An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 23

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524

USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 23
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 23
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 23
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 23

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To discover and explore this mysterious pass was the task the Idaho, Clearwater & Mantana Transpor- tation Company proposed to itself. Accordingly late in the summer or 1881, the company sent an exploring party under Alfred J. Beall in search of the hidden pass and a feasible route to and through it. On September 22d, after an absence of six weeks, Beall returned with the information that he had found the Skakaho pass, that it was only 4,550 feet above the sea and that the gradients to it from the west were very easy, the maxi- mum being only 48 feet and the minimum 13 feet to the mile. Mr. Beall describes this route as "up the Clearwater to the Selway fork; up the Selway fork to Fast creek ; up Fast creek to Loyal creek, and thence through the canyon." The pass was taken possession of in the name of the Idaho, Clearwater & Montana Transportation Company. He reported an excellent route through the pass and into Montana.

It is needless to say that this report created no little excitement for if the purported discovery proved genuine it would probably result in the Northern Pacific's changing its route. That it did receive the serious notice of that company is evidenced by the fact that Major Truax, an O. R. & N. engineer but really in the employ of the Northern Pacific also, as at that time these two corporations were under the same control, was sent to the Bitter Root mountains to make an exploration. The Beall report was placed in his hands and he was urged to make an examination of the Skakaho pass. Major Truax reported a total failure to find the Beall pass, as it now came to be named, after a careful examination of the mountain range. He also reported that the Lolo pass was less than 5,000 feet high, in opposition to the statements of McCartney that it was 7,500 feet. Traux said that there was a practicable railroad grade through the

pass. He found that the maximum grade was less than 100 feet to the mile and that the maximum grade from the mouth of the middle fork of the Clearwater to where the road would leave Lolo creek was less than fifty feet. To construct a road over such a route would require an enormous amount of work, however, and much time, so that he believed it would be im- practicable for the Northern Pacific to utilize the route then, as congress was insisting upon the company's living up to its contract to push the road to a rapid completion. The richest and most fertile part of north Idaho was, therefore, left as much isolated as ever and not until recent years did the northern part of the state really receive any great direct benefit from the building of the Northern Pacific railroad. The con- troversy over the Beall pass continued for many years after Truax made his report and not a few refused to believe in its non-existance. John P. Vollmer, an official of the Northern Pacific Railway Company since 1879, to whom we are indebted for access to many papers and considerable correspondence in the prepar- ation of this chapter, gives it as his belief that the Skakaho pass does not exist and that the report of Beall was not based on work actually and honestly performed. Many attempts have been made to re- discover the famous pass, one by Mr. Beall himself, but so far all have ended in failure. From personal letters writted to Mr. Vollmer by the president of the Northern Pacific in the early 'eighties, the author is convinced that the Northern Pacific was desirous of adopting the Clearwater route to the Columbia and that if it had been practicable to build through the Lolo or any other pass within the time limit this route would have been chosen in preference to the northern.

It is a noteworthy fact that in recent years the company has built a line up the Clearwater to Stites, encouraging the hope that some day, when money may be obtained at a much lower rate of interest than it now commands, it will extend this Clearwater Short Line over the Bitter Roots to a connection with its main line and down the Snake to the Columbia, giving Nez Perces and Idaho counties the benefit of direct trans-continental communication.

Hardly had hope of relief from the Northern Pacific failed before the residents of north Idaho were encouraged to look in another direction for aid. The Oregon Short Line was building westward through the southern part of the territory at this time. It de- sired very much to reach the ocean, while the O. R. & N., building through eastern Oregon and over the Blue mountains, was very desirous of getting into southern Idaho. The Burnt river canyon was the only practicable route for the O. R. & N. It was likewise the only route for the Oregon Short Line to reach the sea, except by Snake river canyon to the mouth of that stream, thence down the Columbia. The Burnt river pass was of such contour that both rail- ways could not well occupy it ; and it was not definitely known that the Snake river route was not preferable anyway. Early in 1883 a survey was undertaken to determine the feasibility of the latter course. Engineer Moscript was entrusted to make the survey in a

