The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1914-02-07

put the line IN cOnulJlOn lOT Optid-
ton (about $5s,OOO). The new cor
poration did not operate the line, but
leased that portion between Palisade
and Eureka to the Nevada Trans
p~ortation Company at a rental of
$25, 900 per annum. About two
miles of the road nearest Ruby Hill
was torn up, the rails and ties being
used for requirements on the main
line. When the Nevada Transpor-
tation Company, the lessee, COM
menced operation in May, 1912, the
line had been idle for over two years,
and the repairs made by the lessor
we're only such as to put it in condi-
ton for light traffic. Atpresent the
line contains several miles of iron
rail and about 80 miles of 28-pound
steel rail, the balance being 35-pound
steel rail. The engines n suitable
only for light traffic.
The region served by the Eureka
Nevada Railway is Subscribed as prac-
tically desert and yields very little
steady traffic. There are no mines
in operation between Eureka and
Palisade, and the Nevada T~ransporta-
ton Company has been able to earn
only about half the rental.
The complainant, the mines of
which have not been operated since
the washout of March, 1910, estimates
that there remains to be mined at
Ruby Hill in the neighborhood of
SOC, 900 tons of ore of the quality
described and anticipates hat lower
in the mines will be found ore of
greater values, which on the graded
scale of rates in effect would pay
higher charges.
1t is the contention of the Nevada
Transportation Company that under
present conditions it cannot handle
heavy traffic with safety or profit
and that to purchase new equipment
and to place the line in condition to
transport 200 tons of ore a day, the
amount complainant states it desires
to ship from Ruby Hill, would entail
an expenditure of about S115,000
The right of the Eureka-Nevada
Railway Company to destroy its line
to Ruby Hill and its duty to restore
and operate the same, upon the facts
appearing, do not present questions
for determination by this Commits
sion, the authority of which with
reference to interstate rates is
strictly limited by the provisions of
the act to regulate commerce and its
amendments; consequently SO long
as the road remains in its present
condition we cannot consider the es-
Enlistment of rates to or from that
point. The complainant, however,
asks for the establishment of rates
from Eureka also, but does not state
that it will "unwater" its mines and
resume operations unless it secures
service and through rates from Ruby
Hill.
A rate of S5.95 per net ton for the
transportation of ore of the value
stated a distance of 1897 miles on well
established systems of ~transporta-
ton, over which the traffic ofnumer-
Gus classes is dense, would appear
on its face to be high, but in this
case it must be borne in mind that
the route from Eureka to Midvale
includes "a miles over a narrow
gauge road under conditions of great
sparcity of traffic, and that to handle
this ore in volume the narro gauge
road would have to provide itself
with suitable engines and ears and
improve it's track at an expense
which appears not to be called for as
to its other traffic.
We are unable to find from the
facts of record that the rate of $2.35
per ton from Eureka to Palisade is
unreasonable when applied to
through transportation to Midvale,
or hat the establishment of joint
through rates from Eureka to Mid
vale is justified. We will not now
pass upon the reasonableness of the
rate from Palisade to Midvale, the
record not containing sufficiently
definite testimony upon which to base
an opinion.
The complaint will be dismissed.