The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-07-27
TWELVE MILES OF RAILS
And Ten Miles Of Wagon Road
Viii Connect Us With
Eastern Oregon.

OeneIlt 10 Gne people 1VlnS east o
the mountains as we'll as to- tht
merchants of the Willamette val
ley. J ,int Representative elec
DAILY of Lincoln county Is now
working on a scheme that bids fai
to succeed. He was seen last Sat
urday by CARTE reporter an(
seems very juhllant over the pros
poets.
The road is now operated to- De
troit. distance Of 1873 miles from
Yaquina, although the track j,
laid to Bouldercreek. four miles
further east. From this point tc
Tunnel camp, a distance of eight
miles, the road bed has been com
pleled ready for the track, and
with little work now and then
where washou,s have occurred
there is nothing to hinder the i'm
mediate construction and opera
ton of the road to a point twelve
miles east Of Detroit. The nexl
four miles to Independence prairie
has been surveyed, but nothing al
all has been done on construction
Orman, Crook & Co.. who had q
contract on the eight miles ives, OF
Tunnel camp, have a plan at that
place worth $l2 600 which is a net
loss to them where it is. They at
one time offered to build the road
to the summit. a distance ol
twenty eight miles, if they could
be secured wit h stock in the road
Two hundred men can construct it
in three months. Mr.. DAILY is OF
the opinion that Messrs. Orman
Crook & Go. can be induced to
build the four miles if they can be
secured. Ties sufficient are on the
ground anl mastly paid for. The
only real difficulty anticipated is
securing the iron for twelve miles
of road. This will cost in the neigh
borhood of $4,000 or $4,000
1t is thought, however, that San
Francisco people will take hold OF
the enterprise as it would be
greatly to their advantage to dc
so. In the event the plan Sue
ceeds, provision has already been
made for the construction of d
wagon road from independence
prairie, up the Jefferson fork OF
Santiam over the Mimic trail.
This road would be ten miles i'll
length. 1t would pass Marion
lake and strike the Matolis river
that flows into the Des Chutes, on
the east side of the summit. BY
this route it will be only filty-two
miles from the end of track at In
dependence. over good level
country, to Prineville. The entire
business of that section now goes
to The Dalles, 1856 miles from that
place. Should this scheme ma
terialize, their trade even as fal
south as the Harvey lake country.
will be tributary to the VILLAIN
cite valley and San Francisco
6v this route Prinevile would be
located only fifty miles further
from the sea at Yaquina, than she
is from The Dalles. Freight from
The ualIes now costs four cents
per pound to deliver in Prneville;
from San Francisco it could be de-
livered for about a cent The
trade of that great empire will
amount to vast deal of money in
the course of a year, and as they
are anxious to shake off the yoke
that has been about their necks
for these many years, all persons
living along the line of the Oregon
Pacific should lend their influence
toward the enterprise that will
prove a mutual benefit.
Speaking of the probabilities Of
success, Mr.. DAILY remarked to
the GAZETTE man II have talked
this matter over so much that all
the objections to it seem TO be
trifling and easily met. In fact it
astonislled myself to see how lit
tie there is in the way when such
vast interests are at stake" 1t is
thought that none of the parties
interested in the road will offer any
objections to the scheme as they
must realize that with a connec-
ton with Eastern Oregon their
traffic will be doubled. In this
way the road would become more
valuable and when offered for sale
again, would bring a much better
price than it will under present
conditions.
There ought to be no trouble in
getting the court to consent to the
arrangement. Mr.. DAILY believes
that an order can be had, granting
the use of.these eight miles OF
roadbed already constructed, to,
gether with the right Of way for
the four miles yet to be built, if a
proper showing can be made OF