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Show I HISTORY OF OREGON SHORT LINE s THAT OF WESTERN DEVELOPMENT t Liberal Policy Maintained by Officials of Unit of Union Pa- cific System Permited Co-operation With People in Ter- 1 ritory Through Which Its Lines Pass Part Brigham Young Played in Building of the Railroad and How Line Has Grown Make Interesting Reading. II However much or little the hlstor- lan may write of the progress and development of Utah and the intcr- i mountain region, hlB works will not be J cdmplete If ho exclude the railroads i from credit for a great share of the f upbuilding. His chronicle will be t especially lacking if ho falls to give i credit to the Oregon Shor Lino rall- road, that important system of main I lines and branches comprising the t great central unit of the Union Pa- clflc system. 1 Developed from a short connecting line between Ogden and Salt Lake, that gave the capital city its first direct connection with the first trans- f continental railroad, It is highly appropriate ap-propriate at thiB time, when honors are being paid to pioneers, that a measure of tribute be paid to that " original pioneer, Brigham Young, for i . his part In the establishment of the I oiglnal unit of the Oregon Short Line ! railroad. From that 'beginning, a line 37' miles in length, the road has grown until today it has more than 2,000 miles of lines, extending to and sorv- I ing every prosperous community of the Intermountaln country. I It Is significant that this unit of m y tne union jfacmc system comprises M i little more than 1.G0O miles of so- 9 1 called main line, .although Its total 1 mileage is more than double that m'i amount. Likewise It is significant M I that the approximate 1,000 miles of m'i main line trackage was in existence M more than 25 years ago. The double" this amount of line today means that Mi the Oregon Short Line railroad has Mf. developed its system until Utah and the Intermountaln region are covered M by a network of branch lines that 1 1 bring the wonderful agricultural Ml areas of this inland empire to the I? threshold of the world's markets. Mi Liberal Policy Permits Co-operation. 1 1 Whether under the efficient leader- ship which marks the management M of the Union Pacific system or un-M un-M der guidance of those able leaders who have been identified with the road since its earliest history, the Ml Oregon Short Line has maintained a Mi policy of liberality and co-operation toward the territory In which it op- erated. The success of -the territory I: has been the success ofrthe railroad. No claims for recognition on the part I of any community has been too I; small or lacking of merit to receive I : the consideration of those in charge j of the company's policy. : Lacking only a few months, 47 years have elapsed silnce ground was I broken for the original mileage which mf is now Included in this extensive I;j middle link of the Union Pacific sys-I sys-I ' tem. This original line, the connect ing line between Ogden and Salt Lake, has its primal Inception shortly after the junction of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific at Promontory Promon-tory Point on May 10, 1869. The driving of a golden spike connecting those two lines established the first transcontinental railroad and It is the fiftieth anniversary of this event that is to be celebrated In Ogden and the entire western country In 1919. Necessity to Connect Early Apparent. The necessity of a line connecting Salt Lake with this continental carrier car-rier was early apparent to the pioneers pio-neers of Salt Lako valley. Brigham Young had caused to be Incorporated the Utah Central railroad and on May 17, 1869, one week after the completion com-pletion of the transcontinental line, ground was broken at Salt Lake for the new railroad. 1 The road was completed com-pleted between Salt Lake and Ogden on January 10, 1870, eight months after work has been started. After the completion of the Utah Central railroad John W. Young, son of Brigham Young, conceived the idea of constructing a railroad north-) ward from Ogden to some point in Montana. It was his plan, just as the TTrnnn Tnnfn iMiilflnro Vinrl flnnp tn follow with ties and rails the emigrant emi-grant routes of the early days. As shown by the early histories of the terrltor', he planned to follow the Oregon Trail westward from Ham's Fork, Wyoming, and the Montana Trail northward from Corlnne, Utah, then one of the most Important trading trad-ing posts of the west. Mr. Young organized a company which, by act of congress, approved March 3, 1S73, was granted a right-of-way for the purpose of enabling it to "build and extend its line by way of the Bear River valley, Soda Springs, Snake River valley and through Montana territory to a connection' con-nection' with the Northern Pacific