East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-05-16
HARDsHrPs OF THE FRONTIER

The Lewiston Tribune gives a
thrilling and realistic example of the
| hardships encountered i'm opening up
the great interior regions of the
Northwest. The article was used edi-
torially and is applicable not only to
the instance recited, but to many
other districts which have been de-
MED railroad facilities. 1t is as fol-
| lows:
An object lesson in the obstacle to
state progress by the lack of ordi-
nary and reasonable transportation fa-
clities is to be found i'm a shipment
of machinery that has just reached
Thunder mountain.
This machinery in the first place
was purchased and shipped to the
state a year ago. but could not be
started toward the mines until
wagon road was built. This road has
now been completed at a cost of about
1000, the state paying half and the
mining companies the other half. The
present shipment comprised 10000
pounds 1000 of it being a rock crusher
in one piece.
Twenty-Five miles of the wagon
haul having previously been made,
the final stage of the journey was be-
gun March 9 and completed April l.
The equipment required 81 horses and
81 men, the stock consuming daily 10
bales of hay and IL sacks of oats.
The difficulties of this trip, with only
half a carload of freight to transport,
were almost insuperable, the cost
probably aggregating the first value
of the machinery. Part of the time
the load was on wheels and part on
sleds
The roadbed left behind was impas-
sable even for saddle horses, and
fences had to be removed to permit
travel to find solid footing. At the
Payette river crossing the stream was
frozen over but not enough to sustain
the load. Three days were consumed
in churning the ice into slush, form
ing a sort of canal through which the
ferry boat could be drawn.
On the hillsides the slopes were
frozen and the vehicles had to be
given some kind of support from slid
ing Plows were sent ahead and a
furrow run on the upper side of the
road through the snow and ice and
this trench held the sled runners in
place. over the entire route a team
of six horses went ahead to break the
way, generally about three feet of new
snow having to be packed on top of
the old frozen snow.
The spring thaws also had to be en-
countered hurried morning trips with
the freight being made for short dis
tances before the melting began, the
party then returning to the previous
nights camp for their own meals.
These are merely a few Of the per-
formances and inventions necessary
in getting in the very requisites to
definite mining. 1t is obvious that
only an immensely wealthy PROPOSE
ton with an immensely wealthy COM
pany to finance it can be developed
under such circumstances. That is
the main reason why so much good
money has gone into the ground and
so little taken out with the resulting
list of appointments and failures.
The lack of railways is the first
cause of the prohibitive or discourage
ing condition of the mountain roads,
as the long distance to be built and
maintained through a sparsely set
tied country, with its own resources
restricted or dormant, makes a burden
that cannot yet be safely assumed.
With reasonable railway transpor-
tation, by which the wagon haul would
be cut down to tolerable proportions
and products be given a market, the
wealth of the country would increase
so rapidly that this internal problem
would cease to be a problem.
The determination with which the
people have set about to remove this
obstacle to their greatness seems to
bring the end within reaching distance
and with it an end to a situation that
seems almost incredible in this day
so luminous with progress and
achievement.