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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1914)
14 THE SUNDAY OREGONTAN, PORTLAND, SEPTE3IBER 13, 1914. SPOKANE TO BE 10 MILES NEARER PORTLAND, BY RAILWAY, TUESDAY Completion of North Coast Road Marks Great Achievement for Which Foundation was Laid Many Years Ago by Robert E. Strahorn. T-I aalsHfele XSaESf5$aElf : through the heart of the Takima Val ley to the city of North Yakima, ami the important electric railway system of some four or five lines diverging from North Yakima into the surround ing fruit districts. This line and its feeders add to Portland's trade terri tory one of the most important and highly productive regions in the North west. Speaking of the addition of new trade territory, the new Portland-Spokane line passes through some of the finest sections of the Big Bend country, taps an important wheat territory south of the Snake River, in the vicin ity of Ayer, and proceeds northward through the very fertile Palouse and Cow Creek Valleys and taps more big wheat country lying between Sprague and Spokane. All of the traffic on these lines flows on a steadily down hill water grade to Portland. Completion of any enterprise which so materially shortens time between two great trading centers and which practically assures additional competi tive railroad facilities to Portland, is of sufficient importance to justify the Portland Commercial Club and the Chamber of Commerce in sending rep resentation to participate in a celebra tion, and both will be at Spokane Tues day morning. ', Accomplishment la Great. "When the golden spikes are driven at Spokane Tuesday, the ceremony will mark the accomplishment of the great est undertaking in the life of this busy developer of the West, a task that would have daunted many of the brav est financiers or far-seeing Argonauts who have made the West what It Is. The history of the building of the North Coast railroad by Mr. Strahorn gives assurance that here in the Wil lamette Valley of Oregon the big red cars of Fourth street and the 104 miles of electrically operated interur ban lines of the Portland, Eugene & Eastern may be accepted as evidence of the final completion of the great electric system originally planned for the district. It required ten years to complete the North Coast with the backing of Robert E. Strahorn, the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navi gation Company and J. D. Farrell. Be hind the red car line in Oregon are William Sproule, Robert E. Strahorn and the Southern Pacific. Either ag gregation forms a rush line that will break through the defense of any financial storehouse. The history of the building of the North Coast road is one of the Inter esting chapters in the annals of Ameri can railroading. The men behind the millions required were successfully shrouded In mystery at the beginning. It was put in motion at a time when a great contest for the empire impend ed, the struggle was fought inch by inch, in and out of the courts, and was only determined after the North Coast forces had driven the opposition from Its last intrenchment. FRONTIER DAYS AT WALLA WALLA TO BE BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE Rejuvenation of Wild Life in West of Half Century Ago, With Hundreds of Cowboys, Cowgirls, Pioneers and Vicious Beasts Is Programme. Sen ss ti'ojri a I. i-. On s Botcfrtn Ctrr'yors sxrS cx A"jp. gas 7yc BY MARK WOODRUFF. SPOKANE. Washingrton. will be 10 miles nearer Portland Tuesday, and the famous North Coast Road, the cut-off for which the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company has struggled for years, will be an ac complished fact. The new railroad is to be christened Tuesday morning, a golden spike will be driven on the great viaduct in the heart of Spokane, a reception will be held in the new union station that rears its stately colonnades where 'stood the old city hall until a railroad builder waived the wand of progress and caused its disappearance, and Tues day night the new equipment provided by the O.-W. R. it N. Company for its Spokane service will start on its Initial trip to Portland. Spokane will cele brate from sun-up to sun-down, and then banquet her distinguished guests. The 102 miles of the North Coast Road is completed from Spokane to Ayer. a point on the Snake River di vision of the O.-W. R. & N. main line to Eastern Washington. The building of the new "Ayer Air Line" actually shortens O.-W. R. & N. mileage be tween Portland and the chief city of Eastern Washington by 54 miles, while the line is 10 miles shorter than any other route. New Terminal Possible. Aside from this annihilation of space by the Harriman interests, Portland is concerned in the Spokane celebration through the possibility that the Chi cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul may make use of the cut-off to establish through service and make Portland a terminal. The fact that the Milwaukee Rail road has arranged to use the North Coast tracks from Spokane to Marengo gives rise to the rumor, and hope, that the big, yellow trains of the Milwaukee will enter this competitive territory. At Marengo the North Coast crosses the Milwaukee line, running west to Puget Sound territory, but the Mil waukee has no line of its own be tween Marengo and Portland. The fact that the Milwaukee and the O.