The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-27
ANACONDA NEWS.
RAILWAY WAR AVERTED
Northern Pacific and o. r. & N.
Will Not Fight.
NO PARALLEL ROADS
PARALLEL
Financial Powers Behind the Roads So
Nearly Identical That They Have
Prevented Disastrous
Building Warfare.

In special dispatch to the Standard
from Tacoma, printed yesterday, it was
stated that the Northern Pacific rail-
way had "beaten the o. r. & N. for the
control of the Idaho Central" This was
evidently a mistake in transmission,
for it is evident the news intended to be
conveyed was that the Northern Paci-
fie has beaten the o. r. & N. in fight
for the control of territory in central
Idaho. (
Railroad men who have followed the
developments in the interesting Clear
water valley railway situation have ex-
pressed doubts for many months that
the O. r. & N. would build this sum
mer in that region. They have pre-
dicted that an arrangements would be
made Whereby a division of traffic
would be instituted, the Northern Pa
cific controlling that section of country
east of Lewiston, in Idaho, and the o.
H. d N. continuing to control that rich
wheat growing section west of Lewis
ton contained in the southern Palouse
and Walla Walla districts. The present
dnactivity of the o. r. & N. in the
Clearwater region, and the immense
activity of the Northern Pacific there,
would seem to justify the belief that
some such agreement has been reached.
AS matter of fact the o. r. & N.
mas never done more than survey, file
locations and threaten to build in cen
trail Idaho. It has never had a graders
outfit atwork within 100 miles of the
entrance to the district since the con-
troversy, started. On the other hand,
the Northern Pacific has been doing
actual construction work there for six
months and has nearly 5000 men en-
ployed building it's two lines.
There has been great deal written
and discussed concerning the intention
of both the o. r. & N. and Northern
Pacific to build at once to the Buffalo
Hump district, but the more conserva-
tive do not believe either of the roads
has ever seriously considered undertake
ing such work for several years. No
matter how rich the quartz found in
that district may be, 1t would be long
time before there would be enough
freight traffic to warrant the construc-
ton of line so expensive as this
one would be. Buffalo Hump is free
milling camp and has no large ore ship
ments to make. Railroads are well
known to be shy of building lines to
purely milling camps.
The traffic in central Idaho that is SO
generally coveted is that of the agricul-
tural regions. The famed Camas prai-
RE, though only so miles long by so
wide, sis a. wonderful wheaty producer,
while the lands of the Neg Perez reser-
walton, now being rapidly settled, are
capable of immense production. 1t is
estimated that the Northern Pacific
new lines will, from this traffic, be en-
abled to pay from the start. Heretofore
the farmers have been obliged to haul
their produce go or rs miles to Lewiston
nd oh in hxyH p Hoo y,
Snake river to the railroad at Riparia
Last fall the Palouse branch of the
Northern Pacific reached Lewiston and
gave that place it's first railroad.
In reaching Lewiston from the north
west the Northern Pacific to get
around a high mountain and to get
down to the low altitude of the town,
was obliged to swing far to the east
ward. From the easternmost bend of
this swing, or from the mouth of the
Potlatch river, the Northern Pacific is
now building line up the Clearwater
valley. Contracts have been let for is
miles of road and much of it Is well on
toward completion. This road runs al
most due east for over 30 miles and
then, following the river, swings to the
south. This road is the one which it is
said it will be extended through the
Lolo pass, in the Bitter Root noun
tains, to Missoula
From the mouth of Lapwai creek as
it crosses the, Northern Pacific's Lewis
ton branch near Lewiston, line of
road is projected by the Northern Pa
cific southwark up Lapwai creek to-
ward Camas prairie. Fifteen miles Of
this road are already finished and it is
being rapidly pushed. 1t will probably
reach Grangeville about September,
where it will be about 55 miles from
the Hump. 1t will probably go no fur
Their for some time.
While the o. r. & N had a number
of surveyors in that region during the
fall, and located many lines, 1t is doing
absolutely no construction there. The
only construction work it has in pro-
gress is on a new line, IS miles long,
from Wallula, Wash, to Riparia,
WASH, following the Snake river. The
present O. r. & N. road between those
two points contains many heavy
grades. The new line containing easy
grades it is estimated will save the
road $4,000 in operating expenses an
nually.
While President Mellen Of the North
ern Pacific and President Mohler of the
o. r. & N. are bitter enemies, the
financial interests that control the two
roads are so nearly identical that they,
it is now believed, have been able to
prevent the threatened railroad build
ing war in central Idaho. Such a war
would mean the paralleling of lines and
the consequent reduction of earning
power.