The North Bank Railroad Boom

President Howard Elliott of the Northern Pacific Railway has made public the fact that a road to be built and operated jointly by the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern is to be constructed down the north bank of the Columbia River from Pasco, Washington—the point where the Northern Pacific crosses the Columbia River in eastern Washington—to Vancouver, Washington, and from the latter place, spanning the Columbia and Willamette rivers, to Portland. The Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies have organized and own jointly the Portland & Seattle Railway Company. That company will build a railroad as rapidly as men and material will permit, from Kennewick, opposite Pasco, along the north bank of the Columbia River to Vancouver. Bridges over the Columbia and Willamette rivers will be built from Vancouver to a connection with the present line of the Northern Pacific, north of Portland. When the railroad and bridges are finished, they will give the Great Northern and Northern Pacific a first-class entrance to Portland and a direct line to and from the east. The line is 230 miles long and saves 164 miles. Work will begin at once and the road will be finished quickly. Unofficial estimates place the cost at approximately $12,000,000. This money will, in a large measure, be expended in Portland, Tacoma and Spokane.