The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1904-07-21
BENEFITS OF
INTERURBANS.
WHAT THE TROLLEY LINES DO
FOR THE COUNTRY.
VALUES OF LAND INCREASED.
Farms Advance Ten to twenty-five
Dollars An Acre When Crossed
BY Electric Lines - Towns
Also Benefited.

1t is hard to realize all the changes
that have taken place in the last
twenty-five years. This central sec
ton of Iowa has developed immensely
in that time. But it is still harder
to realize that the next quarter OF a
century will bring with it as great,
or possibly even greater changes.
This part of Iowa will always be at
a premium because it. is a wealthy
agricultural country. Wealth OF
land is the foundation of all wealth.
People will always have to eat, and
food comes from the land. The more
people the more food consumed.
The soil of Iowa need never lose
anw of its richness. Modern farming
methods and the rotation Of crops
which our climate allows make it
possible to really enrich the soil by
cultivation.
Iowa farmers do not know what it
is to buy commercial fertilizers.
They never need to know.
The next twenty-five years will see
smaller and more valuable farms ana
land at 500, $3.50, 5000, or perhaps
even more per acre.
The present nigh prices of Iowa
land are possible because of rural tel
ephones and rural free delivery or
mail The interurban railway will fol-
low these. 1t will increase the value
of land much more than they. Inter-
urgan railways will make it possible
x1ybi nj, fhnTsa iC
the greatest profit. With the interur-
ban markets are reached much more
quickly and cheaply than in any other
way.
Interurban railways in Ohio, Indi-
ana, and wherever introduced, have
caused an increase in the value of
farms for a mile on both sides of the
line of from SO to $25 per acre.
There is no question but that the
same increase in value of land will
take place in Iowa wherever the in
terurban is built. At $40 per acre
the increase in value of an eighty
acre farm would be $500, at $25 per
acre the increase would be $4,000.
The owner of a farm can afford to
donate right-of-way for an interur-
ban railway, and pay a bonus of five
to ten dollars per acre and still be
doubling his money when he comes
TO e, ms fsGf .,.
Rural telephones and rural free de-
livery of mail solved tne question Of
communication. They made it posi-
BILE to speak to a neighbor on mo-
ment's notice, and to promptly send
and receive letters TO and from dis
tant friends, and to keep informed of
all the events of the day through the
newspapers and magazines.
But the more important problem OF
transportation still remains. The In
terurban will solve it.
Interurbans are now built to carry
regular heavy stock and grain cars OF
the steam railways. This makes ~
possible for farmer to load onto the
cars almost at mis- barn doors. The
freight is then hurried on to market,
or to the steam lines, at about half
regular steam freight rates.
Interurban railways carry not only
llSlShbs buI pdooChSClo, l11lls
press, baggage, etc, all at about one
half the rates charged by steam lines.
Besides, the cars run every hour, and
any place along the line is a station,
as the cars stop anywhere. This is a
great improvement over two or three
trains a day. and stations five to
eight miles apart, and double the
cost.
The farms which are so fortunate
as to be crossed by an interurban
railway will thus be splendidly sup
piled with that most important neces-
sity, transportation facilities which
are quick and cheap.
To very large extent, the owners
of farms can help or hinder the build
ing of interurban railways.
Often these interurban companies
are composed of local men, who have
to figure very carefully in order to
build sucn railways at all. AS now
constructed, these interurban cleo
trio lines cost $4,000 to $4,000 per
mile, not including the right-of-way.
OF course all that money can not be
raised locally. However enough is
raised so that the line can be improv-
ed to a point where it is possible to
bond it for the rest of the money
needed, always by far the greatest
portion of the cost This brings in
outside capital to help develop our
territory.
But If the farmers demand that an
interurban company pays for the priv
ilege Of increasing the value of the
farms it crosses, interurban lines are
not built.
AS now constructed these inetrur-
ban lines run on their own right-of-
way as much as possible, in order to
get level line and to make fast time.
This right-of-way is usually fifty to
sixty feet wide. One mile of such a
rightof-way amounts to about six
acres.
Usually these interurban railways
follow along highways. streams. di-