, 1923-02-23
rnE soUAReST CITY
A Potential Territory

ANY ATTEMPT TO misrepresent the state OF
a Wyoming or any portion of it, in the interest OF
An adjoining state, and through envy, Jealousy or
spite to minimize the richness OF natural resources
and falsify the plain possibilities Of development,
in the face of what the world knows OF our latent
wealth, is at once ridiculous to the informed ana
discloses the animus back OF propaganda OF tnat
character.
Yet that is exactly what a Denver newspaper
would do in encouragement of the proposed Wyo-
ming North and South railroad. 1t would picture
the territory which the road would traverse as a
barren waste, unfit as a habitation for coyotes,
prairie dogs and rattlesnakes. a scene over which
the eagles of the air wing their passage with ex'
press train swiftness or avoid altogether by going
3n the opposite direction.
At the same time, this great stretch OF country
Is the most fertile of all out-of-doors, we'll watered
and covered with irrigated ranches capable OF pro
ducing grain, forage and root crops that would
Htagger the imagination. Upon the highlands and
wide ranges thousands of cattle and sheep feed
the year round and so vast are these grazing lands
that thousands more could be grazed with advan-
tage. The mountain slopes are heavily numbered
with fir, pine and spruce awaiting commercial use
drought enterprise and development. Tributary 10
the route, and under the very tracks OF the pro
posed route is the largest sub-bituminous coal field
in the world. Absolutely undeveloped except at one
point in Sheridan county.
The oil fields of Natrona county are directly on
the line Of the proposed North and South railroad.
1t is no exhggeration to say that these are the
greatest producing fields in the world. The wells
steady and reliable in flow from the day they are
brought in.
The great gas fields Of johnson county will have
Il station in their very midst when the road is built.
There is no more potential country in all the
west than this same stretch through central Wyo-
ming. It simply lacks the ties to bind it to the
outer world and bring its great wealth to awaiting
markets.
The day was when the splendid irrigated country
of Northern Colorado bore the Same aspect as
north central Wyoming. The elements were pres
ent to make it the garden spot it now is. Transpor-
tation lines did it in northern Colorado the same
as transportation will do it in north central Wyo-
ming.
Envy and backbiting of Colorado and Colorado
newspapers cannot destroy the varied resources of
Natrona, johnson and Sheridan counties in Wyo-
ming, and Big Horn, Rosebud and Custer counties
in Montana and the necessity and desirability and
tho certain nnd attractive revenue of q railroad
through them, connecting with the ranscontinenta
lines of the country and supplying a market outlet
for the present and future production of this vast
region.
The capitalists who contemplate the investment
required know better than any Colorado newspaper
blinded by prejudice of the possibilities Of the
country through which they have projected a rail
road and we can we'll afford to accept their judg-
ment, and better afford to assist them than to
listen to the hootings of owls in a distant wood.