Montana labor news., 1945-04-19
A RAILROAD REAL
ESTATE DEAL
OF CONSEQUENCE
Bv GARFIE1D

Under President IheOdOre hOoseVeII
The state Of Montana is situated in
the far Northwest, remote from both
ocean coasts and the busy centers OF
population and industry. It is a state
but little exploited in literature and
newspapers. Things don't there are not
bruited abroad as in many other states.
It has been in the limelight but little,
and then not much to its credit.
It has gained considerable notoriety on
account Of senatorial scandals, bought
legislatures and copper wars, but many
OF its most notable events have been
'unwritten, unhonored and unsung.'
Some Of the shrewdest, smoothest and
most adroit pieces Of political deviltry
ever perpetrated by rascals and financial
sharpers have had Montana FOR their
stage and have never been exploited in
the newspapers, nor caught the attention
of the industrious and argus-eyed muck
rakers Of the magazines.
But the mischief is there, the plots
have been worked out, and the harvest
garnered by the marplots and grafters,
nevertheless.
Does the American public know, or did
it ever hear, that n Of the greatest
real estate deals, with dishonest profits
Of millions Of dollars to the perpetrators
was Matched and prosecuted to a finish
by the Northern Pacific Railroad COM
pany, its employees, agents, political
heelers, and its United States senators,
right under the governments very nose,
by means of government officials? 1t
was a shrewd bit of rascality, of great
magnitude, carried out under the guise
and cover of serving Montana and her
people.
Here is set forth the details in a brief
chronicle Of events:
The mineral resources OF Montana are
probably second only to those Of Penn
sylvania in magnitude and value, and
no doubt, even surpass those of the great
eastern commonwealth. This is a state
ment that may be somewhat startling to
many. but it is The truth. The mineral
wealth Of Montana is but little known.
with the, exception of copper, but it is
hidden in her innumerable hills and
mountains, awaiting development and
exploitation. A few millions have been
taken out. but untold millions await the
hands of industry to extract.
Nor are the agricultural resources of
the state Of small consequence. They are
enormous and in the infancy Of exploi-
tation and development. The timber re-
sources Of the state are vast and worth
the ransom Of an empire.
The population of the state is sparse
and clustered i'm small communities in
the valleys and near the mines. The
travellers through the state can gain but
little knowledge of the wealth ana value
of its resources and possibilities. They
gain no true appreciation Of the magni-
tude Of mineral and agricultural wealth
within the states borders.
A few huge corporations. that have
exploited Montana. have a true concep-
ton Of her value. Among these are the
A-malgamated Copper Company, the
Great Northern Railroad and the North
ern Pacific Railway Company.
It is with the latter that we are now
concerned. This great railway company
was endowed by congress with land SUI
ficient to support a good-sized kingdom.
To encourage the building Of that
great interstate highway from Lake su-
perior to the Pacific coast, that rail-
road was granted every alternate section
of land in a strip eighty miles wide
along its line, through the territories
it traversed, forty miles wide on each
side of its right of way. Where it
failed to secure land within its grant, on
account of prior possession, it was grant
ed lieu lands instead, in another strip
OF land twenty miles wide, along each
side Of its right Of way, Immediately
outside Of its previous grant.
In the state Of Montana the Northern
Pacific Railway traverses the state from
east to west. In its sinuous course
through that commonwealth. its line is
nearly eight hundred miles long. This
obtained for it a vast public domain in
that state alone, Of about 5000 square
miles.
A great part Of its right of way
through Montana and Of its grant from
the government consists of mountainous
broken and almost worthless land.
In the grant of land to the railway,
mineral land was expressly excluded and
excepted. The mineral wealth Of that
state is almost ilimitable. It consists
Of copper, gold, silver, coal, iron, lead,
gypsum and numerous other metals. A
vast stretch Of mineral land was in
oluded in the Northern Pacific grant.
Soon after the advent Of the Northern
Pacific Railroad into the state, contests
arose between the miners and prospeo-
tors, against the railway company, over
mineral lands; Notwithstanding the ex-
clusion Of mineral lands from the rail-
road grant. The contests were one
sided, as but few miners and prospec-
tors could afford the time, expense and
delays incident to %protracted litigation
while the railway corporation, with its
paid legal talent. land agents and re-
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