Newport's Road Race for the Calispel Valley Trade

According to the papers in the western portion of the county, there is a great deal of activity in trying to get roads from various points across the mountains into the Calispel Valley, in order to capture the business from that section.

An appropriation was originally made for a state road from Newport via Northport to Orient in Ferry County. The Colville county seat crowd succeeded in getting most of the money appropriated spent at the county seat, and the survey of the road diverted to that point instead of Northport. Now they are asking for an additional appropriation to help the town's payroll out.

Northport has taken the bull by the horns and is trying to get a road in the valley via Metaline, according to the original act. And now comes Chewelah and asks the members of the legislature from the west end to appropriate $30,000 for a road from that place to the valley country.

In the meantime Newport is getting the trade from that rich section, and will continue to do so, as she will have a railroad operating through the valley before next fall. In addition, three lines of steamboats will serve the valley people in connection with the railroad.

The Chewelah Recorder has the following to say about the latest road proposed—Cusick-Chewelah road—in behalf of the residents of the west end of the county:

The petition asking that the state road, for which a bill has been prepared providing for an appropriation of $30,000 to construct a road starting at a point near Orient in Ferry County and running to Colville, and thence to the Calispel Valley and Newport, be built via Chewelah, has been signed by more than 600 people in this part of the county. The purpose of this petition is to ask for an amendment to the original, changing the route of the proposed road so as to include Chewelah, thereby improving the grade, lessening the cost of construction and accommodating a larger number of people. There has been a county survey made of a road from this place to the Calispel Valley, by which it is shown that by reason of the nature of the country the road could be built this way with much less expense, the saving being estimated at from $15,000 to $20,000 with a far better grade than that now under consideration by the original survey made by the state.

From a letter recently received from Representative Spedden regarding this question, it seems that they have been laboring under a false impression, as the appropriation now being asked for is for the completion of a state road commencing near Orient, and running via Colville and thence to the Calispel Valley, and that the survey for this route has been fully completed by the state. It is the opinion of Mr. Spedden that under the present conditions it would be useless to ask for a state road from this place at this time; but when this letter was read at the meeting of the commercial club Tuesday night and the matter discussed at some length, it was decided that the case was far from being a hopeless one, and that instead of abandoning it an effort will be made to have the present bill amended and, if possible, a new survey made of this end of the road so as to take in this route. It is thought that by presenting the matter to the state road commissioner with a statement from the county surveyor as to the feasibility and cheapness of this route, that official may be induced to consider the proposition to amend the bill.