Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1915-02-11
TO SHOW
OLD CAMPS END

The rise and fall OF Rhyolite, the
Bullfrog district, Beatty and Amar-
gosa, which blossomed at the time of
the Goldfeld boom Of 1907, but began
to fade within a year, was told in fig
ures OF freight receipts and tonnage
this morning in the court room of
Judge Moran, where Henry Thurtell,
examiner for the interstate commerce
commission, is taking testimony in the
cases involving the rates on commod-
tiles used by smelling and milling
companies in these sections.
Struggle for Existence.
1t has been n hard struggle for ex-
istence during the last few years, Of
lcials say, but conditions are improv-
ing and the carriers are now Just
about able TO make both ends meet.
The railroads are offering testimony
to show that their revenues have have
reduced as a result Of orders of the
state railroad commission They Of
fer exhibits to prove that orders of
the interstate commission, also have
tended to reduce their revenues.
The Las Vegas & Tonopah and the
Bullfrog-Goldfield railroads, which eff
fected a consolidation only a few
months ago gave, through testimony
of officials and by exhibits, a detailed
story of the roads that were construct
ed to handle the business of three
thriving c~ommunitiac nf from, = mn to
10000 population, told of the business
handled during the early days of
Beatty, Rhyolite and Amargosa, when
freight receipts amounted to hundreds
Of thousands of dollars and shipments
of freight were reckoned in the thou
sands of tons. These roads today, con
solidated, serve the same three towns,
but Beatty has a population of ap
proximately $50 people, Ahyolite has
less than 100 souls and Amargosa is a
deserted station.
Redman's Testimony.
How close to 100 miles of costly rail-
road construction was abandoned and
the Las Vegas G. Tonopah assumed a
loss of several hundred thousand dol
lars by taking over the Bullfrog-Gold-
field road, all to maintain a railroad
business in the southwest section of
Nevada and to serve the business peo-
pie of Tonopah and Goldfeld with a
regular freight and passenger service
from the southern cities of the Pacific
coast and from the east, is just a part
of the story that teens with human
interest, which was recited this morn
ing in exhibits of the carriers and by
the testimony of G.. A. Redman, traffic
manager for the Las Vegas & Tonopah
road. How the receipts declined from
1909 until 1912, when they had reached
so low a level that it was impossible
10 guarantee the running of trains at
all, because absolute bedrock had been
reached, was another feature brought
out by the testimony at this mornings
hearing.
The principal transcontinental car
riers have completed the introduction
of testimony, and several of the rep
resentatives of the Southern Pacific
and Santa Fe have returned t o their
headquarters in San Francisco, and
Los Angeles. By the stipulation of the
attorneys for the Nevada freight claim
bureau, complainants. that the same
line of testimony offered in other cas-
es would prevail in the case of the
Goldfeld Merger Mines company
against the Las Vegas & Tonopah and
allied carriers, a saving of at least
three hours of testimony and cross
examination was effected.
Cyanide and Machinery Rates.