Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-05-02

lands to this company BY the resolu
ton Of April IL. 1859. or the p -ointl n
of May 81. 1870
| hsve spoken OF sIfe vasae IF the
lands along thi. les mile line Of road
from kaiAins 10 Tsrot1a. and IN pr,n;
thereof, ami a. preliminary TO the fact.
aooGt Ste 81 miles claimed To have been
CONSTRUCTED ca tie Cascade branch
ives, Of the Cascade mountains, let IT..
rad TO you from the Tacoma L-9gsy
Of the date OF March -, losi. a pap-r
published At tbs So called western ter.
minus OF this road wholly in tue inter
est OF the company " The coal fields
of Western Washington embrsc. n
area OF 1870 sqnar. miles. extendI G
from the Neslaally river IN general
northeriv direction and par ,ilel with
the Case 4de Mountains more than lUU
miles Of this Immense coal field. sue
half, or 30 square miles. belongs 10 the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company by
virtue OF Its land grant. Il. is almos.
impossible - estimate the value Of
these 10 square miles. The Govern
neu' price for coal land within rail
road limits Is so An acre. At this
prIc. the 10000 acres of coal land on
the western slope 81 the Cascade
Mountains, oaned by the railroad com
PAW. are worth S16D1Op. Scarcai "
any u this land is worth less than 81
aa acre, and some OF II is worth txenty
times that amount For instance, l1g
acres formerly owned by the Carbon
till Coal COMPANY. and sltnat.d In the
heart OF these coal fields, -oid about
two years Ago for $4,000. This Is AZ
the rate of nearly 1870 an acre. At
this price Il would take only seventy
i've sections, or one tenth of the CON
panys holdings. to be worth over $40,
UDc,opO- But not all the vaine of these
lands consists In coal. Thy are GOV
cred with n dense growth Of the fiaest
br and cedar timber IN Wa ,hingtsn
Territory, which i worth at the lowest
estimate $50 an acre.
The paper the n goes on to charge sir.
Willard with treach.rY IN selling these
lands To the Greg n Improve men, Com
panv, and concludes AS follows: 1T
canuot be presumed that he was iguor
AM of railroad matters III the East: that
he did not know that the Philadelphia
K Reading Railroad Company value
their coal lands at $4,000 coo, and are
paying interest on fli.0U0,OCO invested
IN coal land that will not be mined for
two MY years; that the Jersey Central
Riilrond Comp ny value the ir coal Ia nds
AT "a 10000; or hat he did hot know
that the C BAL lands. valued by hose two
companies At STA 10000 because they
assure profitable employment for the
roads for wars TO come, are ~ less eIr
tent and far less Ldtibat, pdlue than the
Northern Pacihc Company's lands that he
attempted 10 'cre1 from th' compdny for
his o,cn profit"
These are the same lands referred to
i'll tue following extract from thu tinan-
o al column of the New York World Of
April 10th, 1884: The dispute over the
81. 900 acres of GOAL laud Ill tho Green
River districts, alleged to have been
transferred by tue Northern + ,ci:is to
the Oregon improvement COMPANY, to
which reference WAS made In the World
some time ago, Is now III 4 fair way of
being settled. MIR. Smith said Yesterday
that though the formal application Of
the Improvement Company for these
latds had been somewhat sterniy re-
Jected 10y the Northern Pacific, Yet he
had been assured by "a director Of the
Northern Pacific. and member of Ito
Land Committee, that this action had
been taken merely that the facts III the
case might to- brought out ana justice
be done"
Here a member of the committee re-
marked that the value of these lands
WAS further shown by the fact
that when it WIS known that
tie Northern Pacific Railroad Com
contr.ct t. convey .hese lands To the
Oregon Improvement Company. the
value of the stock of the Oregon I'm
provement Company deprecated forty
per cent III one day.
MIR Chairman. If you will look At this
map. issued by the Department of the
Interior. General Land Office, in the
year 1888. you will see distinctly marked
the railroad with irawais. and you will
observe that these coal fields lie in the
counties of King and Pierce. You will
observe a RAILROAD already constructed.
running in An easterly direction from
Tacoma Through the Pu, aliup Indian
Reservation, along the Puyallup river
to a place called Carbonate. This is
the thirty one miles of road to which |
ave before referred. You will notice
that this road lis constructed wholly
within, and near the boundary line. of
the Withdrawals ON the road from Ia
C una to kalama.
You will observe further, that on the
Cascade branch the center of line OF
commences 1t pom. called
/ win Wells, u place about fifty miles
from Waliula JUNCTION,
runs themes almost duo west until II
strikes the mead waters Of tne Yakima
river, thence across the Cascade noun
I nus. south of Moaut Rainier tmis-
q He'd Nount Tacoma by these North
ern Pacific people,, through what II
known As the CowlltZ Pass. until II
-tIiaes on the west side the head waters
of tie Nisqnaliy river; and then. In
place of rum ny down the Nisuually
river. the only feasible route to strike
the alr,aly constructed limo between
Tacoma and k,lama. it turns north
over iLe foot hills. glaciers aud canyons
o. the Case ,de mountains at the base
If Mount Rainier, runs rorth parallel
with the Kalama road, or main line,
forty or fifty miles over route abso
luteiy impracticable. until 1t strikes the
thirty one miles of constructed road At
THIS WAS and is done for the purpose
of iilctlng from the government the vaiu-
able coal, agricultural and timber lants
living in King county, north Of the with
drawals. on the Tacoma and Kaiama
road, by claiming that this Puyallup
coal road, IA | shall show, IS part Of
their Cascade branch.
Mr.. Chairman, the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company can boast of his
torian whose name Is national. he has
written a very readable book about l..
and hls statements are generally cor
rect, save that he has not given that
prominence to the CITY which l repre-
sent Ia which she is justly entitled, ana
has rather overesttmated the import
ance of the railroad terminus. This.
perhaps. il natural, as the book was
written from the company's point OF
view.
| have this book here. 1t WAS pub
hshed by Putnam and written by r. T..
Smslley IN 1883 Mr.. Smalley Is one OF
The agents of this company to whom
tie minority of the committee refer.
v ho has been recently IN Washington
urging non forfeiture on behalf OF the
company. lie has had access to Ali
iher records. He SAYS in this history,
On page PA. In speaking OF the renewal
IF construction work on the Pacihc