The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1910-01-04
RAILROAD ACTIVITY
PROMISED
The NEW YEAR WILL BRING
PLENTY OF ACTIVE CON-
sTRUcTioN WORK.

For railroad circles the new year has
brought with it little real activity bu,
great deal Of promise The switch
mems strike has things pretty well tied
up just now but a settlement is i'm
minent and once the labor trouble is
disposed of traffic conditions will be
normal again
1t is in construction that the gre at
est promise for the coming year lies.
Beyond the slightest doubt Missoula> Il
10 see more active railroad construc-
ton work during 1910 than at any
other time in its history. Despite the
fact that the work on the Northern
Paciiic's Loio CUTOFF was dropped
last fall for an Indefinite period peo-
PIE who have been following the sit
nation declare that work will be re-
suned again in the spring Represen-
tatives of the contracting firm. Win
ters. Caughren & Smith have been i'm
the field almost continually during the
winter and the great store houses at
Lolo are being kept i'm shape
me camps which were built there
last fall Were all of permanent char
acter and were constructed at a great
expense. Roads have been built to
the summit for the construction work
and the general aspect of the field
there does not permit of any doubts as
TO the real intent of the road.
While the idea of the Blackfoot
branch of the Puget Sound is secuted
nS the railroad people. the belief out
side Is that the Big Blackfoot's lumber
road is only blind and that II win
IN the future be used by the Puget
Sound. AT the time the contract for
this road was let by the lumber COM
pany. one of the Puget Sound officials
who would have direct charge of the
branch IL it were built. refused to
make any direct statement regarding
the Puget Sounds plans. What does
TINS lumber road look like to youp', he
ne asked a Muscular reporter who
was talking to him regarding the
branch.
Doesn't il look as if the lumber
company would build if the Puget
Sound were planning a road up there
The fact that the lumber company Is
building this road seems to show that
the Puget Sound is not going to build
one, doesn't it?"
Wnen asked to make a definite de-
NAL of the fact that the Puget sound
planned branch there he refused 70
do SO. however. The fact remains that
the lumber road is being built on the
Puget sounds survey and that IL con-
meets with the Camas prairie lumber
road of the same company. making n
direct line nearly 40 miles long up the
valley. 1t Is directly connected with
the Puget Sound by bridge built
across The Missoula river at Bonner
and It Is of standard gauge. Local
business men assert that if this road is
not being built directly by the Puget
sound that II is being built at that
roads instigation and that it will later
be purchased by the Earling interests.
IL is generally agreed as well that
as soon as the Puget Sound is haul |
ing It's main line business in good
shape and as soon as the coast PAS
senger traffic is started that that road
VIII build q branch line into the Bit |
ter Root valley. This fact is admitted |
by the railroad people themselves and !,
the work will probably be started dur |
ing the coming year.
Another railroad problem which
promises to show development during /
the coming year is the Flathead coun-
try race. Now that the reservation /
has been thrown open and promises to |
become one of the most fertile val I
leys in the northwest, the railroads
nave eentered their energies in a race
for right-of-way through the re-
serve. Reports have been i'm circula-
ton all winter regarding the parties
In the Flathead district and since it
has developed to a practical certainty
That the three-cornered railroad race
Is IN earnest instead Of being, as was
fumored at first. n play for the ben
EFT OF Wall street operations. it is
an assured fact almost that some de-
pelopment will be forthcoming from
mat section during the present year.
Whatever may be the outcome of
these different projects and wherever
The race may enter Missoula is almost
certain 10 have a fair share of rail
road CONSTRUCTION, ,jur;,u ,b1