Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 20.pdf/167

The mortgage bonds of the Oregonian Railway Company, amounting to £214,700 or $1,045,589, were paid in full by Huntington in 1889, pursuant to arrangements made with the official liquidator, David Myles, appointee in bankruptcy by the supreme court of session of Scotland, March 20, 1889, to wind up the affairs of the Oregonian Railway Company, Limited, and sell its property for benefit of the creditors.^[1] Myles sent to Oregon his attorney, Alexander Mackay, to examine the railroad properties. The number of stockholders of the bankrupt railroad was 183, only two of whom dwelt in Oregon, J. B. Montgomery, 4,000 shares out of 32,000, and William Reid, 149 shares. Reid had also owned 4,000 shares before the Villard lease, and sold all but his 149 shares because disliking the prospect of Villard's control. The price paid to the liquidator yielded a balance of some $135,000 over the bonds, to pay floating indebtedness due Scotch creditors, amounting to $250,000. The proceeds were distributed to the various creditors in Scotland, January 15, 1890. Huntington paid, in addition, receiver's certificates to the amount of some $423,000. The cost to him of the 147 miles of the Oregonian Railway amounted as follows:^[2]

To the mortgage bondholders, £235,000 and other creditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

$1,064,450

To the holders of receiver's certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

423,000

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

$1,487,450

The cost of the thirty miles of the Portland-Dundee line probably brought the total up to $2,000,000 The loss accruing from the narrow gauge system came out of the pockets of the stock subscribers which appears to have been practically a total loss, $1,227,240, and also out of the coffers of Dundee bank lenders to the extent of $115,000 additional. The lines of the Oregonian Railway Company were foreclosed in the United States circuit court at Portland, in 1890, and the report of the master in chancery, George H. Durham, was finally approved August 12, 1891. The transfer to Huntington took place May 20, 1890. Huntington made an inspection of the

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1. See The Oregonian, February 10, 1890.
2. Newspaper dispatches of the time of the sale stated the purchase price at $1,500,000. (The Oregonian, June 17, 1890.)