15 feet depth at high tide; increased to 22 feet by government work after 1880) and could not compete with the superior Columbia River. Two of its own ocean ships were wrecked at the Bay entrance. Moreover, the scheme was fatuously financed, if not mismanaged; its capital, which was to build 600 miles of railroad, was exhausted after construction of 143 miles; and without connections it could not earn enough revenue even to pay operation. One who delves into its history wonders how the ruinous idea could have gained such momentum as to risk and sink so many millions of hard-earned dollars. The actual sum expended in Oregon, as I am informed by Mr. Wallis Nash, formerly Vice-President of the Company, was $4,250,000—about $30,000 a mile. Water lines cost an approximate $1,000,000 additional. I am unable to learn how much cash was realized from the $15,000,000 bonds of the company, or how much larger that cash sum was than the actual disbursements. It appears that only about one-third of the nominal bonded debt was expended for construction and equipment.
The route of the Yaquina railroad, in earliest time, was that of an Indian trail, which followed a convenient gap in the Coast Mountains between tidewater and Willamette Valley. In 1860 the Oregon Legislature by joint resolution, requested the Oregon members of Congress to obtain right of way for a wagon road to "Aquina Bay" and stated that such wagon road "can be opened with comparatively small expense" (session laws, page 9). Congress in 1866 granted lands for a military wagon road from Corvallis to Yaquina and in the same year the Legislature passed these lands to the Corvallis and Yaquina Road Company (session laws, page 63). About this time Congress made several land grants in Oregon, namely: wagon road East of Eugene, 1864; east of Albany, 1866; Oregon and California Railroad, 1866; east of The Dalles, 1867; Roseburg-Coos Bay, 1869; Portland-McMinnville railroad, 1870. In this period the two rival railroads, projected south of Portland—"East Side" and "West Side" companies—were fighting for
