Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-01-28


now lies to the north of the Rock ISL
land main tracks and it must he
changed to the south side to make
the strip available for the company's
uses.
Heavy Outlay Involved.
The aggregate outlay that the Rock
Island company is willing to make
for the land amounts to 100000. the
average price to be paid for the land
being in the vicinity of $500 per acre.
The deal has been engineered by the
company's attorneys, jackson, Hurst
& Stafford, and the company's repre-
sentative, Col. Thomas Fl. Brown, who
has been on the ground for some
time, and the options are taken in
the name of X. S. Silvis for the com
pany, and he has been actively engag-
ed i'm the undertaking. Col. Brown,
speaking of the enterprise this morn
ing stated that the deal was not only
one of the largest. but one of the
most successfully and pleasantly con
Quoted of any that he had ever been
identified with. And Col. Brown is
man of abundant experience. in. his
line. With the exception of two pieces
of land amounting to 126 acres in all,
Col. Brown stated that the whole of
the immense tract had been secured
with very little difficulty. This is
somewhat remarkable considering the
extent of the land involved and the
fact that il includes so many differ
ent pieces of land, for at least 20
homesteads go into the deal. as does
the entire town of SkinnervilIe.
Eve found but two land owners
with whom we were unable TO make
anything like reasonable terms. and
their holdings we shall be obliged to
acquire through other process. The
company has evinced disposition to
pay literally for such land as it
wants, and we feel that ii is now in
cumbent upon the public to put the
land in shape so that we can use it by
getting the Pleasant Valley highway
changed from the north to the south
side of the Rock Island main tracks
Big Industry at Stake.
The outcome of the TRANSACTIONS
will, as might be expected, be the
bringing of pig industry to the com
munity. Part of the land will be used
for the company's great railroad
shops and the east portion for stock
yards. 1t MEANS. in word, the
concentration of the Rock Island
shops now located at Chicago, Blue
Island. Peoria, Cedar Rapids and Dav-
export, as well as at smaller points.
on the proposed site, together with
the transfer of the stock yards from
Geneseo and other places to the same
locality. AT least 5000 men are to
be brought here at the start, and the
prospects are that such a force Will
be largely Increased from time to
time. Beyond this the industry will
not be confined to shops in the ordin-
airy adaptation of the term. manu-
featuring plant for the construction
of locomotives, ears. etc, is among
the probabilities, so that, taken as
whole, the industry is not only one of
the largest proportions, but one of
the most desirable that have been To-
Gated in the county. 1t means the
adding of thousands of people to the
population of both Rock Island and
Moline. and it was with knowledge
of what might come, and realization
of how far Rock Island as well as Mo-
line should be interested in such
prospective industrial development
that The Argus has urged fire.
quentIy and so earnestly of late the
desirability of the immediate exten-
sion of interurban transit to the up
per end of the county.
As it is all now depends. as has
been said. upon the changing of the
Pleasant Valley highway. The orig
inal land options were until Feb 1,
but an extension was recently secured
until March 1, the land so held being
as follows:
Land in the Transaction
lcranfor Nh Acres