The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-06-08
THE RAILROAD.
Probability Of Its Extensio. IN p..

Mr.. Washington Dunn, superintendent ,f
construction, and Mr.. George Wolcott oh;s.
engineer OF the Utah & Northern r,i,r.oa
, renamed In Butte two days and left for D.or
Lodge on Monday morning. Fro, tb,, no;n
they Will proceed to Priests Pas. uhio,i ~.
'os'r'p Is no" surveying, or has recently
surveyed and thence will leave for H.lou,
afterwards returning to the terminu. hv w,v
OF the Jefferson valley. During their s,,y
mere they made intelligent inquiry As to tb,
resources OF the Butte district and of ,ha
country which would be tribrta,x ;, ,,..o.
should it be extended to this city.
oh sunday, they visited tho Alice and other
great properties of the camp in com,,nx
WIN Mr' W. A. Clark, and were given sbund-
ant opportunity of ascertaininc our c.nahi,i-
Ties OF production. They were surnrised Of
Inc extended developments of the Alice
oonahzaa and the vast amount ofore IN sight and
were much pleased with the general ASPECT of
'he camp In the evening a conference be-
tween the railroad representatives, w. A..
Ciark and Judge Davis wa, held at the office
OF inc latter gentleman, and the subject of
railroad connection with Butte was cx-
haustlVely discussed. Messrs. Woicott and
Dunn, II should be understood, are inv est
ed with no power to direct to wha,
point the read shall be extern ded
but are required by Gould and Dillon to
gather all possible information relative to the
mineral, commercial and stock raising re-
sources of the different sections of the Terri
tory, and to post themselves as to The quickest
and most practicable route to be followed.
Messrs. Davis and Clark therefore gave them
all statistical information relative TO the
advantages of an extension to this city and
county which was shown to be the center of
business, population and wealth, in which
Deer Lodge county is increasing much more
rapidly than is any other county of the Ter
r'tory. by coming to Butte it was demon
strated that the road would open up the great
mineral belt of Montana, along which during
the next five years some produc' sc mines are
sure to be developed. Numerous other rea-
SONS Showing the ACCESSIBILITY of building the
road in this direction, and which have al
ready been advanced by the MINER, were
alduced, aud tie railroad gentlemen were
free to confess that tie future of thi. section
Of the Territory is sufficiently promising to
justify Gould and Dillon in giving us tie
ticablc moment. The difficulties of building
the road, however, exert an important effect
on the final selection of Il route. Through
the Beaverhead valley no material obstruc-
tons were encountered, but in the Big Hole
canyon, Mr.. Wolcott is OF the opinion thai a
Guilty once successfully overcome, construction
could proceed without any unusual expense
as far AS Wunderlicl's, and after that the cost
of building would depend very largely on the
route chosen. If the park route to Helena
was decided upon, some trouble would be en-
perienced between Boulder and Helena, and a
long tunnel would probably have to be cut.
From Butte to the divide, however, the
grade would not at any place exceed so feet to
the mile. Tie Priests pass route, 1t is be-
iieved presents no inst" mountabie barriers,
aud the road might possibly be constructed in
that direction at a less cXpenS than would be
incurred over the park route. II, however,
both routes shout be pronounced impractical
bic, i; was asked whether two roads would
not he built, one to Butte and one to Helena,
but IN letter lately receivedby Mr.. from
Sidney Dillon, the latter stated that thc tinan-
ces OF the company are not in a condition to
warrant the expenditure Of SO Iuu,h money,