division and force it to sell its interests to him. Under the united management of the "Oregon and California Railroad," therefore, the lines were continued on both sides of the river.[1] Bonds floated in the German market gave abundance of capital at first. Interest on the bonds began at length to fail, an investigation was made, and the affairs of the road were transferred to other hands in 1876. In the person of Henry Villard, a man of broader views and more tactful methods, undertook the development of railroad interests. The whole policy was enlarged. The development of the roads of Oregon was to him an effort to develop the roads of the nation. His interests were not local. Fortunate was it for the industrial and social evolution of Oregon that the railroad interests fell to the lot of such a man. His own financial position was wrecked in the undertaking, but the system of railroads which have formed the basis of Oregon's growth and prosperity was started by him . The construction of the "Northern Pacific Railroad," the building of the "Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company's" line through the valley of the Columbia, the extension of the "Oregon and California Railroad" nearer to the border of the neighboring state, were all parts of the comprehensive plan. First to be achieved was the construction of the Northern Pacific, which gave Oregon its long desired connection with the East, and acted as a stimulus to the development of the system of railroads as they now exist . Connection between the "Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's'" line and the "Union Pacific," and the purchase of the "Oregon and California" line by the "Southern Pacific Railroad" in 1887, added two more lines of transportation across the continent and effectively broke the isolation of Oregon from
- ↑ Lang's History of the Willamette Valley.