-W. R. & N. Company, the latter represent ed by the North Coast Road, were suf ficiently friendly to Join forces in the construction of a $600,000 union station in Spokane, that these roads have joint ly expended J6.500.000 in the construc tion of elevated" railroads through the heart of that city, and the fact that the Milwaukee will use O.-W. R. & N. and North Coast facilities between Bell and Spokane and from Spokane to Ma rengo for handling its Spokane busi ness, furnish the basis upon which pre dictions are founded that the Milwau kee is coming to Portland over the short cut to be placed in operation next Tuesday. Under the arrangements pointed out it is believed that the Mil waukee will not continue to haul Port land business to Puget Sound and then pull it south for almost an equal dis tance to reach Its Columbia River des tination. Inland Empire Trade Desired The construction of the Spokane- Ayer cut-off indicates the intention of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company to compete more strongly with the Hill lines for all In land Empire business. The line over which the O.-W. R & N. has heretofore operated its Spokane trains has been an expensive one. It was a road with heavy grades and curvatures. The old route started east from Spokane, . then turned to the southeast, then toward the southwest and finally came west into Portland. The new North Coast road leaves Spokane on almost a di rect southwest line to Ayer, and then follows the Snake and Columbia Riv ers directly to Portland. In coming out of Spokane the North Coast paral lels the Spokane, Portland & Seattle for about 81 miles, and then uses Pa louse canyon to the Snake River. Com parison of the grades of the old O.-W. R & N. road with that of the new North Coast shows a reduction of from 3s per cent to an average of 0,6 per cent and a change In curvature from 10 degrees to 3 degrees. To make these gains it was necessary to cut through mountains, remove them in some cases, remove graveyards, change United States reclamation canals, move county roads and to put in some of the heavi est fills to be seen on any railroad con struction in the West, the one at Field's gulch containing 800,000 yards of ma terial. The Portland contractors. Flagg & Standifer, were in charge of much of this construction. South of the Snake River 13 carloads of black powder were used in blasting out one cut, the charge containing 431,000 pounds of powder, all of which was set off at one shot. In making an. other , fill it was found necessary to erect a tower on one side. From the tower a cable was stretched to the op posite embankment. On the cable was movable platform. The rails were laid on the platform, cars run out on it to be dumped, and as the "fill filled up" the platform was hauled further out on the cable and the process re peated. Hundreds of thousands of tons of steel and concrete have been used in bridges and roadbed. Terminal I nequnlnl In West. The terminal yards and Union sta tion which are a. part of the system to be opened for use next Tuesday are without parallel west of Chicago. The tracks which will carry trains through the city are elevated above the streets and all grade crossings are avoided, as trains come and go in moving the com merce of Spokane, the everyday uses of the streets of the city will go on down underneath. Just south of the Union Station the North Coast crosses Spo kane River directly over the wondrous ly beautiful Spokane Falls and above the big white arcfc bridge erected by the city. The new Union Station is only two blocks from the business heart of the city and faces Front street, opposite Stevens. It is as large as the old Chi cago Union Station, and in the magnlfl cence of its architecture and finish is the equal of any railroad building West of the great lakes. Probably the most interesting fea ture of the O.-W. R. & N. Portland line from a construction and scenic stand point Is Palouse Canyon. This is an eight-mile gorge, beginning at a point a short distance below Hooper, on the Palouse River, and extending to Snake River. There is no single piece of scenery outside of the greatest moun tain ranges that compares with it in the singularity of formation and beau ty generally. The lava palisades form ing the sides of the narrow gorge are worked into the most fantastic shapes, from the facsimile of a cathedral tower to the almost perfect outlines of me dieval castles, and the beauty of the entire ensemble is wonderfully height ened by the great falls of the Palouse River over a sheer drop midway in the canyon of about 200 feet. At the foot of the canyon is the wonderful high bridge across the Snake River, an engi neering work which experts have al ready come from the other side of the continent to see. Scenery Is Beautiful. Following the bridge en route to Portland is the always interesting chasm of the Snake River and the great passage of the Columbia through the Cascades. These features, with the more peaceful and always beautiful pastoral scenery along the Upper Pa louse and among the lakes southwest of Cheney, and the now exceedingly interesting