Show BUTTE AND THE RAILROAD Another Dark HintSome Pertinent Perti-nent Queries SILVEBBOW JUNCTION MONTANA MON-TANA November 5th 1881 Editors Herald The Butte Inter Mountain of the 1st mite is credited with saying speaking of the Utah and Northern Railwaythe construction of the road to Butte is vigorously progressing progress-ing with a full force of men and teams and if the promises of the railroad company ore worth anything the road ought to be graded t Butte within the next ten days But What an unfortunate thing it would be if after the completion com-pletion of the road to this city it should be impossible to secure grounds for depot purposes I think the ordinary reader would infer from the foregoing remarks that the writer entertained doubts as to the value of the promises made by the railroad company Why I beg to inquire should the editor doubt the good faith of the company in the premises while admitting that the work of construction is i vigorously progressing with a full force of men land teams If full wherein would the company fail in its promises even should the road fail to be built by the time specified What more satisfactory evidence does the Inter Mountain require of the good faith of the U and N li W company and of the value of its promises than is feund in its own admissions That paper may reasonably I reason-ably doubt whether the road bed will be graded within the time it i specifies judging from the extent of the work to be done and indeed that it cannot be done is now fully demonstrated but such failure does I not imply bad faith on the part of the railroad company for as I understand un-derstand the situation the company did not promise to grade or to complete com-plete the road into Butte in tenor ten-or in any other number of days Does the Inter Mountain mani festl good taste in thus attempting to castolium upon the railroad company com-pany in advance of a failure to do a thing which it has not promised It will be noticed that the closing sentence in the brief article which 1 have quoted implies a doubt as tow to-w the railroad company will be able to secure ground for depot I purposes in the city of Butte When some weeks ago in one of my letters I suggested that a portion of the press of Butte was opposed tJ the construction of the road to that place the Inter Mountain assuming I that I alluded to ituttered a denial de-nial of the charge and claimed to be an advocate oT the scheme Of course I am bound to give credit to its claim and yet with due deference defe-rence must say that in tills case I as in many other actions speak louder than words But whatever may be said to the contrary I think the fact cannot De denied that if not a portion of the press at least a portion of the people of Butte are or have been opposed to the construction of the road into Butte or that they are in antagonism antagon-ism with the railroad company to such an extent as might defeat the object of constructing and operating load advantageously to itself or to the citizens of that city There is however one thing which may comfort the railroad company should Butte fail to furnish fur-nish depot grounds and that is the fact that it posses at Silver Bow Junction grounds amply sufficient for depot and other purposes required re-quired in operating its road and branches and think a failure to obtain ob-tain grounds at Butte would be more severely felt by that burgh than by the company Since my last letter our town has been rapidly improving many houses shops and buildings having been erected and the streets present quite a businesslike business-like appearance Transient persons can now procure meals at restaurants restaur-ants and beds at a well furnished lodging house The weather is still fine though there are indications of a coming storm and graders are busy on the line between this place and Butte and it is believed that in the absence of cold weather the grade will be completed by the 20th inst and in that case the track may be laid during the present month but as this is rather an uncertain climate it is not at all unlikely that winter may close down on the graders before the completion of their work and in that case the track will go down until next spring Much freight is daily arriving by rail and departing by wagons and consequently business is brisk Y oui s H D J |