Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1906-01-02

/ - SCCAAAS SAAdl Lew lSlOWn Is OUT OF IL
so far as this branch line is concerned.
No provisions have been made for
coming through this place and it is
likely that nothing but a united effort
on the part of the citizens and busi-
ness men of the town can change the
present plan. 1t is presumed that a
some point on the Judith, but that is
small consolation for city which has
been crying for a transcontinental line
for years.
Following is the article in the Inde-
pendent, referred to above, concerning
probable line for the Milwaukee,:
It is now the settled determination
| of the Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul
| railroad to make Miles City it's first
| objective point in Montana and to
head thence toward Butte via Mar
| tinsdale, in Meagher county. Major
Maginnis, who has long been familiar
with every mile of the country
through which the Milwaukee propos-
| es it traverses Montana, said:
The route of the Chicago, Milwau-
kee & st. Paul from Miles City to
Martinsdale was surveyed by nature
long time ago and later by govern
ment railroad engineers. If you take
a federal map of Montana you will
see that the second standard parallel
north is within six miles north of
Miles City. Martisdale, the second
| objective of the new road in Montana,
is on the same parallel due westward
| from Miles City almost exactly 21o
| miles.
Besides furnishing the shortest
distance between two points, and an
absolutely open country, without con-
siderable grades the route from Miles
City to Martinsdale passes through
some of the richest lands in the whole
! state, taps the most extensive and
| least developed coal fields in Montana
| and opens up a fructile region which
| needs nothing but a first class rail-
road to make it one of the most popu-
lous and prosperous in the northwest.
There is every geographical and eco
! nomical reason, then, why the Mil
waukee should follow the standard
| parallel from Miles City to Martins
dale.
There 1t comes in contact with the
Montana railroad, locally known as
| the Harlow road which connects
Helena with Lewistown via Lombard
and about fifty miles of Northern Pa
cific track. Always remembering that
Butte and Anaconda are the western
objectives of the Milwaukee in Mon
tana, that road, having arrived at
Martinsdale. would have the choice of
two routes to Butte. If the Milwau-
kee should acquire the Harlow road
| and go southwest to Lombard and
thence west by north to Basin as
would be necessary, it would be oblig-
ed to scale three difficult passes before
reaching the divide which separates
the route from Butte.
"The relations between the Harlow
road and the Hill system are we'll
known, and it is not likely that the
latter would permit the former to
pass into the hands of the Milwaukee.
| even if this new road should prefer
the southwesterly DETECTION in Build
ing to Butte. 1t could not parallel the
Harlow road on account of topograph-
ical impossibilities and it's territory
between Lombard and Basin would
offer nothing in the way of mineral,
agricultural and mercantile traffic.
THE wisdom and feasibility of the
plan to go directly from Martinsdale
to White Sulphur Springs becomes
Immediately apparent That is the
county seat of Meagher county,
growing city and naturally one of the
most efficacious health resorts in the
country. Westward through the rich
Smith River valley, crossing the Belt
divide through the three -quarter-m mile
tunnel at Whites gulch, the Milwau-
kee road would follow the sunny side
of the mountains to crossing over
the Missouri river near the Clayton
| Ferry dam and thence directly into
| Helena over the very grade establish
ed by Gen. Haven when the Montana
railroad was determined to build to-
wards Lewistown over this same
| route.
"It is a striking fact, noticeable by
reference to the map that Helena,
J which is about 295 miles west Of Miles