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Show Ihill road resists 1 HAMAfi INVASiDW Country West ol' Missoula Is Scene of Operations of the Contending Forces. IMIPSOL'LA. Mont., April 25. The Northern Pacific Is preparing to resist the. Uarrlmon Invasion of the country west of Missoula and the Clearwater country In Idaho. A parly consisting of twentv Northern Pacific engineers from Portland arrived hero yesterday under the direction of William Wil-liam .Mayer, locating engineer for the Northern Pacific, who has been Identified with all the pioneer work of the road for many yours. The outfit loft here this afternoon equipped with supplies for a long. Jaunt. While the parly Is moving with all the reticence that characterizes men engaged In railway location work In disputed territory, ter-ritory, and on that account there wis no Information to be had from Us members. mem-bers. It is believed that the corps Is headed for the Lolo and front what Information Infor-mation could be gleaned from local sources it is likely that tho surw will be along the line of the route selected by the Northern Pacific years ago. and the Union Pacific, prior to the llarriinan days, for a right of way between Missoula and Lewlston. On the Idaho side of tlio Rlttcr Root mountains both tho Northern Pacific and the Union Pacific have had contending parties in the field for two or three weeks. These parties have been working toward Lolo pass 011 tho west side and the Mayer party will doubtless move to effect a junction with its associates on the other side of tho divide. The Har-rhnari Har-rhnari party, brought h'crc by Engineer Chnse, has been on the route since April 17. Long Ground in Dispute. In connection with the Illll-Uarrimaii struggle for this territory the Mlssouluu today says: This rivalry for right of way through Lolo pass recalls tho two or three previous pre-vious occasions when snroyors for theso samo linos huvc outfitted hero for the same purpose. The fight for tho ldalu: Clearwater Is traditional with these two lines; In at least one of tho previous controversies con-troversies considerable grading has been dono on the west side of the mountains. The first open warfare for Idaho traffic In which these two roads were interested camo when the. Northern Pacific won the priority of location between .Missoula and Wallace, effectually shutting out the Oregon Knllroud Ss Navigation company from continuing its Spokane-Wallace Hue to Missoula by way of the St. Regis. Closely Interwoven with this struggle is the story of tho old Ylliard endeavor to obtain control of the O. R. & N.. and the Utah & Northern, which In familiar lo those who know the history of railways rail-ways in th northwest. Successive changes of ownership in each of tho contending con-tending lines has not deadened the de-slro de-slro 10 possess the Clearwater territory, this has been a herltugc that hos passed with the ownership. |