Re: Old South Park Surveys

Hank,

If you think that the UP was raping the South Park, think again. If you look at the situation, Gould was siphoning funds from everywhere to keep his house of cards afloat. He was taking funds from UP, the South Park, the MP, anywhere he could get it.

Don't subscribe to the Mac Poor theory of the South Park's abandonment. I've read it too, but as a practical matter it doesn't hold water. Remember, when the Silver Panic of the 1890's hit (back then "Panic" was coequal to Economic Depression), everybody suffered and thanks to Jay Gould and his machinations, the UP was on very shaky ground.

By 1893, Gould was dead, the South Park traffic had dried up and the entire UP as in receivership. If you read between the lines of the UP annual reports, you can see that the UP was growing much weaker financially as the years went on. As part of the UP system the South Park went down with the Mother Ship.

If you subscribe to the Mac Poor theory, 50 years later in 1943, the UP was still responsible for the South Park's abandonment. Not so, not so at all.

Rick