The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-18
DEVELOPING THE SOUTH
RAILROAD COMPANIES ARE MAKING IMPROVEMENTS.
Review or Recent Achievements py the Great systems-seven com panies Spent 3,21s,s6l in
 One Year.

Baltimore, Oct 17.-(Spectal .)-As part of the work done by great raliroaa systems in developing the Soath' ia strengthening their positions there. anu extending their faeiiioes, rne ,ssua snrs;- marizes the expenditures for extensions. betterments. etc., of several typical lines as follows:
 "The Illinois Central Railroad, for ln- stance, notes the disbursement Of $o,D'.- 646 .or betterments during the year. Wear ly 200 additional miles of second man track were put in service. making to,a, of 534 miles of second and third track now in use on the system. which slncs last year has added 61 miles to its ex- tent, making a total of i2S3 mileage The Southern Railway Company expenI- ed in the same period for maintenance of way and structures. improvements ments incluring the reductions of curves and grades on the St. Louis division. the building of new shops at Shehieid. Aia |, the making Of m extension M Sm'd as1th steeI n and Iron Companys mines and the puf- chase of real estate at Birmingham' Louisville and other points. The NOT. folk and Western Railway also spent largely, and reports a total of HSSS 4sT for new bran .hes and extensions, for improving bridges and trestles, for secona track and for additional rolling stocI. The Chesapeake and Ohio was not Tar
 
 S23, ,5O5 for betterments. including the sta tion at Richmond. It has begun several projects for the current year which Will entail an expenditure of more than NJ, 900, 900, and is also continuing It's work of substituting heavy steel bridges or masonry and permanent embankments TOT light iron bridges and wooden trestles Another liberal spender is the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis RallWay, which put the sum of s2.osa. .so1 in bet termsnts in purchasing new equipment. erecting new bridges and buildings, filling in trestles. etc. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway has also put out $42s 731 for betterments, and the Central of Georgia s25s,S90 for improvements in cluding the filling in of SS trestles. These seven railroad companies report a com bired total of s232ls, ,Sd spent last year TOT Improvements and extensions and 1t $ particular gratifying that much of this large distribution of money was made out of the earnings of the properties.
 These expenditures made largely in the S)uth are but part Of the work for the South done by these roads, a majority of which have for several years exert ,a themselves particularly in building up in- dustries and attracting settlers to trsir respective territories. The effects of their exertions are marked especially fin the port..n of the South east of the Mis- sissippi. Now ten or twelve railroad sys- tems operating in the territory west of the Mississippi which has come to be Es ed a plan for systematic settlement of new lands.
 Commenting upon this project a special correspondent at St. Louis of The Man ufacturcrs' Record says:
 '.The Northwest became famous for the wheat fields developed and the cattle raised there. Now Kansas and OklahoTa wheat beats anything in the world. and wheat growing in all the Southwest Is on the incrs ase. The Southwest Is full of cattle. horses, hogs sheep and goats. Cotton is grown almost as far north as the Southwest is already nearly one half of the entire product of the United States The rice fields of Louisiana and Texas have revolutioniZed the rice cul- ture of the United States and have made fortunes for the Northern men who large creased in price from 9 cents an acre to $35 and $60. There is almost nothing that grows that will not thrive in the Southwest.
 Tn horticulture hardly a beginning has been made and yet Missouri and Arkan- sas and Oklahoma apples now lead the world. Peaches of wonderful coloring and flavor are also raised in Missouri, Arkansas. Indian Territory and Okla homa, and pears and plums and straw berries and grapes and all the small fruits grow 10 perfection all over the many farmers rich. Of the vast forests of hardwood and pine, of the zinc. lead and other valuable ores, of the natural gas and the great quantities of splendid coal of the oil and all that, the world probably knows something. But no idea of their enormous value in the develop ment of an industrial, IS well as an ag- ricultural section, can be formed without a careful and exhaustive examination on the ground"