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B«Ply t« OHk n Of BMfM Trsult Ce.' . * . ' • 9 4 #ED. Gazett*.—-Id reply to suggestions made in a. communieation-from Li SvOass, president of the Rapid Transit Co., and published recently in' our City papers, we wish to say firstthat he-state* regarding the Cedar Falls railway system, that “The ■patronage of the line has been liberal, more.than we anticipated/* We were certainly pleased to note this, and fur-ther, we/-believe that we express-theDXiment of our people in saying that weviitoo,-';' uUy. ireciprocate alb the^tei^dly^feaJi °g :existing, v,. But . notwithstanding this we fear there is a t#«d«Bcy on: the part of , the railwaycompany to-Japee . into, the eond ition of. things which was sought in their first ^endeavor to .secure a franchise berei^eimply traversea part of Main Street and to the lowa State Normal School,- .mainly a- Waterloo project. Q?iug to this design the franchise wasdenied them., and given to Mr. Mc-Efy esy :who gave us the.present splendid outline of trackage as a nucleus to develop -into a system of which Gedar. Falls is worthy.It is reasonable to believe that Mr.* Cass-ltnew the terms of the McElyea franchise when he subscribed to them. We alsobelieve that ha intelligently consented to the additional. provision bertha --present:-franchise that , bound them to ‘‘construct not leas than one mile pf loop through the re«idence.p6r-tion of-the City which by the way should'have been constructed by lt;2ct. l8te-1899,.--Now about this loop, if it is a fact as intimated that the grade of Walnut and Tremont 8fcreets, at Twelfth, is such as to make it. impracticable. to cross with the loop line, what will be the result, we believe it will be this, that after leaving the Second Street connection, and- extend • ing* south along c.Walnut or Tremont until the ■ high grade is encountered, and then extend -east/along -Tenth or Eleventh Streets^untii practically, thisSart of tha-loop touches their line, on lain Street, time forming the loop, covering just about one mile and this ■through the most densely populated portions of ■ the City, If this is done,with.t he-twenty minute -schedule--timeprovided for by the franchise, .we believe it would beifairly satisfactory to our people. However,. Bhould it befound.feasible to cross-Twelfth Street upon ’ Walnut or Tremont, the one mile (or morel provided for . would extend. the line, pretty well, on towards the Normal buildings, and in view, of the-concessions already made by. the .City,:In many. ways/,- - We believe t-he railway^management will be glad', of an opportunity to, exercise a reciprocal spirit and thus extend their track itt'Order to reach the Normal grounds by way of this-upper route, even, if * it did -require a few blocks of. trackage in-excess of the minimum mile of loop provided for by. the franchise, showing our-people by something tangible that /they:.;really have an interest in our ■City,, and its future growth, especially so: since as stated by Mr. Ca s',., that :“.Tha patronage of the line, has been liberal, more - than we anticipated” -Now in regard to the Oak Ridge extension which they ; re seeking to remove. Sec. 9 of the original franchise which was passed upon by vote of-•'the people, to make it valid as an Eiebfcr:c line.»alter conceding all the streets ana alleys for .railway... purposes, ..named and fixed but-three points of the /4syKtem; and s.;reads , asi follows: “aadhave continuous line from Ellen Street,1 in the northwestern? portion of ihe/lity, running thence east to Main' Street,-at a point not farther south than:Second-Street, and from thence to the Iowa . Srate Normal School” Mr. Grundy in his recent - published letter well raises the point, that even joint action by. the Rapid Transit officials .and the City Council, there- wonld yet bp a grave question of tbeir.ability to remove, tne EiienStreet extension.: However,, be this as-it may. Oak Ridge has rhoearapidly-built up and will con-;tinue to grow. A public school building, in'thst locality is being provided for. !-Mnllarky»8 Bluff Park on. the' ‘bank of-the river is in close proximityto. the street railway terminal in question, Jf-hlch is bound to be improved • and':will- become an attraction. In yiew of these probabilities in that ..quarter or bur-city , suppose the concession were-mad© to a removal of the.litte^ asked for by Mr-vGass, and later it'would become desirous on the partof ourj.people.that it be rebuilt, undoubtedly we would at once be eon-ifronted:with propositions for a bonus even though the road would bid fair to=more than pay running expenses. 'It might be- otherwise if the railway were owned by a Cedar Falls corporation, or by a- companymore- directly Interested, in the prosperity of our city, rather than in that of another.We cannot conceive of a pretext that woukt^warraut our-people in-entertaining even for-a.moment the concessions asked for by Mr. Cass, when they come to consider fully the terms and provisions of thepresent* franchise, in which the besfcfiotereets of Cedar Falls haverbeen so well taken care of.: S. B; Humbert. .
Newspaper Details
Cedar Falls Semi Weekly Cedar Falls Gazette
Cedar Falls, Iowa, US
Tue, Apr 10, 1900
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Alexander R.
USA 17 Nov 2022
Other Publications Near Cedar Falls, Iowa
Cedar Falls New Prairie Primer
Cedar Falls Semi Weekly Cedar Falls Gazette
Cedar Falls Citizen
Cedar Falls Gazette
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