The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1908-08-04
BUILD
ING N Wash.
Continued from Page II

kane, Portland & Seattle, both the
larger lines being under the direction
of Mr.. Hill. This jointly-owned line,
more than half completed down the
north bank of the Columbia river,
provides water-level outlet from
the great Inland Empire. Grain for
tidewater will be brought down the
new artery, and eventually much traf-
fic of the two main lines will be rout-
ed that way. The timber of south
western Washington will be hauled
eastward by easy grades. The con-
struction of this line requires some
of the most remarkable feats of mod
ern railway engineering, and in parts
is the most expensive on the Ameri-
can continent. SO engineers affirm.
The total length is 377 miles.
Hill a Dominating Figurue.
For years Mr.. Hill with his two big
lines has been the dominating figure
in transportation. in all the states
that border western Canada. He has
had mastery supreme, and while his
rule was sometimes harsh, the name
of a great industrial builder as well
as that of a transportation king, will
be his for all time He developed the
country as he built, for he knew his
railway could not be supported with
out traffic for every mile. Dozens of
branch feeder lines to the railway
that bears his personal stamp, the
Great Northern, attest this fact.
But this immense district is no
longer to be the sole property of Jas.
J. Hill, for the Milwaukee, Hartman,
the Canadians and other interests are
fighting for share and share. Wash
ington, as the most rapidly devel-
oping of the northwest states, now
has 1,125.00O people. Her wheat
yield is worth $40,O0O,O00 a year,
and her timber $S5, 100000. Her
fish mean 100000 annually, her
coal $1O,OOO,OOO, and her Alaska
commerce $21, 100000: Seattle, with
275,OOO people, has a port commerce
of $140,000,O0O The commerce Of
Puget Sound with China, Japan, ST.
IBERIA the Philippines, South America,
Australia and Europe is reaching mo-
mentous proportions. For the last
fiscal year it was trifie less than
$7O,OO0,0OO, with exports nearly
double the imports. A ship sailed
from Seattle the other day loaded
solely with grain reapers to be used
on the expanding wheat fields tribu-
tary to Vladivostok Alaska has sent
to the Seattle assay Office almost
$175, 100000 in virgin gold.
The Lumber Trade.
President A. ]. Earring, of the Chi
cago, Milwaukee & st. Paul, has said
that if he can haul over his new road
to the coast four trainloads OF lum-
Der a day the entire operating ex-
penses of the line will be paid. Under
normal conditions the lumbermen as
sert that they more than pay for the
operation of the Northern Pacific,
which now carries two-thirds of their
eastern shipments.
THIS annual lumber yield of Wash
ington, including the shingles that
are cut from the cedar trees, would
fill a train l. 035 miles in length
enough to reach half the way from
Portland, Oregon to ST. Paul, or
from New York to Chicago, with a
good many miles to spare. The tim
Der industry of Washington has 10O,-
900 men directly dependent upon it
it represents 621 per cent OF the
business of the state. Well may
great railway systems race into such
a field. Instead of defiance, the Hill
answer is:
There's enough business for all. :"
Then the railways last fall-before
the financial furry-advanced their
lumber rates about % per cent. This
virtually cut the lumber shippers out
of the middle states market in COM
petition with the timber from other
districts. The fight against this new
rate in the federal courts and before
the Interstate Commerce Commission
has attracted attention far and wide.
Even under the old rates Washington
lum bermen, according to their testi-
mony before the interstate body, were
wasting in the forest and in the mill
something like SIS, 000,000 worth of
timber annually, of the lower grades
that they could not afford to ship to
eastern markets, because OF the
freight tariffs. But the coming of
new roads with competition and
broader territory for a market will
right these conditions, it is confident
ly believed
Great Interest in Milwaukee.
Greater popular interest centers in
the progress of the Milwaukee than
that of any of the other roads, be-
cause its completion to Puget Sound
will precede the others, and because
it's entry into the field cannot but
be fraught with the most far reach
irs consequences. When the Oh .,als
of the road first announced the exts.i-
sion they set an approximate date