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TIIE 3IORXIXG OREGOXIAN, MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1923
Number 14 of The Oregonians "Know Oregon" Series
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' V J rmUE same 0nvsical conditions which have made egafe:
TTHE same physical conditions which have made
II Portland a market olace. an industrial center and
seaport have also made her an important railroad termi
nal and a. meeting point for rail and water transportation. The
economic value of rail lines leading to Portland is vastly in
creased by their connection here with ocean traffic lanes. Prod
ucts from the farms, mines, forests and factories of the terri
tories touched by roads which lead to Portland come here for
water shipment to the ports of all the world. Return cargoes are coming in a rapidly increasing stream for
rail shipment from Portland to the Middle West or Eastern States. Each car of raw materials or finished
merchandise transferred from rail to water at Portland docks, or each ocean cargo discharged here to go by
rail to the interior, contributes its quota to Portland's prosperity. In fact, the proper co-ordination of rail
and water transportation is a large reason for Portland's today and one of her greatest promises for tomorrow.
Four transcontinental rail lines come to Port
land. Each of these systems serves a distinct
territory and their branches and feeder lines
constitute a mighty web of carrier lines leading
to Portland.
The Willamette valley and the Columbia
gorge unite here, forming the throat of a mighty
funnel into which the trade lanes of the east
and south naturally converge.
Trunk railways leading to Portland follow
these valleys through the mountain barriers
and it is this arrangement of mountains, rivers
and valleys which has given Portland an impor
tant advantage over other Pacific seaports in
the matter of rail transportation. Trains can
be operated through the Columbia river gorge
at materially less expense than is necessary to
operate trains over railway lines which cross
the Cascade mountains through high passes.
Three of the transcontinental lines reaching
Portland traverse the Columbia river gorge, and
this advantage has resulted in action by the
interstate commerce commission establishing
rates between Portland and the rich producing
and consuming sections south of the Snake
river in Oregon and Washington, which are 10
less than the rates between those sections and
other Pacific coast ports.
Portland has long had a similar advantage
in rates to and from southern Idaho and has
the same rates to and from eastern Washington
and Montana that competing cities have.
Rail shipments between Portland and the
rich Willamette valley, the Oregon coast coun
try, the valleys of southern Oregon and much
of Oregon east of the Cascades, all take local
rates. No other northwestern city serves a local
territory equal to this in size or productiveness.
These rate advantages have already become
an important factor in Portland's development.
Many large concerns have been attracted here
because of them and their value to the com
munity becomes more apparent every day.
275 Millions Invested in Ten Years
In the ten years prior to 1915 (when war con-s
ditions interrupted railway construction in
America) Portland was the beneficiary of an
expenditure of $275,000,000 in new railway con
struction, expansion or rehabilitation.
During that period the Southern Pacific built
in Oregon Portland trade territory 13 branch
and feeder lines and cut-offs, totaling 353 miles
in length and costing $35,000,000. In the same
time this company spent $10,000,000 in addi
tions and betterments to existing lines.
In the same ten-year period the S., P. & S.
line was built from Spokane and branch and
feeder lines centering at Portland were built or
purchased by the same company, giving them
a total of 925 miles of line which cost $101,
498,000. In that same decade the O.-W. R. & N., which
already had 2091 miles of line in Portland's
trade territory, built or reconstructed 24 branch
and feeder lines, totaling 775 miles in length,
a large part of them tapping territories directly
tributary to Portland. The cost of this building
was $109,220,256.21.
The Northern Pacific Terminal Company,
owned jointly by the Northern Pacific, South
ern Pacific and Union Pacific Companies, has
an investment in Portland of approximately
$11,000,000. The company owns 26 miles of
track in Portland and its environs, and has just
provided another million dollars to carry out an
extension and improvement programme at
Guild's Lake to be begun next year. This corn-
pany spends $925,000 annually in operating ex
penses, has an average of 600 employes and in
1920 handled 210,251 freight cars and 188.179
passenger cars, these figures indicating some
thing of the volume of railway business center
ing in Portland.
Independent Lines Serving Portland
In addition to the trunk lines, which are the
main arteries of rail traffic to and from Port
land, and their auxiliary and feeder lines, the
Portland territory is served by 15 independent
railways. Most of these have been built to
furnish already established communities with
outlets to main lines; in each instance definite
needs have been met in their construction.
Their lengths vary from five to eighty miles
each. They total 463 miles and their construc
tion cost was $18,520,000.
Besides these independent common carrier
lines, there are approximately 2000 miles of
logging roads in Oregon, built, owned and
operated by lumber manufacturers and logging
concerns for the one purpose of transporting
timber and supplies between forest and factory.
Much of the land from which these lines are
now hauling timber will become farm land; as
this change takes place these roads develop into
community service lines, which help build and
develop the new territories.
Railroads serving Portland spend in Portland
and Oregon each year a total of more than
twenty million dollars in wages and the pur
chase of supplies. Their average number of
employes, paid and maintaining homes in Ore
gon, is 6000.
Railroads sometimes create communities
and sometimes communities create railroads.
Always the railroads are the barometer of the
community's conditions, opportunities and
achievements. Wherever there are natural
trade routes, commodities to carry, or any con
ditions which will eventually provide commodi
ties, railroads come, sooner or later, and usually
their facilities expand as the need for them
develops.
Existing railroad facilities are a strong proof
of Portland's industrial and commercial strength
and an assurance that future facilities will keep
pace with the city's
needs as they are made
manifest.
By Frederick Hyskell & Son Advertising Agency
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