Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/93

Rh to those of any other section. In all this we have grounds for a tentative hypothesis at least that the ensemble of conditions in the Pacific Northwest is unusually favorable for reliance upon waterways as routes for heavier traffic and unusually obstructive to the development of a network of air line rail routes with easy gradients.

Before developing this hypothesis, through reference to the experience of the Pacific Northwest, while securing so much* of a system as it has, attention should be called to one other aspect of the situation here. The Pacific Northwest is conspicuously a gateway for the commerce between the main body of the American people in the eastern portions of the country and the Orient. Three factors conspire to bring this about. It is on the line of the great-circle route to the East, it has the only sea-level passageway through the Cascade-Sierra barrier on the western edge of the continent, and it possesses the matchless harbors of Puget Sound. The transcontinental lines penetrating to this region were located, built, and have ever since been operated with their gateway interests dominant. Even today the greater construction activities and expenditures for the Hill and the Harriman roads— a Hill road paralleling the Harriman line down the Columbia to Portland, and a Harriman road paralleling the Hill line from Portland to Seattle— show that the interests of the producer of this region are neglected and even sacrificed in the rivalry for the gateway traffic. The local producer has received some consideration at times from these transcontinental railway magnates. A meager provision of "feeders" exists. Some have built more than others, but with all and always competition in the transcontinental service has been the main concern.

As a matter of fact no independent lines for the service of the producer of the Pacific Northwest exist. While the Oregon Railway and Navigation lines, and, in a less degree, the Oregon and California line, were originally planned for local service they soon, through lease and purchase, became