The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-02-14
KANSANS Do GOOD WORK
Col J. NJ. IngersoH Tells of Their New
Northwest Railroad.

Col. ]. NJ. Ingersoll, president OF
the Uncle Sam OIL Co., was in Topeka
yesterday en- route to his home in
Pocatello, Idaho. He was here sew
eral weeks ago, during the hearing OF
the H. H. Tucker cases in the federai
court and it is not probable that ne
will be called east again in connection
with the Cherryvale company's htlga-
ton.
Col. Ingersoll, who was a freighter
on the plains before the advent OF the
earliest railroad and to whom the
great west is like an open BOOK Is
deeply impressed with the enterprise
of the Kansans who have recently in
terested themselves in railroad build
ing in Colorado and Wyoming ana
with the future of the projected line,
which is to extend from Denver TO
Lewiston, Idaho, and is known as the
Denver, Laramie & Northwestern
The Kansans, who are largely from
the western and central parts OF thlS
state and include farmers as well as
bankers and other men of means
have visited the eastern section OF tne
new route several times during tne
winter and become thoroughly ac-
Quainted with the country to be ira
versed for the first $50 miles, and as
100000 has already been expended
in the purchase of terminal fac1lltles
at Denver everything is in shape 70
begin construction work and push II
with all the vigor demanded.
The Kansans have been taken over
much of the territory to be covered
by special trains and by mountain
conveyances, and are receiving from
the press and people of Denver, ana
especially the Denver Chamber OF
Commerce, the warmeSt encourage
ment that has been given to any SIM
flar project las the road will open up
"a rich territory naturally tributary TO
! Denver, whose trade has heretofore
gone to Omaha because Of the made
quacy or total absence OF Transports
ton facilities. For the first 100 miles
1t will pass through the heart OF the
agricultural regions Of northeast Col
orado, among the most fertile IN tne
world, and thence through the cache
Ia Poudre valley, by the Virginia Dale
route out upon the Laramie plains,
in wyoming, plateau more than T.
600 feet above sea level, watered by
iunumerable rivers and their trfbu-
taries, fed by the melting SHOWS on
the Great Divide in summer ana oHer-
ing unlimited irrigation opportunities
and extending in varying width from
rs to 1875 miles, from Diamond PeaK
to the Rattlesnake mountains, dis
lance of nearly 200 miles. In crossing
this plateau to reach Lander. Wyo.,
the present objective point, the line
taps the valleys of the Big and Little
Platte, the Sweetwater, the Popo-
Agie and other streams and 1ncfden-
tally penetrates the richest oil re-
gion in the northwest, bordering on
the last named river.
The Laramie plains have for nearly
half a century been the greatest graz
ing grounds of the Northwest, being
until a comparatively recent date an
open range upon which countless herds
of cattle, horses and sheep were raised
for the eastern markets. While the
herds are still there, the range is now
for the most part fenced up and has
become occupied by small farmers from
the middle states who provide for the
housing and feeding of the animals
during the winter-ainstead of turning
them loose to shift for themselves.
Then, too, the lands once covered by
a sparse growth of wild grasses and
sage brush have largely been brought
under irrigation and are becoming vail
liable for agricultural purposes, pro-
ducing all sorts of vegetables, fruit and
small grains, though the season is too
short for corn. 1t Is a wonderful coun
try for alfalfa, however, and another
crop found most profitable by the