THE DIXIE RAILROAD ROUTE the committee appointed by the commercial club to take up the matter of laving before the officials of tho salt lake route the advantages of building their line through washington county instein of rebuilding through the meadow valley wish has been doing all they possibly could do in the matter the committee was advised by telegram by W II 11 bancroft first vice president of the salt lake route not to attend him until the engineers had reported on the of a route through washington county but to send in any proposition the committee had to make in writing this has been done and it is probable wo shall biear nothing definite in the matter until the engineers go over alie route through this county in the meantime efforts are being made in several quarters to show the advantages tint would accrue to the railroad by adopting this route iron and kane counties arc bending every effort to have the line take chiff route kano county people pledging themselves to throw all their business now going to marys vale to the salt lake route if it is built this way kane county ships annually pounds of wool besides large numbers of live stock hides etc at marysvale Marys vale washington and kane counties and the arizona etna slaps annually head of steers besides other livestock a good deal of which goes to the amount of farm and ranch produce that would be shipped on a line going through tins county is very great beside the product of mines etc then there is in this county an unlimited quantity of the very finest red and white sandstone for building purposes A route through washington county would have business throughout its whole extent there would be no taking out full cars and bringing in empty ones would be traffic and plenty of it both ways such a route would tap the inexhaustible haus tible coal beds at cedar kanar ra and harmony alie vast copeci and silver deposits at silver reef besides being alio means of starting development on many promising mineral prospects copper silver lead petroleum cannel coal kaolin iron etc the virgin oil field is hiving four producing wells and work would be resumed on other wells if the railroad enters tins territory the road would run as far as alio bellevue adge in a direct line for the plateau where is between four and five billion feet baird measure of saw timber immediately available so estimated by the government timber experts and at tins part of the the grandest part of the scenery of the grand canyon is opened to view the road between lund and harmony would traverse good dry farming country and entering the dixie settlements would draw from them temperate and subtropical products at the southwest corner of tins county it would receive the ores from alie grind gulch cavanac Sa cuningham and copper mountain mines the dixie mines in the district which has already shipped pounds of copper and ore would resume work now suspended owing to expensive transportation por tation there is an inexhaustible supply of the finest grit stone at diamond valley near st george winch would supply the entire with grindstones etc for ages to come said etino being pronounced by silver bros of salt lake and others who have used it as superior to all others besides the lands under cultivation in washington and kane counties very largo irrigation are now being worked on one known as the Laun project proposes reclaiming over acres of land iving east of st george the land and water has been filed on the engineers have pronounced it feasible and eastern capital is being interested in it another scheme known as tho virgin valley irrigation co proposes reclaiming about acres of land from the bio virgen the land and water has been filed on and money to push it secured still another scheme proposes storing waters at the narrows of tho virgin river to reclaim over acres of rich land lying north of littlefield arizona about twenty five miles south west eriv of st george engineers W C alexander L B elliott and M T burgess all of salt lake city j were investigating this scheme to report on its about a month ago besides these large irrigation projects there is an immense amount of land in kano county and parts of washington county that would be taken up as dry farm lands if the railroad was nearer the district is too isolated at present to offer any encourage ment for such undertakings the railroad would hurry these projects along and bo the means of bringing in many thousands of new settlers and tho ultimate tonnage accruing to the railroad would be enormous it would be steadily increasing and of a class that is always in demand and can always be supplied dixie has a climate and soil that favors the growth of vegetables early to put them on the salt lake and other northern markets in competition with the early vegetables from california and other outside points and the competition would not last long for the superior flanoi and quality of the dixie product would soon drive all others out of the market this is especially true of asparagus los angeles people C T enman and others saying they never tasted any so delicious and tender as the dixie article our fruits grapes figs peaches almonds etc can not bo beaten and they have brought honors to the etau on exhibition against other fruit growing states dixie could furnish all butali with poultry and eggs in winter if the demand was created by putting railroad facilities within fairly easy reach alic long dry and warm summers nd tho short sunny winters makes dixie a most desirable place to in and hundreds of people probably thousands from less favor id places would spend the winter ere if the railroad was nearer while the winter just past is conceded to have been tho most severe experienced in dixie yet people here are now eating early garden truck planted last fall D J smith has radishes and other people lettuce grown out of doors without lover so that the winter could not have ha ve been BO very severe many thousands of tourists would visit this section if its marcellous marvellous marv ellous icentry was well advertised by a railroad running through the coun ry tho canyon of he virgin set apart by pros taft as a national monument between thirty and forty miles cast of st george is described by grand canyon powell in the U S geological records as tho most ex scenery which the world discloses and he said this of the mu canyon after he had visited and spent many months among tho sublime scenery of the grand canyon we understand that the engineers of the salt lake route now on their way down to dixie will come via lund cedar city Ka narra harmony and the bellevue ridge to st george from st george they will reconnoiter tho narrows and the valley of the virgin nver beyond those best acquainted with the country say that no tunnel mg mil be necessary at the narrows that an excellent road can be made there that will bo safe and permanent though somewhat expensive once through the narrows they wl have a good and safe grade down the virgin river valley the grade between lund and st george will be on good solid ground without any danger from washouts wa shouts or floods taking into consideration the safeness of the route the business would naturally come to the line the richness of the country that tho line would pass through and the wonderful development that this section ia sure to undergo we feel very sanguine of the result of the survey now being undertake ja by the S L R engineers we only asked to have conditions and feasibility of route inquired into feeling that if this is done wo have a mighty good chance to secure the road other routes through the county besides that outlined hero will bo investigated we understand by the engineers