Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1888-02-22
DAKOTA RAILROADS.
General Condition of the Roads
Excellent and Prospects
for Extensions Never
Brighter.
Third Annual Report Of the Dakota Board
Of Railroad Commissioners -(iratify.
ing Showing In Ey
Direction.
rBismarck Special Correspondence.]


Gov. Church is in receipt of the third an
nual report of the board Of railroad com
! missioners of Dakota This board is COM
posed of Alex Griggs. chairman. Grand
Forks: A. Boynton. Lennox; N. T. Smith,
Huron: J. M. Quinn. secretary. Bismarck.
In the course OF their report the commits
sion says:
In no state or territory In the Union is
| the railroad problem--the question OF pol
icy. the powcrssef sha slatnrN ,tQ control
or restrict--of greater impoffanee than In
Dakota, for she is not only a young and
growing territory. but the most productive
agricultural district on the continent She
is going through process OF development,
and the relation of the railroad to the pro-
ducer is the one paramount question which
her Legislators must solve. Since the pass
age Of the inter- state commerce law "a re-
newed confusion has been vigorously at
work unsettling all past plans OF the courts
and the public, and creating new obstacles.
Not that the law is a detriment or unjust. but
1t is new and knotty to all who would in
terpret it. A case Of interest decided by the
Interstate commissioners recently. and
considered at the st. Paul meeting, may be
mentioned here, as it is identical with
many in Dakota. The millers of Mazeppa
complained that the Chicago. Milwaukee
and ST. Paul Disseminated against them
and in favor Of the Twin Cities to such an
extent that it made it impossible for them
to compete with the large manufactures of
the cities named. In reply the railroad
company set forth that Mazeppa was not on
the main line Of the road and that the long
and short haul" clause of the Interstate
law did rot apply. The commission ordered
the railroad company to reduce its rates
from Mazeppa to Chicago from 12l. cents
to 10 cents. With regard to the railroads
of Dakota there is much OF which the COM
mission can speak with pride.
On several of the lines there have been
, improvements which surpass the march of
railroad progress In any other section OF the
Union. Railroad building and improve
ment in rolling stock and road bed train
service and time are alluded to- while the
increased traffic Of the roads within Dakota
show the steady increase in her wealth.
population and prosperity. The total num-
ber Of passengers carried by railroads in
Dakota during the year ending June 30, 1886.
was 1888, ,26O. while during the year ending
June 30 1887. the number was 2O,G37 $50.
The total number of tons Of freight carried
in 1856 was II .l64 519 and in 1887 "a 674, ,46S.
The number OF tons OF local freight carried
in 1886 was s70S0OG in 1887. 10.0S4 .SS3. The
report OF the several companies doing blsi-
| ness in Dakota show that there are 44S rail
road stations in the territory. and 9.294 rail-
road employees who received in salary dur
ing the last fiscal year S4.946.lS5 There
are thirteen wooden bridges. with a total
length Of Of 2.42l feet: sixteen combination
bridges, measuring 2,352 feet; three iron
bridges, 14,Sl8 feet: and there are 3,941
wooden trestles" and piles" measuring in
the aggregate 2SO.151 feet. The railroad
crossings at grade number SO; over grade,
2; highway crossings at grade. 2.3ls: high
way crossings over grade 2. and under
grade. 10. The following table shows the
miles of road constructed in Dakota in
1887, with the miles Of road now in opera
| tion: