Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-15
THE ROADS ARE
PROSPEROUS
THE BEST PASSENGER TRAFFIC
THE BURLINGTON HAS
EVER HAD.
NEBRASkANS EXPLAIN
ON POLITICAL GROUNDS
The Northern Pacific and Great North
ern Stock Is Under the Same
Control.

Charles j. Lisle, of the Inter Noun
tain, who recently returned from trip
to Iowa and Nebraska, says that the
railroads in that part of the country
are doing heavier business for this
time of the year than for years past;
in fact. the heaviest business III their
history, according to their reports. The
Burlington line from Billings, which is
only six years of age, is having a phe-
nOmenal passenger run, the trains being
crowded and running in two sections a
good part of the time. The officials
look for a great increase in business
in the spring, wheN they will make
preparations to care for the influx of
traffic in the well-knoWn manner that
haracteriZeS the Burlington, east or
west. Their new extensions, especially
the one from Denver to Alliance, Neb.,
are proving great conveniences to the
travelling public, and are highly appre-
ciated. The roadbed is being improved
in many ways, and has reached a condi-
ton which would justify record-break-
ing runs. The run made this week from
Omaha to Billings, $50 miles. to bring
Hon. Paul Mccormick and his wife to
the bedside of their sick daughter at
Billings, is an example of what the
road can Go. The average tir9e was
55 miles an hour, and for the last half
of the way, or from Edgemont, S. D.,
where they received word that the i'll
ness was not serious, the speed was
slackened greatly. Otherwise the run
might have equaled, or even exceeded,
the phenomenal! run from Chicago to
Denver, three years ago. That run was
made over the old-established and mag
~
ka, and could he done only over a per-
feet roadbed. That the new track to
Montana could run train at about the
same rate of speed, speaks will for it's
condition.
The Chicago & Northwestern road, in
it's Nebraska and Wyoming branch, the
Elkhorn Valley road, has a property
that is giving the best of service to a
great stretch of country. Years ago. in
the early SOS, the country along their
line was invaded by the homeseekers'
army, and almost every available acre
near the railroad was taken up by home
'steaders. The doctrine. of the survival
of the fittest has decreed that much of
the country then taken up should revert
to the cattlemeD, and now there are
countless herds of cattle roaming over
the land from which they We're driven
by the homesteaders. The new order of
things does not perhaps give homes for
so many people, but the cattleman is
we'll to-do where the small farmer was
hungry for twelve months of the year,
and the road does thriving live stock
business The officials are courteous to
all comers, and road could not be more
popular with its patrons There is
great opportunity for investment in the
live stock business, especially in western
Nebraska.
Speaking of the great increase in the
passenger and freight traffic of these
roads, the trainmen have a novel ex-
PLANTATION, Which is given for what it is
worth. Rather there are two alternate
explanations referring back to the cleo
ton. Followers of the Bryan heresy-
and they are in the minority in Nebras-
ka this year-assert that the people were
counting on Bryan victory and conse-
quently good times. so were willing to
travel and enjoy themselves. The oppo-
siton takes up the same proposition, but
in a slightly different and probably pet
ter FORM They assert that the people
We're really fearing the election of the
Nebraskan to power, and knowing that
they would in this event lose every cent
or their money. eventually, decided to
spend it in some way that would give
them some pleasure. Whether these ex-
plantations cover the real facts of the
case, the travel has been unusually
heavy, and is maintained at the same
relative rates since the election. Ne
hraska has had a good crop this year,
and the people are as prosperous as
those of any state in the west The
prophet of dismal forbodings and calam-
ity was the only man in the state who
has reason to be displeased over the
poor harvest which in his case was an
unmarketable crop of weedy votes