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Show I buy mmi I HI TEAR Fivo Thousand Miles of New Railroad Completed in ! United States. j FIFTY-FIVE MILES WERE BUILT IN UTAH Oregon Short Line Added 127 Miles in Utah and Idaho. I Approximately 6rul miles of new railroad H have been completed In the United States H during the year 10O5. Considering that J over 7000 miles wen- shown to be under J contract as early as March and that con- tracts for many hundreds of miles more J have been awarded slnco that time, the mileage completed ready for operation may seem comparatively small But slow J progress was made during the first six months of the year and only KM miles of track were reported laid up to July 1. If the ratio of former yean had applied to 1!"5, the new track for the year would I not have exceeded 40X1 miles, but since July 1 the work has been pushed with j great vigir. with the result that we can now report for the rear 4979 mile of new track laid In the V nlted Btates, on 337 ! I lines In forty-five Slates and Territories, i In addition, several hundred miles hae t-ecn graded and track Is beliiR laid on many lines as the year closes. The figures shown in the following table are not final, for there are some roads which have not 1 yet furnished full reports, and it Is prob- able that the complete returns will show ever -. miles. States Lines Miles. Alabama 10 Alaska Bl.TO B Arizona 1 46.47 B Arkansas 14 171 13 California 9 Colorado . 1 91.VI Florlds ...... W H Georgia 11 82.60 Idaho 8 l-03 Illinois 10 199.80 H Indiana o I,;.' Indian Territory 6 l' Kansas Kentucky 10 113.85 ; H Louisiana 16 848.98 Maine 4 72.76 I BPPJ Maryland 42 70 H Massachusetts 1 1 Michigan Minnesota 8 Mississippi IS lc4.S5 j Mlssojrl H-W Montana 2 24.10 Nebraska 1 j H Nevada . 4 ? H New Jersey 3 8.86 VeW MexICO 129.0 .. New York & North Carolina 0 !0.10 North Dakota 11 625.23 Oklahoma I 1.4.4 rtregon 11 Pennsylvania 20 150.87 H South Carolina 4 28. South Dakota ' 5 109.80 Tennessee 11 ' B9.W Texas 10 337.77 rtah 54.55 Vermont s 1 H Irginla 27 93 H Washington 8 46.95 H West Virginia 17 134 I Wisconsin 21 10.-5 Wyoming H Total In 4a Slates and Terrl-H Terrl-H toiies 537 4.979 39 Exceeds Year 1904. H The lieW mileage of lOOn exceeds that H of r i by over 700 miles, while the track laid during the first half of (his year was v allies less than reported for the first H six months of 14. Which farts indicate i H how energetic has been the work of the H past six months For a srood many years H the Southwestern States have furnished a larger percentage of new mileage than H an other group but the scene of active construction operations appears to be 1 rldftinp to the Northwest With the Chi- H 'ago Milwaukee & St Paul headed for I he Pacific roast with the new Gould line tth. Western Pacified already under con truotlon between Salt Lake city and San Francisco, mil with the many new llns prnnneri by the n.trrlmnn and th Hill systems, the Western and Northwestern I States will be the scones of bustling activity activ-ity for the next few years. Largest Mileage in Missouri In 1904 Missouri, with 361 miles, furnished fur-nished a larger new mileage than any other State, and Texas, with miles, waa second both States belonging to the Southwestern group. This year North Dakota, Da-kota, in the Northwestern group, is first I with ESS miles, 1S7 miles more than the 1 track laid In Texas, which Is second with 338 miles. Louisiana Is third In the list with 244 miles, Georgia. In the South Atlantic At-lantic group. Is fourth with 242 miles, and Mlniusolii, another Northwestern Stale Is fifth with 2"1 miles Illinois, the nan-1 nan-1 nor railway Slate, has added nearly 200 miles of new road during the past year, and the ncighlxiring State of Indiana Is not far behind Illinois with 173 miles. Track Laid by Sections. The following tabulation shows the lo-cation lo-cation of the tra k laid by sections of the country: Mil New England Slates 78.75 Middle Atlantic Slates 252.33 South Atlantic StatC9 4731 46 Gulf and Mississippi vallej States. 