Columbia and Western Construction

            Mann, Foley and Larsen, the combination of contractors who will construct the Columbia and Western road from Robson to Midway are building camps at Brooklyn, about fifteen miles from Robson, where the road will leave the Columbia river.  This will be headquarters for construction, from which work will be directed.  Substantial cabins and necessary buildings are being erected and an immense quantity of supplies were received this week.  The grading outfits will be shipped to several points along the line of the road, in order that work may be pushed as rapidly as possible.  The estimates put the price of the 100 miles of road between $3,500,000 and $4,000,000.  It is one of the largest contracts ever let in the west and it is doubtful if there is another single contract of 100 miles of road in the west that has cost so much per mile as this line will cost.  The great expense is due to heavy rock work.  The 100 miles contracted for is only for one-third of the proposed line.  The remaining 200 miles are to be built as soon as the present contract is completed and it is understood that the contractors having this first work in hand have the preference on the contracts for the balance of the road.  The sub contracts will be let immediately.  There will be sub contracts for stone work, for grading, for furnishing ties, and for all the different portions of the construction.  The successful bidders have taken the contract for the entire construction, including grading, bridging, tracklaying, furnishing and laying ties – in fact doing every thing but putting in the equipment.  The line is said to be 105 miles long one of the contractors said, and from three to five thousand men will be employed.  They will come from all over the country, may from Canada.  Work has commenced.  The agreement is to rush it through to early completion.