The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-01-04

CoSG u laying aCOOA Aulo USVWOCh ~ IL
and Fargo, over the value of the iron rail i
taken up, the other half being included i p
" Improvements and betterments I" $40,27I
for bridges, culverts and cattle yards; Sal Il
216, the balance due from the company oj r
its share of the cost of laying with steel rail |.
on the road from st. Paul to Sank Rapids and \
$16,325 for repairs of docks at Duluth. TIL 4
unprecedented snow of LIST winter caused Al |,
addition to the account of $56,207. Deduct Z
ing these items ($254,690) and the operating
expenses are only 1894 per cent of the earn
ings. Under the plan of reorganization, all
expenses for keeping the road in high condi ,
ton, and for providing additional equipment i,
are to come out of the earnings and durinl :
the year there was expended for betterment
and improvements, $780,, $50; new equipment
$212,032; total, $514,962; to this shoul0 ~
added, for interest paid and accrued, $159,537
making the expenditures, in addition to oper
ating expenses, rentals and taxes, $674,50O
Regarding the condition of the road, the re
port gives the most important features as fol
lows.
IN MINNESOTA.
The road frsm st. Paul to Sank Rapids, 81
miles, jointly used and maintained by this
company and the st. Paul, Minnesota and
Manitoba railway company, has been laid
during the year with steel rails. From Sauk
Rapids to Brainerd the iron is comparatively
new. Steel rails also have been laid during
the year on 1928 miles between Brainerd and
Fargo, which, with the II miles laid the pre-
ceding year, completes the entire distance
between those places. Steel rails are gradu.
ally being laid Oh the "a miles between
Thomson junction and Duluth, owned jointly
by the Northern Pacific and st. Paul and Du.
luth companies, 20Sa tons having been laid
during the last year. The work of renewing
bridges, ~culverts and high ~trestles on this
joint road has been continued. AT Duluth,
in preparation for the new elevator system,
700 lineal feet of substantial dock have been
built since the commencement of last winter;
also 6,O06 feet of new pile trestle and track
have been built, using 5000 running feet Of
piles, the entire improvement costing So, 500.]
In addition to this there have been rebuilt
5,279 feet of pile track over water, at a cost Of
$14,327 in material and labor, which has been
charged to operating expenses. At St. Paul
the filling and grading of the ID acres &C
quired for freight tracks, yard and buildings
are so far advanced that a freight house 400 by
40 feet has been completed thereon, and the
company now does its freight work on its
own grounds. The expenditure incurred on
this account to June 80 was $11,O25.
The lot given by the city of St. Paul as a site
for the offices of the company has been graded
and superstructure is under way. The rooms,
beyond what is required for the various de. \
partments of the company, should rent for
enough to pay the interest On the cost of the
building, estimated at $4,000.
IN DAKOTA,
94,e72 new ties, principally oak, have been
placed in the track, and "a miles Of gravel
blasting completed where most required; 25,-
$40 feet of new siding have been put in, and
Is pile bridges rebuilt. The track, in various
places, is being raised, and additional snow
fence constructed, to provide against the pos
sibility of such trouble from snow as was e4-
perienced last winter. There
have also been various improvements in the
building as freight and passenger depots,
The most important improvements of this
character, however, were at Fargo, consisting |
of a new brick, slate reef freight house $50
by 40 feet, costing $5,4l2, and a new brick
engine house with ~ stalls, and a brick, slate
roof shop IS by 40 feet, costing $3o,924-the
total cost being $45 1886. This is lsssened to
the company by a donation from the citizens
of Fargo of $4,000, and by the sale of the old
round and freight houses and the land apper- |
tanning to them, for which the sum of $685.
965, in cash and on time, was realized. On
account of the increasing local business on
this division, and the construction and extern
sion of the line beyond the Missouri and up
the Yellowstone, it will be advisable to re-
place the iron rails, as it may be necessary II
take them up, with steel. With 50 much new
road to be built, and so much to do at the
front, il will be economy to put the COM
pleted road in such high condition as to re-
quire little expenditure TO keep it 50.
OF THE PACIFIC DIVISION,
General Sprague, the superintendent, after
setting forth the enewals of bridges, ~trestles
and ties, says: sit is believed that the load
heu, ITdch anu stIuCtuIeS, JoSetnor Win tne
rolling stock and machinery of the division,
are in first class condition and that trains
could be run with safety at the rate of forty
five miles per hour if desired"
During the year 81 miles of the Casselton
branch have been built, and an organization
for this road has been made under the laws of
Dakota, called ''The Casselton Branch R. R.
Co.." with a capital of 5000, 600. When the
road is completed to Goose river, the. COM