The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1912-12-06
WORK ON THE BRANCH
Railroad Building Southwark
No Longer a Matter of
Unauthentic Rumor.
CUTTING OUT THE ROAD WORK
That Is to Be Under the Super
qision of an Engineer Already
Located In Oroville.
CUTTING OUT THE ROAD WORK

Developments during the past week
are confirming the reports given out
that work is to speedily commence on
the eWenatchee branch from
this end of the line preliminary to put
ting down steel. So often has this re-
port gained currency, only to end in
disappointment. that people accept
such announcements with a great deal
of hesitency. This time the evidence
is 700 strong to leave room for any
doubt. The south branch, or the grade
of the south branch, is to be over
hauled, repaired where repairs are
necessary, and put in shape for the
laying of track. 1t has been a long
wait to see the consummation of long
deferred hope but at last the end of
the strain seems in sight, and the
promise of trains operating up and
down the valley will be fulfilled in a
very few months. The track laying is
promised for this winter, or the begin
ming of the laying of track, that is
with reservation. The extent of the
work to be done depends upon the
weather. If it proves to be an open
winter considerable progress will be
made. If severe cold and much snow
is to be the rule it will naturally in
terfere with out door work. Anyhow
a start is to be made-indeed a start
has already been made. as a force is
now engaged in clearing the grade be-
tween OrOville and Tonasket- and
what remains unfinished this winter
will be pushed ahead to completion in
the early spring.
If we had only newspaper reports
to depend upon no great publicity
would be given to the repeated rum
Ors, as rumors in the past have proved
to be unreliable, but there is some
thing more real and tangible this time
than mere gossip. Railroad attaches
are getting busy Railroad authorities
have no hesitency in confirming the
reports in circulation, something upon
which no authoritative Information
could be secured heretofore when ru-
NOR of building has been rife. Engi-
neers with instructions to supervise
the branch work are here to stay
while their services are needed, and
here to inaugurate proceedings and
superintend those proceedings when
once inaugurated. At no time since
grading was finished between here and
PaterOs has the prospects for early
track laying been so bright as at the
present time. 1t has been long sea-
son of prOcrastinatiOn, sore, trying,
irritating proCrastination, conducive
to protest and feelings of antagOnism
toward the corporation responsible for
the repeated disappOintments, but the
beginning of the end seems to be at
hand, and one can forget the trials
and disappointments of the past in the
bright outlook of the present created
by activity in railroad circles.
The cheering reports of the pre-
ceeding fortnight were confirmed last
Saturday when A. F. Whitcomb, the
well known Great Northern engineer
residing at Spokane, w. H. Colquhoun
confidential representative of the
widely known railroad contracting
firm of Guthrie & Co., to whom has
been awarded the contract for COM
pleting and ironing the branch be-
tween Oroville and Pateros, Bert Hill,
of the Great Northern engineering de-
partment, and an assistant in the per-
son of R. d. Waterhouse, arrived in
Oroville. The arrival of these gentle
men convinced all doubters that this
time the railroad company was in
earnest, and at last intended doing
things constructive. Mr.. Whitcomb' S
time was limited. His mission was to
inspect the road bed so far as he could
carry out that inspection in a single
day. as from such observation he could
form fairly accurate idea as to the
general condition of the grade after
several years neglect. In company
with Mr.. Colquhoun, Mr.. Whitcomb
drove south as far as the vicinity of
Tonasket Sunday, returning in the
evening. He stated that the road bed
so far as he was able to examine it
was in a much better condition than
he had reason to expect. There was
some deterioration from wash, but the
chief defect was a dense growth of
weeds, and this incumberance had to
be removed before anything is done.
Mr.. Whitcomb, owing to press of du-
ties, left for Spokane Monday, but Mr..
Hill and Mr.. Colquhoun have been
spending the week on the right-of-way
between Oroville and Pateros. What
conclusion they have reached will not
be known until the work of inspection
is completed, and even then it is not
probable that they will give out any
thing for publication, for they are out