The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-05-03
WHERE SHALL THE TERMINUS
BE?

and j. Ross CLARK had been appointed COM
missioners to assess and determine the dam
ages which certain parties at Divide We're
supposed to sustain by reason OF the track of
the U. l. N. railway passing through their
grounds. We do not refer to this particular
case for the purpose of commenting upon it,
but as its existence opens up the whole ques-
ton of the rights of a few land proprieters
on the one side and the mutual benefit of all
classes of citizens and the prosperity of Butte
and vicinity on the other, it becomes a matter
of serious consideration for our citizens and
challenges the free expression of their views.
The right of an individual to dispose of his
landed estate as he may see fit is not, in the
abstract, questioned. He may possess ana
enjoy it, but when such possession and enjoy
ment inlel ftres with the public good, the peo-
pie or the government may, upon com
plying with certain requirements of the law,
dispossess the owner and appropriate the
property to their or it's use. This right of the
government, people or corporations to take
private property for public use is recognized
w our StdbulGSs 40 u FlCAititb" I" "
wards the enforcement of this right, the COM
missioners above named were appointed to
assess the damages which the parties at Di-
vide should receive from the railway COM
pany. Although the right exists by which
the U Il n. railway company may force its
way to the suburbs of Butte, as it will through
Divide, it must not he supposed that it
will go to that expense to accommodate our
citizens. Railroad building, even where
the tight of way Is freely granted, is costly
work, consequently wherever a company can
shorten a llne and at the came time secure
and control the transportation of the imports
and exports of a place, it is to its interest to
do so.
APPLYING this self -eyident truth to the case
in point it will be seen that the Utah
and Northern company would act i'll
the direct line of its Interests 10y bringing its
road no nearer TO Butte than Silver Bow,
and from thence pursue its onward conrse
down the Deer Lodge valley. No one is so
blind that he cannot see that every passenger
coming to or going from Butte to the east,
and every pound of incoming and outgoing
freight to or from this place from or in the
same direction will be transported by the
railroad. In fact it can be seen that the rail-
road will control the eastern freight and pas
senger transportation with the terminus at
the town Of Silver Bow as completely as if it
were at Butte.
THIS proposition being admitted it becomes
a pertinent question will the people of this
city and vicinity to determine whether they
can afford to permit the terminus to remain at
Silver Bow. 1t strikes us that the advantages
which would accrue to our citizens in having
the terminus al Butte are so apparent that it
would be a waste OF words to point them out.
The great convenience which it would
be TO our business men, mine aud
mill owners, and to our people generally,
in the handling and disposition of their
freight &C., will be readily acknowledged.
But there are other considerations equally as
important that should not be overlooked. 1t
will cost about SIS 900 to build the road from
Silver Bow to Butte. A great portion of this
money would enter into circulation here
The company would also be compelled to ex-
pend twice the above named sum in the cree.
ton of a depot, warehouse, repairing shops,
etc., which amount would also be absorbed
by our people. Then again a large number
of men would be employed by the company
whose residences would necessarily be at
Butte, thus swelling its population and in
creasing its assessable property. These are
only a few of the advantages which appear
upon the surface in considering this question
of the terminus. There are others which in
t he aggregate render the matter one of such
vital interest to this whole community that
it IN we'll afford to ignore it.
We have been led to place the matter be-
fore our public spirited citizens in the hope
that it may lead to some action on their part
by which the railroad company may build its
road to our city limits without encountering
the same character of opposition which meets
it at Divide. Such an opposition by owners
of the land over which the road must pass
between here and Silver Bow, we are assur-
ed, would be construed by the company as a
declaration of hostility against Its progress
Butteward, and Silver Bow would be the
nearest point at which the road can be reach
ed. We have in our possession a letter in
which it is authoritatively stated that Mr..
Sidney Dillon, president of the U. P. r. R.,
would build the road to Butte and make it
the terminus if the citizens interested in the
general welfare, development and progress of
Butte would see to it that the road will not
meet the opposition referred to.
1t requires no argument to prove that the
best interests of all parties concerned will be
advanced by land owners on the line of the