Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/267

Rh was named by the directors of the Navigation Company, together with certain requirements intended to protect the use as a portage for passengers and freight between the upper and lower landing. This transfer of property was not carried out; it may indeed have only been a protective measure to guard against invasion by opposing interests; certainly the Northern Pacific had more immediate needs for its construction funds; and in September, 1873, that company was shut off from its principal sources of money and credit by the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., and other houses, a period of financial depression setting in that year the effect of which lasted almost until 1879.

The precise beginning of the present railroad may be traced to a resolution of the board of directors of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company adopted on May 27, 1873, under which orders were given to place the Oregon Portage Railroad

""in ample order, by substituting iron rails, changing the gauge of said road to the established gauge of four feet, eight and one-half inches, changing the gauge of rolling stock or creating new, also changing the line of said road where necessary, building of inclines and making any and all changes and improvements requisite for a first class road.""

It was shortly decided to strengthen the company's position by forming a separate corporation which could be given legal title to the railroad, and so the Cascade Portage Railway Co. was incorporated on June 28, 1873, Theodore Wygant, Shubrick Norris and William Strong, all officers or employes of the Navigation Company, signing the articles of incorporation. Deeds were prepared for transfer of the right of way to the new company, but they were never signed, and nothing was done by this corporation whose articles provided for a railroad