BATES COUNTY COAL MINES. 567 



Where, as in several cases, the same Hne has been built in two or more 

 States it is counted as but one line in the grand total, so that the footing under the 

 column " No. of lines" — 316 — is less by 22 than the actual sum of the number of 

 lines taken separately by States and Territories. 



Thus it appears that track laying has been in progress during the year in 

 forty-four of the States and Territories, upon 316 different railways, with the re- 

 sult of adding no less than 10,821 miles to our railway system, and it is not un- 

 likely that this may be increased to 11,000 miles by the final returns. These 

 figures place 1882 far ahead of any other year in respect to railway building, the 

 increase over 1881, hitherto the year of most extraordinary construction, being 

 about 1,500 miles, or more than 16 per cent. For the purpose of comparison 

 there is given below the figures of yearly mileage found in Poor's Manual, as- 

 suming them to be approximately correct, and adding our figures for 1882 : 



YEAR. MILES BUILT. TOTAL MILEAGE. 



1873 • ■ 4-107 70,278 



1874 2,105 72,383 



1875 i»7i2 74-096 



1876 2.712 76,808 



1877 2,281 79,089 



1878 ............ 2,687 81,776 



1879 4,721 86,497 



1880 7,174 93>67i 



1881 9,386 104,813 



• 1882 10,821 115,634 



In regard to the prospects for future construction of the 316 roads which are 

 covered by this record, at least 140 are still uncompleted, and on many of these 

 work will be resumed in the spring, if it is not continued during the winter. 

 Bearing in mind that the number of lines on which grading was actively in prog- 

 ress during the year, although no track was laid, is very large, and that a host 

 of new projects have been inaugurated upon which no tangible work has yet been 

 done, and it appears that railway building is likely to be active during 1883, 

 though it will probably be better for the country if it does not proceed with the 

 extraordinary speed which has characterized the past two years. 



The amount of capital which has been invested in railways in the last year 

 is almost incredible. Allowing $25,000 per mile as a fair average for the cost of 

 a road equipped and in operation, the 10,800 miles of which we have record 

 have cost $270,000,000, to which is to be added the vast and unknown sum ex- 

 pended in preparing road beds in which track is not yet laid. 



BATES COUNTY COAL MINES. 



The shipping of coal from Rich Hid began in the fall of 1880. Late in Oc- 

 tober the Rich Hill Coal Company commenced operations on a small scale from 

 surface mines, but on account of insufficient rolling stock on the Missouri Pacific 



VI -36 



