Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-20
SANTA f WOULD
CARRY THE MAIL
SOUTHERN ROUTE SOUGHT TO
GET CONTRACT FROM GOVERN.
MENT FOR THIS BUSINESS.
CANNOT BEAT TIME
Schedule Maintained by Burlington
Will be Reduced Soon and Present
Handlers Of Traffic Will
Continue.

The efforts Of other roads to wrest
from the Burlington the carrying OF the
fast mail between Chicago and Paclnc
junction has often in times past lea 10
a race Of the mail trains across the
praires Of Iowa and Illinois. the
, Northwestern road has often given the
Burlington a close race but the pusl-
ness has remained for years with the
%" and the present talk Of change OF
time card to reduce the schedule or the
fast mail train No which is expected
to soon take place recalls past et1orts
to take away the mail work from the
Burlington. A new rival, the Santa re,
has entered the race according TO re-
cent dispatches and would not alone
GUST the 90 but more particularly the
Union Pacific.
Uses no Contract.
In discussing the recent effort or the
Santa Fee to beat the Burlington ROAD
time in delivering mail from the east
to Pacific coast points prominent
official of the Burlington is quoted as
say that the government no longer
awarded contracts to railroad com
pany for carrying the fast mail. but
simply allowed road to do SO as long
as it made good
If any other road could beat the Bur-
lington's time, which can't be done,
said the official, the government could
hand the mail over to it without any
notice to the road which now carries
it. When the Burlington first took the
mail in the days Of Tom Potter, Mr.
Potter refused to have a contract Tor
it, Later, contract was made with
the government and renewed, but In
recent years there has been none. The
official said it was remarkable to note
the delay incurred by rival roads while
trying to beat out the Burlington. When
two years ago the Northwestern tried
to do it, men from the Burlington went
to watch them hook up their trains, and
were amused to find that it took them
twice the time that it did the c., B.
@. 1t is simply impossible to get ahead
of the men in charge Of the Burlington
fast mail as they have had twenty-five
years experience in the work. An In
teresting fact brought out in the talk
with the official was that great
amount of mail from London on its
way to Australia goes over the Bur
lington. This is called black strap mail
and goes through America unopened.
Much better time is made by sending
this mail across the Atlantic, and the
Pacific than through the Suez canal
Santa Fe Would Take 1t.
Several months ago the Santa re
began laying its plans for handling the
nail west from Kansas City, the Mis-
souri, Pacific proposing to bring it
from st. Louis to that point. Eastern
lines were in on the scheme and were
to handle it from New York to ST
Louis. A running schedule was work.
ed out and after being tried for weeks,
the best time that could be made be-
tween New York and San Francisco
was ninety-six hours. The Santa F'e
boosted that this would be record time
and filled the papers along Its lines
with tales Of what it was going to do
in the way of fast running and quick
transportation Of all mail matter Off
Gals Of the road told stories Of how
sacks and cars Of mail would be rush.
ed from one depot to another at termi-
nal points, but they were unable to re-
duce the time below ninetysix hours
between starting and finishing points. |
The Burlington and Union Pacific, in
conjunction with the Southern Pacific '
kept out Of the papers, but all the time
their operating officials were figuring
out a new and fast schedule. They had
the best Of the Santa Fe with line 800
miles shorter between Chicago and
San Francisco and then they had a !
double track practically all the way |
from coast to coast. When the schedule
was worked out, it was given a trial
ana from the start was satisfactory. 1t |
was continued more than thirty days
and trip after trip the distance between
New York and San Francisco was COW
cred in eighty five hours, the longest
time consumed between terminal points
eighty-five hours and five minutes, |
more than ten hours better than the
Santa Fe had been able to make. The |
facts were called to the attention Of
the government. and in the future, as
in the past, the coast mail will continue
to pass through the Omaha gateway.
The excellent roadbed. equipment and
shorter distance had much to do with
the elimination of time but there was
another thing that counted and that
was the quick changes from one road
to another.
Between New York and Chicago the
California fast mail will come over
tie New York Central and the Penn
sylvania. From Chicago to the Missouri
river it will go over the Burlington, a
large portion of it on the company's |
No. train. From Omaha to Ogden it
will go over the Union Pacific limited, |
going to Ogden. where it will be taken
over by the Southern Pacific that car
ries the car to San Francisco.