All bills payable in United States gold coin. That is to say, it cost to ship a ton of freight from Portland, Oregon, to Umatilla, 217 miles, via Columbia River, $20.00 in gold coin or nine and one-fourth cents per ton per mile. From Portland to Lewiston, Idaho, 401 miles, $40.00 per ton or ten cents per ton per mile. Compare this with the cost of transporting a ton of freight by water from Chicago to New York, less than one cent or nine and three-fifths mills per ton per mile. The Missouri River from St. Louis to Fort Benton, 3,200 miles, $32.00 per ton, or $1.00 per 100 miles, or one cent per ton per mile. Also the Missouri River is one of the most dangerous and difficult streams to navigate on the continent; filled with eddies, quicksands and constantly changing channels—yet freight on this dangerous river was carried for about one-tenth the price that ruled the upper Columbia. Thus, the cost of moving a ton of freight up the Columbia was ten times greater than moving a ton along any principal water course on the continent. Also that which constituted a ton by weight on routes between Chicago and New York and from St. Louis to Fort Benton on the Missouri River, and on most other of the water transportation routes in this country, constituted on the Columbia, under their system of measurement of freight, an average of more than one-third more, in many instances, depending on the character of the freight, one-half, three-quarters, twice as much and sometimes three times as much. For instance, an article measuring a ton, but not actually weighing over two hundred pounds, would cost on the Columbia and Snake rivers from Portland to Lewiston, 400 miles, $40.00, or at the enormous rate of $400.00 per ton, according to weight, or $1.00 per ton per mile. From statistics compiled by W. J. McAlphin, State Engineer of New York, about 1868, the average cost of transportation by railroad was thirteen mills per ton per mile. From a table of freight charges on the Willamette River, published November 1, 1866, we learn that the average charge on this river was 175 mills per ton per mile.[1]
- ↑ Senate Doc. No. 344, February, 1890.
