The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1905-05-12
THE RAILROAD SIDE
Continued from page enc

N ed to render what assistance they
could. Reduced rates were made for
the benefit of the poor men who had
been crowded out of the east, and who
were imbued with the determination
to wrest fortunes from the virgin soil
Of Dakota. Without these reduced
freight and passenger rates many of
the pioneer settlers OF Dakota would
not have been able to cast their for.
tunes In this region.
But the railroads were equal to the
emergency, and, as stated, fixed spec
ial rates for the new settlers, and gave
them every assistance IN establishing
new homes on the prairies of Dakota.
As the country settled up and Develop
ed, branch lines os railroads we're con-
structed to interior points which had
become well settled, and thus pioneer
farmers were given the best of facili.
ties for the shipment of their surplus
products to the markets of the east.
There is not the slightest doubt
that the liberal policy adopted and
followed by the railroad corporations
had everything to do with the settle
ment Of Dakota. In the first place,
the railroads apparently assumed
great risks when they, at a cost of mil.
lions o doilars, extended lines through
what at the time for the most part
was an unoccupied region, and whose
possibilities in the way Of productive
ness were absolutely unknown, or at
best were purely a matter of opinion.
Although the richness of the region
was in time fully demonstrated the set
tlementof the country would have been
retarded many years had not the rail-
roads voluntarily treated the new set
tiers with the utmost liberality. But
there yet remains a great deal to be
accomplished for the growth and
development of the state, and in this
work the railroads as in the present
and past, will be an important If not
the sole factor.
For this and other reasons the people
of South Dakota are not in favor Of
railroad rate regulation and super
vision by the federal government, as
thss would .cffectually prevent the
further developemeut and growth in
population of South Dakota, as we'll
as other western states which have
large areas of government land yet
subject to entry.
The Chicago Milwaukee & st. Paul
Railroad company has inst commence
edSthe work of extending a line Of
road from the town of Chamberlain,
situated on the Missouri river in the
central part OF the state, toward the
Black Hills, in western South Dakota.
This line, when extended to the Black
Hills, will be the first railroad to son
meet western and eastern South Da-
kOta.
This is also the first railroad line to
be.extendeds into a vast territory en-
braclng an area of 10, 600. 900 acres of
land which was coded to the govern,
ment by the Sioux Indians in 1889
and opened to homestead settlement
on Feb. 10, 1890. Dursng the present
year the new line of the Chicago, Mil
waukee & st. Paul Railroad company
will be extended about seventy or
eighty miles to the interior of the ced-
cd lands between the Missouri river
and the Black Hills.
AS in early days, a region which for
the most part is unoccupied, is again
invaded by a railroad, and, a was the
case in the vast territory east of the
Missouri river, it is probable the same
liberal policy which settled eastern
South Dakota will be followed for the
purpose of inducing settlement of the
new region through which the new
railroad line is being extended. Set
Element of this and other parts of
South Dakota where there is room for
thousands of new settlers would be
stopped completely should the govern
ment assume control Of freight and
passenger rates and fix an intlexibIe
rate.
Residents of South Dakota are be-
ginning to understand the Importance
Of this question from the standpoint
of the interest Of their state. They
realize that under government coltrol
reduced rates could not be given new
settlers as an inducement for them to
occupy the vacant government lands
Of South Dakota, and the result
would be that the influx of new set
tiers, which is so necessary for the
future development and prosperity of
che state, would cease, and the devel-
opment Of South Dakota would be at
standstill.
This IS one Of the reasons why the
people of of South Dakota do not wish
to zee a change made in the existing
n 0a1~~E~R A., ~ ~