The Daily Missoulian., 1909-04-25


truce this time.
This special dispatch reached The
Missoulan office yesterday short
time after a party of Northern Paclflc
engineers arrived in Missoula; these
engineers are under the direction of
William Mayer. locating engineer for
the Northern Pacific, who has been
identified with all of the pioneer work
of the road for many years. MI May
er's party consists of 20 men who
came with him from Portland; each
of them bears the stamp of field work,
is tanned and looks husky. While the
party is moving with all the reticence
that characterizes men engaged in
railway location work in disputed ter
ritory, and on that account there was
no information to be had from its
members, it is believed that the corps
is headed FOR the Lolo, and from what
information could be CLEANED yesterday
from local sources, it is likely that the
survey will be along the line of the
route selected by the Northern Pa
cific years ago, when there was an
prior to the Hartman days, for right
of way between Missoula and Lewis
ton.
on the Idaho side of the Bit 1r
Roots both the Northern Pacific and
the Union Pacific have had contendin >
parties in the field for two or three
weeks. These parties have been work.
ing toward Lolo pass on the west side
and the Mayer party will doubtless
move to effect a junction with its as
sociates on the other side of the divide
The Hartman party, brought here by
Engineer Chase, has been on the route
handicap.
Retcent
Engineer Mayer has as his chief as
sistants Robert p. Anderson and Will
liam Roe, Well-known engineers who
have been with the Northern Pacific
for several years. None of the party
would vouchsafe any information yes
terday as to the destination to which
their orders direct them, but they spent
the day equipping themselves with
supplies for a long jaunt.
This rivalry for right of way through
Lolo pass recalls the two or three pre-
vious occasions when surveyors for
these same lines have outfitted here for
the same purpose. The fight for the
Idaho Clearwater is traditional with
these two lines; in at least one of the
previous controversies considerable
grading has been done on the west side
of the mountains. The first open war
fare for Idaho traffic in which these
lines We're interested came when the
Northern Pacific won the priority OF
| ocation between Missoula and Wal
| lace, effectpally shutting out the O. R
& n. from continuing its Spokane.
| Wallace line to Missoula by way ol
the St. Regis.
| At that time the Union Pacific plar
| included a line over the Lolo pass ol
| by way of the St. Joe into the Clear
water. Subsequently there were strug
| giles for the lewiston Missoula loca
| ton In one instance this warfare wa.
terminated by the financial panic o
| 1893 and another time it was post
poned by the declaration of a truce
| This time, however, it is PRACTICAL.
certain that one line or the other viii
build through the Lolo pass.
| Closely interviewer with this strug
gle is the story of the old Willard en-
deavor to obtain control of the o. r
G. N. and the Utah G. Northern, whicl
Is familiar to those who know the his
tory of railways in the northwest
Successive changes of ownership il
each of the contending lines has no
deadened the desire to possess tn
Clearwater territory; this has been
heritage that has passed with the own
ership.
The Mayer party will leave for tn
| field fodav