The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-03-21
WILL MAKE LOWER RATES
Burlington to Form a Connection
With the Great Northern at
Helena
Work to Be Pushed All Summer
to Complete the Road This
Fall.
A Connection which VIII Make Low
Rates Over a Vast Stretch or
Territory.

With the completion Of the Great North
ern extension. it is probable there will be
\ considerable reduction in the price OF
lumber in Montana, as we'll as in states to
the east and south Of us. This will be due
to the competition of Puget sound manu-
faoturers. President Hill has promised the
dealers in that section the lowest sort of
rates OF lumber, and has agreed dot to every
thing in his power to encourage the sounds
biggest industry. The figure the traffic
will play in the business of the Great
Northern, as we'll as the Burlington. ia out
lined in the following conversation with q
railroad official, who makes his h%eadquar-
tors in Washington state. He says:
While the Great Northern is hurrying its
track westward to the sound. the Chicago,
Burlington d Quincy is extending the Chi
cage. Burlington 81 Missouri road north
westward to Helena to meet it and thus
form a connection which will open the way.
at low rates, for Puget sound lumber to q
vast stretch of territory which it can
scarcely enter at present through rates.
The Chicago, Burlington 4 Quincy now has
a road running northwest through Ne
brnska. a corner of South Dakota and
Wyoming to Buffalo. in the southern part
Of Wyoming, q branch running almost dus
north from Edgemont junction, s. D.. to
Deadwood, S. d., where the road now gets
its coal supply. Work has been in progress
all winter on an extension from Buffalo
through Montana to Helena, Butte and
Great Falls. II will be pushed all summer
and will probably be completed this fall,
and certainly BY the time the Great North
ern main line reaches the sound next
Hprjnn Aa ccO0 ao ithaca 1inna IRA pprn-
pleted they will make low joint Timber
rates 20 the ten states which are reached or
will be reached BY the Chicago. Burlington
y Quincy and it's Observation-Disclosures,
Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska. Kan
sas, Colorado, Utah, Minnesota. lows, Illi-
be fixed when the exact mileage is known,
but they will certainly be lower than the
55, 571a and 60 cent rates now made jointly
with the Northern Pacific. At present Pu-
get sound lumber, in order to reach the
Chicago, Burlington 4 Quincy main line
the Northern Pacific to st. Paul and thence
south over the Chicago, Burlington u
Northern, and either east or west over the
Chicago, Burlington q Quincy. Freight
from the sound to points west of Omaha
and Council Bluffs as far as Denver and
has to go east, then south and then west
again, an arrangement which involves a
vast amount Of extra mileage. The Union
Pacific now has such q direct rout to Wyo-
ming, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska that
it can do the business to better advantage.
But when the new Burlington line is fin
ished to Helena the extra mileage will be
saved and the Burlington will get the long
which il now gives the Northern
Pacific. The Great Northern will have a
fair slice in the haul from the Sound to
Helena, where it's line will diverge north
west and the Burlington's southeast. Thus
the two will each cover an entirely distinct
territory. fed by the Great Northern's
Pacific extension.
While this arrangement will deprive the
Pacific OF its long haul on bust
ness for points on the Burlington, the Bur
extension will give it the means of
competing with the Union Pacific in terri
tory where the latter comes into direct
competition with the Burlington-in Colo
RADIO, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska.
Unless the Union Pacific gets its own line
from Portland to the Sound it will be at a
i'll the tight for the business
of this section with the Northern Pacific
and Great Nolthern, allied as each will be,
it's immediate competitor east of the