The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-09-06
RAILROADS And FEUDS.
Towns Benefited or BIiqhtcd by
Trivial Circumstances.
THE EFFECT CAN NOT BE DETERMINED
Queer Notions OF People in Opuox,u~
the Building of Common
Carriers.
New York Sun.

1t is common saying that only the AL
mighty can tell what a jury will do said
the third vice president of trunk line.
IT should BIO amending by adding. or a
railroad
read dispatch the other day" he
went on, about Kansas sheriff who
fenced in a railroad Of that State. The
dispatch reads that the road was ADAM
doned for two months In the spring OF 1892
while there was some trouble between the
Santa Fe and Union Pacific systems as to
which should operate It. Stone, who had
owned the land at one time, brought suit
and asserted that the land had reverted
to him by the temporary abandonment Of
tho road. and Judge Myers rendered de-
cislon restoring the land to him.
Il do not recall o parallel case, but 1t
reminds me OF some things have seen In
my railroad experience. Several years ago
a road was built in section OF Iowa.
There were the usual suits on assessed
damages, and protests and all that sort
of thing. The road was operated at loss
That is. nothing new. But the people
along the line had such strong prejudice
against the road that they subjected them
selves TO all sorts of trouble rather than
patronize it. This prejudice was trans
mltted. 1t is not often that railroad COM
pany gives in, but this ono did, in meas
ure. 1t found that 1t could have built a
shorter line, where thsro would be more
revenue. The company offered the I'M
successful road think 1t was branch
road about seventyfiv miles long--lor
sale. 1t did not connect with any other
corporations lines. so no other company
wanted 1t. The farmers in tho country
through which 1t passed did not want 1t.
OF course, and the line was simply aban-
doned. and several years ago when | was
out there, l learned that tho Iowa corn
crop was growing over It, and right along
the roadbed, for the rails were never taken
UP.
The attorney OF tho company. an Iowa
lawyer. was well paid for tho clever set
Elements he mado for the company, but
after years. when he had forgotten about
it and announced himself as n candidate
for the congressional nomination in his
district, the grudge was dug up and he
was defeated.
One OF the deadest towns In Missouri,
end l don't know but anywhere, might
easily have been the metropolis of the
Platte valley IL it's people had not refused
absolutely to confer with committee
which had authority to locate tho Western
terminal of the line. Tho chief objection
10 tHt proposition was tnal the road would
fill tho country with Yankees, who were
inimical to the pet institutions OF that
country, and the citizens informed the
committee that they preferred to travel
by wagon or steamboat A blight fell upon
the town from which it has mover recov-
cred. do not mean that the blight was
the result directly Of the failure of the
town to accept the offer. But il 1t had
accepted 1t the decay would have been less
rapid 1t might not have come at all
DO | know of any instances on the
other side? Yes. I cali 10 mind a town in
Wisconsin. Some twenty years ago the
Chicago and Northwestern built line
from Milwaukee to Madison. The road Is
not far from the village OF Cambridge.
which was stage coach point In Wiscon-
sin in the early days. | think the town is
within hearing of the noise OF the trains.
The people Of Cambridge were indifferent
and the company concluded that its inter
ests would be advanced If Cambridge was
left out. The company located town site
and, as If to overshadow and crush Cam
bridge. the new town was called London
1t was three miles hom Cambridge. The
company put up grain elevators and helped
some newcomers build houses. But the
Cambridge merchants did not move and
old. and the town actually improved and
thrived while the station with the pre-
teniious name was left, and is today over
grown with weeds. The Cambridge peo-
pie are building a road of their own now
to line which Ia the rival OF the Chi
! cago and Northwestern