Year: 1867




monstrated in the most forcible manner the
necessity Of Railroad connecting Walla
Wala with Wallula. In years gone by,
when we had market for all. our surplus
products in the country, beyond US this ne
cessity was not felt, but now that the time
has come when our raw products seek a
market that brings them into competition
with the products of localities that front up
on the seaboard, the truth comes home to
Us that practically we are isolated from all
connexiou with the great lines of trade and
commerce. Wheat to-day in San Francisco
is worth from 81 IS to 50 per busheI, and
yet our producers, with their granaries
groaning under the surplus abun lance Of
the products of our own teeming soil, are
comparatively but little benefited by Til, ad
vance in the price of breadstufs. The sup.
plies we have in the greatest abundance, but
owing to the high cost attending tie freight.
ing of raw products out oI the country, we
are unable to reap the advantages that oth>
erwise would fall to our share. The remedy
for all this is Railroad ti Wallula that will
vuuvey DuIky articles like EhAat, and farm
produce generally, at low rates, The mert
chandise that we import from abroad will
bear high rates of transportation, but when
- m moe 10 ha produofs of he farn, avaru.
thing is consumed in the high charges for
shipment. Teamsters who haul grain from
this point to Wallula, at a cost Of S8 per
ton, inform US that at this figure they can
scarcely make expenses, and yet tariff Of
SS per ton when levied on grain amounts
almost to prohibition. A railroad would
obviate all this, and enable our producers to
reach navigation with their more bulky ar
ticles at cost not 10 exceed So so per ton.
The sum thus saved in transportation would
be that much gained to the farmer, and
would be the means of stimulating the pro-
ductive resources of our Valley to the ut
most. To build railroad that will give us
access to the River need not involve large
outlay. Throughout the whole distance, not
to exceed thirty miles, there is q natural
grade, thus obviating one great item of ex-
pense that usually attends the building of
railroads. Not more .than from FIVE to six
bridges would have to be built, and these in
70 instance to exceed two hundred feet span.
Indee1, there are no engineering difficulties
to overcome, and the whole expense of the
work will be the cost of the iron, the ties,
and the labor Of putting down the rails.
The enhanced price of produce in this Valley
for single season would pay the whole cost
of construction, and leave a surplus. A
railroad over this route, would not only fur>
nish facilities for the shipment of our pro.
duce abroad, but it would also make Walla
Walla the point of transhipment for the
trade with the mining districts. Boise
teamsters instead Of vending their way to
| Umatilla, would come here for their sup
plies, and at once we should build up an ex|
tensige interior trade that would make
Walla Walla the great commercial point Of
the Northern country. If company were
organized here to build the road, the stock
could readily be disposed of in the Eastern
markets, and the necessary means secured
with scarce an effort. All that is required
is, for one or two men Of mesns and charac-
ter to take hold of the project and organize
company The whole cost of the work,
exclusive Of stocking the road, need not ex>
cetd $500 900, and this sum could be raised
in the Valley. But this is not necessary.
At the East there is any amount of capital
constantly seeking investment, and all that
the monied men of New York or Boston re-
quire is to have the project laid before them.
Facts and figures will show that tue invest
ment cannot fail to pay from 10 to Is per
cont, and with this inducement held out the
stock would be taken with avidity. We
haYe here thrown out an idea which we be-
lieve to be eminently practical, and one de>
serving the serious attention of all those
who are interested in the material prosperity
of Walla Walla Valley. That the railroad
will be built is foregone conclusion. The
only question is, whether wa shall build the
road and reap the advantages. or leave this
great work TO be built by and enrich those
who are to come after us? To this question
the response must surely be in favor of
building the road 10 our own day and gene
ration.


RULED 0UT.-The case of Walls Walla
county Us. james McAulif, involving the
title to the Office of Treasurer, was ruled out
of Court, the District Attorney, F. 2. .Dugan,
having refused to verifythe complaint. The
case, most likely, will go over to the next
term of Court. 1t was in every way desi-
rable that this case should have been settled