The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-01
HIS PORTABLE CEMETERY.
a REAR OPERATION IN SANTA FEE
TOWN LOIS.

ana-A Graveyard Taken from station ia
station to Scare OF Tenderfeet-The
Company Genes to Terms Finally
: When Cakes Ames and his associates set their
Boston capital at work building the Sante Fe
road auction sales OF town lots we're seldom far
In the rear OF the construction gang, This was
the way IL was done: Wherever the last rails
were spiked before noon on Saturday q spun OF
extra track twas laid. and before night the
construction Rank's house train was run on
the spur and there was n new settlement for
the next week. The name OF this settlement
never changed. 1t was Always called End OF
the Track. Tho moral tone OF this settlement
never changed. either. What this tone was
may appear from q little chapter of history.
once the railway builders and the State OFF,
cials determined to clean things IN. They
went out to the construction settlement and
shot n lot Of people and ran q lot more of with
n warning. Then they felt that they had
things In pretty good shape. and named the
town which was founded on that particular
spot after a distinguished New York philan-
thropist Just because they had cleaned It up so
effectuaily. Yot even then Dodge City was a
name that stood for all that was bad on the
plains. That will give some idea Of what it
was before they tried to clean 1t up.
Such was End OF the Track, geographically
q new spot every Saturday night, but other
wise a community OF unbroken terror. At In
tervals Of twenty miles the permanent stations
were established and towns built, beginning In
each case with an auction Of lots. or course,
the railway made as much display as 1t could
in the way Of passenger stations. freight de-
pots, coal sheds, and;all hat sort of thing. Not
infrequently men were induced to start grain
elevators alongside the track before a single
acre had been ploughed. All these things
we're designed to make the place look attrac-
tive to intending buyers. For the same rea-
son they had to keep n tight hold on the popu-
lation OF End OF the Track. II the terrors Of
End Of the Track came in at auction time they
could do a lot Of mischief. particularly IL there
was a crowd Of tenderfeet from New England.
That did happen, once. The land agent had
farmers. and had manGuvred them around to
the point where 1t was a moral certainty they
m men'd dri RSs in n from EDO ED Of q The f Track. and and they hey
Gun'piay;that sent all those farmers:back to, a
That wasn't the only thing that threatened
There was a man an who Was:bearinE the market.
and he was, doing 1t 50 Sticky that 1t was next
to io i tRs sida Of the e S isn a. a asmi the fSe 1 men ' nSead
seemed that his 10. would be paradise Itself
the gun fighters to deal with.
The strongest card the land agent could play
marvellous climate Of the prairie country and
its tonic action in the cure. OF every i'll known
nc need haR'S Sother e q @an lc GsG''i for sf fSer ev Sas t ang
amount OF Boston money ready to go out on
mortgaee. Il was q strong play. this climate.
and IL brought any amount OF good money to
the company: but at the same time it gave the
bear operator his chance.
varied. The Eastern Investor was attracted
by the railroads boom literature. IL he nib;
By b,eu a a. man sals Who Who could 90 id0u Tell fi0fh him n ali about ui9' the
country, The next step was a personal In
spection. II the case was Promising he had
Being l look GAs after .e" Th ese come.ons were re
consigned to Topeka or Atchison and the, gen
time and send them out over the road with a
sklllul talker Along the older part OF the
would see that his party met the most enthu.
s%iastic farmers; There was no need to eyer
Else much selection In those days. when they
HADN'T been invented and the erasshopper and
f Roek g05mi oant SdG ~e After SUI they sef left thi ls b sef
the party would strike the new farms. where
first crop. Having nothing else to offer by
way OF inducement, the agents came out strong
On the s, easy terms ie 1h,S offered sTsI to Sos settlers ievs. the sb bril-,
all the climate where health was on tap all the
time and nobody ever needed a bottle Of any
that he'd got used to, Thus a trip Of this sort
could be used by a skilful agent In presenting
so well that a MAJ couldn't help buying,
When the party passed the last station
fSs sStu to settlement prsIeis mbiS and tb began mt. to a H@1p r en-
have a chance to buy. the interest was at it's
highest, It:was Just there that the bear:opera-
the station last opened to settlement. 1t WINS
not a part Of his plan to be particularly near the
from one sn to ,t tWo M miles away. but nj al always VEST
ward, that is. on the side toward the NEXT
&c Tsilfoad. a The a1S mish e G IS &c a as s { frame gS ae
house in, the whole, settlement; most likely
everybody else was living in a sod house. but
blinds all the more conspicuous; But 1t wasn't
house that hurt business; it was what was
neatly painted picket.fence and with a gateway
toward the railroad SCANNED by a wooden arch
Fl aBls %siSh ar it t SeS de snfy who f@ rs Sis in ah The I foP4!;
In the background was a view Hf neadstones
and footstones. with here and there a monu-
While others showed by the. absence Of turf
that t was not long since they were heaned
the way to find so neat a little cemetery but
so close to the end OF the new Santa FG Rail
had been in existence only a few
It could not he q particularly health.
full neiRhborhood II, the cemetery could get
There could be no doubt about it. The GEM
stery did hurt the company' business; and the
When this, happened at several
In succession. when It was seen that the
kept moving so that 1t was inva.
riably just one station down the track. when
II became, manifest, that the. principal buyer at
each auction was the cemetery man. who got
what he wanted practically without compel;
ton. then it seemed time TO act. They tried
hard to find something in the courts to At the
case and failed they tried to nY # Ia the Leg,
deal to say, for at that time the legislature OF
Kansas really sat in the Santa Fe Offices in
Then they were forced to dickeT
with the cemetery man. What he I~eceiyed
never was set down in plain figures under that
heading in any balance sheet. but i is known
that the railroad paid u smart sum for the pur-
chase Of his portable cemetery, its good will
and fixtures and its, plant, 1t was oil a dunn
In numbered sections and could be put to-
gether with n screwdriver. The fence was
bat laths strung on wires which could
be reeled up upon a big spool. The tombstones
were nothing but tin PAINTED white and they
six in a nest Of assorted sizes. The same
the case with the monuments: they were
and nested. The whole plant had
been so carefully designed that when i was
thirty three foo, box car, A single carload
neyar took mora than two 1aya In apt the