, 1874-04-02
9noet Snuud 1ispateh.

70 NorrHERx PAcrric RAILROAD. The
Philadelphia Press, which has means Of
knowing whereof it afirms equal to any
journal in the country. says that it is
the Intention Of the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company to commence work
Immediately on the West Division Of
that road. and push the work as fast as
possible. Two hundred ind thirty
miles Of road, it is asserted by the COM
pany, will be completed thisyear. The
Press says the company will devote its
entire attention to the Western Division
the coming year, considering it unwise
under the present hostile attitude Of the
Indian tribes west of the Missouri, to
attempt to complete any great portion
of the Eastern Division this season.
The company claims to be in good finan-
cial condition, Notwithstanding the ma.
ny newspaper reports to the contrary.
This statement corresponds in the
main with our own information from
semi i-official sources, as we intimated
over two months ago; and ze have good
reason for believing that the contempla-
ted work on this Division includes the
extension of the present road to Seattle
on one end and to Portland on the 9TH
er. We have good reason to believe
that this measure has the approval of
the Judgment of nearly or quite every
member Of the Board of Directors, as
the best for the interests of the railroad.
the only opposition to it being on ac-
count of the private interest which some
of the Directors have in the Tacoma
Land Company, which must give way
or involve the Railroad Company in
the odium and ultimate ruin which has
always attended corporations controlled
by inside rings for purposes Of private
speculation. ~,
The reasons for this are manifest
Railroads must seek established centres
of trade or those centres must seek 9TH
or arteries of circulation. All experience
has proved that while railroads materi-
ally aid in developing the natural re-
sources Of points and sections, they
create nothing and reverse no law Of
nature; they make no town where moth
ing exists to constitute the elements
upon which towns are made. Every
experiment heretofore. made upon the
hypothesis that a railroad depot or ter
minus could create town, without any
other advantage, have proved utter fail-
ures. We recollect when it was thought
by many shrewd Spectators that the
building of the Panama Railroad would
create large city at Aspinwall, which
would be powerful rival of San Fran
cisco for the Pacific trade on both con-
tinents; an almost equally brilliant ca
reer was predicted for Dunkirk, N. Y,
Duluth. Kalama, Oakland. Vallejo, etc.
Did Dunkirk check the growth or i'm
pair the commercial prosperity of Buff
falo in the least degree? Has Kalama
diminished the trade of Portland dol
lar; OF Oakland or Vallejo that of San
Franciscot On the contrary, the growth
of these rival railroad towns has materi
ally contributed to the prosperity Of the
great commercial centre.
Now Seattle is as much the CONNER
cial centre Of Puget Sound as Portland
is OF Oregon, or San Francisco Of Califor-
mia; its trade is more than the aggregate
of all the other towns upon the Sound
combined, Tacoma included; the ships
ping manifests show. that not less than
three-fourths Of the importa.ions to the
Sound pass through the hands Of Seattle
merchants and warehouse men. Of the
transportation by railroad through Ta-
coma, Seattle will have ten tons tor its
own trade for every ton for the trade of
Tacoma. yKAN. .NEi. .g2,NfgE SJtS
II is now. nearly nine months since
Tacoma had the prestige of being the
railroad terminus, with all the imitation
that's large number of spectators could
give it. and yet the local paper recently
announced as most important inl-
provement, the proposed building of
a private residence "a by 80 feet. to be
adorned by "the first windowJblinds in
Tacoma" 1t has shown much less pro-
gress than was made by either Duluth
or Kalams during the first nine months
of their existence, and exhibits less
encouraging prospects for the future.
Seattle in the mean time has maintained
its commercial supremacy without the
least apparent check, has invested more
inpermanent private improvements than
all that have been made in Tacoma outs
side the railroad, and has suffered no
depreciation in real estate values in
consequence of the adverse action of
therailroad managers. IL
Railroad men must seek commercial
centres to promote the interests Of their
roads, or suffer the inevitable loss of
the carrying business being turned to
other channels. They can neither make
trade nor divert it from its natural CEN
tres.
AWARD TO H. A. WEBsIER.-By private
letter from Washington we learn that
the award of th, Commissioners ap-
pointed to assess the damages to Mr..
Webser, in extending an Indian reserva-
t;o,, .ovor h;a ;nurovem eY1ts. has been