The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1906-09-25
OPEN NEW FIELDS
RAILROAD BUILDERS THE MOD
ERIN RACE OF DISCOVERIES
Now the Exploitation of the Great
Northwest Is Prominent in the
Minds of All-James ].
HIPS Prediction.

Mr.. James ]. Hill recently made the /
startling statement that, in his opin- /
ion, by 1910, only four years from now, |,
the population of the United States |
will be 100 100000, and that when that
time comes this country will consume
all the wheat raised within its borders.
The man who makes this prediction
belongs to the modern race of discov-
erers, the railroad builders. Once it
was the northeast passage to Cathay
which fired the ambition of the ex-
plorer. Now it is the avenue to new
fields of production. The twentieth
century industrial explorer is the man
who seeks sources of supply for bread
stuffs, ores, timbers, and other ma
terial of varied character on which de-
ponds the complex life of nation of
many millions of people.
The railroad magnate who spends
his working days in an Office hidden
away in a mammoth skyscraper seems
far removed from the race of hardy
discoveries who five centuries ago
made America known to the old world.
But excepting perhaps Ponce de Leon,
who sought here the spring of eternal
youth, the pioneers among the discov.
erers of the western hemisphere were
seeking new routes for trade just as
are their successors who are to-day
extending steel highways into regions
which only few short years ago were
inhabited by wild animals and Indians.
1t is the undeveloped areas of fertile
land which now attract the pioneer in
railway enterprise as well as the
actual settler.
Whether this country will soon con-
sumo all the wheat raised within it's
borders or not, the markets of the
world are clamoring for supplies and
in response to the demand the eyes of
the industrial discoveries are turned
toward the northwest. To jewellers in
the southern and eastern states, the
term northwest still means Minneso-
ia, the, Dakotas, Montana and Wyom-
ing, Washington and Oregon, but in
these states the northwest has a wider
/. meaning. 1t includes not only great
extent of territory on this side of the
line, but also a vast expanse of fertile
lands in Canada which are now being
turned into productive farms and
which in a few years will be among
the greatest grain producing regions
of the world.
When it comes to getting the prod
uct of these Canadian wheat fields tC
| eastern markets, it is significant that
/ in the opinion of the railroad builders
| the best route is that which is afforded
/ by the great lakes. This means thai
/ these inland water ways are to see
still further increases in the amount
of their commerce. The lakes have fol-
two centuries played an important
part in the upbuilding of the north
west. In recent years the traffic OF
Lake Superior alone has grown sc
rapidly that the commerce of the Soc
many times exceeds that of the Suez
canal. A recent government bulletin
shows that through the canals of the
500 during April of this year there
passed 2,513,267 tons of freight as
against 1.300,166 in April, 1905. Las
year there passed beneath the aeria
| ferry at the entrance to the Duluth
| Superior harbor total of 1853 yes
sells, with registered tonnage of &c,
! 216,154. In the same time there passed
the Statue of Liberty, in New Yorl
harbor, bound to and from foreign
ports. about 5000 vessels. New York.
greatest coastwise travel gave hel
first place, Duluth ranking SECOND
among American ports. That many
of the modern lake carriers rank il
size with ocean-going steamships il
shown by the fact that the averag,
net tonnage of the vessels which en-
tered and cleared at Duluth in 100;
was 2,166. With the deepening of tn,
Erie canal on the east the prod
ucts of the northwest can be carried
by water for three-quarters of the dis
lance to the Atlantic coast, and thi
fact has evidently not been overlooket
by the men behind Canadian railwa,
projects.