Bismarck weekly tribune., 1889-01-11
Five Hundred Complaints Disposed
of Satisfactorily Ware
house Law.
Interesting Data.

gratifying success in the adjustment OF the
differences it has been called upon to con-
slider. In nearly every case where the
commission has, after careful considera-
ton, made demand that wrong be
righted, the company has been prompt to
acknowledge its error, and although many
complaints have been beyond the jurisdic-
ton of any tribunal outside of the courts,
the great majority have been such as to
command careful investigation and decis-
i've action.
WAREHOUSE LAW.
In submitting this report, the board
wishes to call the attention of the governor
and the legislature to the fact,that although
at first the grain warehouse law passed at
the last session Of the legislature appeared
to be imperative and Of little april, it has
given the board vast amount of labor,
which the commissioners feel has been
productive of much good. The regulation
of the elevators and warehouses of the ter
ritory is second in Importance only to the
proper regulation of the railroads, and in
many instances it is the paramount issue.
NEW RAILROAD MILEAGE.
The total mileage in two years is 842;
total in 1888, only 1926.
The mileage Of road constructed in the
territory in 1883 is notas great as many ex-
pected, and the lack of aggression on the
part Of the companies is accounted for in
many ways. Some claim that the various
railroads doing business in the territory
hot ,nfv icnf fo h oh
OF settlement, entered into an agreement
to build no more until the country for
which their lines were pointed is settled;
others believe that it was the fear of adj
verse legislation, and men who are sup
posed to represent the interests of the rail
roads, have claimed that their companies
had resolved to build no more road in the
northwest until the stringent laws of the
northwestern states are repealed, or the
railroad commissioners of states where the
Office is elective and the powers of the
commission far-reaching, retreat from the
extreme positions which they have taken
on certain features of the law regulating
rates. This board is inclined to believe
that neither Of these theories is wholly
right, nor wholly wrong.
A COMBINATION
of questions such as these has had its in
t1uence on the railroad men and capitalists,
and, together with the great desire to cap
ture the trade of the great lake region, has
prevented any extensive railroad building
in Dakota during the pastyea However,
the people Of Dakota have no reason to
complain Of the railroad mileage Of the ter
| ritory, which is already greater than that
of twenty-five Of the states, and promises
in the near future to be greater than that
| of any state in the union. With the level
prairie and productive soil wherever you
turn, it is reasonable to believe that Dakota
| will, in time, be the most thoroughly grid
ironed with railroads of any state in the
| union.
AANDAN & BLACK HILLS.
Another railroad project, and one which
promises to revolutionize the commercial
interests of western Dakota, is that Of the
Mandan & Black Hills. This line from
Mandan, on the Northern Pacific to che
great mining districts OF the black hills,
has already been surveyed, and there is
every indication that it is backed by sufi-
cient capital to insure its construction. It
will open one of the most productive sec
tions of Dakota, and will give the rich min
ing districts of the Black Hills the railway
communication which they have so long
| needed.
Other railroad Improvements are prom
ised, and the people of Dakota are to be
congratulated upon the prospect for con-
tinuation Of the wonderful progress which
the territory has made in the past; and for
their continued and increased prosperity.
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
carried by railroads doing business in Da-
kota during the fiscal year ending June 80,
1887, was 20,6S7 $50, and during the year
ending June 80, 1883, the number was 2s,-
745, 1856, showing an increase of over S,107,-
45S passengers in the year, and that year
before the hundreds Of miles of new roads
now in operation had been constructed.
The total number of tons of freight car
ried in 1887 was q, ,674, ,488, and in 1888 28,-
897, ,445, or an increase Of over s,722, 1877 tons.
The nupber Of tons Of local freight carried
/ in 1887 was 1888; in 1883 1895, OH, an
increase Of nearly 1851 1888 Of tons.
STATIONS AND EMPLOYEES.
| There are 4s2 railroad stations in Da-
kota, and there are 6677 railroad employees
lin the territory who received in salaries
during the last fiscal year s., ,78l, ,O47. 40.
BRIDGES. f5
There are nineteen wooden bridges, with
] Q total length Of 1881 feet; eighteen com