The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-11-15
VOL. I, NO. 8.

AeAsO PuA C1lc SttIIle DIS an oX-
tension of their branch, the Little
Falls 4 Dakota. Under it's charter.
the Little Falls & Dakota was COM
PEELED to build to Dakota but it never
built further than Morris and then
made the sham purchase of this
branch from Morris to the Dakota
line from the Manitoba company.
The Little Falls & Dakota was given
a land grant of six sections to the
mile. 1t has obtained these lands
although it has never fulfilled it's
part OF the contract with the state.
In was daring gsteal-nOthing short
OF highway" robbery 1t is to be
hoped that the matter will some day
be investigated, and the Little Falls
Dakota be compelled to complete
their road to the state line or forfeit
their big land grant
The Browns Valley r. r. is a line
which stretches from Morris, in
Stevens county, to Browns Valley in
Traverse county, on the Dakota line,
near the junction of two lakes or en-
largements of the Red River, dis
tance of 46 miles. 1t lies in Stevens,
Big Stone and (slightly) Traverse
Counties, and is continuation" of
the Little Falls and Dakota. And in
that word continuation" lies an
enormous fraud. The L. f. & d. is a
road Is miles in length, in Morrison,
Todd, Stearns, Pope and Stevens
counties. 1t was built on stock and
bonds by the "wheel within wheer'
process. That is, the Company"
was organized within the Northern
Pacific Company. And when built
it was leased to the Northern Pacific,
on such terms that if the bonds We're
paid by the N. p. the ''stock" THAT
is, the road itself, should become the
absolute property OF the main line.
That is a very simple matter. When
the debt to themselves, at three times
it's real amount, was paid to them
selves, the STOCK was to come to
themselves! That was snap, be-
cause the TRAFFIC was to pay the
debt to themselves
Now the charter entitled them to
certain lands when the road was
built to the Dakota line, and the
land itself would be, and was then,
worth a trifle over THREE TIMES the
cost of the rOad-the road bed and
attachments, we mean, for the
''road" don't own rolling stock to
the amount of one wheelbarrow!
In organizing, the seven men, most
of whom were officially in the n P.
Directorate, issued 81 400, ,2O7 80 of
stock, con account of construction,
though only such receipts therefor
were used for construction as came
from stock-takers of the "outside"
variety. The next step was to issue
81, 900 in mortgages, (bonds).
These they took up, themselves,
probably, at about 25 cents on the
dollar. To this they added about
$3.50, 900 of "bonus'' They turned in
the Northern Pacific advantages in
the way of building, and invested
about $450,O00 to build the road.
Their debit account, stands this way
(receipts):
Stock. 81 ,46O, ,2O7
Bonds (guaranteed) ........... 1,757 900
Bonuses. ...................... 100000
Land, 334 900 acres at Sc an
acre and you can't buy
them for that. 1,670, 900
Total. ,137 ,2O7
Credit to expense. nse.... 100000
Balance on the steal - $4 ,6S7 ,2O7
The road has not earned an acre of
land, and here came in the Browns
Valley r. Il. connection. When the
L. F. & D. reached Morris it ''com-
bined" on a scheme With. j. Hill, or
the Manitoba control, and appeared
to take possession for a period of the
Browns Valley line. This was given
out as a purchase. No purchase ever
took place. No lease ever took place.
We say straight from the shoulder,
that the L. F. & D. Ry never had the
Browns Valley line
IN IT'S POSSESSION FOR ONE HOUR.
1t does not own it. 1t does not
lease it. 1t never did own it. 1t
was dirty, scurvy, scoundrelly
trick to beat the state out of land
and if the legislature of 1889 had had
the heart of bloOdless worm it
would have investigated the matter
for facts had been published. The
figures as given above and to follow
had been published by us over and
over.
Now, this road is listed as a nom
paying branch! A lying pamphlet
issued by H. p. Robinson, has this
branch scheduled as
NON-PAYING DRAWBACK