Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1903-05-23
Early Times Of ~"r W
''' Ss.s%. s''" Albuquerque

our merchants received fOrty-fye cars
OF freight and the freight bills paid
that month by them was sG5.0O0 From
the arrival OF the railroad In April,
1880. to January |. 1891. we paid the
railroad for freight alone $457.O14.G
and in the following two months si72.
3s2.12 and the following four months
$230,O00. Passenger and express re.
ceipts would greatly swell these fig
ures. Rates were somewhat steep. I'D.
on shipment of trees In April, 1881,
from Sedalia, Mo. invoiced at $40. we
paid the railroad 1880 freight.
Money was easy. Both the living
and the dead had II, as illustrated by
a story Ernest Meyers likes to tell. On
September Is, 1881, man was killed
hy train few miles below town, his
body ard effects picked up and brought
In, that an inquest might be held.
acre was no Identification, and a
question arose as to what disposition
should be made OF his effects-a gun
and $50 cash. Myers says that Justice
Sullivan easily disposed OF that ques.
'iob hBph hhuihk nat tut utttdhtu
at the time OF his death was carrying
n gun" 'I'll fine him $50 and costs for
| carrying the deadly weapon" As
rule In those days the maximum OF
money was the minimum of the fine
The big ditch. that eye sore. that
stencil In the nostrils of our people,
was a work Of 1881. A part OF the
town was slough, particularly from
First to Third street. being very bad in
Railroad avenue, near the center of
each block. To make lots saleable,
| and following the cry started then and
annually repeated to this day. TO pro.
vide a waterway for the river over
Tow. TO protect the railroad. the ditch
was dug. have driven through water
three feet deep at the corner of First
street and Railroad avenue. but that
water came from the mountains
have been through mire hub deep on
the avenue east OF Third street The
slough has been filed and the streets
graded up. Many OF our sidewalks,
upon the same level as now. were like
platforms to which wagon might and
did back for unloading, It's bed level
with the walk Jaffa Bros. store was
so. +. J. Post a. Co. was the same and
10 Moore's meat market, 2l2 Railroad
avenue, was set upon six foot piling,
and underneath his shop was his sta
BILE. The ditch was built and the stag.
mated water was. upon motion. allow.
ed TO take Its natural course"
A former council, the first town
council, through It's ignorance, con.
structed V shaped trough through It's
entire length. |; was a job, a steal
The slough that ditch was built to
drain has long been filed. Dig In Rail.
road avenue In front of Chaplin's shoe
store and three feet below the present
surface you will find layer of terro-
mes put there by Henry Jana to raise
the grade. That was the original I'LL.
other layer OF sod and then the I'LL for
| the street grade. As II Is there, so was
II done by the lot owners and by the
business tenants at time when OF
| necessity II had to be done. The bog
has been filed Reunite the Griegos
ditch with the Barelas ditch-which
for several years has not been giving
Barelas people one half the water they
required-and whom the Barelas ring.
sters ask for $780, or any part OF II,
quit them; drop them as grafters. and
consult the people on the ditch. To a
man they will tell you their ditch will
carry the water now wasting through
your useless drain, and that they will!
be glad to get 1t without the city coun.
| ell paying them TO take Il. The object
for which the ditch was built by the
town company and the Railroad com.
pany was accomplished before we had
city council. and had we done with.
out council the nuisance would long