The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-01-25

inal petition to the Interstate Com
merce Commission for better and
more equitable freight rates to the
Pecos Valley, and which petition is
today being heard at Amarillo:
To the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion:
Your Petitioners, The Roswell Com
mercial Club. of Roswell, New Mexl-
CO: The Carlsbad Commercial Club,
of Carlsbad, New Mexico; The Arte-
STA Commercial Club, of Artesia, New
Mexico; The Merchants Association,
of Hagerman, New Mexico; and the
Chaves County Wool Growers Asso-
citation, office at Roswell, New Mex
leo, in behalf of themselves, their con-
stituent members, and he localities
which they represent, and in behalf
of all others similarly situated, com
planning of the Atchisol, Topeka q
Santa Fe Railway Company, and the
system of the railroad known as the
Santa Fe System, operated under the
direction of the said AtchiSon, To-
peka & Santa Fe Railway Company.
including the Pecos Valley and North
eastern Railway Co, the Pecos and
Northern Texas Railway Co., the Pc
cos River Railroad Co., The Southern
Kansas Railway Co., of Texas; The
Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway
Co, all as a part of the said Santa Fe
System; The Chicago, Rock Island
and Pacific Railway Co, The Cnica-
go, Rock Island and Gulf Railway
Co, b Fort Worth and Denver City
Railway Co., The Colorado and South
ern Railway Co., the Texas and Pa
cifc Railway Co, The st. Louis Iron
Mountain and Southern Railway Co..
The st. Louis and San Francisco Rail-
way Co., The Missouri, Kansas and
Texas Railway Co., and the Missouri.
Kansas and Texas Railway Co., of Tex
as, represent:
That the commercial clubs n the
merchants association, respectively,
are associations of merchants, traders
and shippers, dealing in and shipping
all classes and commodities of freight
constituting commerce at the espec
tive places named in New Mexico, up
on the lines of the railroad known as
the Pecos Valley lines of The SAINT
Fe Railway system aforesaid, the
said organizations being voluntary as
sociations, unincorporated, and all of
their members being engaged in the
business of shipping over he said
lines of railroad and other connecting
lines hereinbefore mentioned as de-
remnants, ana mdny Ol ln0m DSlHS Sh-
gagged in farming and stock raising;
hat the Chaves County Wool Grow
ers' Association is an organization OF
persons engaged in the business of ra
Using sheep n producing wool there
from. which they ship over said lines
of railroads and thei connections
though many of the members there
of are engaged in other pursuits.
III.
DI-- ~ -l,fo,Ianf roiluau onm-
panies are, as such, engaged as COM
mon carriers of interstate commerce
TO aid from the said towns of Ros-
well, Hagerman, Artesia, and Carls-
bad as well as the other points on the
said Pecos Valley lines of railway,
to and from the commercial centers
upon the rates for Interstate carriage
to and from the places and localities
as herein complained of, and subject
to the Act to Regulate Commerce.
Tha the towns of Roswell, Hager-
man, Artesia and Carlsbad are situat
ed on or near the Pecos River in the
eastern part of New Mexico on the
line of railroad known as the Pecos
Valley Line of that system of railroad
known as the Santa Fe System, belong
ing to and operated by the A, T. &
s. F. R'y Co., running through the
Panhandle part of Texas, via Amarillo
Texas, and the above named places IN
New Mexico to Pecos, Texas, where
Ii connects with the line of the Texas
and Pacific Railway.
That the district in which the said
Towns first named are located is call
ed the Pecos Valley, and the chief
industry is farming by means of irri-
CATION in the valley. where water can
be had. and stock raising by grazing
the native p~raries, plains eastward
and plains and Mountains westward
from the irrigated lands of the Pecos
Valley. That the irrigation is car
ried on from Roswell southwark, along
the Pecos Valley about ITO miles to
the Texas line AID on down the Pecos
Valley to Pecos, Texas, a total dis
lance from Roswell of 164 miles. The
said line of railroad ~traverses the en-
tire district from north to south thru
said towns and constitutes the only
means of transportation for said
towns and settlements as well as the
entire country on each side of said
railroad for a distance of so to 100
miles, ald from the southern line of
New Mexico n~ortnward along said rail
road.
That said railroad was constructed
by companies and individuals with
the expectation and desire particular
ly of developing n opening up the
great fertile valley through which it
runs, to settlement and to cultivat-
ion by mean of irrigation from the
waters of the Pecos River and its tri-
butaries.
Those who were the promoters and
builders of said railroad acquired
large bodies of land and extensive wa
49, wFrc%~ al0n~ tho zofd lima nf vol