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Transactions Texas Academy of Science. 
far below the lowest. If it were as well supplied with railway in pro- 
portion to its territory as Illinois, it would have 50,759 miles; as Penn- 
sylvania, 57,900 miles; as Kansas, 28,178 miles; as Ohio, 56,163 miles; 
as Iowa, 40,240 miles; as New York, 45,644 miles; as Michigan, 36,380 
miles; as Missouri, 25,766 miles and as Wisconsin, 30,784 miles. The 
wonderful possibilities of Texas as a railway state becomes apparent 
upon consideration of these figures. 
A glance at the map of Texas will show a large area of comparatively 
undeveloped territory particularly west of the 21st meridian. A line 
drawn from the Bed River to the coast through the towns of Wichita 
Falls and Corpus Christi, approximately divides the state into what we 
might consider the developed and undeveloped portions and with regard 
to this line the following statistics are approximately true on the basis 
of a total land area of 260,900 square miles, a population of 3,000,000 
and a railway mileage of 10,000. 
West. East. 
Land area in square miles 173,750 87,150 
Population 640,235 2,359,765 
Population per square mile 3.68 27.08 
Miles of railway 3097 6903 
Miles of railway per 1000 square miles 17.82 79.21 
Miles of railway per 1000 inhabitants 4.84 2.90 
It is seen that while the area west of the line is about twice as large 
as the area east, the eastern part has more than twice the railway mileage 
and almost four times the population. 
Of the states in the Union in 1870 Texas was 25th in railway mileage; 
in 1880 it was 9th; in 1890 it was 3rd and holds that rank today. In 
view of the increased activity in railway building in the state at present 
over recent years, it is probable that by the end of 1900 Texas will take 
2nd place from Pennsylvania. By 1905 it should be first and ever there- 
after hold the lead in point of railway mileage of all the states in the 
Union. 
The records in the office of the Secretary of State show that for the 
period of ten years ending June 30, 1899, approximately 14,390 miles 
of railway were chartered in Texas. Of this amount 1136 miles were 
built, or about 8 per cent of the line chartered. As the present and pros- 
pective conditions for railway construction are more flattering, we are 
safe in assuming that for the next decade the ratio of constructed line to 
the chartered mileage will be considerably in advance of the above figure. 