situation presented by the construction of the three railway lines through Marshall Canyon and the pic turesque entrance into Spokane through the portion of the city afford ing the most pleasing aspect altogether constitute in this new Spokane-Port land route the finest scenic attractions of any similar mileage in the entire West. The construction features at all points are of absorbing interest, and particularly so in the Palouse and Marshall canyons, where the hardest problems imaginable were attacked with a determination to produce what has been pronounced the most perfect transportation line possible to get and still stop short of unjustifiable cost. There is thus added to the scenic attractions a feature of which Spokane may Justly boast and from which the Pacific Northwest may hope to gain a vast amount of publicity as the years go by. With this enticing trip and the com pletion of the Willamette Pacific add ing another wonderland along the West Coast, Portland is in better position than ever before to become a tourist center. Region Open to Portland. An important detail of the construc tion of the new Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company's line is the completed section of what was designed by Mr. Strahorn for the main North Coast line leading from the East to Puget Sound, which diverges from the Spokane-Portland line at Attalla and runs in a northwesterly direction Vision of Possibilities Seen. After years of adventurous Western experience as newspaperman, Indian fighter, confidential investigator of In dustrial possibilities and developer on his own account, there came to Mr. Strathorn a vision of the vast expanses of Western territory as they are com ing into settlement and development. He not only saw what the railroads could do to this end. but what they should do to make that development certain. Ten years ago Mr. Strahorn con ceived the idea of a steam railroad running west from Spokane to Puget Sound, southwest to Portland and mak ing a saving in distance for Spokane business over the O.-W. R. & N. lines to the East. Having years before been Identified with the Union Pacific, he worked out the idea and took It to New York to lay before E. H Harri man. This late wizard of the rails gave his approval and Mr. strahorn returned to Spokane, Incorporated the North Coast road with himself as presi dent, his attorney, his confidential sec retaary and his stenographer as offi cers and directors. Few in Spokane knew Mr. Strahorn, as his large per sonal enterprises were in other West ern cities and few cared who he was at the time. Shortly came an awaken ing. Mr. Strahorn was found to be buying right-of-way in the country of the enemy; he was purchasing numer ous tracts of expensive Spokane real estate and ho was paying out so much real cash that it seemed that he must have inexhaustible funds. One day in 1908 he suddenly filed deeds to 114 pieces of Spokane's valuable business property. The town went wild. Information Is. Veiled. Newspaper men, detectives, rival rail roads everybody took a hand in try ing to find out who was behind the man who was dubbed the "bpnlnx. Mr. Strahorn talked to everybody who called on him. but gave no Information. His officers and directors were just as pleasant. While people were speculating about Mr. Strahorn. the Milwaukee had its representatives in the field, and it was after the Milwaukee plans were devel oped that Mr. Strahorn began urging a union stationVfor the use of the two roads. Between the properties of the two roads stood two blocks of ground, occupied by the Spokane City Hall and many substantial business structures, and a few blocks west a 12-acre tract was held by the Hlfls. It became necessary to condemn the latter property. Mr. Strahorn was still able to con ceal the identity of the people and in terests behind him. He paid for prop erty with checks on his personal bank accounts in New York and Spokane, and it proved impossible for investiga tors to ascertalrr-from whence those ac counts were replenished. In these con demnation suits Mr. Strahorn, his at torneys, chief clerk and stenographer we.-e mercilessly grilled on the witness stand by opposition attorneys to make them divulge the secret of the source of their funds. These people agreed with every theory as to where money was coming from, and it gave them Just as much pleasure to adopt the sug gestion that the Northern i-acmc was supplying the money as it oia to agree with one that the funds came from the Iillinois Central. In the panicky time of 1907-08 the favorite guise assumed by detectives was to appear at the Strahorn headquarters as bond dealers, and to offer unlimited financial aid to the new road provided they could be informed of all the inside workings of the North Coast Road, which arrange ment included the names of Its backers It was not until 1910, when the North Coast was reincorporated as a part of the O.