have
formed the bulk of the freight brought
into the state.
To a no less degree must the road be
regarded a part of Kansas by it's man
ayers. Its employees form a large per-
centage of the population of the state.
They are found in all quarters of the
commonwealth and are numbered by
thousands. The Importance of the en-
plOyes of the Santa Fe as an element
of the body polite can be estimated in
some degree by those who witnessed
today's parade.
While the people of Kansas have con-
tributed largely to the upbuilding of
this great railway system their money
has come back to them in a great
measure in extensive improvements. in
buildings and in salaries paid to thous-
ands of men and women who make
their homes in the state.
Closely allied as are the people and
the road it is not surprising that when
adversely came a few years ago it af-
fected both. While the road was going
through the receivership and being
reorganized, mortgages on Kansas
homes were being foreclosed and the
occupants of those homes We're being
dispossessed.
Happily all that is over now and the
Kansas citizen and the Santa Fe rail-
road are again jOurneying hand in hand
along the way to a prosperous future.
Through all the changes wrought by
time and circumstances, nothing has
ever served to change the name of the
road in Kansas 1t is the "Atchison''
In Boston and on the stock exchange,
but in Kansas it has always been, is
now and will continue to be the San
tyfee." That name has become prec-
ious by long association and it will not
be given up Though its lines entend
from ocean to ocean and from Alaska
to the Gulf the good old name will
cling to it.
If Topeka feel an especial pride in the
fact that the city was not only the
birth place of the road but is now the
center OF the great system, the hub as
IL were, that feeling will doubtless be
regarded as a pardonable one. She is
also proud of having been the inStiga-
of f.r7ea fl1