The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-19
Story That Utah Is to Have Another
Line.
COLUMBUS & NORTHERN
NEW MEXICO PEOPLE ARE BACK
ING THE ENTERPRISE.
Plan to Build From Ft. Steele to Dill
lon-Southern Pacific Meets the
Cut-"Private Car Snaps"-Trans-
porting Soldiers - Short Lines
New Train Schedule-Notes.

The state Of Utah is to have another
railroad; the people of New Mexico are
to have much needed route to the
north, and the great Santa Fe is to
have anothe: most convenient outlet to
points in Colorado and Utah. These
are the three most interesting facts in
connection with the building of a road
from Columbus, New Mexico. to Salt
Lake City Articles of INCORPORATION
OF such road, to be known as the
Columbus q Northern, have been filed
IN Santa Fe, n. NJ, and the incor-
porators are all, with put one excep-
ton, residents OF that territory. At the
mead OF the enterprise are A 0. Bailey
A. j. Clark, j. IS. Byron, w r. Merrill
H. o. Wolcott and Albert H. Ransom
The latter of Ohio. According to the
articles OF incorporation, the road has
Tor its starting point Columbus. in
Grant county. 1t is to traverse the
counties OF Socorro, Valencia, Berna-
lilo, San Juan and Rio Arriba. and,
leaving the territory at a. point near
the Rio San Juan river, in the last
named county, is to continue on
through Colorado and Utah to this city.
From the meager details of the enter
prise at the disposal of The Herald it
is impossible to state definitely what
route has been chosen by the Column
bus Northern after the Colorado line
is reached, nor is it possible to state
what power is behind the project.
though ii is asserted that some mann
moth railway system is really at its
head. AT any rate, the undertaking
is one of gigantic proportions, and TO
Dulld the line viii require an enormous
outlay of capital.
Columbus is a town in the extreme
south end of the territory. in fact. is
D1IT \ miles from
New Mexico and Texas. All the coun-
ties named form the western boundary
OF the territory, With the exception of
Rio Arriba. which is more to the center.
so that the line could. from Columbus.
go almost due north until Bernalillo is
reached. Following. from here. the
Atlantic and Pacific divide. the route
could touch upon the Acarilla Apache
Indian reservation and leave the terri
tory by crossing Ire Denver &. Rio
Grande into Pagosa Springs, Archuleta
county, Colo. A glance at the map
Will show that the whole of western
New Mexico is practically without rail-
road connections for the north or
south. The Atlantic & Pacific runs
diagonally across the district in the
north end, While the Southern Pacific
and a. x N NJ, does practically the
same in the south. but for a line run
ming north and south. through the
richest part of the whole territory, the
country is in want. The route of the
Columbus d Northern would neces-
sarily cross or form connections with
both of the roads named and would
bring the Santa Fe and the Denver &
Rio Grande together. Taking into con-
sideration the fact that it is almost
impossible to penetrate eastern Utah
for any distance, makes ii appear that
the real intention of the new road is
to connect with the Denver & Rio
Grande or Rio Grande Western, or
both, in order to get into Utah. In
fact, it is not improbable that these
companies are parties to the new
enterprise.
Further particulars of the proposed
road viii be awaited with the keenest
interest.