Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1911-09-14

Railway men have made prepare
tons to handle from $4,000 TO $4,000
cars or fruit before the new year;
perhaps 40 per cent of this crop will
have been moved by fall :
May Reach New His5 Level.
The Pere Marquette and the Mich
igan Central railways will haul the
lions share of the crop, which is said
TO be likely to reach a new high
level this year unless a blighting
frost Injuries the grapes before they
are gathered.
r. r.. Wolcott. state agent OF the
Fruit Growers Express, the company
which supplies great part of the
refrigerator cars in use for the trans
portation of perishable fruit. whose
headquarters are at Grand Rapids. is
reported to have placed the estimate
OF carloads of fruit to be handled at
$4,000.
The additional work 10 the railway
men is no mean task
The Pere Marquette railway has
already made arrangements to move
5000 cars of fruit for the season
The Armours control the Fruit Grow
are awaiting the growers signal
True, some OF these shipments are
moving already The present season
is fully fortnight earlier than last
year
The peach crop is the Pere Mar
quette railways immediate problem
Muskegon, Pentwater White Cloud
and Fremont are the chief points
from which the shipments are made
Some grapes are already moving out
OF the Traverse City region. The
Grand Rapids & Indiana railway gets
a portion of this traffic also.
The week ending August 81 saw
15S carloads of fruit pull out of Pere
Marquette railway points. The rush
will continue we'll on until the end Of
October If 1910 is a criterion whereby
the business OF 1911 can be approx
mated For the next few weeks the
average will be 20 cars of fruit a
day over the Pere Marquette
One estimate made for the Pere
Marquette railway sometime ago was
as follows: Peaches and plums-Aug-
ust. 205 carloads. September, 1900
carloads: October. A. carloads
Apples. pears and grapes-July, 179
carloads: August, 425 carloads: Sep
TENDER. 1,G00 carloads; October, $50
carloads.
The apple shipments, however,
generally continue on this line until
after the Christmas holidays.
M. c. Handles Grapes.
Michigan Central railway men are
prepared 10 handle 5000 cars of fruit
this season. Grapes will form the
principal part of this. Lawton. De
catur, Mattawan. South Haven and
Grand Rapids are the chief shipping
points for this great industry.
The fruit shipping season OF the
Michigan Central is great deal
shorter than is that of the Pere Mar
quette. for there are comparatively
few apple orchards on the former
line. The busy season this year, ac-
cording TO the Michigan Central car
distributing office. will begin Septem-
Der and will continue until Octo-
Der T. The heaviest week is expect
ed to be that of September "a, when
IL is estimated that 1000 cars will
be hauled.
The Michigan Central has a number
~,
too, has to depend upon the rolling
stock of the Fruit Growers Express
TO handle part of the seasons bust
ness.
Grand Trunk Gets Little.
Grand Trunk railway lines get but
small part of the fruit business OF
Michigan Five hundred cars will be
/ the outside amount Of the first grade
| of fruit which this line will haul
this fall according 10 the estimates
made by their traffic experts. Five
/ hundred carloads OF apples is the out
side approximation of the haulage
of lower grade fruit of this kind
which will be drawn into Holly 10
! be ground into cider.
The Wabash railway which as far
4 as Michigan is concerned may be
considered a through road. gets very
\ little fruit Just now. however il is
handling four carloads of celery a
! day on an average from Kalamazoo
1t is being shipped to st. Louis This
is not the celery season. either.
An idea of what the railroads re-
ceive on those perishable shipments
may be gained from the charges OF
the Fruit Growers Express which
from the Michigan fruit sections to
New York run to about $40, inclusive
of the icing. The average receipts OF
the Pere Marquette railway for the
haullngs is about $50 a car, taking
the long and short hauls into con
sideration The railways, in add
ton, have TO pay TO the Fruit Grow
ers' Express people three-quarters ol
cent car mile for the cars.
DR.. c. B. McGoogaA U. S. consul al
Progresso, Mexico died OF fever aftel
an illness OF four days. He was
resident OF Fort Wayne, Ind. Hii
wife was with him when he died.
Prayers were rejeated Sunday a
ST. Andrews cathedral, Grand Rap
ids, for FIR. George b. O'Brien, who
is seriously i'll For a year. Fl
O'Brien was a member OF the facult,
of st. Josephs seminary in Crane
Rapids, at the same time acting al
pastor Of the church at Holland. go
ing there each Sunday lie has beet
relieved from duty for year and Il
ow at Grayling seeking recovery