Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-18

ments for an extension of the road to
Merino, "a miles east Of the present ter
minus of the line, says the Helena Inde-
pendent. The contract for grading has
been let to Cook & Woldson of Helena,
who began work Wednesday,. A contract
for ties has been let to Dean & Ma1ler of
Towsend. Cook & Woldson will. also lay
the rails of the new extension, and have
contracted to complete the road by July
Is, next year.
Mr.. Harlow said yesterday that a good
share of the grading would be completed
before winter puts a stop to operations.
1.-The contractors" he said, are pre-
pairing to push the work with all speed.
They had 33 teams on the ground yester-
day n expect so more before the end
Of the week. The work will be confined
principally to low ground this winter
which in the spring would be to some
extent marshy. The whole extension
must be completed before July Is.
"The extension" continued Mr.. Harlow,
twill bring the road within So miles of
Lewistown and beyond a doubt the COM
pany will secure the business of that
prosperous little city. Merino. to where
we propose to run is situated directly
south Of the Judith gap, the only pass
between the Little Belt range and the
Snowy ranges and the only natural out
let through those mountains. Merino
will be by many miles the closest point
on a railroad from Lewistown, and our
road will be patronized accordingly. For
that matter, Martinsdale is considerably
the nearest point on a railroad to the me-
tropolis of the Judith country. Trains
are now running daily to and from Mar
tinsdale, and a stage line has been es-
tablished between that station and Lew
istown. The new town of Martinsdaie,
1-H y ss n Sff1A -, flar 81 AL frD~1
the old postoffice of that name, promises
to soon become a thriving little place.
Several new buildings have been erected
there in the last few days, and others are
to follow.
The Judith and Musselshell countries
which our road now taps are asst in eX-
tent and rich in resources, which as yet
have only been partially developed. The
extensions 10 our old road will open up
new territory to Helena and Butte mer-
chants, and they are already taking ad-
vantage of it. The Montana road will be
just 100 miles long when the extension to
Merino is completed"
Mr.. Harlow said yesterday there vas
no truth in the report that the Montana
railway company proposed to build to
LeWistown.
so far as I know now,'' he said, .this
extension we AVE just contracted for will
be our last. We have no intention Of
building to Lewistown as has been re-
ported in some quarters. / will say,
too, that the Burlington system has no
interest in our line, which was built and
is owned by a Ompany Independent of
any other npa 1t is said from time
to time that the Burlington was contem-
plating a plan to extend it's line from
Billings west by way of the Montana
railway but if that was ever
considered, it is not now"
County Treasurer j. X. Squires
Of Ravalli county is in. receipt OF
a letter from the Northern Pacific
pay their special school tax in his coun-
ty irrespective Of the decision Of the su-
preme court, upon the treasurer's' certi-
flying officially that two-thirds of the tax
in the different districts Of the county
in which the company owns property is
paid. Hamilton and Victor, two of the
largest districts in Ravalli county, have
already fulfilled the condition imposed
and the treasurer will notify the COM
pany immediately to that effect. This
means that the schools in these two dis
tricts at least will be kept open the full
year
San Francisco, Nov. 1S.-The Chronicle
says: The sale of the Croker and Stan.
Aoio IA LIZ l. aAiIt
will be followed by several changes in The
board Of directors of the Kentucky cor
poration in the near future. Mrs. Stan
ford is expected here from New Yorl
next week and George Croker Will ar
rive the latter part of the month or early
in December. Shortly thereafter a spe.
cial meeting of the Southern Pacific
board of directors will be held and the
designations of George Croker and W
H. Crocker as well as tn e~resignations
of Mrs. Stanford's two directors, Rus
sell j. Wilson and Charles G. LathroE
will be presented. One or two of the
new directors in all probabilities will be
Southern Pacific officials. The other
directors are expected to be chosen from
the business community. It is said that
H. f. Huntington and J. c. Stubs have
been appointed a committee to select the
successors of the Croker and the Stan
ford directors. The retirement of George
Croker will create a vacancy in the po-
sition of second vice president of the
Southern Pacific and there is a general
belief in local railroad circles that H. f.
Huntington will be appointed. 1t is al
so believed that II. F. Huntington will
succeed to the presidency of the Pacific
Improvement company, the resignation
Of George Croker being expected.