Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-12-21
Quoted. They were accompanied thr"
Iowa by III. c. Mutt. superintendent OF
the Iowa lines.
BACKING THE MoRDAuNT ROAD.
Missouri Pacific May Have a Line In
to Des Moines.

Des Moines, Dec. 81. - The Missouri
| Pacific road, the great Gould line In
the southwest, extending from st. Lou
is, Kansas City and st. Joe into Col
orado and south thru Arkansas, Kan
sas, Missouri and Texas to the gulf, IS
| to operate a line into Des Moines
Official announcement Of this has been
made and If present plans are mater
ialized, Missouri Pacific trains Will be
running Ii and out of this city at the
expiration of another eighteen months.
The announcement is made that the
| Missouri Pacific is back Of the st. Jo-
seph, Albany and st. Paul road. with
the promotion OF which r. s. Mordaunt
has beer busy during the last seven
months. The road will be built and
owned by the st. Joseph, Albany n
Des Moines road, but will be operated
from the date of its completion by the
Missouri Pacific road and as II part Of
It's system.
This announcement has been made
officially to grading and construction
contractors, who are arranging to fig
ure on portions Of the work of con-
| struction on this line. These have
been notified that the arrangements
with the Missouri Pacific are such that
the work of financing the road has
been completed and that the contract
for the construction of the first sec
ton of the road will be awarded soon
after January 1. The construction
work is to be commenced from this end
and the first letting will include the
building Of the road from Des Moines
thru Winterset to Macksburt. The let
ting OF contracts for other portions OF
the system will quickly follow this let
ting. The object of starting the work
from the Des Moines end is to save
to the constructing company valuable
concessions of right-of-way and much
tax aid that now seelns from
points along the road.
The plan is to build under he pres
ent name and to maintain the corpor-
ate control Of the property in this
name but to ease the entire system to
the Missouri Pacific, which will oper-
ate it, a contract for the lease having
been executed. This contract or lease
guarantees the payment Of all fixed
charges Of the st. Joe and Des Moines
company, including interest on bonds
and taxes, and provides for a payment
Of a proportion of net earnings to the
stock of the st. Joe road in the ma
ture of dividends, when there are net
earnings.
The lease is for a ninety-nine year
period and the relations between the
two properties, the bond holders, etc,
| will be such hat 1t Is expected that
ultimately there will be a merger Of
the st. Joe and Albany into the Mis-
souri, Pacific system.
The purpose in building as an indie
| pendent company is to obviate he
necessity Of issuing Missouri Pacific
stock in exchange for taxes, bonds,
ETC., in compliance with the laws re-
lating to the granting of aid to rail-
roads and to comply with conditions
imposed by the trust deeds given to
| secure issues Of bonds against the
Missouri Pacific properties.
The completion of this line will give
the Missouri Pacific ar additional adj
vantage in it's campaign for the divis-
ion export grain and meat traffic from
the Mississippi valley to the gulf and
1t is believed will be followed by fur
Their extensions beyond Des MONIES and
into the territory Of the northwest.
The completion Of this line will give
to Iowa it's first continuous rail route
to tide water and the advantage
of the low combination water and rail
rates from New York via the gulf that
have made Kansas City.
The route Of the road as Indicated
by preliminary surveys, subject OF
course to changes in location, is thru
Winterset, Creston or Alton, Mt. Ayr
and Albany to st. Joe.