Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-12-18
DENVER & RIO GRANDE
OFFICIALS VISIT DURANGO


cials of the Denver 4 Rio Grande raj
way. and by the time the officials al
rived at the hall there were probabl
fifty. the grenter number shippers nm
patrons who wanted to complain Bot
of the service in freight and passeu
ger traffic and of some of the rate
charged on freight, Chairman A. 2
Camp of the directory of the board O
trade announced the purpose of III,
meeting to the visitors, assuring then
the object was to have a busines,
talk. and called upon Harry jackson
to enter upon the detail of grievanc.
against an inadequate service.
Mr.. Jackson appeared to have hi.
subject well in hand and proceede
in q very candid way TO say thu.
freight which should arrive in Duran
go from Denver within four % sever
days should not be thirty or forty d3y.
on the road; that II worked grea
hardship upon both the merchant ant
patron and created much bad feel,r.
between people who under na,urg|
conditions should be friends an.
neighbors, Mr.. Jackson had sUmt
sore experiences. When he had de
tailed his story he again welcomed
the officials of the Colorado road and
thanked them for their kindly and
prompt attention to the appeal of tn,
board of trade of Durango.
Mr.. r. Il. Sloan said the chief diff
emily nj btg hnItan ha A
cGntile company. had been In gottlne
cars for the shipment of goods ou ir
distribution to the several tiihutaries
of Durango that he had learned 10
believe the Rio Grande's business had
grown so rapidly during the past yea
that congestion in the handling OF
largely Increased volumes of freigh.
had swamped the road.
Mr.. Camp said he thought what
should be impressed upon the mind
OF the visitors al this time Is the fact
that Durango and the Southwest have
ontgrown the narrow gauge system of
road
Mr.. T. C. Graden was called and
he said he was satisfied the officials
had done all they could with the
equipment they have for handling tbs
largely Increased and Increasing bulk
of freight. that it certainly was to the
interest OF the road as weIl as to in
tcrost cf the shippers TO give the best
possible service.
f. Il. Graham, who is among the
heaviest Durango shippers wanted to
know ii it was shippers right to
know where his goods were when de.
layed for weeks in transit. He took
up the A,lamosa transfer point where
freight must be changed from broad
TO narrow gauge cars; that he had
tried on several occasions to learn oi
the location of delayed freights and
could get no satisfaction.
John Morlock told OF his annoy.
ances and losses tn having furniture
shipments delayed. he told of how
the small merchant of Durango mad to
could afford to on account OF having
goods delayed in transit He said ht
had made up his mind that the Rio
Grande had vastly more business IN
this section than it could. handle OF
did not care now il treated It's patrons
here.
George Logan, as coal shipper
was called, and said that he had. some
experiences In securing
cars and moving coal, but that he had
been promised that he would get a
better service from the road. no..
Mr.. +. c. Dunbar OF the p. F. e.
Rubber company, said he would no,
advise the visiting officials how to run
their road, believing that they ought
10 know best how to do that, his eN
periences had been similar 10 that OF
other" IL securing shipments OF ma
chinery and materials which his com
pany sorely nesded.
Mayor Mcconnell was requested tc
give his ideas. and this he proceeded
to do in manner that suggested ne
had both ideas and opinions regurdlni
the service the railway has given til,
Durango country for months. He sail
that while he was not ar importau
shipper of more than ore on a. shorl
haul, he had to share the grievance
oi .his fellow citizens; that he haC
learned the nature of these grieyancc.
and Knew they were just. He said th'
railway had held and delayed lreighu
and then charged demurrage. He r.
called that Mr.. Jeffery had seyert
times promised TO give the country
better service but had never kept bli
word. he kicked ON the round-abou
haul OF California stuff from Gram
Junction. To Denver and back again y
Durango at two charges for freight
The Rio Grande had refused TO he'll
Durango to be come a jobbing point
while from fifteen to twenty agent
of Denver wholesale houses mad
their headquarters In Durango, carry
ing on a jobbing business, Tor whic
the railway furnished special facil
ties, and against the interests OF tn
local merchants. That the raiiwa
was injuring one community to hel
another The railway had been dti
eliminating against the local mani
facture OF beer by fixing rates on on
side products which do not enable tn
local industry TO ship To even Tellu
ide or Silverton, and had discrimina