struction of "ditches and canals" for the purposes specified, is acknowledged and confirmed. All patents granted, or pre-emptions, or homesteads allowed, are made subject to the rights so recognized, acknowledged and confirmed.

The statutes of Colorado, which provide elaborately for the regulation and protection of such water rights, may be found in the General Statutes, State of Colorado, of 1883, page 560 et seq., and for information on the general subject, Gould on Waters, sections 226 to 240, inclusive, may be consulted.

The "local laws, customs and decisions of courts," so for as I am able to ascertain, appear to admit of the diversion of water from streams to an extent beyond what is implied in the expression "necessary for use on the lands fronting on the streams for irrigation and mining purposes." They seem to contemplate the conveying of the water for use beyond the land fronting immediately on the streams, and even for use in reservoirs, for mining, agricultural, manufacturing and other purposes.

In reference to the inquiry touching the right of riparian owners, I can only suggest, with the limited data in my possession, that the question, having reference to the vested rights of owners under existing laws, does not appear to be one for legislative or departmental action, and that in case of controversy the courts are open for the adjudication of the rights of such parties, whatever they may be, under the law and the facts of the particular case.

BURLINGTON & MISSOURI RAILWAY.

The first spike of the above road was driven in 1869, at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. This road has 1,265.90 miles of main line, 1,516.33 miles of branches, and 372.04 miles of sidings and double tracks, making a total of 2,782.23 miles of road, including 35.71 miles operated jointly with the Kansas City, St. Joe and Council Bluffs Railway. The important cities connected with this line are Denver, Colorado; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Omaha, Lincoln, Hastings, Eeatrice, Nebraska City and Grand Island, Nebraska; Concordia and Atchison, Kansas; Des Moines, Burlington, Keokuk and Dubuque, Iowa; St. Joseph, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; St. Paul, and Minneapolis, Minnesota; Galesburg, Peoria, Rockford, Aurora and Chicago, Illinois. The above list of important cities on this line is an evidence of the important part this road has taken in the development of the Great West. The traffic department reports the following: number of tons of freight hauled in 1888, 2,556,715; number of passengers carried, 1,547,461; number of freight cars hauled 1 mile, 60,712,555; number of passengers hauled 1 mile, 12,752,676. The company owns the following excellent equipment: 95 passenger coaches; 75 baggage, mail and express cars; 220 locomotives; 6,141 freight cars of all kinds. They have recently added dining car service through to Denver from Chicago, and free chair cars.

This company has connecting points with other lines as follows: Cheyenne, Wyoming; Denver and Sterling, Colorado; Hastings, Kearney, Grand Island, Edgar, Wilcox, Alma, Minden, St. Paul, Ord, Loup City, Fairmont, York, David City, Columbus, Seward, Crete, Lincoln, Beatrice, Pawnee City, Schuyler, Wahoo, Dunbar, Louisville, Omaha, Nebraska City, Auburn and Falls City, Nebraska; Atchison, Washington and Concordia, Kansas; St. Joseph, Missouri.

This company has about recovered from the greatest single railroad strike the world ever saw, and is fast regaining its former prestige in the passenger line. The B. & M. have always been in the front rank when convenience and comfort of passengers have been considered, and their present equipment is unsurpassed in the land.

TABLE OF RAILROAD MILEAGE AND TRAFFIC OF THE "GREAT WEST.”

We will not vouch for the accuracy of the above table owing to the many errors we have detected therein. It is just as we take it from "Poor's Manual of Railroads, except Dakota, and that we estimated. The table is approximately correct, though not absolutely. Idaho and Indian Territory are each omitted in estimates of freight and passenger business; Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona are manifestly much under-rated. We took the liberty of correcting Mr. Poor on the railroad mileage of New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota, Montana, Washington, Nevada, Idaho and Arizona.

The table is up to July 1st, 1887, only; since that time nearly 20,000 miles of railway have been constructed in the United States, nearly all of which is credited to the territory west of the Mississippi River, and brings the grand total of railway mileage of the Great West to approximately 85,000 miles, or within a very small amount of being one half of the railway mileage of the United States. More than that of Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, France, and Russia combined, and nearly as much as all of Europe combined. Is it any wonder, then, that we call the Great West "A Vast Empire?"

ST. LOUIS & SAN FRANCISCO RAILWAY COMPANY.

The St. Louis & San Francisco Railway includes main line and fifteen branches, covering 1,321.16 miles of road, extending from St. Louis, through Missouri into Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and the Indian Territory.

This company purchased the property of the Atlantic & Pacific Railway Company, sold under foreclosure, September 8th, 1876. In connection with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe this company controls the Atlantic & Pacific, and the Wichita & Western Railways. This company is the largest owner of the bridge across the Arkansas River at Van Buren, bonded for $474,000. January 30th, 1888, this company took possession, under lease, of the Kansas Midland, 107.20 miles, between Wichita and Ellsworth, Kansas.

