The Cheyenne Leader

The Rival Roads.

Since the commencement of the Union Pacific Railroad, there has been a constant, but fruitless endeavor on the part of those interested in what is called the Eastern Division to show the superior advantages which the E. D. possesses over the main line which runs from Omaha to San Francisco.

No doubt the object of the deceptive and illusive arguments which are employed in this question is to delude emigrants into the idea that this main line must prove a failure, while the Kansas branch, which is called the Eastern Division is already, and will be forever, a brilliant success, which must eventually attract all the trade and travel from this main line, which the E. D. gentlemen intimate must eventually be abandoned. The Leavenworth Times thinks the E. D. altogether a superior institution, and bases its opinion upon the following little item, which we find in that paper of the 9th inst.

The Union Pacific R. R., E. D., pays from 60 to 70 cts apiece for ties, and $7 to $8 a cord for wood delivered along the track. The Union Pacific, running from Omaha, west, pays one dollar apiece for cottonwood ties, and from $12 to $15 per cord for wood. This shows the relative advantages of the two routes."

There are both errors and advantages in the above extract, and naturally enough the errors and advantages are in favor of the Omaha line instead of the Kansas branch. In the first place, the ties used on this road are either of cedar or of red pine or oak. No cotton-wood is used in the construction of the road. In the second instance, the company have paid not only one dollar each for ties, but a dollar and twenty-five cents, which they can well afford, and which is a policy of liberality benefitting the contractors and the laborers who are employed, as well as everybody in business along the line. This company also pays a better price for grading than is paid by the E. D., and the consequences is more men are employed, the work progresses with greater rapidity, it is executed in a better manner, and as more money is put in circulation there is a greater inducement for people to settle in this country, whereby the railroad and public lands are improved and increased in value; and this same liberal spirit of the company returns them abundant profit, and erects cities like Cheyenne which possess as great advantages as those once enjoyed by Leavenworth. It is a significant fact that though Hays City was supposed to be the equal, in advantages, of Cheyenne, occupying a position on the E, D. which was claimed to be similar to that of Cheyenne, on the main line, yet, at the last election, Hays City polled but ninety-one votes, while Cheyenne polled upwards of one thousand, and could have polled twice that amount had there been two precincts instead of but one. The only hope of the Eastern Division is to obtain the trade of Colorado and New Mexico, while the Omaha line is destined to secure the trade of not only the entire Pacific coast, but of China and Japan. There shall be more cities on the Omaha line than wood and water stations on the Eastern Division; and for those who are in search of new homes, this Union Pacific Railway from Omaha to San Francisco offers every advantage. The best quality of soil, richest and most extensive mines, as well as the most salubrious climate, and a certainty of permanent prosperity.