Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-03-14
ROCK ISLAND NOW.
albuquerque is Near An Air Line to
the Pacific.
WILL BEAR WATCHING.

Now that the Choctaw line has prac-
tically been assured for Albuquerque,
that inducements for the Albuquerque
Eastern have been presented and are
well under way, the same vigilant eye
which has been watching the Choctaw
may well be turned on the Rock Island.
No system in the country Is more Sc
cretiye in its plans and its own en-
gineers know absolutely nothing of fu-
ture movements. Within the past year
one of the high officers said the road
would own it's own line to the Pacific
coast within three years. Will that line
go through Albuquerque? No announce
ment of plans has been made by the
| faction which secured control at the
last annual meeting but past and pres
ent building shows an activity in the
southwest.
The Rock Island built under it's own
name and on its own responsibility
that part of the Ell Paso extension from
Liberal, Kan, the former terminus of
the line, to Santa Rosa. From Santa
Rosa to Ell Paso, the Ell Paso &
Northeastern company built the line
and each company operates it's own
part of the line. Who holds the stock
of the Ell Paso & Northeastern is, of
course, not known, but it is known that
a good portion of it is held by those
living in Scranton, Pa. Whether or not
there exists a connecting cord be-
tween the gentlemen from Pennsyl-
vania who are heavily interested In the
Ell Paso & Northeastern and very close
to the Rock Island management and
the gentlemen from Pennsylvania who
are interested in the Albuquerque Eas-
tern, they alone know.
But whether there is or not. would
the Rock Island build its own line and
operate in it's own name a road to
Santa Rosa only merely for the sake of
Mexican business and Pacific business
which it would get over other roads.
1t has long been understood that the
road has had under consideration
building a line from Chickasha, Okla
homa to Fort Smith, Ark, through the
heart of Indian Territory and an air
line. Preliminary surveys along that
line have been made. There is now in
operation a branch from Chickasha
west through Mountain View to Man.
gum, ninety-eight miles long. This line
was completed within the past year.
From Mangum to Santa Rosa is almost
an air line west and the distance be-
tween those points is less than the FL
Paso line just completed. Should
these connections be made, 1t would
give the Southern Pacific, Rock Island,
! Choctaw, Missouri Pacific and Frisco
east and west lines about equally dis
tant from each other. The Rock Island
now has under construction an exten-
sion to the west, thirty miles long
from Jacksboro, Texas. Its building
operations now are all to the west and
ii is a peculiar coincidence that an
air line west from Santa Rosa strikes
Los Angeles, Cal. 1t passes through
New Mexico a little north of Socorro
and through Arizona about Prescott. A
deviation of a hundred miles will
! doubtless have to be made and Albu
querque is within that distance of the
air line. 1t has well paid Albuquerque
TO keep its eye on the Choctaw air line
west. II will cost nothing to now turn
that watchful eye on the Rock Island
westward building and its air line to
| the coast.