170
WEST SHORE.
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UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD WORK.
Very few people have any Idea of the magnitude of the new steel bridge
now being built across the Columbia river by the Union Pacific railroad
company. It will be contracted entirely of steel and will be 6,0.10 feet from
end to end. It will be made wide enough to admit of double track being
laid and will be a two-atory structure similar to the one across the Willam
ette at Portland, the upper part being used for pedestrians, horses and mo
tor linea. The bridge will be built ten feet above the highest water ever re
corded In the river, and will be forty feet above low water mark. The draw
span will be over 400 feet In length, the opening on either side of the piv
otal pier being 200 feet in the clear, which will admit of vessels of any size
or almost any kind of tow being taken through with ample room to spare.
The nature of the bed of the river at the point of crossing is such that it is
necessary to go down eighty feet below low water mark to secure a founda
tion for the plen. A stratum of coarse gravel Is found at that depth which
Is similar to the formation upon which the foundations of the great bridges
over the Missouri river are built. This Immense structure will not be com
pleted before 18112, and will cost, when ready for trains to cross, over $1,000,
000. The company is also pushing work on the extension of the road from
Portland to Puget sound. Over 3,500 men are now employed in the work,
and others are being employed as fast as they can be secured. Up to the
present time about one-fourth of the grading has been completed. An Im
mense cut will be made near Olympia which will involve the removal of
aliout 200,000 cubic yards of dirt, the contract for which has been let. The
cut will be 226 feet wide at the top and 110 feet In depth; the dirt taken out
will be used at other points along the line where Alls are required. Im
provement are being made along the main line of the road by replacing
the rails now in use by others weighing seventy-five pounds to the yard, an
increase of fifteen pounds. The general betterment of the line is also being
accomplished by Introducing about 500 more ties to the mile than are ordi
narily used. This work involves the outlay of enormous sums of money,
but being in the nature of permanent improvement is considered cheaper
In the long run. When completed the roadbed will not be surpassed by
any In the country. A shortage in rolling stock has existed for some time,
to such an extent that shippers have suffered considerable loss on account
of not being able to fill orders. This has been particularly true of the lum
ber business. While the Union Pacifio has placed orders this year for cars
and locomotives which represent an expenditure of over $3,000,000, the de
mands for equipments for other roads has been so urgent as to delay the de
livery of cars and engines in suliloient numbers to keep pace with the won
derful Increase In business offered. The wheat yield of Kastera Oregon and
Washington baa been so far In excess of what it was estimated to be that it
has also contributed to the scarcity of rolling stock for other purpose.
Trains are kept moving ae rapidly as possible, however, and every effort is
being made to relieve the stringency. Great as were the expectations of
the managers of this line a to the capabilities of the northwest, Ita pro
ductions have far exceeded them, and Inasmuch as the new life baa only
commenced to manifest itself It is hardly safe to haitrd an opinion as to
what It will be In the future.
MONTANA MIN1NO CAMPS.
A trip from Great Falls to Nelhart take the traveler through one of the
most picturesque sections of a country noted for It beautiful scenery. A
branch of the Montana Central ha been completed as far as Monarch, sixty-seven
miles northeast of the falls. In reaching Monarch a ortion of the
Belt mountains haa to be traversed, and the engineers, in selecting their
route, enein to have been governed somewhat by an appreciation of the
beautiful. After leaving Arlington the road runs parallel for a great dis
tance with natural sluice boxes, which have been worn by the action of
water to depths ranging from sixty to 100 feet. In some places these are
not over three feet wide and wlthlu couple of yard of the track, which,
as it passes through the gorge, runs between abrupt and majestic bluffs'
presenting a sight that no traveler can fail to appreciate. It Is the Inten
tion of the manager of the Montane Central to extend this branch to the
ihart mining camp, a distance of about fifteen miles. A branch will also
tw built on the east side of Belt creek to Barker, another flourishing camp,
and then on to Castle, thus opening up the beet portions of this rich mining
district. Tin trip from Monarch to Nelhart, which must be made in a bug
gy, Is a constant surprise to the traveler. Majestic bluffs follow each other
in rapid succession, separating fertile and beautiful valleys, and the road
follows the course of Belt creek all the way. The valley for the entire dis
tance is narrow, and Neihart is built on the slope of two different moun
tains, on opposite sides of the creek. A number of rich mines have been
opened there and only await the coming of the railroad, which, it la said,
will be completed to that point by the first of the year, to be worked to their
fullest capacity. The ore lies in a granite formation, and will asBay all the
way Irom $80 to $800 per ton. Among the most promising of the mines are
the Monarch, the Homestake, Queen of the Hills, O'Brien, London, Belt,
Florence, Evening and Morning Star, and many others, all of which are
within a short distance of the town, and all are pronounced by experts to
be great paying properties. These mines will make this camp one of the
richest in the state. A number of hotels and lodging houses have been
erected during the past few months. Barker and Snow creek camps are
also very promising mining points, and the same circumstances govern
there as at Neihart. At Snow creek, the I. X. L., Eureka, Ripple, Cornu
copia and Benton are the leading mines in point of development and favor
able prospect. At Barker, the Belt mining compiny hag made a very
promising strike in the Daisy mine, where two and a-hall feet of rich gale
na ore, bearing considerable silver, was struck at a depth of twenty feet.'
