226 LESLIE: M. SCOTT
been stimulated to a much more rapid development. But Mr. Gaston's optimism was always somewhat exuberant; he was ever playing to "hard luck" with his railroad rivals and theirs was usually the mastery; his Oregon Central schemes were always just about to be financed when they fell through ; his Astoria- Winnemucca enterprise may have been likewise ready, as he said it was, or it may not. But it should go down in his- tory that Oregon wished this railroad and Holladay's both routed through Rogue River Valley, and wished not to imperil the Holladay road for the sake of the dubious Gaston scheme, as is evidenced by the joint resolution of the Legislature of 1870, and that Senator Williams was actuated by high-minded motives, in this matter as in others, of his distinguished and honorable career. It should be added, however, that the Winnemucca route would have afforded Oregon as a whole more direct connections, probably more satisfactory and more promotive of progress, than the Holladay line did. It would have eliminated Oregon's dependence on California, which during many years, retarded the growth of this common- wealth.
Ben Holladay, Oregon's first great builder of railroads, now had at his disposal a large land bounty for the line from Port- land to Astoria. He was at the height of his power in 1870-3, in which period he built the East Side road to Roseburg and the West Side road to Yamhill River, near McMinnville. He had not the financial means, however, to build to Astoria; moreover, the time was too early for the land grant to develop much value for mortgage and bonding uses. He caused sur- veys to be made ; that was all. His plans fell in 1874 and his active career ended.
Holladay's successor, Henry Villard, Oregon's greatest rail- road builder, extended Holladay's lines to Ashland and Cor- vallis, built the Columbia River line of the O. R. & N. east of Portland, and finished the Northern Pacific but neglected the Astoria road. In Villard's opinion the latter road was not essential ; the Columbia River channel to Portland was cheaper for transport and shortened railroad construction mileage. It
