The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1916-02-03

necessary to give the owner road the
advantages presented by this route.
The cost of this road from Salmon
City to Lewiston will average 100000
per mile or more. and the business
available at this time or in the near
future from the contributing territory
Is negligible. Its one advantage lies
in economic handling of through
freight
The agricultural and livestock inter
ests adjoining and contiguous to the
river are not alone worthy of atten-
ton and transportation. but the many
promising and rapidly developing min
ing districts In the hinterland of the
golden heart of Idaho are to be in
cluded as a notable asset to the rev
enues OF such railroad lines as may be
built hereafter. The country directly
tributary to the proposed road is en-
dowed with great mineral resources,
and the full recognition and exploita-
ton of this source of wealth and rev
enues is simply a matter of transpor-
tation. The mineral products of this
section have in the past exerted
great influence upon the general prog
be of still greater Importance In the
future.
Water Power Available.
Ample water power. cheaply devel-
oped, existing at various points on the
line of the proposed railroad. suggests
the thought that these power sites
should be located by the state and de-
veloped sufficiently for the installation
OF portable plants, not only with the
aim of economiZing the heavy work.
but with the ultimate aim of operat-
ing the road by electricity. and fur
nishing light, heat and power to the
various industries along the line of the
road
In view of the general stagnation
in railroad construction existing thru
out the country at this time. the state
may secure very favorable terms for
the construction Of the road bed by
some of the big contractors who have
expensive and idle equipment on their
hands, or such equipment can be
bought at great bargains and used by
the convict labor in constructing the
road bed.
1t requires no great largeness of
vision or depth of foresight to guage
| A1S SAOob hhdtSIAdls cCOuOulC anu So
cial advantages to be brought about
by linking the two now remote--and to
some extent, hostile--sections Of the
state through the construction of this
great commercial highway. The Do
tential developments of the region to
be traversed by the road are very
great, and the legislature which in
augurates this work will hand down to
posterity the most valuable asset i'm
the possession of the state.
Under existing conditions of what
Is termed hostile legislation, we cannot
expect private capital to engage i'm
new railroad construction, and if we
are to have a railroad line to connect
the two isolated sections Of our state.
1T must be built by the state. We can
not indefinitely stand apart The nee
ess1ty for better means of intercourse
between the north and south is admit
ted on all hands. Wonderful as the
growth OF the state of Idaho has been
through federal aid in promoting irri-
CATION in the arid belts, yet its prog
ress has been slow in proportion to the
almost fabulous resources of which
the state Is possessed, in comparison
with the growth Of neighboring states
less well endowed with natural re-
sources. This is chiefly owing to the
difficulty of access and the little that
Is known of the resources Of the Idaho
hinterland. But though looming to
Importance slowly. it is easy to CON
ceive what the future has in store
when the state is linked together with
rapid transportation facilities.
Necessary to Development.
The first great necessity for growth
and development is railroad commun-
ication connecting the north and south.
linking up each with the other, the
great transcontinental railroad sys-
TENS which traverse the state in the
. north and in the south. Our past DO
litical history shows repeated at
tempts to disintegrate the state of
, Idaho, and there is no true security
for future unity and stability but in
the easy and direct communication
with the different sections Of the state
We must so live that we can see and
know each other, and the sections
must be knit and ligatured by the
ties OF material interests and friend
ship which come from acquaintance
association and collective interests
thus forming a triple chain which the
blows OF faction cannot sever IL
such condition the feelings of unity
r and state pride form an impenetrablt
: shield which cannot be broken by mis-
! understandings and estrangements
: Under existing conditions, those who
n frame the laws of the state TO NEE
: the actual condition and character ii
/, every part of the state cannot inform
:, and qualify themselves for the dutie,
r Of their position by actual and per
e sonal knowledge, and herein arises
t one Of the great sources Of disconten
e in the northern counties.
u Moreover, owing to lack of inter
/ course and unity under existing condi
= tons, the state of Idaho is SUBJECTS
n to the extraordinary expenses of main
. tanning duplicate charitable, penal an,