Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1865-11-15
From The Oshkosh Northwestern
Railroad from Oshkosh 10 the Wisconsin and
Mississippi Rivers.

The value of Railroad or any other
thorouchfare, TO a community depends,
upon the amount of property seeking
transportation upon it, and the saving of
cost over other thoroughfares. In this
point Of view, direct road from the lum-
Der regions to the farming regions desti-
tute of lumber Is evidently the most val
liable investment of capital possible to
the community through which it passes
Every fifteen miles of distance saved in
the transportation Cf thousand feet of
lumber by railroad, is one dollar saved in
the cost of transportation to the owner
besides the profit earned by the carrier
In other words it adds 81 to the value of
the lumber in the trees standing in the
forest. So Of wheat and other grain
every fifty miles saved is equivalent to
five cents bushel added to the value of
the wheat in the field This is rue of
two transportation routes that are both
continuous, one being fifty miles longer
than the other, but otherwise equal in
their capacity 10 move the property it
IS much less than the truth in respect to
two routes, of which the shortest is con-
tinuous and the longest is broken by in
tersecting roads and subject to charge ut
short rates en- each of the roads orer
which the property must be carried. All
persons engaged In trade where property
Is carried over lntersectIng roads, under
stand this. The Chicago and Northwest
ern Road viii not furnish q car to carry
lumber to Minnesota Junction-neither
viii the Milwaukee & La Crosse Road
furnish cars at Minnesota Junction to
carry lumber thence to Milwaukee, at as
low rate by fifty per cent (taking the
charge together) as n company running
direct road TO Milwaukee would take it
through It is speaking within hounds to
say that direct road 200 miles long will
carry one thousand feet Of lumber over
its line one dollar cheaper than two inter
sectiug lines, carrying the property the
same distance, and proport; ,nately of
grain aud all other property. If therefore
a direct line from the pineries Of Northern
Wisconsin saves no more than fifty miles
of distance the whole saving by distance
and directness, will be two dollars per
thousand on lumber and ten cents per
bushel on grain, over the intersect;ng
and longer lines with which it would com
pete
Now what would the saving amount to
on the lumber cut on the Wolf River
alone 1t is not easily calculated The
amount of sawed pine turned out annually
from the Wolf River ia one hundred mill
! lion feet, besides shingles, square timber
and oak. \ saving of two dollars a thou
sand feet, would be 100000 per annum,
! in the case supposed on the item Of pine
! lumber alone. But the facts are much
/ stronger than the supposition. The
/ direct distance from here to Dubuque by
/ way of Mineral Point Is $50 miles; by
/ the Northwestern road and its interseeting
/ lines it i about 800 miles or double the
/ distance and the charges for cars are
/ what might be expected, more than double
as great IS would be necessary To paw for
/ carrying the property direct This COM
F. parison will hold good of every point be
| tween here and Dubuque, and on the Hi,
nois Central Rail Road because they are
ali compelled to use intersectins lines
and 70 pass over the same excessive dis
tances. R:3on TO get lumber from Fond
du Lac must have carried forty-fve miles
over two roads-instead of from here. six
teen miles. ever one road. Portage Citv
must use two rOads-some ninety miles
from Fond du Lac-instead of one road
/ sixty miles long. from here Mineral
Point If 1t would have our lumber, must
pay for carrying IL some 500 miles over
three or four intersecting lines. instead Of
/ 30 miles over one road. ami so on
Of ali the points below Mineral Point on
/ the Illinois Central Road
Il Is obvious that two dollars q thou
sand on lumber does not express ANYTHING
near the reduction that the road to Mineral
| Point would effect in the cost of carving
our lumber TO the places named. But it
may be said. the demand for lumber from
I that region Of country, would not absorb
our supply and we would still have to look
to other points. Graneed-but the de-
mani from Wisconsin, iowa, Northwest
orn Illinois and Southern Minnesota.
/ would he large enough to raise our prices
/ 1t non 70 the who'e amount which would
be saved IN transportation, to the amount
of s. per thousand. which would be about
one-aalf the actual saving and whatever
I Of the saving of the cost Of transporter
{ ton would not be added 70 the piue. would
/ he so much saved by the consumers Of
/ lumber at the places named, in couse-
Z queuce of the building of the road and
/ this Is rs IL ought 20 be The benefits OF
such works should not be monnpoiized bv
4 either producers or consumers, but should
/ be. and almost invariably are, divided be-
I tween them
The saving by the consumers can be
put down at another $4,000 To com
plete the subject of the saving on the
movement OF property westward, II is
necessary TO add the savings on lumber