Arizona republican., 1909-04-26
Being Played byHiI and HaPri-
 manIn nthe Northwest IN THE TIMBER COUNTRY
Hartman by Complicated Means and Devious Routes Working Into the Inland Empire Which James J. Hill Has Built.

Spokane. Wash. April 25.-Eastern Washington. central Idaho and western Montana are the checker boards upon which Hill, Hartman and Earling are playing the game of modern railroad building. and the presence of engineers in Spokane, Lewiston and Missoula suggests that the Inland Empire will be the scene of a struggle which, for opposition and energy, has no parallel in the entire northwest. There are in- dications. too, that Hartman has brok- en truce with the veteran empire builder in the Clearwater country in central Idaho, southeast of Spokane and it is generally believed that the plans now being exposed by the ap- pearance of engineers have been under preparations since the fall of 1907, and that every detail required for the ally ing of the Hartman and Earling in- terests to wrest the territory from Hill has been arranged.
 The Chicago, Milwaukee SS Puget Sound Railway company, which ex-. pended s1O0,O0O.00O in completing it's transcontinental line through Wash ington, Is also making a fight for lccutI III lulS lOdnO ana Montana The announcement jy How ard Elliott. president of the Northern Pacific Railway company, of the con- struction of a line to connect the Wash ington Central with the Northern Pa cific at Pasco, Wash. south of .Spo- kane, thereby giving a direct line to the water-level haul of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle. and passing through the Moses lake country from the Big Bend, has stirred the Milwau- kee officials. Surveyors are in the field for line to be constructed from a point near the Columbia river west of he Moses lake country and tap ping, eventually, the Big Bend country, the wheat belt west of Spokane
 is also definitely announced that the Milkaukee will build direct into Hanford, on the west side of the Co., lumbia river, and may in the near flu ture formally announce its intention of reaching the Yakima valley The most important movement, however, adopted so far by the Milwaukee, is dispatching Assistant Chief Engineer Kyle to the Flathead country, in Mon tana.
 hClc dIt HlOTt lildH lnQlCd- tions that the Johnson Electric rail- way, between Neg Perce and Vollmer, Idaho, now nearing completion; the Northwestern Lumber eompany's road, projected from Vopmer into the Craig mountain timber district; the Clear water Timber company's road, project ed from Orofino into the great tim Der district of the Clearwater country, are links in a planned system that, when completed. will give the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound and the Hartman roads direct line from Butte or Missoula, Mont, to Portland, Ore, through the Clearwater country with feeders extended to serve the greatest tonnage producing districts
 Engineers are now active on the Northwestern Lumber company's road and on the Clearwater Lumber com pany's road. The latter is a Weyer- haeuser concern. while the former is said to be closely related to the Mon arch Lumber company. and subsidiary to the Milwaukee. The fact that the Milwaukee has acquired the weyer- haeuser road from Palouse to Boville, and the announcement of plans ex- tending to the Clearwater country, clearly suggests its intention of be- coming a bidder for a business that does not exist at the present time and can be developed only through activ- ity in the timber district
 The two timber companies are now ready to begin operations, and by the time the mills are installed and in operation, the Hartman and Milwau- kee interests could be in a position to provide the necessary transporta- tion into the markets not accessible under present transportation facilities.