CHAPTER XXIII.

The transportation question--Its importance--Present legal position --Oregon Railway and Navigation Committee's general report--That company--Its ocean-going steamers--Their traffic and earnings--Its river-boats--Their traffic and earnings--Its railroads in existence --Their traffic and earnings--Its new railroads in construction and in prospect--Their probable influence--The Northern Pacific-- Terminus on Puget Sound--Its prospects--The East and West Side Railroads--"Bearing" traffic and earnings--How to get "control"-- Lands owned by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company--Monopoly --How threatened--The narrow-gauge railroads--Their terminus and working--Efforts to consolidate monopoly--The "blind pool"--Resistance --The Oregon Pacific--Its causes, possessions, and prospects--Land grant and its enemies--The traffic of the valley--Yaquina Bay--Its improvement--The farmers take it in hand--Contrast and comparisons --The two presidents--Probable effects of competition--Tactics in opposition--The Yaquina improvements--Description of works--The prospects for competition and the farmers' gains. 271