The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1910-02-04
GREAT NORTHERN
TO CROSS RIVER
Rumored That a Mammoth Bridge
VIII be Constructed at
Wnnston.

Mandan, n, d.. Jan. 27.-An-
other six or seven months will see
the steel laid on both the Northern
Pacific extensions out Of this city
and the two branches opened to
traffic, The mere fact itself that
the lines will be in operation at
that time is of little Importance
compared to it's significance as the
first step in the construction OF a
transcontinental railroad that will
branch off of the main line of the
Great Northern at Williston and
extend to Omaha and thence over
the Burlington with Galveston as
the objective point. This south.
ern port will be used as shipping,
and receiving depot for freight con-
signed through the Panama canal.
Such at least is the general talk
among persons here who claim to
know what they are saying and
who say that their sources of in
formation are railroad officials.
In substantiation of their claims
these parties point to the fact that
the Great Northern has taken a
soundingtof the Missouri river at
Williston and crossing has been
located for the site of a mammoth
railroad bridge that in the point
of cost and amount of steel to be
used in its construction will be
the biggest thing of its kind in the
west. Furthermore the roadbed
both north and south of this city
has been fixed with the view of be-
ing permanent and to accommodate
the heaviest kind Of traffic. The
course Of rivers have been changed
to avoid the construction Of bridg-
.es and the roadbed in all particu-
lars is model,of engineering in
genuity.
Where the north and south
branches enter the city four Y's
will be laid and somewhere in the
near vicinity, the talk goes, q
large central depot will go up as
the first step in the direction of
making Mandan a metropolis rail-
road center on the line of the
shortest railroad route to the Gulf
of Mexico.
As a scenic route the two branch
es linked together and extending
from the Williston where the azure
blue waters of the Yellowstone
empty into the turbulent depth OF
the old Missouri, to whore the
Cannon Bali unloads its accumula-
tion after travelling through miles
of country, this new sister of an N.
P. hugging the widest and yet un-
subdued river of the new west for
a stretch of 100 miles now nestl-
ing in the lap of the bluffy country
that rises ma1esticallv along the
west shore, now in full view for
miles in every direction, will be
one Of the most inviting trips that
the western country has to offer.
Nature everywhere abounds in its
grandest conception. Miles back
is an open country that holds mil
lions in it's grasp for the tiller OF
the soil. The country is Of var
led nature. Some, Of the farm
land in the state lies here as yet
undisturbed by the plow. A glance
to the east reveals the Missouri,
turbulent, dirty, but itself an in
exhaustible source Of water that
would bankrupt the medical pro-
fession If it were everywhere ac-
cessible. It's one virtue purity
has been known to l,e the chief
working factor in enriching the
Golfers Of many This is particu-
larly true in st. Louis.
The north branch opens up q
country that was first seen BY the
Lewis and Clark expedition.
Near whore the branch is graded
to Stanton Il is known that the ex,
ploring party camped. The south
. branch passes through, TIE site of &