Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-02-15
THE ROCK ISLAND.
1t viii Extend From Dawson, N. M.
to Trinidad, Colorado.
THROUGH c. FIELDS.

A Trinidad, Colo, writer, under date
OF February -, says that since the ap-
pearance of a recent article regarding
the Rock Island, developments have
warranted the belief that the proposed
point of Rock Island and Rio Grande
connection would be Trinidad itself.
The Rock Island-Dawson coal road
to be constructed this year will start
from the Rock Island-Dawson coal
fields in the northern portion of Colfax
county, N. NJ, and, intersecting the
Santa Fe between Maxwell City and
Springer. joins the main Rock Island
Ell Paso line al Tucumcari, N. NJ, 1870
miles southwest.
The building, therefore, of the con-
Meeting link sixty miles between the
awson coal fields and Trinidad would
give the traffic united Rock Island and
Rio Grande a Denver-Southwest short
haul whose commercial Importance
alike to the roads themselves, Denver
and the interview Mexican, Arizona
and Pacific coast trade, can scarcely
be overestimated.
The new Rock Island-El Paso route
is to be extended from Ell Paso to Yu-
ma, the head of the Gulf of California,
and the mouth of the Colorado river,
anu W sOdH bltSO. vi TIC dClllt SOulU-
ern California coast, the connection
from El Paso to Bisbee, Ariz. (via
Deming, N. M, to be made by the
traffic acquirement-or. mayhap, out.
right purchase-of the Phelps-Dodge
copper roads.
This Ell Paso-Rock Island southwes-
tern extension is to also include the
Phelps-Dodge Mexican railroads with
an ultimate reaching of a Mexican Pa.
cific port, a Rock Island line of ocean
steamers to ply between its Pacific
ocean terminii and the Philippines.
Strong coal connections also open tc
this grant system will be found al
Deming, n. M, with both the Santa Fe
and the Southern Paclnc, while q
branch of the system will, it is said, be
built from the Nogales vicinity tC
Phoenix, Ariz.
AS additional adjuncts TO this e
southwestern railroad radius are the
early Rock Island functions at Tucum
carl, n. NJ, with the Choctaw & Gull
and the Texas Central, thus bringing
the great Southern cotton belt into
new direct and daily touch with the
gold and the grain, the coal and the
copper, the sugar and the oil, the beef
mutton and wool. the lumber, buildinf
stone and brick and potter clays, anC
the famous health. hunting. fishing anC
scenic resorts of the great Rocky
moutain region and its tributary
pTairies.
The Rock Island extension Of sixty
miles from Dawson to Trinidad will
pass through a rich region of coal
mineral and agricultural lands, the line
Of railroad meeting only minor engi
neering difficulties in railroad survey
and construction.
The extension will bring that roaC
to within thirty miles of its extensive
cokirg coal fields at Aguilar and en-
able the construction of a Trinidad
Aguilar-Rock Island branch for the full
development OF these great furnace
fuel fields.
The few miles of railroad, therefore
to be laid between Dawson, n. NJ, and
Trinidad. Colo, for a traffic unificatioI
of the Rock island and the MO Grande
will give Trinidad new and multiplied
traffic scope and Importance and create
a new southwestern commercial EN-
pire, with Denver as the northwestern
crown and clearing house.