| |
During the war, an obscure
banking house - Jay Cooke and Company of Philadelphia
- sold millions of dollars worth of Government securities.
The Northern Pacific Railway urged this concern to assist
it in obtaining funds in a similar manner. The bank
sent independent engineers through the West to investigate
the position. The engineers' reports proved satisfactory,
and the banking company embarked on an extensive campaign
to advertise the project and to obtain public financial
support.
It was by no means an easy task to persuade investors
to subscribe to the funds of the railway, as the prospects
of profitable working seemed, at that time, somewhat
remote. In 1870, the territory in which the new railway
was to be built, had a population of only 600,000. Of
these, some 400,000 were in the State of Minnesota,
and the remainder were scattered in small communities
throughout the other states along the route, sharing
the land with the Indians and the buffalo herds. It
is not surprising that critics were in doubt as to the
source from which the railway was to derive its traffic.
Supported, however, by the funds raised, the railway
builders began work, and from a point twenty miles west
of Duluth in Minnesota, the track was pushed forward
to the Pacific. By the end of 1870 the railway had been
laid as far as the Red River in Minnesota. Simultaneously
with the drive to the Pacific, a start had been made
in the far west to build a line running eastward to
meet the railway from Minnesota. The western portion
was started at the Columbia River, near Portland (Oregon).
Work progressed steadily, the prairies were crossed
as far as Bismarck, on the Missouri River, and the eastbound
line from Portland reached Tacoma. Then the great financial
crash of 1873 hit the United States and the railway
was caught at a disadvantage. The statements circulated
by Jay Cooke and Co. were subjected to considerable
adverse criticism, and panic-stricken investors sent
experts to report on the partly finished railway and
its possibilities. Unfortunately the shareholders' representatives
were prejudiced from the outset, and as they were unable
to appreciate the vast possibilities of what is now
the Middle West - the backbone of the United States
of America - their reports brought about a financial
landslide resulting in the railway's bankruptcy.
The five years 1870-5 had not, however, been wasted.
Over 550 miles of track had been laid and forty-eight
locomotives, together with more than 1,200 freight wagons,
had been put into service. In addition to railway development,
great progress had been made in agricultural expansion.
Not one bushel of grain was taken off the land in the
railway zone during 1870, but in 1875 the harvest totalled
half a million bushels.
Winter Hardships
After the financial crisis constructional work practically
ceased, but the line was kept in thorough repair and showed
a steady increase in revenue. Large numbers of settlers
were attracted to the country served by the railway, and
cultivation was put on a firm basis. The land that had
been regarded as desert proved to be wonderful wheat country;
but another popular fallacy proved a stumbling-block in
the path of agricultural expansion. This was the impression
generally held that the prairie was something to be dreaded.
The icy blasts from the North swept clear over level country
for hundreds of miles. Heavy snowfalls were driven by
the wind into huge banks-forty feet and more in depth.
Such conditions have always held and must endure for all
time, but man's conquest of the North American winter
ranks in the forefront of human endeavour.
In the early days of the Northern Pacific Railway,
however, it was deemed advisable to run before the storm,
rather than to stand and endure the rigours of the winter.
United States troops, holding in check the remaining
Indians on the prairie, increased the fears of the settlers
with highly-coloured tales of the blizzards, the low
temperatures, and the hardships of the long winter.
Most of the farming community, after the gathering of
the harvest, locked the doors of their shacks and departed
to the towns for the winter, returning to their farms
in the spring.
The general belief that the winter-bound country was
untenable spread to the railway, and with the loading
into trucks of the last of the season's grain, all locomotives,
wagons, and men on the prairie were withdrawn. The company
was of the opinion that it was better to close down
the railway for five months or so each year, rather
than face the fury of the winter.
The railway's policy met with a dramatic reversal in
1876, when the settlers were faced with a peril greater
than that of the winter storms. This was the rebellion
of the Sioux Indians. The United States Government decided
on drastic military action, with Bismarck, on the banks
of the Missouri, as the base. To ensure the necessary
supplies, the railway company was induced to keep the
line open during the winter of 1876-7. Traffic proved
to be considerable, hut, despite exceptionally fierce
weather, with terrible blizzards and heavy falls of
snow, no difficulty was experienced in maintaining communications,
In 1879 the railway's financial position had improved
and construction was resumed. On the eastern section
of the line the track had to be carried over the Mississippi,
necessitating the construction of a great bridge. This
immense structure, 1,400 ft. long, is divided into three
spans with the railway track carried 50 ft. above the
water.
After crossing the river, construction became easier,
and the building of the railway proceeded apace across
the plains of Dakota and Montana as far as the foothills
of the Rocky Mountains.
On the western section work was necessarily carried
on at a slower pace, as the range of the Cascade Mountains
constituted a formidable barrier. Huge rifts in the
mountains had to be spanned by massive timber trestle
bridges, for which millions of feet of lumber were cut
in the vicinity of the line. Mountain streams also were
bridged by great timber structures, and these pioneer
methods proved most successful in reducing the high
cost of construction. Ledges were cut in the mountain
sides to accommodate the track, and tunnelling was reduced
to a minimum, although it could not be avoided entirely.
One of the most spectacular displays of engineering
on the railway was the driving of a tunnel nearly two
miles long beneath the Stampede Pass over the Cascade
Mountain.
Two tunnels also were necessary through the range of
the Rocky Mountains, the Bozemann Tunnel, 3,160 ft.
long, and the Mullan Tunnel, with a length of 3,847
ft. Simultaneously with the construction of the main
line from the eastern and western ends respectively,
short branches were laid in promising districts for
mining, lumbering, and agricultural development.
Subsidised Railroads
Control of the Northern Pacific Railway was at that
time in the hands of Henry Villard, one of the most
remarkable characters in the history of the United States
of America.
Villard was born at Speyer, Germany, in 1835, and was
the son of a Bavarian judge. In 1853 he went to America,
where he learned English and became a journalist. He
was a war correspondent during the Civil War. After
many years of newspaper work, both in Europe and America,
Villard turned his attention to railway finance and
organisation. He became President of the Northern Pacific
Company in 1881, and immediately directed his energies
to speeding the completion of the northern transcontinental
route. On September 8, 1883.
the eastern and western branches of the railway met
at Gold Creek, in Hellgate Canyon, Montana, thus bringing
into operation some 2,260 miles of line.
One of the most important works undertaken during the
construction of the Northern Pacific was the Stampede
Tunnel through the Cascade Mountains.
Today, (1935), the Northern Pacific Railway ranks among
the foremost of the United States main lines. It has
a mileage of 6,736. all on the standard gauge of 4 ft.
8½ in., and owns nearly 1,000 locomotives, over
1,400 cars, and nearly 49,000 freight cars.
|
|
