Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/422

302 302 THE CITY OF PORTLAND into the rugged fastness of the Des Chutes canyon. But James J. Hill is a great man, one of the greatest in the nation, and he did not need a telescope to discover the great iield for his energy, and the profitable employment of the great capital of which he is trustee, which lay beyond the Des Chutes, and be- yond the Nehalem mountains.

The "North Bank Road" is a monument to the railroad genius and grim perseverance of Mr, Hill. It is literally a rock road for a hundred miles, either carved out of the basaltic cliffs, or built upon the rock foundations filled in from waste rock blasted out of the roadbed.

EDWARD H. HARRIMAN's WORK.

A brief notice of the Napoleonic figure of Edward H. Harriman seems necessary in this book. He came into the railroad battlefield after all the great lines had been located and constructed. "The Oregon System" was here be- fore his name had ever been mentioned in connection with any of these lines. His work consisted in improving the lines already constructed. In this he stopped at no trifles and spared no expense. The stupendous job of running the Union Pacific straight across the north arm of Great Salt Lake and saving fifty-three miles of track and dangerous mountain grades, is a sample of his policy of improvement. By straightening lines and reducing grades, he made his roads able to do twice the work they formerly did and for one-half the cost of transportation. This is just as great a gain to the country as the con- struction of new lines ; although he planned and provided the money to fully develop the whole of eastern Oregon with new branch roads as soon as the best routes could be determined by careful surveys. And the roads planned by Harriman for central Oregon are now being constructed by his successors in management.

The ultimate result of great principles in economic action is not always fore- seen. In his contest with the financiers of the Hill roads, Harriman, of course, had the advantage of the Columbia gateway. If he had been satisfied with a modicum of benefits from such advantage he could have continued in compara- tive peace with the Hill capitalists, and paid good dividends to his stockholders out of the crops of the Oregon farmers. But Harriman was not satisfied with a cheap railroad operated at a maximum of expense. He must have the best road possible through the mountain pass and operated at a minimum of ex- pense. By such management he could haul grain and lumber at a greatly re- duced cost. But, no matter whether he divided such savings with his Oregon customers or his stockholders, it was sure to array against himself, either the farmers, merchants and mill men on the Oregon side, or the envy of the Hill stockholders that could get none of the pie, on the other side. And thus the work of Mr. Harriman in making the best possible railroad on the south side of the Columbia, compelled Mr. Hill to build the "North Bank" road, on the north side of the Columbia. And Portland has no good grounds to complain of Harriman in giving the city two of the best railroads in the United States instead of one.

RAILROAD WORK NOW IN PROGRESS.

The total cost of the work under way, or authorized, and most of which will be expended in the coming year, is more than $25,000,000, and of this sum more than $18,000,000 is for construction of new lines. Before the year is ended, authorization for the construction of new lines now projected will_ un- doubtedly be given, and the total amount involved swelled by several rnillions.

The Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company has work under way in Ore- gon in construction and betterments, that will aggregate $11,821,500, this sum including an estimate of $5,320,000 for the completion of the Des Chutes line from Des Chutes to Redmond.