Graham guardian., 1903-09-04
SOME MORE RAILROADING.
That a Through Line VIII Penetrate
This Valley There Now Seems
But LIttis DOubt.

y Colorado railroad, which is to
connect this state with the north
ern border If Mexico, has heen
completed and the work Of locat-
ing the line has begun. F. Wi
Kline, president Of the company,
has just returned from a tip east,
where satisfactory arrangements
were made for beginning the work
The company has secured pos
session of vast al field in
Sncorro and Valencia counties
New Mexico, and the primary oh
iect of the new railroad is to open
ii route for the delivery of this
coal to the big smelling works and
mining plants in the northern part
"f NJ txico, the southern part of
Arizona and on the Pacific coast
At the same time the line will give
the Southern Pacific railroad its
long desired entrance into Denver
and cut off about 800 miles be-
tween Colorado and southern Cali
fornia via the southern route.
The road, will connect with the
Southern Pacific in Cochise county
Arizonr, and will then be extend
cd t. Benson TO firm connection
with the Sonora railroad, which
will open route from Denver TO
the port of Guaymls on the Pacific
coast cf Mexico
The road vii reach the territory
! in exico where John D. Rlcke-
fcllcr is prosecuting the investiga-
tions of the iron and steel business
with tn object Of developing it
and using the Colorado Fuel &
Iron company's plant as au oper-
ating basis. While the Arizona,
New Mexico & Colorado railroad
will give a direct route from these
fields to the plants of the company
n Pueblo, via Durango, Col, the
! officials state that Rockefeller aud
! Gould are now backing the com
paoy and it is TO remain independ
eut.
T companies have been form
ed to carry out the plaps. he
& st one, the Arizona and New
Mex co Fuel & Iron company, is
t. take over the iron ore pro err
its and follow the construction of
the railroad by the building Of
styei plant, The capital stock Of
this company is placed at $4,000,
0 0, divided into 500 0 shar Of
SlU0 each. The route as outlined
in the incorporation papers from
The point of commencement on the
southern Pacific, passes through
the counties of Dchise and Gra-
ham in the territory of Arizona,
the counties Of Grant, Socorro,
Valencia, BrruaIlilo, San Juan and
Rio A"riba in Mexico, and the
counties of Conejos and La Plata
in Colorado to Durango on the
d hver and Rio Grande, The en-
trance into Durango will be fol
lowed largely along the valley #
the San Juan river,
The discovery Of the coal beds
in New Mexico was the cause Of
the formation of the railroad COM
pany One of the greatest diff
culties presented to mining in the
northwestern part Of New Mexico
and southern Ariz ma has been he
high cost OF coal and the long dis
tance it has been necessary to haul
the fuel At entail this coal
has to go by way of El Paso, Tex
and il makes the fuel so expensive
that in $ m instances pinon W ,od
is brought down from q e noun
t.inr OF burrnS and used FIR furl
III preference ta coal. he price
steam c,al in Solumonville is now
Sl6 per toI and IT is scarce at hat
figure The Graene Consolidated
company which operates the big
copper mines in that section,
which recently passed into the
the control of r ekefeller, the
smelters, mills and plants of all
kinds have TO face this problem
The Southern Pacific and Santa Fe
have both sought route which
would relieve tbis difficulty, but up
this time it could not be located,
The Colorado Fue! & Iron COM
pauy sent men into this territory
looking for coal, They found lava
on the surface and the reports were
turned 10 that no coal could pos
sibly be obtained there as the lava
would have burned IL up. Last
April, Ross Johnston and Walter
N, Houser, two experts from Wal
sonburg, Ohio, were sent into So
corro and Valancia counties to in
vestigate reports Of coal having
been found there. Investigations
were made under the lava beds
which revealed the existence OF II
large quantity Of Ignite coal
The beds were examined. and
found to extend from twenty five
to thirty miles in length and the
veins were from five to thirty feet
in thickness. Coal which had
been exposed for years to the
weather was found to be unslaked