Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1899-12-07
IlAIL, ,NUME..

III maintaining q WDbv at WASH
ington city to urge upon congress
the necessity Of appropriating 4
sufficient sum ofmoney to complete
the locks at the cascades within the
shortest practicable time. The
prospect looked very fair for success
in this direction, but was defeated
4 by secret.and powerful influence in
congress. The usual small appro-
priation was passed, However, in
/ order to hold together the franchise
and property already acquired "a
large part of the life of the previous
corporation having already expir-
ed), the articles Of corporation were
amended so as to include the right
of the company to construct a port
age railway Of its own around the
cascades of the Columbia.
About this time, Governor Pen
noyer, of the state Of Oregon, took
the bull by the horns by getting
an appropriation from the state of
Oregon, to complete portage rail-
way on the Oregon side Of the river
over the Cascades reservation,
which was accomplished about 1898
In the meantime the Portland
Chamber of Commerce took up the
matter of the early completion OIL
the portage railway, and in order
to do this proposed TO purchase
100000 of the Columbia Railway
& Navigation Company's bonds at
par, this measure being defeated,
however, by the powerful railroad
interests opposed to this project
In 1898 the memorable panic took
place. Mr.. Cannon, who was the
principal hacker of the enterprise,
failed utterly, and, owing to the
condition of the money market
from that time up to two years ago, |
it was impossible to enlist capital
from the East or elsewhere in any
new transportation project. The |
rapidly succeeding bankruptcies Of !
all the principal railroads in the
Pacific Northwest intensified the
adverse situation in this respect.
A great difficulty in enlisting
capital in this enterprise is alleged |
to have been the threat of the rail !
road companies to hang up the
hide of ybody on the fence who |
should dare to put his money into
a portage railway or navigation
project After hearing such threat
those who were asked for assistance |
did not wait to learn the details or
the verities Of the project Mr. Can
non, of Spokane, having died, and
the others having been sorely !
crippled by the panic, and the Co
lumbia Railway & Navigation Co.
being irrevocably in debt, no one
was left to battle for the project
except Mr.. Mohr, who could do
nothing, as he had also lost all of
his money, and likewise his inter
est in the old company.
It appears that last winter Mr..
Mohr laid the project before some
of his friends in Spokane, to-wit,
William J. Harris, Senator George
Turner, Frank H. Graves, |. N.
Peyton and w. J. G. Wakefield.
These men made a careful exami-
nation Of the physical and com
mercial features OF the enterprise,
convincing themselves that Mr..
Mohr's theories were entirely sound,
and agreed to put up the necessary
capital to complete the project,
provided they could interest some
friends 10 the East and in London.
This having been accomplished,
the Central Navigation & Con-
struction Company was formed to
complete the project, first, with
nominal capital, to avoid the sus-
picion Of its enemies, and subse-
luen:ly enlarged to cover the total
for the completion Of
the enterprise.
A Big Transportation System.
The plans Of the Central Naviga-
ton q Construction Company for
the year 1900 are as follows:
First-To complete a standard !
gauge railway between Crates
point and Columbus.
second-The completion Of a
sufficient amount of equipment In