The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-05-23
THE NORTH And
THE ORIENT
Wall Street Journal Points That We
Are in the Focus Of Rail
road Building.
Biggest New Projects Of the Rail
road World Lie in This
Territory.
The Big Systems Are Preparing to
Handle the Traffic Of the
Orient.

To the Editor of The Journal
New York. May 2s.-The wall s1ree s
Journal, under the caption, me No s
and the Orient" says:
Since the beginning of the present cen
tl1ry two new features have become prom
inent in the railroad policies OF the Unit
ed States. They are the persistent anu
determined effort that is being deVoteu 70
the development of the north and equaLy
patent preparation of American railroads
to handle, in days to come, the traElc 10
and from the Orient.
The northern railroads OF the west are
those that have their main trunk lines
north of the Missouri River, Denver, Salt
Lake City and San Francisco. The group
includes Great Northern, Northern Pa
cif1c, Burlington, st. Paul, North-W estern,
Union Pacific, the Oregon lines, the 800
Line" Canadian Pacific and Canadian
Northern 1t Is not necessary to rec1te IN
detail the advances that these roads have
made, the remarkable way in which they
have adapted their tariff to the needs OF
their territory, the way they have built
up mighty systems out of Isolated INES.
Every Wall Street, man knows, approx
mately, the history of the Hill lines What
we desire to point out is that since Jan. l.
| 1900, there has been evidence of new
| impetus toward the upbuilding OF these
northern lines and the development Of
| their territory.
Hill Was the Pioneer.
| Doubtless the Northern Securities lines.
as they are now known, supplied the first
| impetus to this movement. Mr.. Hill first
recognized the latent potentially OF the
| north country. Very deliberately he set
| about the exploitation of it. The lever
| that he used to set this world in motion
was the rate schedule. He turned the for
ests Of Washington into an asset by carry
| ing them to Chicago on his trains at rates
before undreamed of. Cities and towns
| followed his engineering parties. He took
a struggling seaside town and made Sc
attic out of It. He made a half-peopled
wilderness rich and powerful territory.
Many Projects In Motion.
| Naturally and inevitably wealth followed
the opening of this territory. Two or
| three years ago the country began to call
| for more railroads, and still more rail-
roads The northern field became com
I petitiye. 1t is still competitive. To hold
| the donainancy of it Mr.. Hill created the
4 Northern Securities company. To secure
| a foothoId in it south of the border, Ca
madam Pacific bought Minneapolis, st.
Paul & Sau1t Ste. Marie. Recognizing
it's possibilities, a syndicate of shrewd and
/ powerful Toronto capitalists projected a
1 line they hoped, and still hope, to sell
| Canadian Northern-and built, on paper, q
trunk line from the Twin Cities to the
head of the lakes. st. Paul has built
i six branches into local traffic centers
North Western has built four and bought
two, Rock Island has invaded the south
ern line by the purchase of Burlington, Ce-
dar Rapids & Northern, Union Pacific has
created the Oregon division and is bidding
for traffic thru the Spokane Gateway
North of the border, Canadian Pacific has
built twenty-five branches, bought S0'
miles of track, and stands prepared t.
build wherever people call for it. Cana
dian Northern is building its paper line
wherever Mckenzie & Mann think Crane
Trunk will buy them. Grand Trunk Pa
cific will build 5 900 miles Of railroad within
: the next five years. They will build will
British capital, even as Great Northern
i Northern Pacific, 500 Line and Canadian
Pacific built. Wall Street will not hea,
of them, directly, for years to come.
! Railroad Development centers Here.
r 1t is safe to say that the railroad de
I velopment of the continent centers to da.
between California. and Port Simpson OF
: the west, Denver and Edmonton in cen
2 trail territory, and the Twin Cities and
l Winnipeg on the east. The biggest new
projects Of the railroad world lie in thi
3 territory. Oregon and Saskatchewan ar
! still unbroken Wildernesses except 70
: single trunk lines running thru them. 1
2 Oregon to-day Hartman and Hill engi
: neers are seeking rights of way. In Sas
! katchewan, Canadian Pacific, Gran
!, Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern en-
4 gineers are doing the same thing. There
9 to be new era of railroad building in
9 new country.