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Show A LOSS TO LOGAN. We have been informed, on the best authority, that the officers of the Union Pacific Railroad, contemplate the construction of extensive railroad shops for the Utah & Northern at Eagle Rock, Idaho, at the present time a comparatively insignificant station, some 30 miles north of Blackfoot, and about 150 miles north of Logan. The shops, when in full operation will, it is thought, employ about 600 men, many of whom will of course, take families there, and thus a good sized town will be created. Why can not these shops be built at Logan? The only reasons we have heard given in favor of the selection of Eagle Rock are that it was the end of a division, and that the railroad company could there obtain, at a nominal cost, plenty of land and water. It would probably be more convenient to have the shops located at the end of a division, but it would seem strange to us if Logan could not offer advantages that would far outweigh this one, and as for land and water, there is abundance of both to be had in the immediate vicinity of the depot here. With a river running through our city that only needs diverting, and water works already established, it would sound wonderful to say that the company could not have, even at a nominal expense, all the water they might want for any purpose. And as for the land, the farms adjoining the depot grounds are not so very valuable that they could not be purchased for a reasonable figure. But even if the railroad company declined to buy, at its market value, the land they need, or to bear the expense of providing their shops and premises with water, it would well repay the city of county or both to conduct the necessary water to the grounds, but as many acres of land as might be necessary and present both land and water to the railroad company as a condition of having the shops located here. Such a course might cost at first a considerable sum, but consider for a moment, what a great impetus it would give to the growth of our town to have the shops here, with the attendant influx of population, increase of business and the other advantages too numerous for citation. If it is not too late, we would earnestly urge upon the officers of our city and county the propriety of taking [lines obscured by fold] steps to secure to our city any great advantage. We could well afford a heavy outlay for the sake of having so important and industry established in this city. In a conversation upon this subject, we heard one gentleman remark that he would be glad to give $100 out of his own pocket to have the shop here, while another replied that he would give $500, to secure that end. If private individuals could afford such an outlay for such a purpose, what could the city or county or both afford? To have the shops here would greatly enhance the city's revenue, and in many ways be of the greatest business and pecuniary advantage to our community, while to have the railroad shops removed from Logan will prove a heavy loss to the city, for all that will be left in Logan, should the contemplated shops be erected at Eagle Rock, will be a small repair shop employing perhaps a dozen men. |