St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-02
placed on exhibition in one of the lead
ing New York banks as distinctive
product of Cooke CITY mines

product of Cooke City mines.
The Republic smelter, which has been
in operation in Cooke for some time, has
been leased by parties with ample cap
ital to operate it, and extensive repairs
are being made to it preparatory to
active operations as soon as spring
opens. William Elford. who has been
freighting i'll and out of the latter city
for years, Is preparing for busy sea-
son. he having recently purchased sew
eral new outfits to accommodate the
rush of business toward Cooke, the signs
of which are already making themselves
felt here.
1t has been apparent for some time to
those who have observed the tendency
of railroad development in the vicinity
of the National park that the mer-
chants and people of the Twin Cities
will before long have reason to look out
for their trade laurelS. Nowhere, else
east of the Missouri is there the same
activity in the direction Of surveys apd
locations Of new railroads. A CONVEX
sation had few days ago with a gen.
tleman who had just come from the
Sinking Water country, and who |
have reason to know is we'll posted, en-
ableS me to say that the supremacy of
your cities in Montana is threatened
from the direction of southeast. With
the two splendid st. Paul systems
the Northern Pacific and the Great
Northern-you have been able to hold
fast to the business of Montana
against all your rivals for years. l am
not prepared to say, nor is anyone, that
you cannot do so in the future as we'll.
But you cannot do so unOppOsed. Two
of the greatest Of Chicago's carriers are
ttIII nd a ri inv ncin
of it's region. The Burlington q Mis-
souri, has reached within little over 100
miles of the Yellowstone, and, as my
informant says, will not only tap the
park in the immediate vicinity of Cooke,
but will run its steel belt around part
of its eastern border and have its cars
ornament depot ere long in the pic
turesque and growing young city of
Great FailS-a community which is eX-
clusively the product Of st. Paul enter
prise"
1t is not mere speculation, but the
actual observation of men who have
been over the ground, on which is based
the statement that there is something
approaching a race in progress between
the B. IL M. and the Northwestern in
the effort 10 secure the most advan-
tageOus routes TO the National park and
the surrounding centers of industrial
enterprise. If you will look at the map
of the Northwestern system you will
see that it has already pulled up at
Casper, Wyo. You will also see
that that stop is mere taking
OF breath; that it is not and cannot be
final, any more than is the stop of the
b. IL M. at Sheridan, Wyo. With the
vast financial resources of those cOrpO-
rations it is easy to conclude that any
thing is possible to them in the way of
extension to any point east of the Pacific
ocean. The determination of the Willard
interests to build from Red Lodge to
Cooke, as l have already outlined, is
easily understood, in view of the atti-
tude assumed by the close proximity of
its two great Chicago competitors. In
deed, before your two connections have
left their swaddling clothes you will
have to meet the opposition of Chicago
and Omaha merchants in a territory
which you have heretofore controlled
exclusively.
Cooke City is the central point. Like
Rome of cid all the roads must lead to it.
1t is not eXaggerating the importance
of Livingstone, Butte, Great Falls or
Helena, when | express the belief that
1T Will, within ten years, cut bigger
figure in the industrial and financial life
of the Northwest than any community
now eXtant Congress has often shown
its folly, and the results of that FOLLY
have in many cases been irreparable.
In its treatment of Cooke it has put
sentiment above justice. The future,
however, will demonstrate in regard to
this great young city that there is a
power greater than congress, and one
which it never has succeeded in fasten-
ing TO its chariot wheels, and that IS
the enduring and incompre hensible
power of the laws of the worlds trade.
j. w. Ii.