THE YAQUINA RAILROAD 235
that the Yaquima railroad could obtain only a small share of Willamette Valley traffic.
Hogg's resource for raising money had to meet many ob- stacles and it is fair to acknowledge the able manner in which he overcame them and persuaded bond buyers. At a public speech at Corvallis, October 26, 1881, he announced the success of his financing plans (address reported by Alfred Holman in Oregonian, November 2, 1881). "The means necessary to construct the line of the Oregon Pacific Railroad," said Hogg, "from Yaquina Bay to the Eastern part of our state and thence to Boise City, have been secured and we all hope the result will be speedy construction of the same. The very opposition that we met with and which seemed at times to be overwhelm- ing, called the attention of those, who were seeking invest- ments, to our project and thus the persevering effort to defeat us was the best argument that our enterprise was good. We are tonight prepared to say (and we believe that facts will bear out the assertion) that before the close of another twelve- month, the Oregon Pacific Road will be built from Yaquina Bay to a point east of the Cascade Mountains."
Hogg explained that the "opposition" came from foes in the "central portion of the state," evidently adverting to Vil- lard's railroad interests. He said his road would be "inde- pendent" of those interests and of the narrow gauge railway which Scotch investors were then building; and that he would put barges on the Willamette, Columbia and Snake Rivers to draw freight for his railroad. "But our immediate work is the grand trunk line through, to join hands with those building to meet us at Boise City and I promise you now that within two years and a half we shall have the work completed and, by joining with Eastern connections will make a grand trunk line through to the East from Yaquina Bay. . . The Oregon Pacific line by its connections Eastward from Boise City will be shorter than any of the trunk lines now built or proposed, by nearly 300 miles." The ocean voyage between Portland and San Francisco, then three and one-half days, Hogg said his
