Semi-weekly herald., 1912-07-15

misleading the committee by glowing
accounts of prosperity of the peopl,
and their future hopes, but that h,
would give them facts which they
could verify at their leisure. He talk.
ed straight from the shoulder and
said as it now is We are 60 miles
from Durango and 400 miles from
Denver. He told of the millions OF
feet of lumber shipped out of the
county each year, of the herds of cat
tie and sheep that grow and fatten
upon the richest grass that ever grew
He gave them the figures for the num-
Der of dollars spent for the ship
ping, to eastern markets, over the
high mountains, of the lambs, lumber
and wool produced in Archuleta coun-
ty. 1t was his claim that with the
proper railroad connections to the
west that there would be great in
flux of people in his county.
He spoke also of the valuable coal
fields of the county and other
undeveloped mineral resources.
He said; 81 am not authorized to
speak for the people of Archuleta
county, but | am satisfied that the
people of the county will see to it
that right of way for a railroad will
be provided free of cost to those build
ing a new and adequate railroad to
connect with the Los Angeles country"
MIR. Charles Weir of Los
Angeles Speaks.
Mr.. Buchanan said it was the OBJ
ieet of the meeting to find out what
the Los Angeles people had to say
about our country and he thereupon
introduced Mr.. Weir, who began his
address by stating that they had ex-
pressed the desire of coming to the
San Juan country by the overland
route from Gallup, but that they We're
advised that they should take the trip
around the country in order to be able
to appreciate the condition of our peo-
pie, who desired to make trip to Los
Angeles. He stated that the trip was
for the purpose of making an impress
sion and he insisted that they had
the impression.
Mr.. Weir said that it was a mere ac-
cident that we did not get the railroad
two years ago, that an order had been
given him for ties and other building
material to be shipped to Gallup. He
insisted that the Southern Pacific
meant at that time to build the road,
but the plan was evidently changed
because of the death of Hartman or
financial matters. In his attractive
manner he informed the audience that
so far as the western coast was CON
cerned Los Angeles was not the whole
show, but that it was a big part of
it.
Mr.. Weir explaine dthat the Santa
Fe had built three small lines to the
southwest of US with mileage great
er than that proposed in connecting
Gallup with Pennington and that
these roads were built for the mineral
resources only. That the proposed
railroad would be worth ten times
what those three roads are worth to-
day. lie insisted that if the Santa Fe
should send men in here to investigate
the resources of this country no other
means would be necessary to convince
them. He explained that he wanted
statistics such as would give the Los
Angeles people an idea of the size Of
our counties, the assessed valuation,
the products shipped out and those
in, an dthat the statistics con-
cerning our mineral wealth could be
secured from the government reports.
He explained how anxious the Los
Angeles people are to get up into the
that they have clubs who
have outing places away up in Utah
and other mountain resorts, that their
people would be only too glad to have
an opportunity to get up into our
beautiful mountains and enjoy some
of the most beautiful scenery in the
whole world and our magnificent sum
mer climate.
He said that if the impression that
they now had was strengthened by
their further Investigations they GER
tainly would make a report to their
chamber of commerce that would do
us some good. Mr. Weir was heartily
cheered a number of times and our
people were very much encouraged by
the impression that had been made
upon him.
Cheering Words from Mr..
Stewart.
Mr.. Buchanan in introducing Mr..
George II. Stewart of the Los An
geles chamber of commerce compared
Los Angeles 60 Chicago in CONNER
cial way. Mr.. Stewart in a most
pleasing way explained how he had
lived in various parts of California
and that every one of those sections
had prospered and that 26 years ago
he went to Los Angeles and we were
witnesses of what that city had done
since that time. In his humorous way
he brought forth many rounds of ap-
plause. He said that all along the
way the people had shot firecrackers