The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-06
AMONG RAILROAD MEN
The N. P. Has Stolen a March
on the o. R. & N.
THE CLEARWATER FIGHT
VIII Possibly Get Hold of the Camss
Prairie Country-Feeding in Transit
Rates Will Be Withdrawn
May 25

The latest development in the rail-
road night In the Clearwater country in
dicates that the Northern Pacific has
stolen march on the Oregon Railway
& Navigation company. The report
from Lewiston is that the Northern Pa
cific has decided to establish a traffic
service to Stuart, which is the terminus
of the extension now being construct
ed up the Clearwater from the month
of the Potlatch. 1t is announced that
the new steamer j. NJ Hannaford.
which has just been completed, will be
placed on the run from Potlatch to
Stuart at once, carrying freight and
passengers. From Stuart it is proposed
to operate a stage line to Grangeville.
If this plan is adopted the Northern
Pacific will gain an influence in the
Camas prairie country that the o. r. &
N. company will have difficulty in over
coming.
At present passengers and freight for
Grangeville and the Buffalo Hump min
ing country are subjected to a long and
difficult drive from Lewiston. Owing
TO the bad condition of the roads ONLY
small loads can be hauled. If a traffic
service is begun on the Clearwater
the new steamer can haul heavy loads
to Stuart, from which point it is but
90 miles to Grangevlle. In reviewing
the situation the Lewiston Tribune
says:
If this fairly indicates the purpose of
the Northern Pacific, the o. r. & N.
company will find that it has already
lost valuable time that its connection
has appropriated, and if the Oregon
company does not change its snowy APP
pearances into effective operation its
rival with much the worst of the situa-
ton is liable to seize, not only the Lew
iston country, but the Camas prairie
country also
However, the main concern of the O.
r. & N. company must be to push its
railway lines into the traffic territory
that it desires to reach and keep If
the Northern Pacific proposes to ope-
rate, and should operate, a steamer for
the Clearwater business, the o. R. & N
can promptly compete with its own
steamer service from Lewiston to any
point its competitor can make. So the
situation is decidedly acute and inter-
esting, and is capable of results dra-
matte in execution and potential in
shaping the fortunes of the country in
volved."
The formal withdrawal of the feed
ing-in-transit rates by the railroads has
provoked more comment than anything
done in railroad circles of the West
since the interstate commerce law was
announced. The rates Will not be abol-
ished until May 25, but the new tariffs
are now being prepared, and the rail-
roads have announced their intention of
withdrawing the rates on that date.
These rates have been in effect more
than 90 years, and the change at this
time will develop many new questions
in the stock industry of the Western
country. There is a considerable divis-
ion of sentiment as to the complications
likely to grow out of the new order of
things The big cattle outfits and
breeders of stock on large scale en-
press the opinion that they will be
driven from the business, while the
small stockmen favor the abolition of
the feeding in-transit rates and believe
their interests are best served by the
wiping out of these rates. The small
cattle owner asserts that these rates
We're made in the interest of the big
cattle syndicates and that the abolition