Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1909-06-22
Railroad Engineer Holds the ScepleP
on The Pacific.
WONDERFUL ERA OF BUILDING
Every important Portion Of Great
Span Of Territory is occupied by
keen-eyed Men, Looking for Passes
Through Which Trains Can be Run.

SPOKANE, WASH, June 19.-Path-
finders of the Pacific Northwest.
awakened to development and
growth never dreamed OF even by ITS
most optimistic supporters. have laid
the foundations for what it is apparent
will be the most wonderful era OF rail
road building the nation has yet seen.
Claiming it by right of conquest. a
regiment of engineers and their lever
and rod men has taken possession OF
an area of more than 100000 miles in
the Northwest, extending from the Da-
kotas to Puget Sound. and In every
important portion of this span OF terri
tory the American railroad giants are
waging the mightiest struggle for en-
pire in the history of the world.
Engineers in the employ OF the
Northern Pacific, the Great Northern,
the Chicago Milwaukee & Puget
Sound and the Hartman systems,
have worked over four great mountain
ranges winter and summer. spying out
every available pass where railway
trains can be run safely and profit
ably. The Rocky mountains on the
east, the Bitter Root range in Idaho
and Montana, and the Cascades and
Olympic in Washington have been
penetrated and mapped as never be-
fore. There are reports now that
Oregon will also be invaded by the
pathfinders.
When the Milwaukee projected its
extension to Puget Sound. Albert ].
Earring, president of the road, gather
ed together in conference his trusted
men in the engineering corps. Addi-
tions to the staff were taken from the
ranks Of the best equipped railroad
engineers in the country They were
told that money did not count for
much. but that secrecy was every
thing. Then they were directed to
geek out and locate the best routes
1br the coast extension and its branch
line construction to follow later. the
project involving an expenditure or
$200, 100000 or more.
Since that day the railroad engi-
neer has been king of the Pacific
Northwest. He has gone about. his
work by devious but at ali times GER
tain ways. More than one man at the
head OF secret parties for the Earl
ing and Hartman systems has had
hundreds of thousands of dollars at
his disposal for the purchase OF right
of-ways in the narrow canyons On the
Olympic peninsula or through the
steep defiles of the Cascades and the
Bitter Root mountains.
II is a matter of record that an en-
gineer in the employ of Earring saved
his company 100000 by quick and
judicious application of the money
test to a man who owned body OF
timber in the Olympic peninsula.
where future operations of the Mil
waukee road will be on an extensive
scale.
These engineers have threaded
every mountain pass and timber area
in the Pacific Northwest. They have
gone through the grain and fruit belts
in eastern Washington and central
Idaho. staked their lines in the frri-
gated districts in the Columbia River
valley. bargained with wealthy
orchard owners in the Yakima valley
for rights of-w and have kept their
own counsel, the while defying every
attempt of agents of rival roads to
penetrate their secrets.
There is a possibility OF another
transcontinentai line for the North
west in the project known as the