Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-02-19

OHe hundred and seventy five thoas-
 si.d dollars is a bis sum for one pri- Nate concornzto cXpcnd upon improve
 heats upon one street. It is a big sum for any city IL becomes bigger
 when Pine Bluff is brought into com.
 parison with o.her cities in point of size.
 Yet that is what the Iron Mountain
 railway company will spend in Pine
 Bluff on the Improvement of Fourth avenue. That is, this sum $ already i is sight and it is probable that even nore will be cXpeuded-on improve monts Hot yet given out for pHblica- 1 ton
 The vast expenditures recently made by the Cotton Bell company and those contemplated for the immcdi- ate future are larger i'll the aggre gate, but the Iron Mountain is not tagging in the matter of putting out it's money i'll substantial improve ments in the city of Pine Bluff; and when the fact is considered that the latter road operates no "a lway shops here, like the Cotton Belt, it will be seen that it's proportion of rail 'ay expenditures in the city is larSar ill proportion to the material benefits that will accrue to the respective roads, than the Cotton Belts.
 When the contract for grading and paving Fourth avenue was awarded to the firm of Philpot and Graham of this ty no figures accompanied the bid, and the public was left total | ly in the dark as to just what this big piece Of work would involve in the | matter of expenditures as these mat 1 ters are seldom given out for pubi- 1 cation. From reliable sources, how 1 ever, it is now estimated that the
 work will cost between $80 900 and $9O,00O. As the grading along almost | /; is much heavier than was at first anticipated by either the company or j; the contractors, 1t Is believed that th~ 1 total will come nearer to the maxi mum than the min mum amount, and 1 1t is almost safe assertion to say
 that $9e, ,0OO will be spent in this work alone. -
 Estimates state that the magnifi- 1 cent new union station will cost in
 the ne'ghborhood of @30,000. This
 was the estimate placed on the build ing by the company at the time the
 matter of it's building was under dis cussion in the council chamber.
 The new freight depet just east of the union station, will in all probabil- ity. cost like sum, if not more, than the union station.
 In addition to these vast improve ments, the company Is mak, ,ng great changes and improvements on it's
 property from Geog'a to Tennessee streets, where large sum of money is being expended. It Is here, on the south side of the tracks, that the l company is erecting it's large, com-
 modious and fine freight depot. whose foundations of cement have been oorn-
 pleted, and work on the brick work will begin soon. On the south side of this depot vii be laid cement drive way, forty feet wide and extending the entire length of the building. No more solid and substantial founda- tjons for a building were ever laid in the city than those of this depot. Inside the foundations, the entire space up to level with the founda- tions will be filled in with dirt, re- curing a fill-in Of an average of about nine feet.
 | But the company is doing more than this and something which will add far more to the looks and value of it's property as whole there, than ; the new freight depot. It will be i borne in mind that Mallory's creek runs diaeonally through this portion , of the company's right-of-way prop i erty. and four ra lway bridges now span the creek. It's ugly banks and rugged appearance have long been an l eye-sore to Pine Bluff people. With in few more months, the passer-by
 will not even know there is a creek l n that vicinty, for the company is al-
 ready engaged in constructing,
 through it's contractors, Philpot and Graham, an eaueduct of solid cement,
 through which the waters of this
 creek will be conveyed through it's