Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/139

 HISTORY OF OREGON STEAM NAVIGATION Co. 129 saw the great value ;nnl importance of tin- properly t>|' tin- Oregon Steam Navigation Company, ami lit' made up his min rapture (lit- valuable pri/e it' possible. Some time in tin- fall >f 1 s -?!) tin- press telegrams in the 1'ortland papei-s announced in the most plansihle matter of fad way that .lay (lould. who was then in the zenith of his tinaneial glory, was preparing to extend his railroad system west, to the navigable waters of the Columbia, and was going to put a line of steamboats on that river to operate in con- junetion with his road until it could he extended to the sea- board. Those telegrams seemed so reasonable and business- like that many really believed that ^Ir. (lould was :oing to put this project into operation. Not long after, and before the talk produced by them had died out, it was announced that the Oregon Steam Navigation Company had sold its en- tire property, with all its privileges and appurtenances, to Henry Villard. Whether Mr. Villard had any hand in set- ting up the Gould scare crow, I know not, nor do I know whether it had any influence in causing the company to make the sale, hut a prominent physician of this city informed me that after the sale was consummated, the papers all signed, and it had become known the Gould story was all a hoax, the president of the company was so chagrined and disappointed that he fell ill and was confined to his bed for many days. The doctor might have been mistaken, hut he believed it him- self, as he was a man who never told anything he did not be- lieve to be true. That valuable property was sold for $5,000,000. a small sum for property possessing such wonderful advantages, and that was then paying 15 per cent on the purchase price, with the most flattering prospect of a rapid and constant increase. For the year ending November 30, 1879, which was the last year the Oregon Steam Navigation Company owned and oper- ated their property, the income of the company was $1,600,- 000, while the expense, repairs, etc.. amounted to $850,000, leaving a profit of $750,000. At that rate it would, in about six and a half years, make enough to pay the purchase price.