, 1907-12-17
NEWSPAPER MAN WRITES GLOW,
iNGIY OF RECENT TRIP TO
THIS STATE IN INTEREST
OF THE RAILROAD.
Had Heard Of Wyoming As Territory
and Later as State In Vague Way
and Knew There Once Existed
Such Towns as Laramie and chey.
enne, But Not Prepared for What
He Saw Upon Personal Visit.

Among tne recent visitors to this
section in the interest of the proposed
Denver, Laramie and Northwestern
road from Denver to Fort Collins and
Laramie and thence west, was the edi,
tor of n of the papers in Kansas.
This gentleman wrote at some length
upon his return to his home town, and
the matter was reproduced in the last
issue of the Fort Collins Express. The
first OF a series OF articles is produced
herewith. as showing some of the en
thuslasm ~engendered in the Sunfiower
state as the result Of the visits of the
kansans to Wyoming and the Laramie
plains.
He Knows Now.
ID II you don't know, own up to 1t.
There are a great many things that
the editor of this moral and agricul.
tural guide ought to know that he
frankly admits he does not. 1t can
not be expected that any ordinary man
can comprehend the extent of the ma
tural resources Of this bully country.
There may be men with brains big
enough to take In possibilities of 1t
after a long series of years of most in,
dustrious investigation, but this editor
is not in that class. Still we confess
that we ought to know a great deal
more than we do.
Some knowledge of State.
We have known, for instance, for a
good many years that there used to be
a territory called Wyoming and that a
few years ago it was admitted to the
union. We know that the capital of
the state is Cheyenne; that there was
somewhere within the borders a town
by the name of Laramie where the
late Bill Nye used to run a paper call.
ed the Boomerang which won for him
q national fame as a humorist. We
knew in a general way as We have
said, that Cheyenne was the capital of
this new state, but If someone had ask.
ed us right quick to tell in what part
of the state it vas located we should
have had to own up that we really
did no know
State Of Magnificent Scenery.
We knew also that the state had a
vast territory. that up in the northwest
corner OF it somewhere was the Vel
lowstone park, where tourists went to
view the wonders Of nature and see
how tame wild animals could become
when they were given to understand
that they We're not to be killed by the
human animal, called man. We sup
posed that barring scenery and eli
mate the state of Wyoming was of lit
tie account except for grazing a few
hundred thousand or possibly a million
head of cattle and a few more sheep.
Some Ways Of Finding Out.
Now we might have known better.
We might have hunted up the geolog.
ical reports gotten out from time to
time by the state g~eologist of Wyo-
ming and found out that the state
possessed coal fields of tremendous
extent and almost uncomfortable val.
ne. We might have found out also
that there are in the state of Wyo.
ming iron deposits sufficient to sup
ply the world for several centuries and
perhaps the richest oil fields in the
world. We might have found out al,
so that about the only white pine for.
ests still untouched in the country are
in the state Of Wyoming.
But as a matter of fact we didn't
know these things at all. until the 9TH
er day when we took a run up there
and saw just a few of the tremendous
resources that some day will make
Wyoming one of the wealthiest states
Of the union.
Road at Trifing Cost.
Other people have not been so igno
rant, however. There was a small
bunch of Kansas fellows, headed by
John D. Milliken of Mcpherson, who
not only got onto the fact that Wyo-
ming had tremendous undeveloped re
sources but also found on investigation
that it would be possible t o build a
railroad from Denver up to the unde-
yeloped field at a comparatively trifine
cost. OF course we would not have it
understood that We consider the sew
eral million dollars that will be neces,
sary to build the road from Denver SO
as to tap this field is only a trifing
sum, but that as compared with the
cost Of most railroad lines through the
mountainous country the necessary *
penditure will be trifing.
Satisfactory Grades.
Careful estimates made by expert
enced and competent engineers show
that the cost OF the road ready for
the rolling stock will not be much If
any mort that $4,000 per mile and
what is mor important. that it will
be possible to build such a road with
a grade Of ieas than 2 per cent at the