The Elbert County tribune., 1902-11-27

Articles OF Incorporation OF the Col
orado, Arizona & Gulf Railroad Com
pany, the Southwestern Fuel & Iron
Company. the Gage National Reduction
Company, and the Bear Creek Mining
& Reduction Company will be filed
within a few weeks. Their aggregate
capitalization will be $50 100000, which
is said to have been subscribed. The
four corporations will develop and fur
nish transportation to new areas OF
southwestern Colorado northwestern
New Mexico, southeastern Utah. and
central Arizona Denver will furnish
supplies for a vast territory with great
natural resources The route between
this city and the Pacific coast as
planned would be $50 miles shortef
than any other railway projected or
already in operation.
The railroad is generally claimed to
be a Gould project which VIII, when
completed furnish western outlet
for the Missouri Pacific-Denver a Rio
Grande systems. and also for Goulds
Texas Pacific system. The route Will
extend almost In a direct line from
Denver southwesterly to San Pedro
harbor, on the coast of southern Cali
fornia. The coordinate corporations
in the sections through which the rail-
road will pass. utilize the iron deposits
which have lain dormant for lack OF
transportation facilities. and also open
up the richest god-bearing sections OF
Colorado and southeastern Utah.
Charles II. Gage, who has been one
of the chief promoters of the com
bined enterprises, returned from the
East few weeks ago. and announced
that he had been promised all the as
sistance required. There is no doubt.
he says. that each one of the enter
prises will be inaugurated early next
year and carried through without de-
lay.
Some OF the best financiers of the
East, he says, are interested in the
companies, including, in addition to
the Gould railroad representatives, j.
Il. Krepps OF Pittsburg, general western
representative of Douglas, Lacy & Co.,
New York bankers: George G. Carson
of Pittsburg, inventor of the Carson
process for the manufacture of steel
and many times millionaire; I. 7.
Sbonts of Chicago, president OF the IL
linois, Indiana & Iowa Railway Com
pany. and also heavily interested in
eastern and middle states railways.
Charles Il. Mcconnell. president of the
Smelter City Bank OF Durango, Colo
RADIO. Is interested in the companies,
together with other capitalists who
have been holding coal and iron lands
in the southwest for many years, cher
ishing the hope that some day they
might develop them.
Most of the capital has been pledged
in the East, says Gage. and title has
been acquired to many acres of the
best coking coal land in the vicinity of
| Durango, southeastern Utah and
| northeastern New Mexico, to thou
sands of acres of the superior timber
OF the Mogollon section of Arizona.
and to the vast iron deposits in south
ern and central Utah. Much of the lat
ter is manganese. having no peer any
where in the United States.
The new railroad as planned will
commence. on the northeastern end, at
| Creede, follow the Rio Grande to its
head. and there open up the Bear
| Creek mining district. The principal
| camp in the district will be known as
| Gold Cliff. This section carries i'm
mensely rich deposits of tellurium ores.
but the values have been lost In smelt-
ing processes The deposits lay dor
| mant except for spasmodic Efforts
made by poor prospectors to make
| them pay, which were unsuccessful
| partly on account of the inaccessibility
of the district and partly because there
| were no known processes FOR saving
the gold values. Leaving the head OF
Bear creek the new line will strike the
head of the Vallesita, on the continen-
tai divide of the San Juan range, and
following this stream have water
level route, forty-iive miles to Du-
| range.
From Durango south the road will
follow the Animas river to the june
ton of that stream with the San Juan
| affording railroad facilities to the rich
agricultural and fruit-growing region
of Pennington, New Mexico, and Mon.
tezuma county. Colorado.
In the vicinity of Pennington viii
be located the steel plant OF the South
western Fuel and lron Company, Il
be built on the most modern plans ant
to utilize process for the manufacture
of steel which is the sole property o
its inventor George c. Carson. Thes'
patents are said to enable a manufac
.turer to produce steel and iron prod
ucts, given the natural resources cheap
ly, for one-half the cost of making th
same articles by any of the processe
used at Pittsburg or any other stee
works in the world.
Following the San Juan river west
ward, the new road is to have brancl
into the iron fields Of Utah, which is Il
furnish the Pennington plant Will
raw products. The main line will con
tinue almost directly through centra
Arizona, opening country about 10
miles south of the Santa Fe road an
100 miles north of the Southern Pacific
rich in gold. silver and copper deposits
Thence to .--e San Pedro harbor
through southern California, the coun
try along the route is well populated.
A line also will be constructed run
ming southeast from the main line L
Clifton, Arizona. tapping en- route
territory having magnificent gold re
sources, all of which are to be treate