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Show GREAT ACTIVITY ! DISPLAYED BY IRTERUHBANS Steam Roads Adopt the "Watchful Waiting" Policy; Pol-icy; Vill Do Much Work This Year. So wnm fitting term thnn 1 ' vr;iUTiful ivnit i ng ' ' f;i n o uvn.I to eh u rrn'trrizo tiifi nti vit ic iif tho tt',,ini mUron-I ol' t hp in 1 oniion n 1 ai u '-oiiiit ry in im pro vp-rnPiit vp-rnPiit ;i nil r rd rr ion work d n i i n g 1 ho yp a r 1 0 1 .". S'i v xt on si run u -i-p ;nt -t hori p. I, n 1 1 liftn ;i fow :i ii tlioripil in former yp; r-, w i o mm plct I'd, ;iiul t w, improvements were mn fliu'il to sin h :is were ji.t iHolui el v nri'i'ss;i w, Thp fittitii'lp o ft he railronds r-nn not he fprrriPl jis fipatliet.ii', prantipitlly nil of tlioni roiirliirteil hi vpatignl'mns in i' omi p.'t ion with propnspd rr:i ncli lines. Thfl inuetivitv, ru-eord i 11 to nil report, n-fifl inr to tlio finaneial depression that L'Uine on thp bonis of the "Kuropenn "wiir ml unfnvoinblo IrL'Hfi.tioD in various states tov;mt corporations, railroads es-pei'mlly. es-pei'mlly. floury wns unusually hard to obdain. 11 ml what wai available was of-fprerl of-fprerl only nn -liort time, making it entirely en-tirely imstiitiildp f'ni rn Ilrond developing develop-ing n t. The ftlmont ini'i'ssRnt campaign of arimis etatpfl ugainfit railroads during dur-ing the past few years had shaken public pub-lic roniidem-e in railroad securities, and fill condit iuiiN seemed adverse! to railroad extensions and improvements. New Inicrurban Lines. Ihil when: the intei mountain region wns unfortunate in the extension of hteruii mails anil the whole country suffered suf-fered in a similar manner it whs es pecially fortunate in the matter of in-leiurhan in-leiurhan lines. Tho 'Salt Lake & Utah railroad extended its lino from Provo to Spa iii sit Fork, and is now building an extension from Spanish Jw)rk to Pay son. 1 11 eon nee t ion w ii h the work a hand-l hand-l some depot, was erected at Provo; suia II rr stations were built at other points; a new power station and an intei in-tei I or k i u g J da 11 1 wci e put into service at Springwllp, and a new modern equipment equip-ment was added to care tor the in- -leased Ira flic of the company. The most notable work of tho year , was the construction of the link of the ' gdeii, Lnga n ifc Idaho intcrurbau be-l be-l ween .lirighnm City and Wellsvillo, ' thereby providing electric railway service ser-vice fioni vig'len to Preston, Idaho. The, salt Lake A: (;den railroad ilirl not ; build anv exleiipiuns. but it did construct a secoml main 1 1 ;ic k soul h f rtim Cigden Cur several miles and has authorized the const ruction of a second main track, three miles in length, south of Fnrniing-1 Fnrniing-1 Ion, thereby giving the line double .track all the way between Salt Lake t and Ogden with the exception of about nine, miles. Terminal Site Bought. . 1 11 about the time the year closed the Salt Lake Terminal company, of which the Salt Lake & Utah and the K'i It Lake A Ogden railroads are the principal stoe.kkholflers, closed a deal for an (dec trie terminal site on t he ground now occupied by the old Valley house. The work: of putting the new sit e in shape for use as a terminal is being pushed as rapidly as possible, uud the trains of the two intcrurban, lines are to be operated from tho new terminal termi-nal within tne next sixty days. At present pres-ent a temporary iuterurban union station is to be put into service, but within the next five years a modern station posting upward of a quarter of a million of dollars in to be erected. Tho three intorurban compauics have perfected a traffic arrangement whereby through service may be performed over the electric Hues from the southern terminus ter-minus of the Salt Lake & T tnh railroad to the northern terminus of the Ogden, Logan & Tdaho and between all intermediate inter-mediate points. Besides perfecting traffic traf-fic arrangements with each other, the various electric lines have reached agreements agree-ments with the various steam