Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-04-08

tana is already competed for by q
rival line, the Utah & Northern rail,
road, owned and operated by the
Union Pacific railroad Company
The history of the other Pacific
railroads demonstrates clearly that
to build up local business yielding a
sufficient income, is the work of
years of patient and persistent effort.
Hence, for years to come the North
ern Pacific will have only such Ore
gon and Washington Territory bus
mess as is commanded by the Ore
gon Railway & Navigation system of
lines, to rely on for a sure and sutli
cient source of revenue from its
road between the upper Missouri and
the Pacific ocean. But even this
traffic will only be up to the tinan-
cial requirements of the company, if
it can be secured at paying, non,
competitive rates. Whenever it shall
have to be divided by the Northern
Pacific with other lines at competi-
tive rates, it will at once lose its
profitable character.
Again, one of the principal causes
of the former collapse of the North
ern Pacific enterprise was the con-
struction, in it's infancy, of unpro-
ductive lines. 1t cannot be denied
that the construction, first of all in
those days, of the lines from Duluth
to the Mississippi, and from Tacoma
to Kalama in western Washington
Territory, was fatal mistake. 1t
resulted, allowing accrued interest
on cost of construction, in an abso-
lutely dead investment of at least
ten millions OF dollars,
The credit of the Northern Paci-
fc may, to be sure, be considered as
re- established, though the mortgage
Indebtedness it has assumed is out
of all proportion to its present in
come. But it may also be consid-
cred as doubtful at least. whether
the proposed general mortgage of
s25 900 per mile will suffice to COM
plete the road to its full proposed
extent OF 2,Gl9 miles, including the
branch over the Cascade range and
the line on the Columbia river. AS
no one in or out of the management
of the Northern Pacific is able to
make, NJ this time, anything like a
reliable estimate of the cost of the
main line to the mouth of Snake
river, it would seem to be the part
of prudence not to entertain pr, ma
ture or unnecessary construction
projects which may involve the COM
pany in expenditures in excess of it's
pecuniary resources available from
the proceeds of the consolidated
mortgage, but to husband its re-
sources at least until its real finan.
cial needs are definitely asccrtained
by the actual location of lines and
definite estimates of cost. 1t would
appear much wiser to limit construc-
struction, for the present, to the
building Of such portions of the pro-
iected Northern Pacific system as
are necessary to insure the success
of the enterprise as whole; that is,
to tho completion at the earliest pos
sible moment, of the main line to
Snake rive, without which compile
ton the company, should financial
embarrassment again overtake it.,
would inevitably again collapse into
lifeless fragments.
This policy would seem the more
commcndable, inasmuch as it il en-
tirely out of the question that any
line or lines that the Northern Pacl-
tic may build west of Wallula, to-
wards the Pacific ocean, can be made
remunerative before the junction of
the main line with them. There is
no population at all living to-day on
the north bank of the Columbia river,
which the Northern Pacific would
have to follow; and again, between
the mouth of the Snake river and
Tacoma, along the line Of the pro-
posed Cascade branch, a distance of
24O miles, there are, according to
the last census, not over II 900 in
locitt!tos HC SC9b VI lIlt lISU
mentioned line would be between
seven and eight millions, and that
of the last mentioned between six
and seven millions. 1t may be taken
for granted that neither of them
would pay operating expenses until,
as stated, the completion of the main
line. For, these lines wouX cey-
tainly have little business of their
own, certainly could not get any of
the Oregon Railway and Navigation
business at paying rates, and the
country along the Pen d'Oreille
division line is as yet so thinIv pop
ulatated that no considerable traffic
can be expected from it for some
years to come. Meantime, the heavy
interest and sinking fund charges
corresponding to the cost of the Co.
lumbia river and the Cascade branch
line, would uselessly deplete the
company's treasury.
The parties interested in the Ore
gon Railway and Navigation Go. do
not offer these considerations, of
course, without reference to the i'll