Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic Railroad, 1887-12-24

Electronic reproduction of: Transcription from Mining journal (Marquette, Mich.), Dec. 24, 1887.

Source: The Mining Journal Marquette. Mi. December 24, 1887 Saturday The Duluth South Shore and Atlantic The DSS and A is practically completed. 250 miles of the eastern part of the line has been operated during 1887 as a local road, and three weeks of December, being estimated, it earned §1,500,000 gross and $600,000 net. The line when opened as a through line in the spring of 1888 will have maximum grades of 52 feet to the mile, as against grades of 78 to 8O foot by any other line from St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth. It will have the same sources of local business as in 1887, with the addition of the entire local business to be derived from the great Gogebic iron range, estimated at 500,000 tons per annum. It will have a lumber traffic on the new portion of this line of $2,000 per mile gross, and it will have through traffic of grain and flour from its connections at Duluth, Superior, St. Paul and Minneapolis of from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 tons, all of which will go over the entire length of the company's road. On the completion of the entire mileage of the line it is evident that the estimate of the promotes of gross earnings of $3,000,000 and net earnings of $1,200,000 with charges of not above $700,000, is amply justified by the operations of the road to date, and warrants the expectation of dividends of from 4 to 6% on the preferred stock the first year. The construction of the Washburn road and the extension of the DSS and A to the Sault have opened large tracts of the DM and M l and s. It is stated that valuable mineral l and s have been prospected and the company has leased them at a royalty of 30¢ per ton on the ore taken out. At the present time there is over $200,000 in the treasury and the company is considering whether to invest it in the l and grant bonds of the company, or to expend the funds in dividends. The l and s were granted by the state of Mi., are exempt from taxation and are not subject to interference by Congress. DSS and A MSSM and A