Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-12-16
eBig Fight of the Railroads utah. Idahoarrd Nevada


est agricultural sections in the West, The line to
Malad will also have beer completed by the time
this appears in print, while at the present time
contractors are making the dirt fly on the Yeilee.
stone Park Railroad This line which IS essen
tally Hartman corporation viii rtin more. from
st. Anthony 10 the borders of the National Park.
At the same time there will be branch line con-
structed TO traverse the famous Teton Basin and
tap the rich coal deposits in tn, district. This
work is TO be cleaned up and turned over to the
operating department in time for the summer
tourist season.
Over on the west side Of the State Of Idaho
there has been also some work undertaken espec-
ally on the Pacific & Idaho Northern. This line
which leaves the Oregon Short Line main line at
Weiscr is now beng extended north from Coun-
Gill; lust who owns control of this small road is
not forthcoming at this time There always has
been sentiment thar will not down however, that
the Pin road 3 Hill proposition and II will
ultimately be extended i. TAP the Northern Pa
Cihc which passes through thy extreme northern
section Of Idaho. AT present t i, regarded as
Hills trump card in the Rparia controversy.
Several parties OF surveyors are reported at
this time 10 be operating in Western Idaho One
proposition on which they are working is said 20
be On a north and south line, the other survey
BY Hartman forces for line to traverse the CEN
]
icy Of all railroads to keep corps Of surveyors col
Letting data in the field too much stress must not
be laid upon the movements Of engineering par
ties.
Still another proposition is one TO build from
Butte. Mont. to Winnemucca, New, via Boise,
Ida This project is known as the San Francisco,
Idaho & Montana Railway company month
ago William Peyton Mason, president OF the new
and mysterious corporation, announced that the
first 2Io miles of the road had been financed in
New York The construction work, he afirtns,
is to begin at once, and the road is TO be finished
by ian. l. 1907. 1t is estimated to cost $780,
600 The first section OF the road to be built will
extend from the Snake river valley, in Idaho,
southwest to Winnemucca, New, where con-
nection will be made with the Southern Pacific,
thus bringing the Snake valley 600 miles nearer
San Francisco. The route is laid through the
district in which about SI5ooo,ooo is being spent
by the government and private corporations in
irrigation work.
But when It comes to actual competitive
railroad building one must look to the State of
Nevada for an object lesson. During the past
two wears Nevada has awakened from its leth-
argy and the old halcyon days when Virginia
City and Comstock were at their zenith have been
revived. All eyes are turning to Nevada.
The development Of Tonopah and Goldfeld
in the western part of the state and the reviyalof
mining around Delamar and Phoebe following the
advent Of the Salt Lake Route in the southeast
ern section Of Nevada have boosted freight earn
ings away up.
During the current year no less than eight
railroad propositions have been financed Some
of these have been completed and are earning big
dividends, others are being built and the balance
have not gone beyond the pioneer survey stage.
The Southern Pacific, which so long as
there was no opposition lay dormant and content
to handle trans-contnental business and let
Nevada haul her freight TO the cars, has awal-
ened with energy to head off any invasion OF her
right of eminent domain
lust as soon as it was apparent that Gould
meant business and was not blufing with his
threat OF building the Western Pacific Hartman
started going after the freight and to make this
easier naugurated campaign OF construction.
One of his first acts was to build the Hazen
cutoff. Then followed the incorporation of the
Nevada Northern and at the present time the
Utah Construction company has an army of hun
dreds OF men at work pushing this line to its
completion. The road leaves the Southern Pa
chc main line at Toano New, 13O miles west of
Ogden. At the present time OF writing about 30
miles of grading has been thrown up and the
forces are still heading south To the onlooker
it would appear that this line is reaching out after
the immense tonnage that has been clamorng for
transportation from the mines and prospects of
the Deep Creek region TO the smelters OF Salt
Lake Valley. This line undoubtedly is being
built to spike any efforts the part OF the West
ern Pacific to penetrate this rich virgin district.
OF the other propositions under way there is
the Virginia & Truciee extension which was
made in the interest of self preservation and the
Tonopah extension to C,oldheld.
With Goldhed as its objective point the
Salt Lake Route also took a hand in building
feeders this year. Originally "Borax' Smith TN
dcrtook to build this projected line from Las We
gas. New, on the main line Of the San Pedro
road past his soda deposits on to the new eldora-
do. He went to the extent OF grading some rs
miles of right OF way out of Las Vegas but ADAM
doncd his scheme with the announcement that the
Clark road declined to give him any rates on
steel, ties and supplies, Accordingly he has en-
tered into an agreement with the Santa Fe and is
now actively engaged on the preliminaries of
line from the south which will skirt the famous
Death Valley and go on to Bulfrog or Goldheld.
The abandoned grade was then taken over
BY the Salt Lake Route and new company in
corporatcd under the name Of the Las Vegas 4
Tonopah with J. Ross Clark and other San Pedro
officials as stockholders According 10 official