The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-06-07
THE UTAH & NORTHERN
An Interview With the Pioneer
Railroad Builder.
The Road Has Left No Enemies Be-
hind It.

Learning that Col. Dunn, the Superintend-N
ent Ut Construction of the u. a. N. Railway,
was III The CITY and that he Designed 10 leave
for The ,ernluus a. all early hour yesterday
morning, d reporter vi the MINER visited the
gentleman at Ills rooms for the purpose Of as
certainiDg data III regard to the road, the
prospects OF its reaching Butte at ALI early
Gay, and the bottom facts IN regard to the
Divide lnIbrogiiU. In relation to the first
the I olonel informed as that the track was
lac to within one mile OF Melrose, and that
all possible haste would be made to extend
the road BuLteward. When it would reach
here The Col. was, at present, unable to say.
Upon reference being made to the fact that
conflicting reports We're ailoat III regard to the
difficulty between the company and Mr..
Wund-rlicll at DIVIDE, and upon our request
ing him to state the present status OF affairs,
the Col. made III substance the follow ing
statement. He said it had always been aud
was still the desire of The company to respect
the rights of every individual upon whose
premises it was found necessary to build the
load; that since it left Franklin,
from which point he had taken
charge Of Its construction, 10
difficulty had been experienced in making
satisfactory settlements for damages with
those WHO claimed them by reason OF the
road passing over their property. Many par
"NS h"o 'oAuAhpoAiy SiVoA p"O ioou OuC ilSubi
of way through their premises where the ap-
parent damages were really considerable, but
they claimed that the presence of the road
enhanced the value OF their remaining prop
critics TO such all extent That they were large
gamers by the small sacrifice they had made.
In only two Instances one in Madison and
one in Beaverhead county, had commissioners
before been appointed to assess damages. In
each case the awards of the commissioner
were accepted by the parties to the arbitration
and SO far as learned were e%ntire.y satlsfacto-I
ry. The highest award that was made in the
cases referred to was $50 per acre. Until the
graders reached Wunderlich's there have been
no measures taken by any party or parties
looking to the blocking OF the pro-
gress of the road. Every person
over whose property the road has passed
has manifested a disposition to deal fairly
aud Justly with the company, and the COM
pany having manifested the same spirit it
has eft no enemies OH the line of the road.
When the graders reached the divide it
was found necessary that the road should pass
over the ranches of Messrs. Burdess, Wun-
derlich and Forrest. As a satisfactory agree
ment as to damages could not be arrived at
between the Company and the gentlemen
named, a commission consisting of
Messrs. j. r. Clark, Jos. A. Hyde and
G.. b. Houser was appointed by Judge Gal
braith to assess the damages. The commits
sion awarded to Mr.. Burdess $500, to Mr..
Wunderlich $720, and to Mr.. Forrest $500
damages. Messrs. Burdess and Forrest &C
cepted the award of the commission and
decided the land covered by the road way to
the company. But Mr.. Wunderlich would
not abide by the decision of the commission
and forbade the graders from entering his
field to prosecute their work. As the line of
the road passes over only a small corner of Mr..
Wunderlich's meadow and thence through
sage brush land his demand for a larger
amount of damages cannot be acceded TO,
He, however, proposes to permit the road tC
pass through his ranch, provided the COM
pany will pay him $500; build a station al
his place and guarantee its continuance there
As the Col. is not empowered to grant these
conditions he refuses to consider them. A:
Mr.. Wunderlich offered resistance t.
the graders entering his field he ha:
been arrested and is now under
bonds for his appearance before the Distric
COurt to answer to the charge of resistins
the prosecution of the work. This matte
can terminate only one way. The road evu
be built. 1t may be obstrucied fo
a short time, but it will, neverthe
less, be built through Mr.. Wunder
lich's rancho aud fastened ON to Butte. The
Col. says the company does not desire to de
T prive ~uljustfy any one Of his property. l
stands ready to pay full damages which may
be sustained by parties by reason of the roat
passing over their premises. Further con
~cessions it cannot make.