Bozeman avant courier., 1873-07-11
Progress Of the Northern Pacific,

i the NorIhefp sASs ilroad were iald as lar
as Bismarck. at the crossing Of the Missouri
river. This point is 452 miles vest Of Lake
Superior. The same amount OF road built
from the head Of the Lake toward Chicago,
| would have passed forty miles beyond it, or
/ have linked the head Of Lake Superior with
the head of Lake Michigan, exactly. Ifb,iiit
toward the east, along. the south shore OF
Lake Superior. it would have reached 70
miles beyond tho Sallt Ste Marie.a z
1t is a commentary on the vasf5isss of the
undertaking, to say, that if the whole 1.777755
miles of road between Lake Sup erior and TIM
Pacific, were to be competed only at the
same rate which has marked The progress of
the road to .he Missouri river it would re-
quire till the lst day of january 1882! But
we may expect the entire construction of the
road five or six years sooner, that is BIZ 1876
or 1877, for the following reasons.
w. Minor Roberts, Chief Engineer, said
iii 1869, that the whole road could be easily
built il need be. hy 1878. Much more easily
can the 1923 miles of road now remaining
be built by 1877. at the outside, as every fin
isied mile makes through line ID ore neces-
sary-
The 452 miles built. was financially ,the most
difficult part OF the road to build, as the en-
teip prise was new. bonds unsold, country uri-
settled, no great commercial artery tapped.
and the road unremuneratiyc. But now the
thirty million loan has been taken,s the line
OF the road has been settled and cultivated, a
thousand miles OF established east ana west
Enavigation OH the upper Missouri connected
with the Great Lakes, thereby tapping the
rich Montana trade, which in connection with
the Red River trade, the local trade OF the
line, the Government contract for transpol ta-
ton of. army t6rcs and Indian supplies. will
furnish sound financial and practical busl
ness standing to the road and enable it 10
extend westward hereafter, with great
rapidity. 3fkt e4.ss M a
{ In the foregoing statements no account has
been taken of the fact that the road is also
being built from tlle Pacific end OF the line !;
that 65 miles is already completed that 500
men are already at work in that region; that
by the summer of 1875 Idaho will be reached
from the west; that by the same date Cen
stral Montana will be reached from the east !;
and that every consideration will then pI ess
upon the Company, and the country at large,
to see that the road is speedily completed.
The Union Pacific road was delayed in the
same way at first, or rather the Central Pa
&c 80 ssolilnarcd with the N. P.-that Pacific
route being worked up by western capitalists
from the west. instead Of being carried on as
the N. p. from the east end of the route, by
eastern capitalists. The Central Pacific was
building, fighting obstacles, and hanging be-
tween life and death on the Sierras, for at
least four years, before the Union Pacific, at
the ca.tcrn end OF the line, began that swift
and triumphant movement across the conti-
nent, which ended May 10th 1869, by meeting
the Central at Ogden. a
In one day OF, April. 1869, ten miles Of rail
were laid on the Union Pacific, by eight men!
This feat will yet be paralelled on the North
ern Pacific, By men of Montana and Idaho,
who will hurry the later and western work
of tile Northern line, as the men Of Nebraska
and Wyoming hurried the later and eastern
work of the Central line. The identical
causes that swiftly completed the Union Pa
cific from Ctyenne, Wyoming, to Ogden,
Utah, 533 miles, will make short work OF the
Northern Pacific between Bozepan, Mon
tana, and Lake Pend dOreille, Idaho. 4so
miles, and we may reasonably expect that
final link to be inserted by July 4th, 1876.
Superior Times.