-W. R & N. that the official an nouncement of the Harriman identity was made. ALL A WALLA, Wash., Sept 12. (Special.) Frontier days ami Round-Up at Walla Walla will be the biggest and best show ever held in this city. From start to finish It will be fascinating, dangerous and ex citing. The entire three days' programme U one grand array of entertainment and a rejuvenation of the early days of more than half a century ago. The big pa rade, in which pioneers will participate, and the paraphernalia of the olden times that they will bring forth will be a show of itself. The luncheon given for these old pioneers, who blazed the trail for the West, is a tribute to their worth and struggles. It will be an occasion when they can sit around campflres and recount the events that have transpired since they first put foot on the soil of what was once the big Walla Walla country. All old timers have been invited to join In the festivities. The programme calls for 30 events each day, including bucking contests, roping wild horses and cattle, fancy riding and roping, bulldogging cattle. wild horse races, Indian races, cowboy races, cowgirl races, relay races, stage coach races, chariot races, by both men and women of world fame, among whom are to be seen Lucile Mulhall. undefeated champion in more than 100 contests; Tex McLoud, who has never been surpassed; the Wier brothers, with their skill and daring, and many others well fitted to compete for purses and honors will be seen at the big per formance. It Is not a one-man show, but an un dertaking requiring hundreds of beasts and hundreds of men and women prop erly to portray the times and scenes of the West when It was young and un developed. In addition to the Western sports, music lovers will be favored by a band of renown, the Cavanaugh Band. This aggregation is composed of musicians of note. They will appear in every pa Sc?r7 &r rade and at all concerts. The famous Cowboys' Frontier Band is another fea ture. At the Walla Walla Frontier Days the grandstand and bleachers are no arranged that every person can see ail that is going on without having to stand up, the seats being raised higher than usual, and the whole circle of the track being In unobstructed view of all the grandstand and bleachers. All the dangerous and daring feats of the cow boys and cowgirls within the ring of the race track will be In plain view of every part of the grandstand and bleachers. "I have heard some startling tales told by the men and women who came to this section when the only method of transportation was the freight wagon and the stage coach," said Will iam McMurray, general passenger agent of the Oregon-Washington Rail road & Navigation Company. "We are going to bring you an audience In pa latial cars, and when the men and women reach here they will be enter tained In great modern hotels. Out st the grounds where the frontier days Is staged they will see how men and women and children came to Washing ton when the country was a wlldsrnass, and they will be told of the privation, hardships and perils which were un dergone. "True, the encounters with the In dians, the stage coach robberies and other happenings Incident to the pio neer life will be but representation, but participants and men and women who witness the reproduction will be in part those who were In real encoun ters In the past." JANITOR HEARS WOES OF TOWN AS OFFICIALS REST Howling Dog, Roaming Chickens, Cost of Water Supply and Weed Tax Keep Guard on Pins and Needles. FLYER HITS HIGH MARK Oelerich at 2 6.25 0 Feet Says Air Apparatus Is Weak. BERLIN, Sept. 7. (Special.) It Is officially stated that the height reached by the German aviator Oelerich at Leipzig was Just 8000 meters (about 26,250 feet), and not 7500 meters, as was. at first reported. Oelerich gives some interesting de tails of his experiences in flying to a height almost equal to v that of the highest mountain in the world. They show that the airman who sets out to Improve materially on this record will have to be dressed in a sort of driver's suit and helmet, which will protect him against the reduced pressure of the atmosphere, and he will have to carry his own supply of air for breathing. Oelerich says that at 11,800 feet ha found regular breathing impossible, and had to resort to his oxygen ap paratus. Between 20,000 feet and 23, 000 feet that apparatus did not render him much assistance. Over 23,000 feet the airman experienced a general and severe feeling of illness. In most Chinese cities the finest snoDS are those for the sal oi coffins. THE City Hall was closed and de serted on Labor Day. Watchman Albin paced the tiled corridors alone, trying to while away the long hours. It became so lonesome finally that he decided to answer some of the telephones which could be heard ring ing Intermittently here and there in the building. Calls of various depart ments were switched to one telephone and here are some of the usual every day City Hall questions and complaints Watchman Albin heard: Enraged woman There's a dog howl ing out here in a woodshed. Can't you send some one out to let him go? He's torturing the whole neighborhood and someone'U kill him if you don't do something. Another enraged woman I want to know if I have to put up with other people's chickens running over my gar den? Ain't there a law against It and ain't the City of Portland required to enforce the law? Enraged Women Numerooe. Young student Can you tell me, please, how much Portland's water de partment cost in the Montavilla dis trict? Still another