El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-08

tile railroad corporations maintained
armed forces in the field. The Santa
Fe was defeated in the contest for
the pass trough the Royal Gorge, so
it leased the Rio Grande railroad,
After prolonged and fierce legal
contest II lost again, 50 there was
nothing to do but TO seek another out
let or give up the ghost. The only
outlet TO the south was through Ra-
ton Pass. where Uncle Dick WOotOn
maintained q toll road into New Mex
leo. " B. Strong, who entered the
service Of the Santa Fe about this
time as vice president and general
manager, mad energy enough 70 fit out
at least three general managers and
he concentrated every ounce Of it On
his job. His first achievement was
to 90 to Santa Fe and secure from a
decidedly hostile legislature char
ter permitting his road to build
through the territory. He turned
the trick before the legislature real
lied how 1t was done. Next he gained
the consent Of president NickersOn,
whose temperament was altogether
too mild for frontier methods, nut
who was miracle worker in raising
money, to begin work on the spring
This Strong Interpreted as meaning
his spring" for the nearest tele-
graph wire Chief engineer a A
Robinson was ordered to get to Ration
Pass as fast as steam and horseflesh
could take him there and begin work
and to hold the pass against all
winning the Pass.
J. A. McMurtrie. CHIEF engineer OF /
the Rio Grande, went west on the
Ration Pass. but Robinson won the
race By an eyelash. Uncle Dick
WOOton, who had no love for the Rio ,
Grande, helped hold the pass, and
in % h.
saved
Matters went on then serenely
enough until Robinson tried to locate
a division point a BernalillO. But
senior Perea had frequently helped
highways without receiving anything
in return. 50 he drew the line at rail-
SATURDAY
roads. The more Robinson talked the
firmer did senior Perea become in his
demand for $4,000 for 20 acres of
land Finally Robinson went on TO
Albuquerque for his division point and
incidentally laid the foundations OF the
foremost city in New Mexico. Perea
saw too late the opportunity he had
missed and tried with all the elOQuence
OF money to induce Robinson 30 come
back; but Il was Of no use.
The Santa Fe Grows.
By the end OF 1879 the Santa Fe
had grown TO a length Of 1,181 miles,
with annual earnings Of Sc. 3S1 600. By
March, 1881, the track had reached /
Deming, where connection was made /
with the Southern Pacific By Sc
curing trackage rights over the South |
ern Pacific the Santa Fe was able !
TO run trains into Benson, Arizona. /
That same year Mr.. Strong was /
made president position he held for
eight busy years. He criss- crossed /
Kansas with branch lines because the /
Goulds and the Cables had dared 10 I
parallel his main line. But the |
branches were burden instead OF
help, and the Santa Fe was slowly |
choking 10 death in the blind pocket
at Deming. So the stockholders !
managed to raise S16.50o, 600 TO extend i
the main line and things looked prom
Using. The St Louis & San Fran |
cisco, which held the charter Of the ]
Atlantic & Pacific railroad. supposed (
to be built from Springfield. No, to I
the Pacific, entered into an agree I
ment with the Santa Fe whereby the 4
two roads agreed TO Dulld the A. q 1
p. with joint loan Of s25.000 600. Be !
fore anything could be done Gould and /
Huntington bought control Of the !
Frisco. As they owned the Southern !
Pacific and Texas & Pacific they |
naturally did not want the Atlantic K /
Pacific built; SO again the Santa Fe 4
was left out Of the calculations
w. b. strong was not the sort OF
man to stay out in the cold very |
long. A compromise was effected I
with the Southern Pacific interests by i
which the Santa Fe made a leap OF
lUuu miles nearer. 70 us Aludl oDJeGLlNes
the new end Of the track 10 be at
the Colorado river. Once this point
was reached 1t was comparatively
easy to make a further compromise,
which put the Santa Fe 240 miles /
the distance from the Needle to Mo-
jave-stiu nearer to salt water.
Finally. to reach the coast the San
ia Fe built a line to Cotton on the /
Southern Pacific and bought control
OF the Californian Southern railroad
from Cotton to san DIEGO.
santa Fe Reaches Chicago.
StrOnEs last important achievement l
was to build q line from Kansas City (
to Chicago, which was opened for /
traffic in May. 1888, the line which
first brought Wells Fargo & company I
TO the great lakes. ready for the Z
board This was tho last straw that
broke the Santa FEES back. The /
burden OF constant construction CX- !
penses and maintenance through so
Ions a stretch Of unproductive terri
tory, however, was more than any /
worse the company had been paying
dividends with money that should have I
been used for other purposes. In ]
1883. the earnings showed "a deficit or
&3.0OO,0O0. Next year the deficit was
$1,000. 900 Then came a reorganiZa- I
ton on rational lines. but then new
elements came into the company which
promptly kicked the fat into the fire
by buying the Frisco, which was mott
able to support itself by its earnings
Then came the conversion plan Of 1892. /
by which the stockholders committed
creasing fixed charges to the tune Cf
six million dollars To cap the !
climax it was discovered that presi-