The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-05


senting the interests of the Utah South
ern stockholders in the sale and re-
organization of the Oregon Short Line
q Utah Northern, is the first advance
guard of the big auction set for next
Saturday morning by the United States
circuit cour;
Mr.. Greer arrived on the battle
ground yesterday and remains here un-
Ill the agony is over. Personally, ne
has nothing more TO do with the sale
than to prepare some necessary legal
papers, which will place the Utah
Southern division of the Short Line
into convenient form for immediate
transfer.
OTHERS COMING.
Samuel Carr of Boston. chairman of
the reorganization committee, and G.
w. Nichols, counsel of the same body
are expected to reach Salt Lake by
Friday of this week, in time to prepare
fOr bidding il the different branches
OF the Short Line system.
THE SALE.
The Oregon Short Line proper, with its
various ramifications, will be knocked
down by Special Master William e.
Cornish al 10 o'clock, sharp, from the
steps of the court house: at II and u
O'Clock the Utah Southern and the
other branch lines viii be sold at the
Union Pacific depot.
TALK WITH MIR. GREER.
Mr.. Greer foresaw nothing which
would prevent any outsider from pur-
chasing the lines at the sale, but of
course did not anticipate any such un-
! L. no lin
to pass into The keeping of the present
stock and bondholders of the same
road, but beyond this much was re-
luctant to discuss the sale, vet he ad-
mitted thai the Union Pacific might
once more practically control the line,
which, would then have been relieved
of all the over-burdening debt of the
old organization. Those gentlemen
who comprise what is termed the re-
organization committee of the Oregon
Short Line are Intimately associated
with the heaviest stock and bOndhold-
ers of the Union Pacific system. and it
is now asserted with considerable au-
thority that this committee was the
action of only d partial representation
of the Oregon Short Line stock and
bond interests, indicating that the
American Loan and Trust company or
the interests involved in the Utah
Southern general mortgages or the eX-
consulted
in the reorganization arrangement. In
the above event. there would be
possibility of the committee being
overthrown by influences not expeced.
Into what possession the line will
pass is altogether surmise, there being
nothing tangible upon which to base
any speculation.
THE EFFECT OF, IT ALL.
As the day ana the hour grows closer
when the hammer will fall the rail
way atmosphere lecOmes filed with all
manner OF good. bad and ridiculous
gl.esses. but beneath all of these local
impressions and prophecies there is a
strong undercurrent of conservative !
belief that the Oregon Short Line
auction viii bring to pass no remark
able change in the existing railway
situation so far as it relates to what /
is popularity termed the opening of the |
Ogden gateway" Neither Rio Grande /
nor Rio Grande Western officials. in !
touch with headquarters. expect any
commercial association between an in /
dependent Short Line organization and /
the Rio Grande system nor the Mid /
land annex of the Santa Fe. These |
gentlemen OF course urge that an in /
dependent operation of the Short Line /
would mean the doubling Of the busi- /
ness of that road. by reason of the i'm (
land agreement would pour into the /
northwestern territory, now solely con- !
trolled by the Union Pacific as the only I
outlet for the Northern Pacific and |
Great Northern systems.
But these are possibly dream fabrics
which. in the most conservative opinion, /
can never be realized if the reorganiza-
tion consmittee obtains the transferral. |
Therefore the ogden gateway is not
altogether probable and the hitherto
heralded appointment pf w. II. Ban
croft and 5. w. Eccles as general I
manager and traffic manager respec-
lively IS a very likely occurrence as
both of these gentlemen, as present of
fcials of the old system. should be in
q direct line for promotion. Such is
the status of the Short Line just before
its demise as a child of the time worn
and mortgage ridden Unoin Pacific and
Saturday mornings proceedings will
only in a degree unVeil the horoscope
of its future significance as a factor in
western railroading.