The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-16


les before he left town.
Pomeroy continued this lavish distri-
button of the contributions from the
east until the spring of 1861. That same
year he was elected to the United
States senate by the grateful settlers
The hat has been passed for Kansas q
good many times since that demoraliz-
ing first time.
THE corn road" has no place by that
title in the railway guides. Perhaps
the general officers who preside hun
dreds of miles away over it's operation
would hardly identify 1t by that name
Certainly the travelling world will fail
to locate it. 1.-The corn road begins at
AtchisOn and ends out in the short
grass counties of western Kansas Its
inception was most ambitious The
plans of those who originated this road
contemplated a transcOntinental route
from the Missouri to the Pacific. A
good pretense of building in that d.
rection was made. Construction west
ward from AtchisOn was Sta tied about
the same time that it was f. m Omaha,
and from Kansas City. But the days
came when more powerful influences N
favor of the other routes dominated.
and the building on the AtchisOn line
stopped in the prairies- Central
Branch, Union Pacific was the name
given to the road without a terminus.
According to the understanding among
projectors, when the land grant Ieg1s-
lation was obtained in Washington,
about the close of the civil war, the
west to a junction point with the Oma
ha and Kansas City lines, near the
Rocky Mountains. 1t was to be COM
bined with them in a common route
through to the Pacific coast. But it
was not.
This Central Branch retained its
misnomer with its loose end in the
prairies. 1t languished awhile until
patient pioneers began to discover the
corn producing qualities of the cOun-
ties through which its course lies Even
the Union Pacific company was tardy
in recognizing the possibilities. jay
Gould, travelling leisurely over the
western country and picking up bits
of road, from which to construct
great system. saw the growing acreage
in corn in the double tier of counties
Central Branch. The Union Pacific
company seemed very willing to let 1t
go. The corn fields grew. From the
loose end in the prairieS feeders We're
constructed as the country became set
tied. The Central Branch became
parent stem, with sprangled terrn1n1
still farther out in the prairieS. Then
time came when the Union Pacific
could give a title and was willing to
sell. Two great systems struggled for
possession The Gould system won
Officially this is still the Central
Branch By the people who know the
Territory it. serves and the wonderful
deVelopment't the corn road Is the tarn1l-
lar designation. And certainly no route
in the country more naturally merits
the title.
one of the corn kings in Kansas,
Frank NJ. Baker through whose eleVa-
tors passes no inconsiderable part OF
the crop along this road sat in his Of
flee at AtchiSOn and did some impress
sive figuring on the now maturing
crop He showed that it would take
so. 600 cars to move this crop mat
means $500 trains. There are ~ sta
tions on the corn rOad'and its sprang-
ling feeders. Ripening in the fields trl-
butary to these 80 stations is yield or
corn which will require over GU cars
to a station to move IT. some OF tI u 599
stations will need from 1000 to LOO
cars Others will call for less than 50O.
The average will be over 600.
When Mr.. Baker figures on 10000 cars
to move this years crop from the nine
ty stations Of the corn road of Kan
sas'' he counts only that proportion OF
the crop which will naturally go 10
market as corn. One-third of the corn
raised in the territory considered will
be fed to live stock The remaining
two-thirds will go in original form.
Fortunately for the peace OF mind OF
the TRANSPORTATION people the demand
for, the 10000 cars will be well distrib
uted. The farmers will begin picking
in October and Smelling in November
They will be at it all winter and into
next March The moving of the crop
will begin in November and it will con-
tinue until next summer, taxing the
ability of the officials to furnish cars.
When hot weather comes AGAIN nan u
this crop, MI BAKER eSllnlstleSs VIII
stiu remain a reserve in the hands of
the farmers and of the local dealers
along the road
1t is not of history that the ancients
met, organized committees, issued an
appeal and drummed up subscriptions
when the season came to celebrate the
harvest of thee rops. Naturally, spon-
taneously and unanimously the Atchi-
sonians give one day in the year to
corn and hilarity and art. This day
is when the frost is on the pumpkin
and the corn is in the shock or, to be
caIendarly accurate, the 21st of Sep
TENDER. All roads in the corn belt lead
to Atchison that day. They do their
part by carrying the corn grower, his
wife. his sons and daughters and the
hired man 200 miles for 81, and hauling
them home for nothing. The return
trip is up grade, but it takes less loco
motive power. Hundreds of bushels of
shelled corn, which filed the pockets
Of the reveIers, have been left behind