Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-02-18
ROSWELL. EXTENSION.
General Manager Nudge Does Not
Think Line viii be Built Now.
1T HAS GREAT POSSIBILITIES.

General Manager II. U. Nudge does
not think it likely that the Santa Fe
is planning to build the $50 miles of
line between Roswell, N. NJ, and Ell
Paso. says the Topeka State Journal.
Il do not believe" say Mr.. Nudge,
that Avery Turner made the state
ment attributed to him concerning the
probable extension of the Pecos Valley
line. 1t looks to me like the work of
some imaginative newspaper CORE
spondent.
Probably some time the extension
will be built, but | do not believe that
anything is to be done just now. Sur
veys of the territory between Roswell
and FL Paso were made by the Pecos
Valley people before the Santa Fe
bought the line and IL was the original
intention that the road should be eX-
tended through to Ell Paso. These sur
veys, of course. came into the posses
sion of the Santa Fe. and the p~ossibil-
ity of extending the line has not been
lost sight of.
Il do not believe that for the present
the amount of business at Ell Paso JUS
titles the construction of another line
there. though, of course. the way is
open whenever 1t seems advisable to
build"
The statement concerning the pre-
pose- extension. as reported Friday in
a dispatch from Ell Paso, was as fol
lows:
The vice president and general man
ager of the Pecos Valley railroad has
semi-officially announced that the San
ia Fe, owner of the Pecos Valley road.
will construct a line from Roswell, n.
NJ, to Ell Paso, $50 miles, to compete
with the newly completed Rock Island
route, which made a cut of 222 miles
over all lines now touching here"
Avery Turner is the general manager
of the Pecos Valley, and it is probable
that the dispatch refers to him as the
authority for the statement.
The report of the extension aroused
great interest in both Santa Fe and
Rock Island circles. The Rock Island
is interested because it has Just com
pleted its Ell Paso line and now has the
shortest line from Kansas Ciey to Ell
Paso by over 200 miles. If the Santa
F~e|should construct the Ell Paso extern
sion from Roswell, it would beat the
Rock Island into Ell Paso by t~hirty-two
miles.
The total length of the Rock Island
line from Kansas City to Ell Paso is
now 947.5 miles. If the Santa Fe should
build its Roswell extension it would
cover the distance ove the Emporia
cutoff and the Caldwell branch, in a
total of 915.5 miles. The proposed ex-
tension has great possibilities.
It must be remembered. however,
that the pctos Valley line Is not lie
same sort of a road that the main line
of the Santa Fe is. 1t has not been
worked as much. and is not, in railroad
terms, well established" 1t is not cap
able of sustaining so much travel, or
such heavy travel as is sent owe the
Santa Fe main line. 1t would involve
a large outlay for betterment of the
Pecos Valley line if the Santa Fe were
to send it's Ell Paso business via the
Pecos Valley and the proposed Roswell
extension.
If nothing else, the humor of the de.
cision to buiId h extension serves to
menace the Rock Islands present
claims of supremacy in the handling OF
Ell Paso traffic from Chicago and the
east.
Considerable confidence is expressed
in the truth of the report that Santa Fe
officials have Just completed the in
SpGCLlOn Oh lHe NO bIdHut a. OltIId
Madre from FL Paso to Nueva Casas
CRANES in Mexico and a deal Is pend
ing for its purchase.
The impression seems to be amonE
railroad authorities that the Rock Is
land Will make the alliance with thu
, Mexican Central and this adds color t.
, the rumor hat the Santa Fe is in thu
field to buy the Casas Grandes line
which if extended from its present ter
minus to Conception and thence owe
the Sierra Madres to the harbor of To
| polobampo, would give an equally et
= ficacious outlet to the Pacific coast AM
the Orient, besides taking the SAINTS
| Fe into the great corn belt of Mexico
! and into the coal fields and richly min
f eralized country known to be waiting
railroad or railroads, beyond the oierri
= Madre mountains. There is a prophec.
! from theeast that the movement of tn
p Casas Grandes road will take plac