The herald., 1893-02-27
EAVESDROPPINGS.

made out of the Central Southern Pacifi,
corporation, and it has held the prestig,
of the Pacific coast carrying trade nearly
"a years, it looks funny to see such 1
corporation menaced by younger rivs
that hes been built without any subsidy
whatever. But it is still stranger to SEE
the newcomer taking go strong hold oi
rnptcy to the Northern Pacific, which il
1SS9-90 carried more west bound passen.
gers than any other transcontinental
line, and had over two through passen-
gers to the Central 8 one for eight consecu'
tive months. Indeed, 30 great was their
rush of west bound passenger traffic,
and go little were they prepared for it,
that they actually chartered 10 locomo-
tives belonging to the Santa Fe system
and used them until the snow began
to fly in the Cascade mountains. l have
the authority of the president of that
corporation for the statement that for
six months in 1885, the dining care oil
that line paid an actual profit, which
was something without precedent in the
history OF tranacontinental railway
traffic.
A"x
But in the history of that great cor
poration there was one colossal blunder
that haH never been retrieved and for
which Henry Willard is not to blame.
l allude to the abandonment of the
Missouri river route and the location of
the main line on the Yellowstone route,
in the hope OF getting summer tourist
travel for the National park. That this
diversion did have its desired effect that
far, ia not to be denied, but it wrecked
all hopes of the Northern Pacific be-
coming a transcontinental freight
road as q competitor with other lines
to be built thereafter. The Missouri
river survey WAS made in 1868 by Isaac
|. Stevens of the amy, who was after
wards killed at the battle OF Chantilly,
in the civil war. General Stevens got
the greatest route of all the routes. 1t
was one that had abundance OF timber
for bridges and trestlee, coupled with
abundant water power at stated inter-
walls to admit Of saving the timber
cheaplv. IL was one that had beds OF
Ignite at distances of 120 to 100 miles
apart of quality far 81 perior to the de-
posits of thatsubstance found at Tacoma,
Seattle and Mt. Disblo. And last of all
it has the lightest gradients t54 feet to
the mile) between Great Falls in Mon
tana and ST. Paul in Minnesota, a dis
tance of about 1140 miles, that could be
found in any roule across the continent,
either to the north or south of it..
Nv
That any sensible and far-seeing men
like Gen. Adna Anderson and Frederick
Billings should have abandoned such a
route for one that averaged 106 $40 feet
for over 200 miles consecutively passes
belief, but that was jnst what they did.
Tus impending bankruptcy OF the North
ern Pacific land predict it will be in
the hands of a receiver inside of so days)
j. owing to its want of proper, busi-
ne 10 like construction in the first place,
and not to the want of any good man
agement OF either Thomas f. Oakes or
Henry Willard. James ]. Hill started
in to carry the Manitoba, or Montana
Central, just as you like, to tidewater at
Puget sound, and he had read Stevens
report to the congress- of 1854 before he
did 30. Today the man who stands on
the depot platform at Great Falls,
Fort Benton, Assinaboine or Chinook
will see trains of wheat, IS tons to the
car, going by there with IS and 20 cars
in train hauled by common paesen-
ger engine. Go thence to Livingston,
Bozeman or some other part ON the main
line on the Northern Pacific, equally
distant from St. Paul or Duluth, and you
will find 55t ton "hog" engine wrest-
ling with nine or 10 cars OF grain al the
most. There is no higher rate offreight
paid for transporting that wheat to the
great lakes where it can be reshipped to
England by steamer than is paid by the
Jim Hill" road, yet the latter hsuls
twice the average load of the Northern
Pacific with 7225 of the motive power
required with tar less wear and tear of
steel rails, and with no greater outlay of
wages.
Now, in what does all this result?
In game of push. Hill is going TO
push everybody because he has the
cheapest operated road Of ali. In his
speech at Seattle, when his road
reached that point over month ago,
he said, 81 am here for business. The
headquarters of my road are in St.
Paul, and I shall haul no empty cars
back that way" There could be but
one solution to that remsrk-that he
was going to haul freight in every car
that went back to St. Paul, and if he
could not get it at one rate he would
take it at another. 1t is we'll known
already that he contemplates putting on
line of boats to carry cargo between
san Francisco and Seattle in opposition
to the Goodall & Perkins line. Now,
IF he ie determined to run no
empty cars back east is it
not likely that he will invade
the territory of the Southern Pacific
and land his steamers at Redondo if he
cannot secure wharf privileges at Santa
Monica or San Pedro? Hence l say
that game OF push has begun. Hill ia
poration is pushing the Oregon Short
Line, which is pushing, in turn, the
Central and the Southern. Mr.. III. E.
Huntington, nephew of the shrewd cid
financler who heads the Southern di-
rectorate, has been in Southern Cali
fornia for 10 days; and in that time he
has given every locality that is tributary
to his road a voluntary reduction nits
chief staple article. He cut down the
rate on beans from Ventura 10 days ago,
and the eastern people who are becom-
ing very fond OF onr frijoles, begin to re-
alize that it is an i'll wind that blows
nobody good.
NV
So that is what men must look to
hereafter, in building transcontinental
railways. They must follow natural
water courses whenever it does not take
too much tunnelling to reach them.
They must be built with the Highest pos
Blble gradients, in order to economize