The company owns 189 locomotives, 135 passenger and express cars, and 6,285 freight cars. Business for 1887 was as follows: carried 859,703 passengers, or 49,516,497 passengers one mile. Freight moved, 1,497,841 tons, or 309,496,860 tons one mile. This line has, ever since its organization, gradually increased its mileage and equipment, until to-day it ranks well up with its older competitors, and is a very popular line with passengers and shippers.

NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY.

This magnificent system of railway has grown up since 1870, at which time the first spike was driven by Governor R. D. Rice, at a place in Carleton County, Minnesota, now known as Northern Pacific Junction. This system includes 3,411.27 miles exclusive of sidings, making direct connection with each of the following splendid commercial cities: Ashland and Superior, in Wisconsin; Duluth, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismark, in Dakota; Helena and Butte City, in Montana; Spokane Falls, Seattle and Tacoma, in Washington, and Portland, Oregon.

This company handled, in 1888, 2,597,897 tons of freight, or 704,772,506 tons one mile, using freight cars equalling 108,788,322 moved one mile. Passenger coaches 20,100,150, moved one mile; passengers carried, 1,343,737, or 159,483,895 one mile. The equipment of this line is first-class in every particular, and consists of 390 locomotives, 186 passenger coaches, 9,617 freight cars.

This road intersects only two important systems throughout its entire coursethe St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba system, and the Union Pacific system; and practically controls a larger agricultural region than any other two or three railway systems in America combined. It passes through the lumber section of Minnesota, the farming section of Dakota, the grazing and mineral sections of Montana, the mineral section of Idaho, and the mineral and farming sections of Washington and Oregon. It has 27 branch lines shooting off from the main line of the road, at convenient points, like branches are sent out from the main trunk of a tree, to feed and support the parent stem, this being as essential for the success of a road as for the life of a tree.

The Northern Pacific has been ably and conservatively managed during the past few years, as is evinced by the splendid financial condition of the road. The track is in good, safe condition, and rarely do we hear of an accident to a passenger train.

In 1887 this line was first opened for through travel without transfer, and the large number of passengers carried is evidence of its growing to be the popular summer route to and from the Pacific Coast. One feature alone will cause thousands to choose this route, viz: the branch line to the Yellowstone Park, which leaves the main line at Livingston and terminates at the Park limits.

THE CHICAGO ANO NORTHWESTERN

RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Co-ordinate with the growth of the Great West, and generally in advance of permanent population, has been the progress of the great highways, among which stands the Chicago & Northwestern, justly pre-eminent as the

PIONEER ROUTE.

The Chicago & Northwestern was first to establish through service between Chicago and the Pacific Coast; first to place in Western service the vestibule cars now so universally popular among long distance travelers; first to establish a solid vestibule service between Chicago and Denver; first to inaugurate through dining car service between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes; in short, the first to recognize and adopt every modern improvement and device that will add to the traveler's comfort and enhance the pleasure of a journey.

The people of the Great West, remote from Eastern friends and, perhaps, childhood's home, may comfortably, and even luxuriously, revisit old scenes and renew old associations through the medium of the generous facilities offered by this enterprising modern railway.

A few years since the journey was a thing to be dreaded, a task to be performed only when absolutely necessary; time was long, hanging heavily on the traveler's hands, and at the end of the pilgrimage the sufferer worn, tired and exhausted. All this has been changed like magic, by the genius of man and the keen enterprise of the railway company. No longer are there more thorns than roses in a railway experience, but, like the flight of an eagle, swift, sure and steady, the modern palace on wheels glides across prairie, meadow and stream, annihilating time and carrying in its bosom all the comforts of home and luxuries of wealth. The destination reached, finds the contented traveler better, both physically and mentally, than when startiug; old friends are greeted with warmer affection; familiar localities meet the eye with keener interest; the trip has been a draught of elixir, arousing new energies and giving new life.

The Chicago & Northwestern has been foremost of all in bringing about this happy change; its management has been ever in the van in the effort te give the public immediate advantage of every advance made in the direction of railway improvement; its aim is to lead all others, and its constant and growing popularity attests its success.

To this great railway no small part of the credit of developing the Great West is due; its lines have been pushed steadily forward into unoccupied territory, thus opening new fields constantly and enabling the tide of emigration to flow into sections that would otherwise have lain dormant for years. The sagacity of this policy to-day stands revealed, and enables the Chicago & Northwestern Railway to safely rely upon the intention of the people to patronize this early and constant friend of the Great West.