The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-10-18
HIS GREAT UNDERTAKING.
Chief Engineer Beckler's Paper on
the Great Northern's Pacific
Extension.
Reasons Which Led to the Adop-
ton Of the Existing
Line.
All the Advantages Appeared to he In
Favor Of Assintboine. spokane
and the Sound.

PaotdC extension OF tho GfeaS NorSneE raj
way, prepared BY L. II. Becker. formsrl
HE engineer of che great undertaking
The paper IL . synopsis Of two talks ON III
location of tho limo OF the extension, settin
forth the numerous features which led I
ths adoption Of the route 40 constructed
II says: "The position Of The existing lin
between Fort As%sinniboine, On Milk rivel
and the terminus Of The Mentana Centra
at Butte, made IL possible for the extension
TO start off AZ one OF several points, depend
Ing upon what was TO be found beyond.
was apparent that the crossing Of the Rock
mountains could be made at she hea'
wasors of ths Marais. departing from III
present line near Assinniboine; 81 at III
heads Of Sun river. leaving present line q
g eat Falls; OF at the head Of Dsarbor
river, departing from present line at III
junction Of the Dearborn and Aissouz
rivers; OF by extending westward fror
Butte. It was possible 10 drop out Of con
sidsration the limo from Great Falls an,
the extension from Butte BY rsconnaisano
withous actual survey, leaving only tn
Assinniboine and Dearborn lines to DO com
pared by oareful detail work in running
lines.
"These reeonnsissane es Showed that Z
line by the North Fork Of the Sun river led
10 the Flathesd valley, TO the Same field
occupied by the Assinniboins line. with q
much greater distance and with few Offset
ting advantages. The South Fork OF Sun
river led to the Dearborn outlet, with . loss
Butte line crossing mountains all the way
west from Helena to she foot of the west
srn slope of the Bitter Root range. on the
Clearwater river. has four SUBMITS with
IN elevation greater thar 5000 feet, and
with nearly 3C0 miles Of distance above the
elevation OF $500 feet. II was too near the
region Of perpetual snow to be desirable.
Thu several mountain grades Of 20 per cent
not found on the other lines, and the in
CREASED mileage, more than Offset the adj
vsntsgea. although the latter were very
important. The ,Assinniboins line ira
verses the platsaus north OF the
RE, Crosses the summit Of the
Rocky mountains through Marias pass.
descenda TO Flathead valley by the middle
fork Of she. river Of the same name, clinbs
over the Kootenai range to the Kootensi
river BY way of Fisher river. follows the
Kootenai to Bonner's Ferry in Idaho, whore
through a wide gap in the Cabinet range to
the Pend d'Oreille river. which it follows
70 the east line of the state of Washington
(whsre the river also turns northward) and
then swings southwark going down the
Little Spokane Rivoy to the vicinity of Spo-
kane. The Dearborn line crosses the Rocky
mountains at Rogsr's pass four miles south
Of Cadotte pare. spoken Of in the govern
ment reports, goes down the Big Blackfoot
to Missoula and down Missoula river to the
st. Regis de Borgia river, clim bs the Bitter
Root range by the way of this stream to
u. u-kz. -.on Aoo~;L>I i, To-k
report on military roads in 1868. theMce
down tho Coeur d'Alens river to Mission.
thence over a divide by Fourth of July
canyon to Fort sherman. and thence across
the plateau to Spokane"
The paper then makes a comparison of
the Dearborn and ~Assinniboine routes.
which come to a common point at Spokane.
1t says: ''The Dearborn route used about
$50 miles of the already constructed line TO
Helena and Butte, about 100 miles OF which |
runs through what UP to the present time
has been unproductive country. A stretoh
of about 80 miles of similar county is
found on the Assinniboine line, 80 that
train service for a freight division ia re-
CURED for the northern line In excess OF
what would have been needed for the Dear
born route. For tho second point relative |
distance was slightly in favor of the north
or Assinn!boine line. For the third
point il is proper to consider only what
10 tuc EuiIEk Rrd2e AOf q If5lRlt
regardless Of helper grades. and
also the numbsr of helper grades, and their
Of grade. The Assinniboins
line gave gave one division OF one
per cent and Two OF .06 Per oent
in either direction, while the Dearborn
gave one Per cent on oil divisions but one.
There are three helper grades on the north
ern route. with grades OF III per cent and
1.s per cent against six On the Dearborn
route of 1T per cent and 80 per cent. |
counting helpers In both directions. The
line gave thirty-five miles excess ,
Of helper grade over the other. Fourth;
Rise and fall considered only where depres-
slons are 800 grant 20 be treated as velocity |
grades, shows a difference OF 800 feet in |
favor of the Assiuniboine line. Fifth; In
alignment there appears to be about sixteen
full clrcles in favor OF the Assinniboine
line. Sixth; Resources, the AsBtnniboine
line being on a lesser elevation for u greater
number of miles shows more favorabiy for
agriculture, although the country in now
sEarse!y 1ettied. The Iines wsss about equal
n grazing and timber resources. In nininp.
which is always an uncertain factor. there
appeared TO be greater possibilities in the
Libby G sex. Lake Creek, Koosenai and
Pend d'Oreills districts on the Ass.iniboiue
iins than in the single Coux d'Alsne dis
trict on tho Dearborn route. Seventh,
climate; both routes show a snowy region
extending over a distance of fifty miles. |
There is probably an excess in rainfall on
the northern line. Eighth; the disadvnnt-
ages in regard to operation on the northern
line have been spoken of in tho first point
OF comparison. Ninth; the Dearborn limo
is only 3 few miles north of the Northern
Pacific railroad for fifty mileH east Of Mis-
sonla, and for a distance of $50 miles west
of that city it practically parallels a
branch or branches of that road,
The new towns along the po.thern route
Will. without doubt. equal in importance to
those along the already occupied territory,
with no probability Of a division in bust
ness. Tenth: In construction features the
Dearborn route gave three miles in tunnels
and an excess of bluff work along rive, q,
while the total length of tunnels by the
northern route was only 4.40O feet. In
bridges over large At resms there was not
much difference. Although the mileage to
be constructed by the Dearborn route was
100 miles less. tho estimated cost for grad
ing and bridging was slightly in excess of
all points for comparison there appeared to
be a large difference in favor of adopting
the Assinniboins line"
Next the paper takes up the line from the
eastern boundary Of the state of Washing
ton to Puget sound. first referring TO the
matter of terminus. There was one possi-
BILE terminus not on tho shore of Puget
sound. and that was Portland. The extern
sion from Butte via lewiston, Idaho, WAS
the only line which led TO Portland. The
difficulties Oh this line. alrsldy spoken of,
were sufficient to ouuss it to be discarded,
though there were others Of importance
contributing to the rejection of Portland az
q terminus. The Northern Pacific terminus
being ut Tacoma, and the Great Northern
reaching tidewater at some point north Of
this. the question was whether the terminus
~ Sha n~ka-of~- .b-,ll h.. N . So .-o: