Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-02-25
COTTON BELT
 IMPROVEMENTS Car Shops Finished Here Many Thousands of Dol lars Spent In This Immed- fate Vicinity
HEAVIER TRACK LAID
Reports Traffic to Be Enormous in All of the Southwest. Five Million Dollars Expended In Improving the Service.

Although there was no justification for the report that Hartman had ac- quired control of the St. Louis South western, which, is one of the Gould lines in the southwest, the statement calls attention to the steady develop ment of this property by the present management. During this year and last the company has been making improvements aggregating about $5- 000,00O in cost, thereby carrying out the policy which has been in effect for several years of gradually bring ing the road up to the highest stand ard.
 The Cotton Belt is becoming modern in every respect over it's whole length of 1,600 miles. Reconstruction, with track and road betterment and the augmentation of traffic facilities, is proceeding without interruption. The company is now making Improvements that will aggregate in cost about s20OO,OOO.
 At Shreveport a new bridge has been erected over the Red River at cost of about $5,000,0OO. This struc- ture will be put into regular commits sion about March 1, after which date the Cotton Belt will make connections with all the lines entering that town. Important terminal improvements will
 be made in Shreveport.
 The new bridge across the Brazos River at Waco, will be finished in about sixty days. This structure will cost about $3S0,000. The peers are completed, but work on the super structure is delayed until the arrival of the steel parts.
 New bridges have been built at White Water, Mo-; Black Water Mo, and Clear Creek, Mo-, the three costing about $14O,O0O New bridges have been constructed across the Saline River, south of this city; the Sabine River, near Big Sandy, Tex, and Elm Fork and East Branch creeks in Texas. The structures across the Arkansas river, near this city, and the Red riv- CT, near Garland City, Ark, are be- ing strengthened.
 Between Texarkana and Mount Pleasant. a distance of sixty-two miles, concrete culverts, with steel girders have been erected. The stan- dard of this part of the road has been improved The entire grade line has been revised and the curvature taken out. necessitating change of about seven miles in the original track. The change reduced the distance about two miles, from nine to seven. This part of the road has been ballasted.
 For distance of sixty-five miles, north of Shreveport the line has been relaid with seventy-five pound rail. Between Waco and Mount Pleasant, distance of 20 miles. rail of the same weight has been laid. Similar rall will be laid between Tyler and Monte rey. 124 miles, and between Sherman and Commerce, sixty miles. Ballast ing has been done on the following sections: North of Paragould. sixty eight miles; through Saline River bot tom, south of Pine Bluff, six miles; through the Red River bottom, north of Texarkana, twelve miles and be- tween Fort Worth and Mount Pleas ant, 165 miles,.
 New car-repair shops, costing about $500,OO0, have just been fin- ished at this place. The shops are equipped with the latest machinery, operated by electricity. At Para gould new passenger station has been built and additions made to the yards. At Illmo the yards have been eniarged for handling traffic over the Thebes bridge.
 At Fort Worth three blocks of