Northport Wants to Know Who Moved Its Road

The Northport Republican takes the following shot at the Newport-Orient road proposition, which appears to have been diverted for the benefit of the avaricious county seat:

Many residents of Northport and vicinity are wondering just how the state road became shifted from Northport to Colville, and who were responsible for it. The following extracts from data on file with the state highway commissioner will explain the matter:

"Office of Highway Commissioner, Olympia, Wash., March 18, 1908.—W. H. Hutchinson, Northport—Dear Sir: I have delayed replying to your letter of Feb. 20, relating to the Metaline, Colville and Orient wagon road until I could find time to look up the data. I herewith enclose copies of all the correspondence at hand bearing on the matter. Regarding my last letter to the county auditor, dated Feb. 14, 1907, I will say that my recommendation contained therein was based upon the report of Clair Hunt, the engineer who had charge of the survey for Stevens county, a copy of which report you will find among the correspondence. In this connection I will say that, in response to a telegram from Mr. Hunt, dated Oct. 11, 1905, I met him in Spokane and went into details regarding the survey of this particular road. He then stated to me that a good road could be built from Newport to some point in the vicinity of Ruby creek, on the Pend d'Oreille river, and from Northport to Orient, but that the country between Ruby creek and Northport was of such a character that it would not be practicable to build a good road over that section, and that money spent for a survey would be wasted."

The copy of Clair Hunt's report referred to above was in substance the same as that given in Mr. Snow's letter, with these brief uncomplimentary remarks added:

"That portion of the road running from Northport to Ruby creek I cannot recommend, as it is very precipitous in places and there is a lot of rockwork to be done, and it runs through a country that is practically uninhabited and owing to the roughness of the country it probably never will be."

We do not understand how Mr. Hunt can foretell the future, as it is dead certain that his diagnosis of the present is far from correct. The route through Northport is most direct, and everyone knows that it traverses a thickly settled territory. The chances are Clair Hunt was never over the ground, but for personal reasons favored the county seat town. Where the commissioners figured in the transaction that has so far resulted in robbing Northport of a road that had already been awarded to it by the legislature was in backing Mr. Hunt's report by addressing the state highway commissioners in the following language:

"In reply to your question as to the road being constructed from Orient to Northport, our board are of the opinion that this will not be advisable, as that part of the road is the least needed of any, and is of no use whatever at this time. There is a good route surveyed from Colville east to the Pend d'Oreille river road, where it intersects the state road survey, and ALL [meaning Hunt and the three commissioners] are of the opinion that this route should be substituted by an act of the legislature."

As the above is only a condensed sketch of the correspondence that passed between the state highway commissioner and ex-County Surveyor Clair Hunt, backed by the county commissioners, it is no wonder the legislature was induced to favor the route proposed through Colville instead of Northport, as its only guide was the surveyor's reports and recommendations at hand.