Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1912-08-06
ON
LINE EASTWARD
GREAT NORTHERN AGENTS BUY
ING RIGHT OF WAY OVER RE-
GENTLY ACCEPTED SURVEY.
ABANDONPARA[LELROUTE
NewIy-Surveyed Line Goes Up Pike
Creek Through the Ranch OF
Samuel Phillips and Down North
Fork of Mcdonald Creek-Will Tap
Big Coal Field on the Divide.


All speculations as 40 the route Of
the Great Northern main line east
ward out Of Lewistown have been set
at rest within the past few days, when
agents for that company got busy pur-
chasing right Of way over the survey
recently made under the direction Of
Engineer Ambern and accepted by the
engineering department. The new
route parallels the Milwaukee only for
about four miles up Spring creek and
then turns up pike creek on the
Samuel Phillips ranch. 1t will cross
the divide In the immediate vicinity
OF the coal mines and then go down
tn Nnorth fork of Mcdonald creek.
Old Route Abandoned.
Two years ago, when the Great Nor
thern first became active In this Sec
ton, they made survey which paral-
leled the Milwaukee's line up the East
fork OF Spring creek and, after cross
ing the divide, down the South fork
Of Mcdonald creek, but this route has
been abandoned, and the residents Of
the Gilt Edge and Maginnis section
Of the county will be highly gratified
at the change, as the new route brings
them from three to six miles nearer
the road, and will be the means of de-
veloping large area Of fertile agri-
cultural lands In that section Of the
country.
To Develop Coal Mines.
| The new route, as now accepted,
will come within very short dis
tance OF the big Mcdonald creek coal
field, and will be the means of de-
veloping, on Il large scale, the mines
already opened up along that section
of the divide. 1t is understood that
the Great Northern has already had
its coal mining experts from Sand
Coulee in that field Investigating, and
II the mines meet with their approval,
it will not be surprising to find sub
sidiary concern OF the railroad COM
pany operating the mines by the time
the road is completed.
Survey Two Routes.
The Ambern party have been at
work east of this city for about three
months past and surveyed two lines
out of Lewistown. One was up Pike
creek and the other up Boyd creek.
The former offered a better grade and
was accepted 1t Is understood that
a long tunnel will be bored through
the divide in order to reduce the
grade. Having announced that this
Is to be the Shortest and best main
line of the Great Northern between
the Twin Cities and the coast, the
Great Northern officials are naturally
sparing no expense in the matters OF
reducing rades and shortening the line.
Milwaukee Progress.
Fine progress Is being made on the
Milwaukee line westward from Lew
istown. Hayden Bros, of Portland,
who have the contract for the first
nine miles out of LeWistoWn, are
throwing dirt all along the nine miles.
In addition to their own big outfit,
they have five sub-contractors at work.
All told, there are something more
than one hundred teams at work on
the Hayden contract
Brown & Leahy, who have the con-
tract for the eight miles running from
! the nine-mile post to Indian creek,
! have about one hundred teams at
!. work. They have three subs at work
!. In addition to their own big outft.
/, Inc contract lot LHe & Illlco ucIWCOA
: LeWistown and Indian creek calls for
: !, completion by October Is, and the
! head contractors, Twohy Bros, say
= ;, that they can. do it in contract time.
= Ready for Long Tunnel.
= Twohy Bros, who will themselves
!, dig the big 2,000-foot Sage creek tun-
!. mel, are now setting up an immense
steam shovel and will be at work with
: in few days. They expect to COM
! plete the long bore during the winter
! months. F. J. Herlihy, the concrete
, and bridge contractor, is right on the
: job with large force of men and has
, already put in some of the foOtings
for the big Judith river bridge, which
! will be 2.400 feet long and 13O feet
: high. They are also working on five
, large culverts between here and In
dian creek These culverts range In
diameter from Is to 20 feet and In
length from 120 to 800 feet.
!. To Work All Winter.
0 Just as quickly as the work between
). Lewistown and Indian creek Is COM
l pleted, Hayden Bros. and Brown &
!. Leahy will move their outfits farther
e along the line, where there Is some
s heavy work and where they will keep
r going throughout the winter. At the
4 present time there are 500 men EN-.
J. ployed on the line, and this number
t will be increased, rather than cut
down, during the winter.