Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-09-13

after Mr.. Billings had succeeded to the presi-
dency, negotiations were completed with a
syndicate of bankers, including the New
York houses of Winslow, Lanier & Co.,
Drexel Morgan & Co., and August Belmont
& Co., and the London house of J. S. Morgan
& Co., by which a loan of S4O,OOO,OOO was
placed during that and the two following
years, and money thus secured for completing
the road across Montana and filling the gap
in the track, which then amounted to over
800 miles,
In 1881 very important change took
place in the management of the Northern
Pacifc's affairs. Henry Villard German
by birth, who came to this country at the
age of eighteen, and won considerable repu-
tation as a newspaper correspondent during
and after the civil war, and who became in
terested in railroad management in Kansas
and Oregon, as the representative OF large
German financial interests, had gradually
obtained control, during the six years fol-
lowing the panic of 1873, of the transporta-
ton lines by rail, river and sea in the State
of Oregon. These lines he had consolidated
and greatly extended, so that they repre-
sented what, for new country, was re-
markably efficient transportation system.
In 1880 Mr.. Willard determined, if possible,
to secure harmony of interests and control
between his Oregon lines and the Northern
Pacific line, so as to make the former the
western extensions and feeders of the latter.
In 1881 he organized what was known as
the "Blind Pool" in New York, and obtained
within few weeks, from subscriptions, over
$8,OOO,OOO Of money, without disclosing the
use which he meant to make of this large
sum, and without giving any other security
than his personal receipts. With this money
and other means of his own he quietly pur
chased controlling interest in the stock Of
the Northern Pacific Company, and was
elected its president in September of that
year. placing his friend and former associate
in railroad management in Kansas and Ore
gon, Mr.. Thomas F. Oakes, in the vice-presi-
dency, as the chief executive officer OF the
company.
INTERESTING FEATURES OF CONSTRUCTION.
Construction operations went on rapidly
during the years 1880, 1881, and 1882, from
both ends of the line, and at the beginning
of the year 1883, the track remaining to be
constructed was reduced to about 300 miles,
on which the grading had been mainly done
This gap was closed up during the spring
and summer of 1883, so that the tracks
were ready to be united on the 8th Of Sep
tember. The heaviest construction work on
the entire line was in the valley of the
Clarkes Fork of the Columbia, for about 100
miles from Lake Pend d. Oreille, where the
river runs through narrow gorge, t1anked
on both sides by lofty and precipitous noun
tains. There was also considerable difficult
work in the valley of the Yellowstone, in
obtaining a permanent roadway along the
face of high bluffs of disintergrating rock,
and in managing the current of the river by |
dikes and wing dams, so as to preserve the |
road from obstruction when once completed. |
There are two great tunnels on the line:
tains; and the other at the Mullan Pass, in
the main division of the Rocky Mountains.
The former is $500 feet long, and the latter
$3.50 feet. The highest summit passed at
any point on the line is in the Bozeman
Tunnel, which is 5,565 feet above the sea
level. The Mullan Tunnel has slightly
less altitude, being 5,548 feet above the sea-
Steep grade surface lines were built over
both these passes to facilitate construction
during the opening of the tunnels, neither of
which has yet been completed. These over
head lines have grade of 22O feet to the
mile. A third and lower range is crossed
between the valleys of the Missoula and the
Jocko in Western Montana, where the ele-
vation at the summit is 1926 feet. In cross
ing these three mountain divides grade of
116 feet to the mile is adopted, that being
the highest grade used on the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad and the one prescribed by
Congress as the limit for the Northern Pa
cifc The sum of these maximum noun
tain grades, ascending and descending, is
about thirty miles; on all other portions of
the Northern Pacific line the maximum
grade does not exceed fiftytwo feet to the
mile, and this is only necessary at few
points and for short distances. Regarded as
a whole the line is prairie and valley line,
its grades being so low that it is compara-
lively an inexpensive road to operate.
There are two great bridges upon the Nor j
thern Pacific: the Bismarck bridge, across {
the Missouri, at Bismarck, Dakota, which is j
placed is placed so high above the river as to s
require no draw, and fairly ranks among the j
great railroad bridges of the world; and the [
bridge, not yet completed, across ,
the Snake River, at Ainsworth, Washington ]
Territory, which is low bridge with draw. ]
Both these bridges are built upon stone piers, 1
with superstructures of iron and STEEL The t
Yellowstone River is crossed three times, the 1
upper Missouri once, and he tClark's Fork t
of the Columbia three times, by Howe truss {
bridges. Other interesting features of con- q
struction are the two long pile bridges across /