#health #postcards #railroad #atsf #kit_carson #fort_carson #granada #kansas_pacific #pueblo ## Territorial Notes, pg. 2 "It is generally, but erroneously, believed that the Colorado desert is an unproductive, sandy waste. The greater portion of the basin possesses an excellent soil, is covered with a stunted growth of mosquit and other trees, and is capable of producing anything the climate will permit, provided it is well watered. The feasibility of introducing an abundance of water for its irrigation from the Colorado was demonstrated by the surveys made by the original projectors of the scheme of reclamation, and more recently by the surveys of the Texas & Pacific Railway." --- We are informed by Mr. Carpenter, who returned from Carson Tuesday evening, that eight miles of railroad iron had reached there up to Monday evening. A special iron train arrives daily. - Leader --- During the months of April and May over one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land were taken up along the line of the A.&T. road, fifty-five thousand of which were settled under the homestead law. --- The railroad from Kit Carson to Fort Lyon will soon be ready for use. Many of the Kit Carson merchants are removing to Granada. --- The condition of stock in Huerfano county, and, in fact in every portion of Southern Colorado from which we have heard is very fine. --- The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad has made an important change in the term of sale of its lands. Hereafter sales on eleven years' time, with no payments except annual interest on purchase money for the first four years. --- The Kansas Pacific railroad has received over one thousand tons of iron, to be used on the extension of their road to Pueblo. ## The Origin of Postal Cards, pg.4 The origin on the present postal card illustrates the truth of the adage how great events may come from little things. Mr. Rowland Hill, the great English postal reformer, is the pioneer to whom the world is indebted for this valuable institution. It was suggested to Mr. Hill by the following incident: One day, while standing near a humble door, he saw a poor woman look long and earnestly at a letter and then decline it. Curious to know the cause, he waited till the postman had gone, and then received the information that the letter was all on the outside; than she and her husband had agreed upon a system of signs, such as variations in the lines of characters, by which she could learn whether he was well or ill, or coming home soon, or wished her to come to him, and so on. Struck with the hardships which the want of proper postage must inflict on the poor, the great man conceived the idea of the penny postage, and so the world is indebted, like the Chicago fire, to a poor woman - in the one case for a vast calamity, int he other for a great blessing. -- *Chicago Inter-Ocean* Original Source: ![[trinidad-enterprise-1873-07-25-atsf-drg-postcard.pdf]]