The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-02

since the change was made public, have
carefully refraineG from talking on the
subject. 1t is possible that the new
management of the Union Pacific took
alarm at the aggressiyeness of the Bur-
/ lington and decided in short order TO
meet any competition which might be
brought forward.
It is now claimed in Chicago that the
Burlington is having built one of the
most complete and most luxurious pas
senger trains ever run in the west, and
viii make the time between Chicago
and Denver in "a hours. The Burling
/ ton is about % miles shorter between
! Chicago and Denver than the Union
Pacific, and q year ago made the phe-
nomenal run of 1.026 miles in LOAF min
utes. The conditions under which the
run was made may never exist again.
and it is doubtful whether engineers
could be hired with money to attempt
to duplicate the thrilling feat. 1t was
/ human sympathy that carried the brave
men through the ordeal. Some of them
have since declared that no money in
the world would induce them to repeat
the experience. The time of "a hours is
a different proposition, and it is claimed
the great engines which are now in
use on the transcontinental railways
ODtldlCQ OI SuDSldHlldl IOduDCQS anu
under no obligations to make stops ex-
cept at junction points and county
seats, can accomplish 1000 miles in q
hours.
Heretofore there has been no at
tempt on the part of the railways to
make a material reduction in time be-
tween the Rocky mountains and the
lakes. An understanding was reached
years ago by which two nights and a
day have been spent on the road be-
tween Denver and Chicago. Coming
west, conditions have been different
and the Burlington is now making
29-hour schedule with the fast mail
from Chicago to Denver. The train
leaving Chicago for the Missouri river
is known as the white mail, and carries
no passengers. 1t conveys the Chicago
newspapers, but arriving at the Mis-
souri, river the train becomes q pas
senger train and crosses the plains with
mails and passengers, the speed from
the river being materially reduced. 1t
is claimed that the Burlington receives
81 100000 a year for the mail service to
the river, and that the service is re-
garded by government officers as of
the highest Importance to the west.
Some people are of the opinion that
the movement of the Union Pacific is
in the nature of an attempt to capture
the mail plum. 1t is significant that
the WGlSHlUS VI HILLS
takes place this spring, and is already
in progress on some of the lines. The
weighing is done only once in four
years and the contracts are made for
that period. The contracts all begin
with the fiscal year-July 1, but it re-
quires six months for Uncle Sam to go !
through the preliminaries- 1t is
claimed that the Kansas Pacific divi- |
sion of the Union Pacific carried off |
big contract four years ago by putting
on fast train which was discontinued /
after the awards were granted.
The announced schedule of the Union 4
Pacific, doubtless subject to modifica- !
tions, is for the fast train to leave Chi |
cago at 10 o'clock each forenoon, arriv-
ing at Denver at 80 the following af- |
ternoon in time for afternoon delivery |
of mails, provided the train carries i
mail. The train leaving Denver would |
depart at $3.50 p m. and arrive in Chi |
cago at $50 the following evening. AS
this is too late for connections with
principal trains for New York and the I
east, the Vanderbilt management may
be contemplating a change in fast
trains bound for the Atlantic coast.
1t is prOphesied that a general over
hauling of traEscontinental time cards
is one of the features contemplated this
spring. The New York Central, North
western, Union Pacific and Central Pa
CHIC, 1t is claimed, VIII form a con-
tinuous line from coast to coast and the
viii be made to reduce the run
ming time q hours.
If the combine is effected, it is point
ed out that the Burlington and the
Rock Island will be driven, in self de-
Tense, to seek friendly connections into
Chicago from the east. The Burlington
now operates with the Lake Shore and
the New York Central, but it will then
be necessary for the transcOntinental
lines competing with the Union Pacific
to make traffic agreements with the
Erie, Baltimore & Ohio,
Grand Trunk or some OF
the other systems.
An attempt will also be made to
shorten the time to ogden and a fast
service with Chicago at one end ard
ogden at the other will be called into
existence. This viii give the Denver
& Rio Grande. the Midland and the
Western an opportunity to assist in the
against the Vanderbilt
lines.
There is hardly any possibility of a
route competing with the
Union Pacific, although the scenic ad-
vantages of Colorado and Utah might
offset the speed of the Union Pacific