661 99 Southwestern States 1,106.26 Central Vol thei n Stat' s .. GZ9 99 Northwestern Slates 991.88 Pacific States 622 KJ No New Track in Idaho. While the figures for the southwestern Slates are larger than those for any other section, It should he borne In mind that there are more Slates with a far greater ana in that group thin In any other. The &CC miles completed In the northwestern group are located In the six Stales of Minnesota Nebraska, North I Dakota, South Dakota. Wyoming and I Montana. Iowa Is the only State In that group, and. In fact, the only State west of N' W England. In which no new mileage mile-age Is re port I'd. Unprecedented Piosperity. The fact that much of the track laid has been in sections which already were well supplied with railways is indicative of the era of unprecedented prosperity which wo are enjoying Not only have new roads been built to share In the abundant traffic offered, but the work of Improving existing lines by constructing additional tracks. erecting stronger bridges, pulling down heavier rails and eliminating grades and curves has continued con-tinued on a large scale, and the money so Invested doubtless equals that opi nt In the construction of new lines. The work ,it reconstruction is proceeding quietly but Steadily and Is almost lost sight of In the consideration given to the construction con-struction and projection of distinctly new mileage Particularly has this been true during the past six months, when there has been so much discussion of the J plans of the larg WCStt 111 systems, which provide (Or the building of thousands of mill s of extensions, Including many competing lines. Nctawoithy Piece of Construction. The most noteworthy piece of construction construc-tion during the past year was the extension ex-tension of the Boo Lint from Thief River Falls Minn., to Kenmare N. D.. a dls- j tanee pf 297 miles. Contracts for this work wire not let until March and tracklaylns was not begun until July, yet the road 1 Was Ompleted ready for operation thn latter part of November. The Soo Line 1 also built two branches in North Dakota, each nineteen miles in length making n total Of 3iT miles of road built by this company. The extension in North Dakota penetrates the rich wheat belt of the northern part of the state, and to tnp I tht -.mie region the Cre.it Northern has built five branches, aggregating 12C,,': miles north from its main Mm. Alto- i gather the Great Northern laid 243 miles of track on extensions In Minnesota. North Dakota Nebraska and Washington. Washing-ton. The second longest line built was by Ihe St. I ouis. Brownsville & Mexico wrhleh completed 171 miles of its extension from Robstown to Houston, Tex. Other companies have laid trai k as follows: Lines Building Roads. Atchison. Topeka & Santa Ke. 214 mlleB in Texas. Loulsana. Indian Territory, Colorado, New Mexico. Arizona and California; Cali-fornia; Ixulsville & Nashville, 133 miles In Georgia. Tennessee. Alabama and Kentucky; Oregon Short Line. 127 miles In Idaho' and Utah; Kansas City, Mexico & Orient. 121 miles In Oklahoma and Texas and 101 miles Jn Mexico; Chicago & Northwestern, n;- miles in Wisconsin end Wyoming; Missouri Pacific, iW miles In Missouri acd Arkansas; Northern Pa- ; rlfic 102 miles. in Minnesota. North Dakota and Washington; Indiana Hai- boi. io4 miles. Southern Indiana, 73 miles. ( Chicago Milwaukee A:- St Paul, 71 miles; Mobile, Jackson A Kansas City, 74 miles. Midland Valley, 73 miles, Denver & P.lo Grande. 72 miles; Illinois Central, 72 miles; Chesapeake & Ohio, 71 miles, Missouri, Oklahoma & Gulf. C9 miles; Chicago. 1-tuillngton v Qtfincy, G2 miles; Oregon Railroad & Navigation company. 00 miles, Illinois. Iowa & Minnesota. 00 miles. The only construction of any Importance Import-ance in New England was a branch built by the Bangor & Aroostook to the sea 'o.-iM in Maine. rA mlley Tin CantTSJ Vermont built a Ti-mllu branch Iri Ver mont and the Boston & Mulne a connecting connect-ing link 1 mile long In Massachusetts In Ho states .( Ni vv I lampsldrc, Hhixb-Island. Hhixb-Island. Connecticut and Delaware as well as one state In the West Iowa, us above noted no additions arc reported. Statistics for SeveTal Years. The foMowlnu table giving the track by years since 1 s ti . shows that In only seven out of elghtet n years has the new i onstructlon exceeded ttiat for 1905 Year. Miles. 1887 12 5S3 .1C6 1SSJ ".23 1K90 6.610 1591 4.2S1 1592 i .192 193 2.63 1894 MBS KX, V803 1S96 1.848 1837 1.80 m 3.03 1S99 4.688 1900 4,437 1901 MM 1902 B.W4 1903 5.78i 1904 MM 1905 4.979 The railway mileage or the Tnlted Stati-s on Januarv 1 Vs)'j, according to Poor's Manual was B12.849 miles. By adding; the Railway ari- nsures for i90o It will be seen that tin ml). 'age ,.n Januarv Jan-uarv 1. 1906. will apprepate 217.S2X miles Ri jiortx thus far received from Canada show 71 G 4 miles of tr.o k laid In the Dominion Do-minion on twenty lines, of which 626 miles have been built bv the ( anadlan I'm III. and the Canadian Northern The Grand Trunk Pacific, which ha.s begun work on the new transcontinental line In fanada. has not vet readied the track- laylng point, but win probably complete several hundred mlbs during 19)6 Six Im.-s In Mexico n porl .'7:: miles of track laid Since January 1 last, but the returns from that country are by no means complete. |
