The Cheyenne Daily Leader

BEGIN THE WORK.

"G. M. Dodge, a director of the Union Pacific, arrived in the city yesterday. He announced that orders have been issued for the expenditure of $1,000,000 for construction on the Union Pacific road. Work will commence at once on the extension of the Cheyenne & Northern, which will be pushed to a junction with the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley. General Dodge stated that through-trains will be run from Sioux City to Denver by way of the Elkhorn on the Union Pacific, and also through trains from Deadwood to Cheyenne and Denver by way of the Elkhorn and the Cheyenne & Northern."

The foregoing is taken from the Omaha Bee and is extremely gratifying as far as it goes, but we have heard so much about railroads being built "at once" that we would like to see one built just for the fun of the thing.

Now we haven't the least bit of doubt that the Cheyenne & Northern is to be completed to a junction with the Northwestern. We will even say that we believe this work will be commenced in the spring and pushed rapidly to completion.

But why not now?

Several surveys of proposed routes have been made but none of these are of any use now. This work must be done over again and in the nature of things must occupy some time—say a month. If the work is let go until April this will bring us to the first of May. Say the construction of the road occupies three months, this will bring about the junction of the roads in August. In the meantime the cattle shipped over the Union Pacific's Gulf road will be unloaded at Wendover, as heretofore, when consignments for Wyoming and the whole northwest might just as well be shipped to Casper or even Black Hills points as happens to be most convenient.

The best evidence that work is to be commenced at once is to see it commenced at once. The weather is now exceedingly favorable for outdoor labor. Perhaps the most difficult work which will be experienced in the entire thirty-eight miles is found in the few miles yet to be built in getting out of the Platte canyon. This is rock work and could be as conveniently done at this season as any other.

It is of great importance to Cheyenne and the whole eastern portion of Wyoming that the Cheyenne & Northern be completed in time for the spring trade. The present service on the road is a source of irritation and annoyance to every business man in Cheyenne and every citizen of the northern country who desires to come here. Laramie and Converse county after having assumed an indebtedness of $400,000 to aid the building of this road deserve some consideration at the hands of the Union Pacific. Pushing this work expeditiously will be of incalculable benefit to both counties—to Converse county particularly which bears its proportion of the indebtedness without a dollar's worth of benefit in the way of traffic or taxation.

Let us hope that this work will be commenced not in the spring but at the earliest possible moment this winter.