Pueblo chieftain., 1922-01-16

because OF lnduel lilc ram ptlu ~ ais
portation This immense area, COM
prising some 2O0OO,OO0 acres of land
within her 10000 square miles of ter
ritory, is now served only by narrow
gauge lines of railway connecting
with the outside world. These mar
row gauge roads We're first built TO
accommodate the mineral production
of the basin, and for several years
were adequate for that purpose, but
during the past thirty years the
development of the greatly diversified
resources of the basin has, brought
about a condition whore the narrow
gauge lines were found wholly made
quate to meet the situation. Because
of a gentlemens' agreement between
crtain railroads. standard gauge rail-
road building has been tabooed IN
that section during all of the past
thirty years.
The citizens of this rich inland en-
pire have long wished to develop me
resources of the basin, but their IN
ability to market the product of the
basin because of n lack of transport
tation has always prevented any thlng
but slight progress in that respect
on several occasions an effort mas
been made to interest capital in build
ing an outlet to the south of the San
Juan basin, to connect the basin with
the main line of the Santa Fe rail-
road at or near Gallup, New Mexico,
which would give splendid connec-
tions to outside markets. But none
of these efforts proved successful.
Then the idea began to prevail that
the citizens of the basin could actual
ly build their own railroad to the
markets of the world, by making the
connection with the Santa Ee lines.
Surveys of such a line were made. ana
found to he entirely practicable.
These demonstrated that standard
~. I.,,t trrt
ango, Colorado, the metropolis of the
san Juan basin, to Gallup, New
Mexico. a distance of 165 miles, over
one of the best railroad grades in the
country With those facts before them
the citizens began TO plan the build
ing of the proposed railroad. Narl-
GUS methods were from time to time
discussed, and the Durango Exchange,
the central business organization or
the big San Juan country. began to
earnestly work on the project during
the summer of 1918.
There appeared to be n large sur
plus of excellent land in all portions
of the basin, and 1t was thought that
these surplus lands could be made to
build this long desired railroad. But
| 1t took cash to build n railroad: there
fore the lands of the basin could not
| build the railroad unless the cash
necessary to buy ties, steel rails and
| came the job of the citizens of the
| basin to find the required cash. 1t
seemed probable that Los Angeles IN
terests would be more Interested than
any other sction, because 1t was known
that the products OF the basin were
, needed in that direction. That city
also had great aspirations to become
n leading steel manufacturing center
and it was well known that the basin
contained the greatest tonnage or
/ cokine coal in the United States.
With the available facts COM
mittec consisting of District Judge w.
! N Searcy, j. a. Clay, Manager of the
Charles f.. Hall. Secretary of the Dur
! ango Exchange and l.. w. Ritter.
prominent attorney, were sent TO Los
Angeles in March. 1921 and there met
| with n group of the strongest finan-
! cial men of that city, among whom
were r. L. Clark. Il. c. Gillis, VIM
! Harper Gen. NJ. II. Sherman, Hurry
/ Chandler and Jno. d. Spreckles. AS n
result Of conferences extending over
| n period of several weeks a plan was
| devised whreby tn people of the san
Juan basin were 10 contract under
| option agreements lands of the mini
mum net value of S2,50O,000, all
| situate in the San Juan basin, These
! lands. at their net face value. were
to he exchanged for the controlling
stock of Il railroad extending from
Durango to Gallup. The Los Angeles
group agreed to put up dollar in
cash for each dollars worth OF land
the basin subscribed. the money to
go into the construction and equip
ncut OF the railroad.
When the railroad Is constructed.
equipped and in actual operation. tho
titles to the lands arc TO be conveyed
to the Los Angeles group, and the
: . l.., NaI To, IL
scribing land owners of the san Juan
basin.
With this plan before them. the
citizens of the basin formed the San
Juan Railway committee, with the
central organization at Durango, and
closely cooperating organizations in
some forty different districts of the
basin. By August /. 1921, tho cam
paiEn was well organized, and MAX
ing progress toward securing under
option the required amount OF land.
However not until the leading men
of the Los Angeles group visited tho
basin in the early part of September
did the cnmpnirn actually get into
basin-wdc movement to accomplish
the desired result. While here, Mr..
Harry Chandler. owner of the Los
Angeles Times, and acting as spokcs-
man for the group, announced dcfi-
nItclv that If the citizens Of the basin
Ii'S'u Nllt l'Vhii'N tilll'ti'N VI 49,
that the railroad would be built This
served to speed up enthusiasm thru
out the basin. and this enthusiasm
was capitalized with land contracts
As the campaign progressed, prac.
tically every man, woman and child
thruout the basin entered the cam
paign with their personal efforts. with
the result. that before the campaign
was over on December 81. there was
united pull on the part of every
one. As many as one hundred lead
ing citizens would conErcEatc nt tho
Durango Exchange on a single day,
eager to do his share. Ladies' by he
score were on duty doing clerical
work needed during the campaign,
and many women actually worked at
soliciting land contracts. Tho young
men of the basin formed a working
organization, and the women formed