Suite Miner.
What an object lesson is presented to the citizens of Oregon and Washing
ton in the fact that through all the railroad and bridge building at present
being prosecuted in the two states, save the timber, all the materials enter
ing into their construction are manufactured in the east and foreign coun
tries. Within ten miles of Portland are mountains of Iron capable of sup
plying an unlimited quantity of steel for railroad and bridge work, yet it
is left where nature stored Hon account of lack of means for manufacturing it
Into the hundreds of thousands of tons of those materials being used here
at the present time. Water and gas works are being constructed In all the
leading cities of the coast, and the larger percentage of the iron pipe used
is made either in St. Louis or at the tube works at McKeesport, Pennsyl
vania. All the necessary raw material Is here in abundance and is more
easily secured than at any other place in the country, and yet we pay the
manufacturers In the east a profit on their output and pay f reight charges
for its delivery at places where It Is to be used. Hundreds of thousands
of dollars are annually sent out of the northwest in this way, which, were
they applied to the building up of enterprises at home would return the
difference between the cost of production here and the price paid abroad
many fold In the Increase in general prosperity resulting from the carry
ing on of such enterprises in our midst. 1 What is true of Portland in this
regard is also true of Seattle and Tacoma. Immense foundries and rolling
mills should be established in all these places, and being established should
be given the preference by individuals and corporations having occasion to
use articles of their production, even though it be at an advanced price.
Then, too, the manufacturer should be considerate in his demands. That
it cost mora to produce an article on this coast than it does In the east
there is no denying, but the manufacturer here is protected by the tariff
exacted by railway companies in the shape of transportation charges, which
represent a considerable advantage. It Is only when his demands of profit
exceed the percentage of cost of production and delivery by the eastern pro
ducer that the coast manufacturer loses his orders to his eastern and foreign
competitors, and if a mutual agreement could be reached by consumer and
manufacturer many new Industries which are sadly needed could be made
to thrive in this section and furnish employment to thousands of men who
would gladly take up their homes In the northwest if they could be sup-y
plied with work at their trades. What is true of the iron industry is true'
of nearly all others, and it is to be hoped some measures will be adopted
which will accomplish this purpose.
The Yellowstone Steamboat Co. haa secured from the government
valuable franchise In Yellowstone park, by the terms of which ten acres of
land on the shore of Yellowstone lake are granted to the steamboat com
pany free of rental for a period of ten years. Upon the land thus grauted
the company proposes to erect docks, piers, boat and storehouses. Two
ere are at the north end of the lake near the new hotel site, one acre at
the south or extreme end of one of the fingers, and the remaining seven
acre are on the east shore of the island. The company already has a steam
er on the lake for the benefit of the public. It was also determined that the
company's schedule of rates should be submitted to the secretary of the In
terior, and that under no circumstances should more than $5 for the round
Wp, occupying the entire day, be permitted to be charged. Accommoda
tes are to be provided for 100 passengers, and the distance to be covered
in a trip by the company's steamer is about 150 miles. A clause was In
serted in the lease making It unlawful to sell, give away, use or drink Intox
icating liquors on the boat, or upon any of the property of the United States
ceded to the steamboat company.