East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-07-16

Dog His Tracks-Deschutcs Right
of Way Granted.
Washington.-The general land Of
flee has approved maps for right of
way through the entire line of the
Deschutes canyon applied for by the
Hartman railroad under the land Of
| flee regulations. This approval is
subject to appeal for 80 days. Should
an appeal not betaken, final action
will be reached about August Is.
James j. Hill has sent the man he
regards as the greatest location and
construction engineer in the world
into Oregon to look the long-neglected
territory with view, beyond a doubt.
of deciding upon the feasibility of
throwing railroad lines through the
rich and undeveloped empire, says
the Telegram. This man is John F.
Stevens, who only recently resigned
from the presidency of the New York
New Haven & Hartford to become
Hills confidential representative on
| the Pacific coast. Stevens is also the
man who won international fame for
the splendid record he made as chief
engineer of the Panama canal and the
Isthman railroad.
Here Under Assumed Name.
Stevens retired from the vice-presi-
| dency of the New Haven about two
months ago, and he must have closed
up his business affairs at once, for
Mr.. STEVENS has been living at the
! Cornelius hotel for about five weeks
under the name of James F. Samp-
son, Milwaukee. 1t will be noticed
that he changed both his first ana
| last names, but did not twist his ini-
tials. With Stevens all this time has
been man from the east who reg
isters as T.. p. shannon, also of Mil
waukee. His identity has not been
discovered, although he is supposed
to be a construction official from the
Hill engineering service.
That Hill has longing eyes directed
itoward Oregon for years no one any
longer doubts, in spite of his oft-re-
peated protestations that he had no
idea of invading that country. At the
same time, John F. Stevens returned
to Portland Sunday from a 10 days
automobile tour through central.
southern and southeastern Oregon.
He went alone, save for Shannon and
had a reserve automobile with him
in case of accident to the first one
That his movements might still be
shrouded in deeper mystery he did
not hire livery automobiles, but took
two private cars furnished by Samuel
Hill, son-in-law of ]. ]. Hill.
On the tour through Oregon, Ste
vens visited, after leaving Shaniko,
Madras, O'Neil, Bend, Prineville, Ros-
land, Odell, klamath Falls Lakeview,
Burns and Vale, showing that he
made a comprehensive sweep OF the
entire region through which railroads
might be constructed on any kind OF
practicable basis. He took in all tho
possible routes that presented no i'm
superable engineering difficulties and
would tap all the important grain,
timber, agriculture, livestock and 9TH
er belts.
AS James F. Sampson, this entire
journey was covered scores of peo-
pie were interviewed at different
points, and even several irrigation,
water right and land promoters en-
joyed Mr.. Stevens hospitality aboard
his motor car and none of them, save
one, suspected for moment who the
distinguished railroad builder and
engineering expert was. This one
man wasn't sure about it, and had his
suspicious. and when a Telegram re-
porter showed him a photograph of
John F. Stevens, the cat was out of
the bag
Picking up a thread here and
there, Stevens was hunted from one
hotel to another until the mysterious
Mr.. Sampson was located at the Cor
nelius. Here, too, when the clerks
were asked If John F. Stevens Of New
; Haven, was at the hotel, they said
no.
They were shown Stevens picture,
and both agreed that 1t was the man
registered as Sampson, though they
were not informed that the picture
was that Of Hills new confidential
agent. The only information to be
had about Sampson and Shannon's
latest movement was that they had
: left Portlnd for the east on this morn
, ing's train after living at the hotel
e | for a number of weeks.
3 Hartman Dogs His Tracks.
c For considerable part of the time
I that Stevens was in the interior of the
( state he was dogged by Hartman
= agents with an o. r. & N. automobile
This was principally true for the sew
: eral days that were spent in the ter
I ritory which is embraced in the Des.
chutes river railroad project. These
spoilers scarcely let Stevens get Out
= of sight so long as he was anywhere
n near the extensive halidom which
C Hartman has so successfully KEEP
< bottled up for all these years.
s Stevens not only inspected the
o topography of the country through
e which he passed with great care, but
: he directed many Of his inquiries al
: various points where stops were made
n to matters pertaining to water rights
d power sites, reclamation projects and
kindred subjects, all of which have
direct bearing on railroad develop.
ment or are closely nter-related
5 with such enterprises Much Of this