Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-09-13
ID. Of the Missouri River Navigation Congress

issippi, while the, lower Missouri
towns control practically none Of it;
and the shipments inward Of what is
consumed are, to nearly the same
extent, from the cities to eastward
above mentioned. And the entire
shipping process both ways is BY
rail.
Present Upper River Navigation.
'The west bound trade from the
upper Missouri is IN its infancy, but
the Orient IL drawing an apprecia.
BILE fraction in cereal and other pro-
ducts as incidental to like trade
from the Twin Cities and other man
ufacturing points In the northwest,
while lumber products from the chief
subject of inward shipment from the
Pacific coast. The only substantially
long-distance river traffic extant on
the upper Missouri is that carried on
north of Bismarck, and which Is To-
Gated principally over a stretch OF
some $50 miles from Fort Benton to
a railroad point or points eastward
on the Great Northern road which
there digresses northward from the
Missouri.
.tBut there are certain phases of
commercial trend pertaining to the
northern section of the upper. Mis-
souri, which may and probably will
tend strongly to dominate the ter
ritory in question, as auxiliary fore
es to those already referred to ais in
present control, and which are like
ly to still further divert trafic away
from the lower Missouri towns and
to permanently impair tfleir abili-
ties for grasping and holding such
trade, If time is allowed to 60 on
without ali effort Oh their part to
stem the tide against those inff1enc-
es. We refer to railroad connections
most Of which have long been in
existence, and some of witch are
understood to be either in process
Of development or which are inc
vitabIe. sgsy d Sail L. H.. Is ~.
Probable Future Trade Factors
Should railroad be constructed
from the mountains above the head
Of navigation and down the Mis-.
souri,, having as its detectives the
exploitation Of trade, over existing
lines, or over strictly water-level
railroads to the Pacific seaboard
and the Orient westward to the Gulf
Of Mexico, such system being plan
ned also In connection with the COM
merce Of the Isthmian canal; and IL
such project were. operated in con-
junction with existing and controll-
ing railroad systems now connecting
the Great Lakes and the Twin Cities
with Seattle and the Pacific sea-
board in that locality, it is improb-
able that those developments, In
hands long made cunning by exper-
fence in railroading with water car
riage on large scale as an adjunct,
would seek to control Missouri river
trade far to southwark. And, in
the absence of early and persistent
effort by commercial centers down
the Missouri to seize upon and hold
the trade in question, is it improb-
able that they would be worsted in
battle for its control to northWard?
And if, in the growth of the resourc-
es of the Winnipeg Basin, the not
distant future shall witness rival
carriers building lines to the Mis-
souri, in North Daokta and Montana
to connect it with water points in
that basin or with existing trans
continental lines in the Dominion
which are in touch with both sea-
boards, is too far-fetched to surmise
that such commercial connections
would reinforce the tendency to con-
troll of upper Missouri trade to the
HoI III WdTu s.a sGGS
And in the final analysis of COM
mercial conditions, present and flu
ture, in the northern section here
under discussion, the great, seeming
~ overpowering considerations are
two facts--the overland trade with
the Orient, and the very significant
point that the western end of the
Great Lakes system is SO far west
ward as to furnish tremendous
double advantage as reinforcement
to the entire trade movement over
the greater portion Of the North
American continent, east and west.
This great advantage is, in turn.
likely to be accentuated through
utilizing the Red river, Lake Winni-
peg and Hudson Bay links Of a fu-
ture waterway and rail carriage sys-
tenn whose possibilities are but lust
beginning to dawn upon the public
mind
National Waterway Relationship al
Upper Missouri.
I'VE believe the upper Missouri re.