Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-10-08
Mitchell VS.. Pierre.

Mitchell capital (more properly tow
lot boomers are giving out the suggei
ton to Hills people that the Milwauke
Railway will build across the reserYa
ton from Chamberlain to the Hills an
thus give the bills direct communica
tian with the state capital If located a
Mitchell. They intend that such sug
gestion will be accepted by our peopl
and beleyed. A little application o
common sense and common knowledg,
to the situation will readily disclose how
little there is in this suggested promise
No one denies that the Hills has Ions
hoped for direct railroad connection
with the central and eastern portion o.
our state Bp' no thoughtful person
bases hope that the Milwaukee viii
make that connection if the capital ID
\ located at Mitchell. There is nothing
in the capital to justify railroad exten
sion A greater number Of people will
annually visit The county seat town oi
any county, than 60 to the capital oi
the state Every man in a. county al
some time during the year goes to the
| county seat, hnt the number Of people
from any county that goes to the capital
during the year can ordinarily be count
ed on the fingers of one hand. Who
Who ever heard of a railroad company
building l75 or 200 miles of road &c
| reach town because it was a county
seat? 1t is true that the site of the state
| capital affords some advertising to G
town that possesses it, but after the capi
tai is oace located in town there is
nothing brought by the capital that will
make it profitable to a railroad to build
additional lines of road, Ne frankly
| admit that there is no special business
indictment to cause the Northwestern
| Railway to build across the reservation
| from Pierre. What additional business
would that extension bring to the Com
pany? None at all? That great system
has a road east and on west of the reser-
Vation country and the nearest road OF
any Company to that country and until
some other railway invades the reserva-
ton the Northwestern would exhibit
poor business judgment to expend mon
ey in building and in operating a line
that would not increase its business.
How about the Milwaukee Company ?
If it were to push its liue into the reser-
walton country it must or very Hscessity
increase its carving trade and cut of
trade of the Northwestern. And yet it
has not built into the reservation coun-
try, and so far as we can Judge it is
making no preparations to extend its
line either into or across the reserva.
ton. Since it has been known that the
question Of capital removal would be
submitted to the voters of the state this
fall more than twenty months had elaps-
ed. Ample time for the Milwaukee
Company to construct a railroad clear
across the reservation from Chamber
lain. The Milwaukee Company is a
powerful corporation, strong financially
and abundantly able to build the exten-
sion if it intended to do 50. The coun-
try west of Chamberlain is settling very
rapidly and the settlers in that section
for 100 miles would hail with Joy the
incoming of the railroad, and yet the
capital removal contest coming on, and
with ample time, and with the develop
ment of the country no move is made to
extend the line. Now, with the vital
interests that Mitchell town lot boomers
and Mitchell town has at stake, and
with the interest that the Milwaukee
Railway Company has taken In the re-
moyal Of the capital, that Company does
nothing to give assurance that it win
connect the Hills with the capital when
Com oany had extended its line across
the reservation from Chamberlain this
summer there is no doubt that practical
ly the sold Black Hills vote would have
gone to Mitchell. But the Milwaukee
Company did not do it. 1t was the
golden opportunity to have secured a
large vote for Mitchell, and yet it was
not done. Can we with any reason ex :
pect that after the capital is at Mitchell
then the Milwaukee will build connect
ing linz between the Hills and the capi
tai? To the CHRONICLE it appears alb
surd to expect any such action. AS stat
ed before the capital is of no great ad-
vantage, and if that Company will not
build its extension at the time when it
would help so much in the capital con-
test, we are hanging our hopes on a
shadow when we expect that soulless
corporation will out of the abundance
Of it's JOY from having the state capital
on its line buhd coaple hundred miles
of railroad extension to be hoped for
because the state capital is here OF
there. Railway companies are business
institutions and they lay their rails only
where it is believed that business de.
mands justify. No gauzy ornament like
state capital ever causes railroads tc
be built. Whenever another railway
company pushes its line into and across
the reservation the Northwestern will
do likewise and it is cinch that the
Northwestern will tie the Hills to Pierre
and the eastern portion of the state Just
as soon as any other line crosses the res
ervation and in that event the Hills will
have direct communication with the
capital, and the capital will be where il