The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1897-07-23

The West Side division of the South
ern Pacific railroad parallels the William
cite from Portland to Corvallis, thu:
afording second route TO the markets
of the. Northwest, and also to San Fran
cisco, which, until recent years, ha.
easily held the supremacy as com.
mercial center on the entire Pacific
coast. A supremacy which is now dis
puted by all persons we'll versed in the
Pacific coast carrying trade, and manu-
featuring and commercial industries
For the conjunction. of several com
petitive lines of railway at Portland, Or.
have shifted, or, at least, very largely
divided, these industries, so that pro
ducers and consumers throughout the
Northwest look to Portland as their base
of supplies, and their center for distri-
button, and regard the former metropo-
lis in its true light, as a neighboring
city, only-not any longer the Mecca
a connection with which can realize
their hopes of prosperity. This is cir
cumstance which has an important bear
ing on the fortunes of the Yaquina
road.
It's EARLY History.
Up to some time in the Jos the o. S.
N. Company, or similar ones, had to
considerable extent monopo1ized the
freight traffic of the Willamette valley
And it is said that the Valley yielded a
bountiful harvest, indeed This is at
tested, in part, by the handsome fortunes
accumulated by the gentlemen who were
enterprising to see and take advantage
of the favorable conditions existing at
that day for monopolizing this trade 1t
has been said, and we hear it occasional
ly still, that Portland had the Valley
by the throat, and exacted a great per
cent. of the profits of the farmers OF
the Valley. So that even yet there ex-
lists an antipathy on part of rural states
men, and their constituency, which ma
terially retards the legitimate beneficial
legislation of the entire state With an
other generation this will undoubtedly
pass away, and in the meantime great
natural resources must continue to
slumber on, awaiting the day when it
will be clearly perceived that only in
union can there be accomplished the
movements necessary to develop those
resources, and without proper and
wholesome legislation these movements
remain impossible.
1t was when the Valley most felt the
oppressive nature of this monopoly that
knC luCd WdS COUCSlNGQ Oh q
railroad to Yaquina bay, which would
shorten the distance to the San Fran
cisco markets by several hundred miles,
and also create competition which it
was hoped would add several cents per
bushel to Valley wheat. The Coast
mountains had to be crossed, and it
would seem that nature intended that
railroad should be built through this
particular portion of the mountains, for
Immediately west of Corvallis the first
surveying expedition under Mr. E. E.
Cooper found low pass easy of access,
and with comparatively light work and
afording an easy grade line down into
the valley of the Yaquina river, from
which point there was no obstacle
whatever, of an unusual character, to in
terfere with the successful location and
operation of such a railroad as was
needed at that time. This was intended
for narrow gauge, and with this in
view, the first promoters of the enter
prise secured ten miles of light rails
and a small locomotive, to be used in
the construction of the road, but after
building ten miles of grade, river
was reached which the company had not
the means to bridge, and, which, to-
gether with the withdrawal of active sup
port by several OF the original pro-
moters, caused a cessation of activities,
which came near to being the end of
the Yaquina road.
During several years of intermittent
effort, and seeming failure, the road
was kept alive by the persistent energy
of the veteran county clerk of Benton
county, whose private accumulations
were consumed, and large private in
debtedness assumed, and carried for
years and finally paid off, in the en-
deavor to keep this railroad project
alive, and to honor the obligations the
company had contracted, and to induce
Eastern capital to take hold of the en-
terprise, and put the road through,
for it was learned, after ten miles had
been built, that local capital was not
adequate to complete this undertake
ing.