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

southerly direction, while Chief Engineer Clark, start- ing at the mouth of Burnt river, should survey north- ward to meet him. After completing their task the two parties came to Lewiston, where they reported that the distance between that town and Burnt river was 187 :miles, that the maximum grade of any one mile in the survey was less than twenty feet, the average being not more than six of seven, but there were no curves to exceed six degrees, and that the surveying parties saw no sign of snow slides. Mr. Clark was highly pleased with the route. He said a road could be built, he estimated for one-third less than the cost of construction through Burnt river canyon and over the Blue mountains. An approximate location sur- vey was completed in September of that year confirm- ing Clark's report and the residents of Nez Perces and Idaho counties entertained not unreasonable hopes that they might have a railroad in the near future.

But they were doomed to disappointment. Arrange- ments were effected between the O. R. & N. Company and the Oregon Short Line, by which both roads were to build to Huntington and join each other, dividing the profits on an agreed basis. The fact that northi Idaho need not hope for any immediate relief from the Oregon Short Line was officially communicated in July, 1884, by a letter from a Union Pacific officer to Alonzo Leland, from which some extracts are here given as follows :

Dear Sir: Yours of the 21st ult. was found here on my return from a two weeks' absence in the east. I can well understand the interest your people feel re- garding the extension of the Oregon Short Line down Snake river and I wish I could speak more encourag- ingly to you on the subject; but the fact is that the present demoralized market for railroad securities makes it impossible to raise money for any extended new constructions, and the attempt to do so would be simply suicidal. Our company will not engage in any new work at this time but merely complete works already begun to redeem its obligations in that be- half so far as it is committed. The Oregon Short Line track is at the mouth of Burnt river. As soon as the Snake river falls sufficiently we will complete the bridge at that place and lay the rails the remaining three and a half miles to Huntington, completing our part of the work, which we expect to accomplish about the last of September."

The joint traffic agreement and the depressed con- dition of railway stocks obtaining at the time were responsible for this disappointment, as the Union Pacific undoubtedly intended to build down the Snake and Columbia rivers to tidewater.

In 1886 the Union Pacific R. R. Company was again in the field with surveyors, this time to determine the distance and grades to be overcome by a railroad from Lewiston to some point on the Utah Northern, also the character of the country tributary to such road. The next spring a corps of engineers from Omaha started at the Lewiston end of the old Clark Snake river survey and proceeded to run a line down the north side of the Snake to the Columbia. Another party in the employ of the O. R. & N. took the field

at Pomeroy, Washington, surveying towards Lewis- ton. A survey was also made from the Short Line road up the Weiser river, over the divide and down the Little and main Salmon rivers to connect with other surveys from Clearwater. There is little doubt but that the Union Pacific really intended undertaking some operations by which north Idaho would greatly profit, but its energies were again paralyzed in the fall of 1887 by an agreement entered into in New York city between its directors and those of the North- ern Pacific Company, whereby the northwest was di- vided between the two corporations, all north of an east and west line passing through the mouth of Snake river, being given to the Northern Pacific. This arrangement effectually shut off during its continuance Lewiston and vicinity from hope centering in the Union Pacific, dashing to the ground the expectations en- gendered by the numerous surveys.

Still the Spokane and Palouse branch was being built at this time and but little doubt was entertained that it would be extended to Lewiston and beyond. The O. R. & N. also gave evidence, by its activity in surveying routes, of an intent to build into the Clearwater and Camas prairie countries ; so the hopes of our citizenship were continually receiving tresh inspiration. But the Spokane and Palouse branch stopped at Genesee ; the O. R. & N. came no nearer than Moscow; and the people of Nez Perces and Idaho counties were left to their isolation for more than a decade longer. The discovery of mineral wealth in northern Shoshone county had led to the building of railways into that section, however.

