propesed joint lease, it was endeavored to smooth the way to an agreement by conceding to the Oregon line the carrying trade arising over a portion of the Northern feeders.[1]
The agreement gave the right and power, after July 1, 1888, for ninety-nine years, to the Oregon Short Line and Northern Pacific companies jointly to manage, operate, and control the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company s railroad; to fix rates of transportation, to dispose of the revenues equally be tween them, and to pay equally the rental agreed upon in the original lease. It being apparent to the enemies of this arrangement that the majority of the directors of the Oregon company would be persuaded to sign the lease, a temporary injunction was applied for in the state circuit court by Van B. De Lashmutt, mayor of Portland, which injunction was granted March 1888, upon the ground of violation of Oregon law. It was subsequently dissolved, and the lease went into effect in July of that year. None of the parties to the agreement pretended that it would stand a legal test, but knew that it was liable to be abrogated at any time when circumstances should make it repugnant to either of the joint lessees.[2]
The Oregon Pacific, a name given to the Corvallis and Yaquina Bay railroad, subsequent to the inception, was completed to Albany in 1886, where a bridge
over the Willamette was formally opened on the 6th of January, 1887.[3] It was, and still is, making its
- ↑ That is on the existing or future feeders of the N. P. between Pend d'Oreille lake and Snake river, and option was allowed to use either route to tide—water via Portland or Tacoma; but unless specially consigned other wise, this traffic should take the Oregon route.
- ↑ It is not clear to me what was Villard's motive for wishing to join in the U. P.'s lease. The motive of that company, which the Central Pacific had kept out of California, in desiring to come to the Pacific coast is easy to comprehend. The O. R. & N. erred, in my judgment, in yielding the control of the best railroad property on the northwest coast to a company with the standing of the U. P. The Southern Pacific will show its hand in competition soon or late, and will build more feeders than the U. P., while the N. P., on the other side, will make the most of its reserved rights, thus narrowing down the territory of the leased road.
- ↑ The first freight train to enter Albany was on Jan. 13, 1887.