lilies out-diitu out-diitu of com pet it i ve terri I ory whereby f roigh t t ra f tic may bo interchanged. Main Trnck Constructed. A mon g the si earn roa ds probably t he bigief improvement work done wns by 'he 7nion Pa-itie, which constructed several sev-eral miles of second main track east from (gdeu. The Oregon Phort. Lino, a part of the Lnion Pacific system, completed com-pleted the extension in Idaho known as 1 he Snake Pi ver Valley belt line. nUo the union station and terminal facilities M I'orateUo at a cost of approximately half a million dollar?. The Southern Pacific, the Western Paciiic and the Piugham Oar field 'a i! roads did little or no improvement, nork during the year, although the Ping-ham Ping-ham v Oarludd added some new equipment. equip-ment. The work of the Pen ver & Kio 1 ; rmide was li mi ted chiefly to the con-stni'Minp con-stni'Minp of new sidings, on which about 1 w;b spent, and the erection of a new do not at Sc 0 tield , nt a cost of -Mnn The Salt Lake Route completed the ih'ita branch extension and replaced a eonsidernble quantity of eighty-pound rail with ninety-pound steel, at a cost of approximately a quarter of a million dollars. Much Maintenance Work. The activities of practically all. the si earn roads of the intermountain country, coun-try, as well ;h the country in general, were confined chiefly to maintenance work and keeping the properties in shape to furnish I he service demanded. Ihit even at that the railroads expended la rge union n ts of money in t h is terri -tojy. For example, the Oregon Short Line spent during the year in Utah approximately three million dollars, and in Idaho about, six aud :l halt million dollars. In Idaho the expenditures covered cov-ered some new work, but in Utah it ! covet eil chielly payrolls, rentals, materials ma-terials purchased locally and taxes. The budgets for the year 19 Hi ha ve not yet been announced, but with the unprecedented prosperity of the entire country and the return of confidence in railroads on the part of the investors! and the public iu generaJ.it is believed that all roads will renew activities in the way of extensions and improvements. The' Union Pacific and the Denver & Kio Gran do have made extensive invest iga- j tions as to the feasibility of building branches info the Uinta basin, and the Salt Lake Route has promised to send a surveying party into the basin as soon as the weather will permit in the spring. With the improvement in financial conditions con-ditions and tho general activity of the roads it is believed that one, and possi- 1 bly two extensions will be built into the Uinia country within the next twelve months. Western Pacific. Active. The Western Pacific also has investigated investi-gated the .feasibility of building branch lines in western L'tah and, although nothing has as yet been authorized jm the way of branch lino construction, recent reports as tu tho iiuancia I condition con-dition of the road forecast early activity in branc h lino extensions. Tho Salt Lake Roulo has brought hundreds hun-dreds of colonists into the southern part of the state and assisted materially in the development of that section. Now the residents are clamoring for branch, lines in various districts, ami the traffic department of the road has assured the people that, branches will be constructed a? soon as development of the country justifies. "Whether work of this nature Ail be attempted this year is a matter for conjecture, but at. any rate the activities ac-tivities tending toward the development of tho country tributary to its line will be doubled. The electric lines will not be idle. One company is now preparing to build a line from West Jordan into the Ping-ham Ping-ham district, and tho Sab Lake & Utah is seriously considering the construction of: an extension toward Garfield and one to Saratoga Springs to -onuof with a boat line around Utah Inlte. Taken all in all the year 1 01 G bids fa i r to ma rk r n ew o ioeh in rail roa d activities in Utah and the intermountain west. |