Another railway enterprise which promised partial relief to the southern portion of the Panhandle, but which failed to bring it was the Idaho Transit Company, organized in 1887 by J. P. Vollmer and others in Lewiston and Asotin. This company sur- v eyed a line from Lewiston to Camas prairie, via Tam- many hollow and Lake Waha, intending to connect that rich section by rail with the boat lines on the Snake river. Financial arrangements were made whereby the company might build the first twenty miles immediately and in fact, $50,000 were spent in grading the roadbed in Tammany hollow and in con- struction work. Mr. Vollmer tells us that the Northern Pacific Company was behind this movement from the first. He was the leader and main stockholder in the Transit company and he undertook the work with the understanding that the road. when completed. was to be sold to the Northern Pacific. The other stock- holders were not aware of this, and of course the people generally were not. The Northern Pacific's idea in these negotiations was to get the road con- structed and in its hands without inciting the rivalry of the O. R. & N. For some reason the Northern Pacific changed its plan, bought the Tammany hollow road before much work had been done on it, and abandoned the enterprise entirely.

During the latter 'eighties and the early 'nineties no little interest centered in the projects of the Midland Pacific Railway Company. The organizers of this corporation were Hon. R. F. Pettigrew, president ;

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

William N. Coler, vice-president ; S. L. Tate, second vice-president : J. A. Gargiulo, treasurer ; and H. M. McDonald, secretary; and its capital stock was $15,- 000,000 preferred and $65,000,000 common. Its pur- pose was to build a road from Sioux Falls to the coast, which road was to find an outlet through the Illinois Central, Chicago & Northwestern and other lines to the east. The route outlined by the company for its own road was through northern Wyoming, skirting Yellowstone park on the south; down the Salmon river to White Bird; thence across through Camas prairie and on to Lewiston, thence to an easy grade into the Palouse country, which it was to cross in a north- westerly direction going to Seattle. Mr. Vollmer tells us that though the fact is not generally known a sur- vey of this route was made and plans were matured for financing the enterprise. The crisis of 1893 and subsequent depression caused operations for the time being to be suspended, but it is possible that the scheme may yet materialize and shortly. Another survey which excited little comment at the time and of which few people have any knowledge, Mr. Vollmer tells us, was made by the Illinois Central Railway Company, also ambitious to reach the coast. This survey likewise passed through parts of Idaho and Nez Perces counties. It is surely significant that so many railway companies seeking a route to the sea- board, have looked toward the Snake river and its tributaries as most likely to furnish the route desired, and there certainly is much foundation for the hope that this rich portion of north Idaho may yet be traversed by a trans-continental line.

The chief sensation in Nez Perces county during 1898, aside from the war, was the building of the ex- tension of the Spokane & Palouse branch of the North- ern Pacific Railroad to Lewiston and the railroad war which grew out of this activity. Strange it seems to those on the outside that railway companies so often neglect the numerous calls to them for aid from con- munities suffering for lack of transportation and con- tinue to turn a deaf ear to all proposals for years, then suddenly become so anxious for the advantages they have before seemed to spurn that they struggle and contend with each other to secure them. For thirty years the Clearwater country had been agonizing for a railroad. Its cry was unanswered. Then, when at last the Northern Pacific determined to do something for it, the jealousy of the Oregon Railway and Navi- gation Company is aroused, and a war is the result. In this case, however, it is evident that both corpora- tions had been fully aware of the prize that lay un- grasped before them, but for one reason or another neither was before able to make the effort necessary to appropriate it. Prior to 1895 the reservation exerted a deterrent influence and when that was no more the financial stringency was in the way. But the return of good times brought a renewal of activity in railway circles ; the Northern Pacific's operations directed at- tention again to the rich field yet unentered in north Idaho, and the commencement of condemnation pro- ceedings against all the Indian land owners on the north bank of the Clearwater between Potlatch creek

and the reservation line precipitated hostilities between the rival corporations.

It is difficult to write of such matters with histori- cal accuracy, for men who are able to speak with authority are generally believers in the adage that "Speech is silver but silence gold," and the outside world has to do considerable guessing and reasoning from appearances in attempting to arrive at conclusions as to what transpires in the conferences of railway magnates. However, President Mellen of the Northern Pacific, in an interview, gave his side of the case with considerable freedom. Among other things, he said that: "There are contracts which have been in ex- istence since 1880, signed by the presidents of the two companies and ratified by both boards of directors, spe- cifically assigning the Clearwater and much other ter- ritory in that region to the Northern Pacific." Upon these he relied as a basis upon which an agreement was to be affected, amicably settling the differences be- tween the two roads. Portland, of course, favored the O. R. & N. In commenting on the situation the Ore- gonian said : ..

