Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-26
Railroads Will Make Extensions
This Year.
A BURLINGTON RUMOR
That Road Said to Be Preparing to
Build Toward the C0ast--Will
Tap Many Camps.

Prospectors and wood choppers coming
in from the hills and forests report an
unusual large number of railroad ties be-
ing cut this winter. They cannot attrib-
ute a cause but claim that the men who
are cutting the ties say they are for the
B., A. & P. railway. Not all that are be-
ing cut are for this road but in the vicin-
ity of Anaconda are for the B., A. & p.
railway. Along the main line Of the
Northern Pacific railway in Deer Lodge
county a great many ties are beng cut
land some of them are for the b.. a. & T.
railway. Adding the number of ties cut
in one camp and another around the
country will produce enough to lay three
double tracks between Anaconda and
Butte. No one has any idea that such a
thing will be done. 1t is claimed, how
ever, that the main line of that road will
be extended westward this year and this
is the cause of the activity in the tie bust
ness. Again there is the Washoe smelter
to be erected this summer. Several miles
of spurs and side tracks will have to be
built to the works and a lesser number
of miles of track at their mines in Butte
and lseWhere. There are people in Ana
conda who claim contracts for millions of
ties to be used in the Clearwater extern
sion of the Northern Pacific railway west
ward from Missoula have already been
let and they further claim that many of
the ties now being cut will be used in the
construction of the Pacific end of the B.,
A. & P. railway to Hamilton and west
ward. simultaneously comes the report
from Missoula, Bonner, st. Regis, Colo
ma, Garnet, Quigley, Moose Lake,
Georgetown, Gable district and at home
in Anaconda of extensive developments
and improvements among the mines and
mills that great activity can be expected
within a few weeks. 1t has really started
in some of these places and things point
toward prosperous times at each place.
Rumors of all kinds are afioat about the
construction Of railroads not only by the
Northern Pacific company but other lines
as well. The last road mentioned may
be the first to build and that is the Bur-
lington Route which has reached as far
as Billings on its way westward. Their
line is surveyed to Great Falls and
thence westward down the Big Blackfoot
river to M~issoula. The survey is cross
sectioned ready to let contracts further
west han Great Falls but the knowing
ones are now discussing a route toward
Butte and Anaconda and thence west
ward toward Portland, Oregon and AS
toria at the mouth of the Columbia river
on the Pacific ocean. OF course there is
some of this that is unquestionably mere
gossip, but past and present events prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that the Bur
lington will soon build further west and
that Butte and Anaconda will not be
passed if a desirable route can be found
this way. The greatest mineral belt in
Montana is in Silver Bow county near
Butte; Deer Lodge county, west of Ana
conda, and Granite county at ~PhilipSburg
and Granite. A direct line will reach all
three places and a few miles further west
that great garden Of Eden of Montana,
the Bitter Root Valley, where the vast
ness of it's prOductiveness cannot be sur
passed only at Walla Walia, which is
also said to be on the line of the Burling-
ton. From points in the southeastern part
of the state of Washington branch roads
would be easily constructed into the in
terror of that state tapping the wheat
belts and mineral districts of Washing
ton. Idaho and British Columbia LOOk
at your map and draw a straight line
from Billings, Montana, to Astoria, Ore
gon. 1t can be seen that Butte, Anaconda,
Philipsburg and Hamilton, Montana;
Walla Walla, Wash; Portland, Oregon,
and the fertile valley of the Columbia
river are on the route. Be that as 1t may
western Montana is evidently on the eve
of a new era of prosperity.