, 1888-01-26
SPOKANE g. PALOUSE.
Work Suspended on the Extension
of the Road.

Orders have Just. been issued by
Mr.. Paul f. Mohr, engineer Of the
Spokane Il Palouse railroad, to sus-
pend all work upon the extension of
the line. This action Is due to sew
eral ctuses, and would have been
taken some dime ago had 1t not been
that the company were very desir'
Gus To- press on to the terminus, In
order to benefit the farmers, who
have laid in large quantities Of
wheat with the expectation that the
railroad would open up n market for
them. On this account the officials
have made every endeavOr to COM
plete the line, but have ut last been
obliged to succumb to the intense
cold, the lierce storms and the de'irth
OF coal. OF late te weather has
been such that IL was found iinpOssi-
bic to work more than two or three
days u week, and as fast AZ the cuts
could be- cleared they filled again.
The lack of coal, not pound of
which could be obtained, was also
great obstacle, wood proving a com.
ltttc IdituIt uS u SuOStltutts wv Ni-
ter battling with the adverse ele-
ments up To the present lime, the
company has decided to yield to the
Inevitable, and further work viii be
postponed until spring, when the
twelve miles Of track yet remaining
to be laid will be put down in
short order. The rails, ties and all
other necessary material are at hand,
and Mr. Mohr states that, IN his
opinion, the road will be completed
within a month after work Io begun
again. There are at present about
500 men employed on the road, and
this shut down will throw nearly all
of them ont Ol employment, as only
Il few viii he retained as Watchmen.
The Spokane and Palouse railroad
Wa, begun about the first of April,
1887, but in the following month the
Oregon TranscOntinenial company
got out aU injunction against the
Northern Pacific, prohibiting that
company from aiding or taking any
interest in the new road. This
action, OF course, WAS Il great tn-
pediinent to the work, butwNlr a.
NJ. Cannon, president oi the COM
pany, with his usual shrewdne-s,
realized the important advantages
which the city would derive from
the road, and i'm spite of the then
gloomy outlook gave both his time
and money to pushing ahead the
project, and 10 his foresight and en-
~rgy are. i'm Il great measure, due,
not only the benefits accruing to
Spokane from being put in direct
communication with IL country rich
in Resources, but also the certainty
of being the starting point Of other
branches which the Northern Paci-
fic may build.
In October the suit WAS dismissed
by compromise, but i, was not till
the latter part of November that the
material arrived and the work could
be pressed forward In earnest. BY
the lst of January the rails were
down as far as Cotton, fifty miles
south of Belmont, ana only twelve
miles from Genesep, the proposed
termination of the line. AZ that
point the work practically came To "a
standstIll, and at that point it will
be- taken up in the spring, Grpa,
credit is due to Engineer Iohr who
has superintendrd the work with
faithfulness and skill, aud in times
of difficulty has displayed very
coinmendable energy aud persever-
ence.
Such is a brief sketch Of the his
tory of the road up To the present
time; what the future has In ore ii
Is impossible TO predict accurately,
hut in view of the present strong
financial condition OF the company,
and the business which has already
been done by the road, IL seems safe
To say that IL viii prove good in
vestment to its Stockholders, and an
important factor In the building up
OF Spokane Falls.