"Perhaps the most important territory in the Co- lumbia basin, still unoccupied by railways. is the Clear- water valley. Here is a territory in extent equal or nearly equal to the Palouse country,-the subject here- tofore and still the subject of so much railway con- tention. It is a territory of enormous agricultural capabilities and may easily ship ten million bushels of wheat a year. It is also a great stock country. for the grazing lands in and about it are to prodigious extent, and it lies in the vicinity of great timber and great min- ing regions. The traffic of that country it would not be easy to overestimate, and, like that of other locali- ties in the great basin of the Columbia. it will come down to Portland by the gradients on which the water flows.

"It is of the highest importance to that country, to the O. R. & N. as a property, to the city of Portland as the commercial entrepot and shipping port of the Co- lumbia basin, that this territory be furnished with rail- way transportation through the O. R. & N. system. This will require the construction of perhaps one hun- dred miles of road east of Lewiston, and with it an extension of the Snake river line from Riparia to Lew- iston, about seventy miles. It is all practicable. all easy."

To succinctly convey an idea of the controversy be- tween the two railroads we cannot do better than to quote an interview given in July, 1899, by a high official of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company to the New York correspondent of the Spokesman-Re- view. It reads as follows:

"It is difficult to appreciate the merits of the Clear- water controversy without studying the map of the Clearwater country. There is a great deal of misap- prehension regarding the points of contention between the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company and the Northern Pacific. The former has now a line from Wallula to Riparia through the Palouse country. This line is not satisfactory, and so the company has pro- jected a line between the points mentioned following

8 1

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

the Snake river. The water course gives easy grades and a better route. At Alto on the present line, there is a three per cent. grade, so that practically all trains from Spokane and the north have to be broken up there. This will be avoided by the new line. The old line will then become merely a feeder for the Palouse country. Now there is no dispute, as generally sup- posed, over this new Ime along the Snake river, the Northern Pacific rather favoring its construction. This line the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company has about completed. What the Northern Pacific objects to is a continuation of this line, as projected, along the Snake river from Riparia to Lewiston, where the Ore- gon Navigation now operates a line of steamers.

"The Northern Pacific has a line from Moscow to Lewiston, to which the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company has no objection, but is building lines east of Lewiston in the Nez Perces and Camas prairie dis- tricts, to which the O. R. & N. seriously objects, be- cause the Northern Pacific has made no arrangements with it for hauling traffic from this rich country.

"The O. R. & N. will not only build the surveyed line, from Riparia to Lewiston, but will also build east of Lewiston and fight the Northern Pacific in the Nez Perces and Camas prairie districts. It believes that the Northern Pacific has not been fortunate in the se- lection of its routes and discounts its threats to subse- quently parallel the Riparia-Lewiston line. One who knows the value of the Nez Perces and Camas prairie territory can easily understand how the two companies have got into such a dispute over it, for it promises to rank with the Walla Walla and Palouse sections in the richness and abundance of its wheat fields and other agricultural resources.

"For the present there can be no open collision be- cause the Northern Pacific has its lines east of Lewis- ton to complete and the O. R. & N. has its Riparia- Lewiston line to build. When these are constructed, unless by that time a traffic arrangement has been agreed upon, the fight between the two companies will begin in earnest, and a fight of no mean proportions it will be.

"The O. R. & N. is so situated geographically that it cannot abandon the rich opportunities offered by the Clearwater country. Its line for the most part runs south of the Columbia river, and it cannot get a very valuable traffic from the country north of it. Its ter- minus is Portland, where it has large interests, and Portland's prosperity depends considerably upon its keeping open the channel from the richest wheat fields of the Pacific northwest.

