Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/91

Rh a sum which represents very large buying power. In some of these States there are regions which cannot be developed properly without more transportation. In eastern Montana, either Maine (33,040 square miles) or Indiana (36,350 square miles) could be placed where no railroad would touch it. In central Oregon the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Union Pacific are building some railroads, opening a part of the State in which, until this recent construction, the great State of Ohio (41,106 square miles) could have been placed where not a railroad would touch it. This area would hold the great State of New York with Rhode Island and the District of Columbia thrown in for good measure.

The cost of transportation in central Oregon has been very high because of the lack of railroads. On a ranch last summer, corn was needed and the freight charge by wagon for 100 miles was $20 per ton, 20 cents per ton per mile, while the average rail rate in the United States in 1909 was 7.63 mills per ton-mile. Corn is taken by railroad from the Rh