The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1907-07-26
PRESIDENT HILL OF THE G. n.
And Other Officials of the Road Come to
TOwn--Were On Tour of In
spection of the Lines.

Broughton, general traftlc manager; W..
H. Kenney, assistant traffic manager;
H. M. Adams, assistant traffic mana
ger; F. S. Forest, general superintend-
ent; M. ]. Costello, industrial agent;
L. c. Gilman, the company's barrister,
and w. D. Scott, superintendent Of the
Seattle division, were in Leavenworth
last Friday.
The special coaches of the party
were attached to No. /. The engine
that pulled the special out of Spokane
on which the party were travelling
died" at Harrington and the journey
from that place to this city was made
on No. l. An engine was pressed in
to service here and Mr.. Hills train
was run to Seattle as a special. This
was done to give the party time and
opportunity to stop at the power plant
which is being constructed west of
town for the purpose of electrifying
Cascade tunnel.
President Hill and party were travel
ing over the system on tour Of inspec-
ton. When an Echo representative
learned that Mr.. Hill's mission was one
of inspection, the reportorial mind be-
came reflective, and shades of sadness
tinged the thoughts of reflection. Alas,
forsooth, we wondered whether Louis
w. Hill, son Of an illustrious sire, did
not feel deeply wounded when his Wis
ion rested upon the miserable shack
that the Great Northern utilizes here as
a station house-the unartistic, insan-
tary place where the company's pa
irons are forced to go, when they are
compelled TO use the service OF the
Great Northern, and where many of the
company's employees are housed dur
ing working hours. Dare we give sue
cor to the hope that Mr.. Hills artistic
tastes were so shocked and outraged at
the sight of this miserable apology for
depot that he will lose no time in
sending it to the scrap pile, erecting in
its stead an edifce suitable to the de-
mands OF the company's great volume
of business at Leavenworth2
Relative to the work of electrifying
Cascade tunnel, Mr.. Hill, when in Sc
attic last Saturday, said to reporter
Of the Post-Intelligencer:
THE work Of building power plant
to furnish electricity for use in hauling
cars throuh the Cascade tunnel is un-
der way. There are several engineer
ing problems yet to be worked out, and
it is impossible to say at present just
what the extent of the work will be.
The Wenatchee river, where it passes
through the Tumwater canyon, offers
great possibilities in the way of produc-
ing electrical energy. do not know
if there will be two dams. That is
matter which will be left to the engine
eers."
Higher Tariff on Lumber.
Mr.. Hill gave out the following state
ment regarding higher tariff on lum-
Der which, it is understood, will be-
come effective on the 1st of next Octo-
Der. When asked if it were true that
the railroads contemplated advancing
the rate on lumber, he said:
That has been considered by the
railroads, l believe. There is but one
alternative that know of: The shippers
must pay for transporting the empty
cars back to the coast or pay for it in
shortage OF cars. There is not a rail-
road coming to the coast that has
enough business to bring the cars
back loaded. II these cars come back
empty somebody has to pay for trans
porting them. The shipping rate from
the coast must be high enough to COW
er the cost Of bringing the cars back,
if the demands are to be supplied. At
present the rate on lumber is not suffi-
cient to cover this expense and we
have to depend upon cars that come
here loaded. If the freight rate is in
creased we stand ready to furnish all
the cars necessary. l do not think
there will be any car shortage question
if the proposed rate is paid
Victor H. Beckman, secretary Of the
Pacific Coast Lumber Manufacturers
association, speaking in reference to
the proposed increase in the lumber
rate and Mr.. HilPs statement thereon,
said:
1t means, then, that 90 per cent
OF the lumber business and 90 per cent