"It has offered the Northern Pacific a short route via Connel, but the Northern Pacific wants more liberal considerations than the O. R. & N. deems reasonable or than are usually recognized. The Northern Pacific now has to take its freight to near Spokane and down again, and of course if it built right through west of Lewiston to its coast line it would have as short a ronte, or even shorter, than the O. R. & N. could offer it."

The controversy occasioned much activity on the part of both corporations in surveying for routes and negotiating for rights of way. The Northern Pacific 6

sought to bring its adversary to terms by threatening not only to parallel its proposed line up Snake river to Lewiston, but if necessary to do likewise with the road down the Columbia to Portland. The O. R. & N. by purchasing as much of the right of way up the north side of Clearwater as it could and instituting condem- nation proceedings for yard and depot grounds on the Silcott farm, opposite Lewiston, gave evidence of its intention to push into the Clearwater country. Both companies were active in surveying east of Lewiston, and both were searching for passes through the Bitter Roots and examining those already found. The Northern Pacific was pushing with great energy its construction work on the Cleawater Shirt Line exten- sion, and it was reported that in April, 1899, the road practically completed as far as the Big Eddy, where a a cut had to be made. Work was also being pushed vigorously on the Lapwai spur, which it was at first intended to extend into Camas prairie,-a scheme after- ward abandoned on account of the high divide to the northward from Cottonwood.

In Portland, early in August, 1899, a conference took place between President C. S. Mellen, of the Northern Pacific, and E. H. Harriman, chairman of the Union Pacific board of directors, President A. L. Mohler of the O. R. & N. being also present. It was understood that the main question up for consideration was the Northern Pacific's ultimatum to the O. R. & N. that it should promise to keep out of the Nez Perces country and give the Northern Pacific full trackage rights down the Columbia from Lewiston to Portland, or have its line paralleled down the Columbia. What transpired at the conference was a secret ; we do not know that its results have ever become fully known to the public, but it is certain that some kind of a truce was arranged whereby the O. R. & N. suspended oper- ations in the Nez Perces country.

In the efforts of the press and people to gain as much information as possible about the railway situa- tion, not a little weight was given to the utterances of the Orgonian, which was known to be in close touch with the O. R. & N. That journal in an issue appearing shortly after the conference used this language :

"There is at present a truce, for a given or termin- able period, between the Union Pacific and Northern Pacific, as to territory in the Columbia basin, and con- struction on both sides is for the present suspended. But it will be resumed within a short time, either through rivalry or through agreement. The road along Snake river from Riparia to Lewiston will be built next year, either by the O. R. & N. alone, or by combination between the O. R. & N. and the Northern Pacific. The railroad problems of the Northwest are simply in abey- ance for the present, but the inaction will not last long. Agreement is possible, in order to avoid the duplication of lines ; and yet the nature of the rivalry is such that no basis on which agreement may be reached is ap- parent."

But subsequent events have gone to show that if not at this conference, then at some later one an adjust- ment of differences much more favorable to the North- ern Pacific than the above would indicate was agreed

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

upon. There was doubtless not a little truth in the Minneapolis Journal's statement based on the best in- formation then obtainable and published early in 1900, averring that "when President Mellen was looking about for some feature that would encourage an arbi- tration of the difficulty he sought E. H. Harriman, chairman of the Union Pacific board of directors. Mr. Harriman never approved of the policy of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company that sought to invade the Clearwater country and obtain territory by con- quest. In Mr. Harriman's opinion the Oregon road was going out of its way to continue a quarrel. But the man with the hoe was James J. Hill, and both Mel- len and Harriman knew this fact only too well. As soon as Hill was left out of the calculation a settlement was speedily brought about. It was Harriman who proposed that the Oregon road abandon the Clearwater country. But he also decided that the Northern Pa- cific should pay its competitor for all the expenses in- curred in making surveys and buying a right of way. This bill of expense was only a trifling sum of $50,000, and by its payment the Northern Pacific succeeds to the complete title to a right of way through the very center of Camas prairie, which will become more valuable every day. Thus did President Mellen make a conces- sion that redounds to the everlasting benefit of the Northern Pacific."

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 23

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1524

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524