railroad." It was made a provision of the act that the road should be completed in ten years. Five years later the privileges granted in the original act Vere changed to enable the Utah & Northern North-ern Railway company to build the road by way of Marsh valley, Port-neuf Port-neuf and Snake River valley instead of by way of Soda Springs. In the meantime, during the ear 1875, to be exact, congress having passed a general gen-eral railway right-of-way act, a committee com-mittee was appointed from Montana counties to solicit propositions from the Utah & Northern, Union Pacific and other railroads with a yiew to obtaining ob-taining early advent of the railroad Into that territory. As a result of this committee's ac- tivities the Utah & Northern Railway ' company made a proposition to the members of the 1877 Montana legislature, legisla-ture, offering .to build 300 miles of narrow guage railroad from Franklin, Idaho, to the Big Hole country of Montana for a consideration of ?5,000 per mile in territorial bonds. The company agreed to complete the line within three years. In reply to this the legislature suggested another routo via Fort, Hall to Helena. Tracks Had Been Extended. . By the time this stage in the negotiations nego-tiations had been reached the Utah & Northern tracks had been extended northward to the Snake river and In April, 1877, Sidney Dillon, then president presi-dent of the company, made another proposition to tho governor, offering oxtenslon of the lino into Montana territory. When a special session of the territorial legislature was called to consider the proposition, Senator W. S. Sanders, chairman of the judiciary judi-ciary committee and leader in the upper up-per house, strongly advocated the advantages ad-vantages of railways. His efforts met with much misdirected opposition. opposi-tion. It was pointed out at the time that the Utah & Northern had already crossed the southern boundary of Montana and had advanced ten miles into the territory. In addition to this it had, on July 1, 1S7S, gained stability stabil-ity by placing a thirty-year bond Issue Is-sue for $4,891,000 covering, among lt other properties, nearly J00 miles of road extending from Ogden, on the south, to Silver Bow, Montana, on the north, and 60 miles of lino 'between Butte and Garrison, Montana. It was approximately two years later, however, before the line was completed to Sliver Bow and the line completed between Butte and Garrison. Garri-son. Soon after the completion of the latter line it was turned over to the Northern Pacific railroad under a 99-year lease. All . of the line was jiuiiuw iicibu iwu io miuci mc iteration it-eration of what was then known as the Union Pacific system. It remained re-mained a narrow guage railroad until 1S89. To a large majority of" persons living liv-ing in this section today, at will be a surprise to learn that what was originally known as the Oregon Short Lino railroad Included no part of the 400 miles of road constructed and operated op-erated under the name of the Utah & Northern. The Oregon Short Line Railway company, as it was originally designated, built and operated a line westward from Granger, Wyo., on the Union Pacific, passing through Mc-Cammon Mc-Cammon and Pocatello, Idaho. Construction work on this railroad was started in lSSO, and three years later had been built a distance of 390 miles westward. With the final completion com-pletion of . the line to Huntington, Ore., it comprised a total mileage of 541 miles and had followed with oaly slight variation the course of the Oregon Trail. The Utah & Northern, so far as name Is concerned, passed out of existence on August 1, 1SS9, when the line from Salt Lake to Silver Sil-ver Bow was taken over by the Oregon Ore-gon Short Line Railway company. With the namp changed from "railway" "rail-way" to "railroad," the old Utah Central and also the Utah & Northern North-ern completely lost . their identity when both systems were merged Into the system known as the Oregon Short Line Railroad company. This in " i ii i i r . . " i hi J.1IH occurrod In 1897, and it has been under un-der the direction of the Union Pacific system since that time that most of the additional trackage of the branch lines has been constructed. The sanio policy of modern methods that has brought the Union Pacific railroad and other lines of the Harri-man Harri-man system to tho" forefront of American Ameri-can railroads has been exercised with regard to the Oregon Short Line railroad. Its operation of trains is protected by autdmatio safety block signals, equipment Is always efficient and its employes are students in the great college of "Safety B'irst " During Dur-ing tho past twelve years the road has carried some twenty million passengers pas-sengers with fatalities to less than five of the total number. |