Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1876-02-04
Communicated.
RAILROADS FOR MON.
TANA.

IC0SI UuU WcSl. IL C1n Dr nOLnIng WOl
= than round about way Of securing a
east and west railroad connection with III
; world, of which it can be said lit is belt,
than nOne." If no other road was pr,
Jected. If no other road were open 10 iii
provrment, than this roundabout line,
should command the careful attention.
not the approval, of Our citizens; but y
) we all know that there is another rout
open to Improvement, it would Obviousl
be foolish ST US to commit our fortunes t
the North sxd S,uth line until we hay
carefully considered the mer ts and deme]
: ! Its OF both routes. The direct East an,
West line, as surveyed by the No,ther
; Pacific Railroad Company between Bis
marck and Montana, IS acknowledged b.
. al to he the natural and best railroad lin
:, between Montana and the East il it cal
: be built. If there could be assurance o
a its construction. within two or three wear
$50 as to relieve our trade and travel from
1.-THE onerous tariffs encountered through
: the cost of long teamng and hard rail
; road MONOPOLY, no further discussio,
would probably be necessary; the op,niol
of the people OF Montana in that even
would be almost unanimously in its favor
There was q period, 4 few years ago, whel
the coming Of the Northern Pacific Rail
road was regarded as almost a certainty
but circumstances bankrupted that com
pany. 5nt, instead of having abundance
of capital which might enable it to prose
cute the work vigorously to completion, i
now seeks financial aid from the Territory
OF Montana. its present most important
ohj ct,ve point At the the same time, as
we learn persons interested IN the Utah
Northern Railroad. q narrow gauge line
which is now extended abou: eighty miles
from Ogden, seek to obtain subsidy from
our Territory to enable them to build their
road to the Montana line, which is abou,
two hundred miles southwark from Hele.
ma, or perhaps 10 extoud it farth.r if they
can.
Supposing the security for the faithful
duplication of Montana bonds to he equal
| ly good in the two cases, we may next con
slider which If the two is likely to be mos
advantageous to Montana II, in either
case, We should get an East and West rail.
road route to the East, and in the same
time, no argument is required to prove
that the policy Of Montana would be 70
encourage the completion of the Northern
Pacific. and allow the North and South
line to come along. if need be, hereafter to
help it along, when the Territory should
require it. The necessity for it, however,
in the present condition of Montana affairs,
would disappear with the opening of the
Northern Pacific line eastward. bringing
'us, as It would, within about eleven hun
dred miles of Lake Superior and within
fifteen hundred miles by rail of Chicago
The North aud South line then, if it were
completed, although it might be useful,
could he no more than a local road for
Montana. not the route our people would
select either for travelling or for shipping
merchandise or the products of The Terri.
tory.
Nothing short of the improhab 'lity Of
the coming within 4 reasonable time OF
the Northern Pacific road, and the almost
certainty Of the coming OF the Utah
Northern narrow gauge road, could war
rant the people of Montana in turning the
cold shoulder upon their Nothern Paclfic
friends and pledging their fortunes and
their energies in behalf or the Utah North
ern. Have We this 'mprobability on the
one hand and this certainty on the other?
These are the very points which it is the
duty as well as the interest OF our people
to st1dy. These are vital considerations,
and without clear understanding OF
them it might not be difficult for US as a
people to make q giievOus blundcr; in
fact, TO ruin our future out and out
While a failure on the part of either con-
cern to whom We might extend helping
hand would be disastrous to US as ccm-
the degree of success which
would follow the openig OF these rival
routs would not By any meanes be the
same. And this Is very important mat
ter, which should not dc lost sight of IN
the discussion.
The success to Montana which could
attend the opening Of the narrow gauge
with the Union Pacific at o.
den or the Central Pacific at Corinne
would necessarily be but partial, in conse-
4uence Of several circumstances which, II
IS our duty to face and not to shirk
While such IN outlet would be better
han the present wagon and stage road
with the great through cas-,
and west line, We must reflect upon the
action of monOp0lies connected with It in
order to judge how much better. In the
first place. if we had no east and west
railroad of our own, which could act as
rival line, 1t is obvious that 60 far Is Mon !:
lana interests would be involved. the
Utah Northern would stand as monopo-
" and the Union Pacific and the moaopo-
" would stand just where it now stands.
held in martial check during only a mart of