Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-08-25
Railroads of the Northwest Get
ting Ready For Big Fall
Business
MAY HOLD GRAIN
They Can Afford to Wait for Good
Markets--Much of the Crop Will be
Shipped TO the Orient This Year
Talk of Rate War.

road companies are making prepare,
tons for moving one of the creates !,
crops ever produced in the northwest.
Last year the crop from northwes :
years, the Great Northern alone NOV.
ing 200 car loads of grain from stations
along the O'Neill line to Seattle an
then to tho orient on their big steam :
ships, built for carrying the products
or their territory to the foreign port 5.
1t is estimated that at least 900 ca IS
will be shipped from that territory o
the orient this year, as the crop is
heavier in Knox. Antelope, Piere e,
Wayne, L'ixon and Dakota COUNT IS
than it was last year, and these ne w
counties will produce on an avera se
as much corn per acre as some of tne
Oldest counties in the corn belt.
The opening of the Rosebud reserva-
ton last year, gave hundreds of new
farms to southern South Dakota, q I'd
the farms along the Verdigris will turn
into the worlds food supply, such a
crop Of corn and wheat as no Now
country ever contributed before.
Along the lines of the Great North
ern and the Northwestern in Nebraska,
considerable flax has been sown this
year, and the crop will be heavy. N aw
land along the Platte line of the Nor n
western will also produce heavy crop
of flax, it being estimated that betwe en-
$4,000 and 10000 acres of this valua ole
crop will be cut. 1t was planted at 4
time when everything was favora BILE
and the growth has been even. The
flax crop alone, in this immediate terri
tory Is valued at nearly $1,00000'l.
Corn Will Beat Out Frost.
From every section Of South Dakota,
Nebraska! and northwestern Iowa. re-
ports show the crops to be In the K est
of condition. The corn is developing
fast and will mature, without a doubt
several weeks before there is frost
enough to catch it soft.
Railroad superintendent have their
eyes on cars. and tho there is no
shortage as yet. tits only because the
new grain has not started to move.
When shipping begins. the railro ads
say they will be short Of cars on some
lines, in the event the crop moves sud-
denly.
However the. movement will be
steadier than last year as the farmers
do not need to sell at once, and It is
thought the grain movement will cover
much more time than it did last year.
In view of the immense ship oing
business contemplated, the railroads
are working on their rate schedules
and making every effort to get them
in more satisfactory shape.
A rate war between Missouri liver
railroads during the crop moving sea-
son is 10 new thing, in fact it has al
most expected every year. A fight be-
tween the roads hauling to the Att lntic
and the gulf and the northern lines is
not a new thing, the railroads learned
a lesson last year and did not re alize
the earnings on the grain busine IS to
which they We're entitled.
Rate War Seems Likely.
In the spring of 1904 the railroads
got into mixup over grain rates and
they kept cutting the rates until they
got the rates down to about cents
from Missouri river points to Chicago,
or to 10 cents to the Atlantic sea-
board The rate last fall agreed upon
was IL cents. and this was said 10 be
normal, but there Is a tendency to cut
this rate again this year and a bitter
rate war may be pulled off.
The cut in grain rates announced
last week by the Great Northern,
which means a profit of thousands Of
dollars to the farmers is likely to be
met by all the railroads in the Great
Northern territory. Representatives of
the Milwaukee and st. Paul, the Rock
Island, the 500 line and the Minneap-
oils and st. Louis railroads held con-
ference Yesterday with Great Northern
OFFICIALS and it is thought the railroads
will follow the lead of the Great
Northern and put in some much lower
rates before the big movement OF grain
begins.