This is a bill in equity filed by the Denver & New Orleans Railroad company, a Colorado corporation, owning and operating a railroad in that state between Denver and Pueblo, a distance of about 125 miles, against the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, a Kansas corporation, owning and operating a railroad in that state from the Missouri river, at Kansas City, westerly to the Colorado state line, and also operating from there, under a lease, a road in Colorado from the state line to Pueblo, built by the Pueblo & Arkansas Valley Railroad Company, a Colorado corporation. The two roads so operated by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Company form a continuous line of communication from Kansas City to Pueblo, about 634 miles. The general purpose of the suit is to compel the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Company to unite with the Denver & New Orleans Company in forming a through line of railroad transportation to and from Denver over the Denver & New Orleans road, with all the privileges as to exchange of business, division of rates, sale of tickets, issue of bills of lading, checking of baggage, and interchange of cars that are or may be customary with connecting roads, or that are or may be granted to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company, another Colorado corporation, also owning and operating a road parallel to that of the Denver & New Orleans Company between Denver and Pueblo, or to any other railroad company competing with the Denver and New Orleans for Denver business.
The facts on which the case depends are these: When the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Company reached Pueblo with its line it had no connection of its own with Denver. The Denver & Rio Grande road was built and running between Denver and Pueblo, but the gauge of its track was different from that of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Other companies occupying different routes had, at the time, substantially the control of the transportation of passengers and freight between the Missouri river and Denver. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Company, being desirous of competing for this business, entered into an arrangement, as early as 1879, with the Denver & Rio Grande Company for the formation of a through line of transportation for that purpose. By this arrangement a third rail was to be put down on the track of the Denver & Rio Grande road, so as to admit of the passage of cars continuously over both roads, and terms were agreed on for doing the business and for the division of rates. The object of the parties was to establish a new line which could be worked with rapidity and economy, in competition with the old ones. In the division of prices the Denver & Rio Grande Company was allowed compensation at the rate of a mile and a half for every mile of actual haul. As the distance from the Missouri river to Pueblo by this route was about the same as to Denver by the other routes, the through rates over this line to and from Denver were usually made about the same as the rates to and from Pueblo. This was necessary to compete successfully with other lines for Denver business. Afterwards another agreement, known as the 'tripartite agreement,' was entered into between the Atchison, Topeka & Snata Fe, the Denver & Rio Grande, and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies, by which rates were established between Denver and the Missouri river, and arrangements made for a division of business among these companies, and for the regulation of their conduct to wards each other, with a view to avoiding competition between themselves or from others.