The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-07-07
MANY PERTINENT QUESTIONS.
william Reid Makes Some Pointed RE-
marks on the Local Railway
Situation.

AhtOfldf I-HON ~ it thhl AhtOTlh, III !
1892 without a railway. contrasled
with 1900 and a river railroad TO Co
Bile, has less manufactures Of lum-
ber and fewer foreign exports and ils
chief dependency II stili on the Tal-
mon fisheries and canneriesg / venture
to say. because Astoria's prefent rail-
way In wrongly located on the Columbia
river instead OF. as II ought TO have
been through the Nehalem valley with
the latter's vast resources carried TO
Astoria.
The present railway with no local
carrying trade or Taw produce for man
ufacture nor logs 10 be carried TO
Astoria for faw-mills. never can build
W manufacturing enterprises there.
The few resources tributary 20 the
Astoria and Goble rallway'are carried
not 10 Astoria. but TO the markets Of
Portland. and by steamers and scows
at competition rates often cheaper than
can be taken 10 Astoria.
Many Astorians will recollect that
when. In 1890. they asked me to help
build a road from Astoria to Goble |
declined for the above reasons, stating
that II would not build up Astoria as
a lumber center. hence / preferred the
Nehalem route. and followed II in
stead
All Of the Eastern lumbermen who
have visited Oregon within the past
have confirmed my judgment in this
respect. and. while they unanimously
favor Astoria as the great natural saw
mill site. over all others. they add
that unless a local railway 10 AS
torla Is built to carry from ten 20
thirteen billion feet OF Nehalem tim
Der they dare not erect permanent
sawmills al Astoria for the reason that
II all OF Nehalem's twenty billion feet
Of logs could be noated down to the
Nehalem bay all the year round DIM
possible without a railway on account
OF the falls). such logs would have TO
be handled at Nehalem bay and from
thence be carried as lumber. by rail-
way, from that bay either to Portland
or Astoria. Hence your city would not
get the manufacturing from these logs.
II this is true. and fear that you
must frankly admit 1t is. what are
the Astoria people going to do about
Il? Wait on. year after year. Macaw-
Der like. "for something TO turn up"
as other cities, now dead. have done,
and say Look at our superior. natur-
al location? Yet all the while East
ern lumbermen are coming to oregon,
erecting sawmills elsewhere in the state
and Portland is working nearly one
million feet per day OF sawlogs.
Remember capitalists engaged in the
numbering business do not build to own
railroads. and only go where the tim
Der and railroads are located near each
other. Can Astoria give such advant-
ages? believe she can, because:
First.-A railroad only thirty-five
miles long may terminate at Central
Nehalem river, and carry therefrom
! ten to thirteen billion feet of logs to
Astoria cheaper than any other rail-
way In the United States while a sim
liar railway from the other nearest
city from Central Nehalem would be
seventy miles and would cost double
the amount And eventually the Asto-
ria line may be extended down to Ne
halem bay and transport coal to Asto-
ria therefrom. provided Mr.. Hammond's
proposed Seaside railway does not go to
these coal mines at Nehalem bay.
Second.-Astoria. out Of the thirty
five miles necessary. has already con-
structed fifteen to eighteen miles grade,
consequently nineteen to twenty miles
additional have only TO be built to
reach the Astoria city limits. while the
surveys of the whole line TO Nehalem
river, at the mouth OF the Humbug
creek, are already paid for and the line
accurately surveyed, re-surveyed, cross
sectioned and the cost Of the work is
accurately estimated from Astoria to
Nehalem river, which surveys Qf not
already done) would take six months
to any surveying corps to accomplish
and consequently the grade may be
constructed Immediately.
Nevertheless. do not, and would not,
discourage the Seaside line to Tilla-
NOOK which Mr.. Hammond contem-
plates, because II will carry to Flavel
spruce and fir for ten to thirteen miles
along the Necanicum. but fortunately
It will never compete with the Lewis
and Clark route for two reasons.
First-Because 1t never can be a
competitor with that line (via the Lewis
and Clark summiD into the Nehalem
valley proper nor carry the fifteen bill
lion feet of logs now growing in the
latter Consequently If this line from
Astoria to Central Nehalem is never to
be built and leave nothing. except the
timber below the falls Of the Neha-
lem river, to reach Nehalem bay where
Mr.. Hammond's Seaside line may pass,
or stop to carry it after they are made
into lumber
Second-Even if Mr.. Hammonds Sea-
side line to Tillamook be built within
the next few years, or later, the local
traffic thereon win be hauled. whether
logs or lumber, to its terminus at Fla
vel alone. Mr., Hammond himself stat
ed to me that II not carried to Flavel
his company would have TO charge
fifty cents per ton additional when
carried over his railroad bridge into
Astoria proper. q mean that trestle