enraged woman I just got back from the beach and round notice of an assessment against my property for cutting my weeds. I think this is an outrage. The city Is in mighty small business to be doing petty things like this. Somebody's going to hear from this; I simply will not pay this assessment. Feeble feminine voice Health De partment closed, you say? Gracious! That's too bad. Well. say. don't you think you could find some of the health physicians? There's a valuable cat here that's sick and I want something done for It. Peeved taxpayer Too blankety blank bad they can't rake up enough out of all .the taxes paid in this city to get someone beside a bonehead to answer questions. Young woman Will the city pay me anything for a big spider for the museum? -Im My Dog in Pound V Woman Can you tell me if they have my dog at the dog pound? Closed, you say? Well, that's an outrage. This dog pound business is a disgrace. Man What car will take me to 1168 Fiftieth avenue Southeast? Woman Is there an ordinance in Portland against women buying liquor in a saloon? Woman Can you tell me who Is the Mayor of Toledo, Or.? Watchman Albin remarked, after an hour of this, that he favored his Job to that of a clerk In the city service. mals In the City Hall Museum. After looking at the animals they went Into the water office and stopped at the window at Cashier Sebolt'a cage. While the receipt for the water payment was being made out, the mother felt the toddling youngster tugging at dress. "What do you want?" asked mother, bending over to the babe. "Lift me up, mamma, I want to see the animals, too," said the youngster. her the PHE fire department was called out & to a brush fire on the Bast S and after considerable of a fight got the blaze out. At this point the woman who had sent In the fire alarm called up Mayor Albee's office at the City Hall and asked If she might not start the fire again while the department was there, so the dry grass of the neighbor hood might be burned off? "Absolutely no!" replied Secretary Warren, who answered the telephone "What would you do If I'd start It again, anyway?" laughed the woman. "Madam, we would arrest you and prosecute you to the full extent of the law," replied Warren in hi sternest tone. "Oh," (uttered the woman, "of course I wouldn't think of doing anything of that kind. I was just wondering, that's all." H ERE'S one that is being told on Commissioner Bigelow: Some time ago the City Hall messenger boy was in quest of a raise In salary. He ap proached Commissioner Bigelow and made a carefully-prepared and re hearsed appeal. "How much are you being paid?" asKed Mr. lilgeiow. "Thirty-five a month," replied the boy. "How old are you?" asked Mr. Bige low. "Fifteen last May." said the messen ger. "Do you know, young man," said Bigelow, "when I was your age I worked for $3 a week?" "Well." replied the boy, "maybe that was all you were worth. ILL" WARREN, private secretary to Mayor Albee, was out stroll ing a few nights ago with his young son, when the youngster asked a ques tion whlcb Warren wishes someone would answer. Tbe question Is, "Why can't we see the back of the moon?" A YOUNG woman went to the City Hall s few days ago to pay her water bill and Incidentally to show to her baby daughter Hit stuffed aul- URN on" and "shut off" clerks In tbe water department have bad a rather difficult time the past few months In handling the lawn sprinkling situation. When a water uer make application for water service, the clerk nuit find out whether the patron In tend to use ho. It' urprllng how many women have got offended when the clerk ha asked, when fixing up the application, "Do you use ho?" w ISHING to congratulate Mayor Albee on hi birthday, member of the board of chief of the fire de partment prepared a congratulatory telegram to send to the Mayor at Bea vlew, where he pnt hi birthday. On of the "bunch" delegated to send the message forgot and wrote on It "Hon. H. R. Albee. Portland." Th meisag was rushed down to the telegraph of fice so It would be cure to go before the Mayor left the beach for home. The Mayor got the telegram all right, but not until the next day at hi offl. .. at the City Hall. And the chief were none the wiser. GUARDED MONK IS LOST Illodor, Champion of Masses, linn Disappeared From Kumla. ST. PETERSBURG. Sept. 7. (Spe cial.) The unfrocked monk Illodor ha disappeared mysteriously from Marlln ky, near Rotoff-on-Don, where be re dded under police aurvelllanc. Th wildcat atorle are current to explain hi abaence. It la said by one that he has been kidnapped and driven off In mysterious motorcar and by others that he has voluntarily fled to Siberia to aupport tbe cauae of the woman who stabbed Raaputin. Rasputin Is out of danger, and the presa believes that the attempt on hi life will now be hushed up. Inasmuch Mm private life will hardly bear In vestigation. The public Interest la theae two significant figures fully 1 accounted for when It la realised that Rasputin has tbe protection of the highest circles notwithstanding the crimes laid to his charge, while Illodor regarded as the champion of the people in religious question. n th Alps thera Is letter box ln.occ feet sbuv the sea level, from which dallv collections arc made. t