The Dolores star., 1913-06-27
MORE RAILROAD talk.

has another railroad building jroU
the south 10 Pennington In IL last
issue. This road il TO build from
Roswell to Albuquerque and thence
10 Pennington. thus giving ~ our
much.talked Of southern outlet.
We hope the Times. Hustler man
hiss II guessed right this time and
that the road will be speedily built.
But we have heard so much abou,
roads building from the south that
II IL . hard matter to take railroad
talk very serious. The Durango
Democrat remarked in q recent Is.
sue that If all the proposed roads
built into this section the only land
left for the farmer to cultivate
would be between The ties.
II is q fact, however, that il we
ever get railroad to the south il is
the farmer that will build II. The
newspapers, the real estate men and
hot cir promoters have been doing
the building for these many years
and we have no road yet. We
have vast tracts Of grazing land.
we have thousands Of acres Of land
under ditch. we have untold miner.
al wealth. we have Immense bodies
Of petroleum Tin our minds at
least), we have built towns out on
the country hills, in fact we have
everything hut q railroad to the
south, and have done everything
but build q railroad to the south.
When we have not been busy
telling the outside world that we
were going to have a road 10 q
short time we have been busy ex.
planning why it was impossiblsrto
get such q road built; how the
railroad companies were so bound
together by agreement and other.
wise that none of them could be
persuaded to build into the San
Juan basin. This latter talk may
have sounded reasonable to few,
but was manufactured for an ex-
cuse by parties. who claimed to
have influence with monied men
and railroad builders.
That the San Juan country is
rich in mineral no one will deny,
but the Rio Grande people builtin
here 10 take care OF our mineral
output. Their road winds through
the hills and reaches most Of the
producing camps, taking away
their ore and bringing them in sup
plies. A railroad from the south
would not reach these camps, and
the Rio Grande would continue to
handle our mineral.
II II were not for the products Of
the mines how many cars Of freight
would the Rio Grande Soutbsen
handle . day. just stop and give
this matter . little consideratsou.
Don't you see that the railroad
that builds into this section must
depend largely upon farm produce
for its business.
Railroads are being built other
places and we will have one from
the south just as soon as We have
business enough to insure railroad
builders that q road would be Q
paying proposition. The natural
resources Of the San Juan basin
its mineral, coal, productive soil.
cattle industry-all are great helps,
but along with these we must have
stacks Of hay, granaries buldging |
with grain, and cellars filed with |
vegetables and fruit to show to rail.
road men before we can hope to get |
q railroad to the south. The
whole matter Is up to the farmer.
The newspapers. the real estate
men. the commercial clubs and the |
promoters in the San Juan basin |
produce as much hot air as Is pro-
duced anywhere, excepting Denver. |
but railroads are not built to ship |
hot air. So long as there Is not |
sufficient farm produce raised 10
this section to supply home con.
we need not place much |
in the railroad talk we
hear.