The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1933-06-01

to begin operations that work o.
the location survey and actus
building started simultaneously il
the summer of 1881. Roadbe,
builders began work at Saul
Centre and Morris. Handicappe,
by wet weather, the work progress
ed more slowly than had been an
ticipated, but tracklaying actuall
started on June %, 1882. The mai,
line was completed to Morris o.
October 81 at the same year. Unde
contract of October 20, 1882, tn
line was operated by the North
ern Pacific Railroad, which began
regular movement of trains on Nc
vember 1.
"Thus it was that Sank Centre
the townsite plat of which was file,
on August 10, 1868, took on tn
distinction of being a regularly ser
weed railroad town on the North
ern Pacific 10 months before tn
first northern transcontinental sys
tenn was completed.
can appraisal Of Sank Centre il
that period is interesting now a
showing some of the hopes of tn
early-day residents of this com
munity. E. v. Smalley, an histor
ian, in 1889 said of Sank Centre:
It is built on high, rolling
ground at the foot of Sank
Lake, a narrow strip of water
eight miles long with well till
ed farms everywhere sloping up
from pebbly beaches. The Sank
river drains the lake and flows
into the Mississippi opposite
the village of Sank Rapids. A
dam of very moderate cost
built across the river gives an
excellent waterpower, with a
fall of about IL feet and with
the entire lake for a storage
reservoir. The only use made
of this power is to run a -four
, ing mill with daily capacity
of $50 barrels. L have never
heard Sank Centre mentioned
among the Minnesota towns
possessing good water power,
and the dam and fall were a
surprise to me. The towns
people do not seem to appre-
ciate it's value. The only man.
ufacturing now done in this
place is of hard wood, and the
waste furnishes fuel to run
steam engines, as in most wood
working concerns, so that there
would be no economy in using
the waterpower for these con-
Germs.
Sank Centre has 1000 inhab-
itants and ought to be county
seat. It is in the northwestern
part of Stearns, one of the
largest and most populous coun-
ties in Minnesota.
Ia flavor Of early frontier his
tory still hangs about Sank
Centre. The site of the stock
ade Governor Ramsey had built
in 1852 to protect the settlers
at the time of the Sioux out
break is pointed out to settlers.
Doubtless Mr.. Smalley, in hi
article, reflected the hopes of som
of the more aggressive settlers Q
this community.
Hope, courage and faith hav
characterized all of our achieve
ments in the more than so year
since the Northern Pacific and tn
residents of Sank Centre have bee
growing up together. Even in thi
day, when we arise, SCARED afte
numerous encounters with economi
problems, you, the people of Sau
Centre, and we, representatives @
one of Americas large transcont
mental railroads, have not despair
ed, nor have we lost the courag
required of us in fighting our wa
back to normal conditions.
IT know that you expect me tt
day to tell you something about tn
troubles of the railroads and pal
ticularly those of the Norther
Pacific. Doubtless many of you fee
that this thing so loosely referre
to as the railroad problem is
thing complex and difficult of e1
PLANTATION. The railroad problem
not complex. The steam carriert
troubles arise principally from tw
sources. The first is that the raj
roads revenues have suffered be
cause the available business ha
decreased because of the grea
sag in general business. You, pal
ticularly the business men, hav
felt this same onerous effect. Blu
even before 1929, the railroads wer
seriously feeling the effects opo
their gross tonnage because the
were compelled to compete on ur
equal terms with other transports
ton agencies. This competition ha
increased until today it is a vita
factor in this so-called railroa
problem. I think that in any cor
sideration Of this subject we shoul
get down to a common denominat
or. The railroads pay out of thei
own revenues all the costs of Pre-
ducing service, while no othe
form of commercial transport i
common use today does so. The
are all subsidized through taxation
so that a very large percentage @
their operating costs are paid b
the government, which obtains tn
funds with which to do so from
the taxpayers. In some cases, it
estimated that the government sub
sidy is as much as so per cent. ]
so per cent of the cost of producin
transportation by the railroad
were paid by the government, n
other form of transport could or
crate on the low rates it woul'
be possible for the steam carrier