"Tap Line Case" Summary of Arkansas Eastern Railroad  
     
  Abstracted from "Tap Line Case", published in Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 23 I.C.C. 277, 23 I.C.C. 549, and in Decisions of the United States Supreme Court, 234 U.S. 1.  
 
 
 
     
 

ARKANSAS EASTERN RAILROAD. In 1907 the Baker Lumber Company, whose hardwood sawmill is located on the line of the Frisco at Turrell, Ark., incorporated the main line of its logging road, extending from the mill for a distance of nearly 7 miles to a point known as Hafer, the corporation thus formed being known as the Arkansas Eastern Railroad Company. The authorized capital stock of the new corporation was $112,000, of which only $42,500 has been issued, and this went to the stock-holders of the lumber company. In addition to the tracks which it turned over to the corporation thus formed, the lumber company has retained the direct ownership of several miles of logging spurs that extend from Hafer into the timber. The expense of maintaining these unincorporated tracks is borne by the lumber company itself, but they are operated for it by its tap line. The equipment of the tap line consists of 3 locomotives and 50 logging cars. The only service it performs on the traffic of the controlling corporation is the movement of the logs from the woods to the mill, and for this it is compensated by the allowance of 1 z to 3 cents per 100 pounds which is paid by the Frisco out of the published rates. In addition, it is credited $25 a day by the lumber company for the movement of the logs by its crews and engines over the unincorporated spurs. The manufactured lumber is moved by the trunk line directly from the mill.

Although the country through which the Arkansas Eastern operates is described of record as good agricultural land, with a number of small farms, there is no indication of any substantial traffic other than forest products. It was said at the hearing that 300 bales of cotton would be moved during the season then beginning, and the brief indicates that this prediction proved correct.

The only traffic of substantial volume that was not supplied by the controlling interest consisted of several hundred carloads of logs which the tap line moved from the logging spurs of the controlling lumber company to Turrell for the account of the Wisarkana Lumber Company, whose mill is located at Nettleton, about 50 miles distant on the Frisco. For this movement of logs the tap line made a charge of 2 cents per 100 pounds; and the tariffs indicate that an additional charge was made by the Frisco for their movement from Turrell to Nettleton. Although the testimony is that this tap line had filed annual reports with the Commission, this is not verified on our records. No annual report has ever been rendered by that company to the Commission.

 
     
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Text and images were digitized and proofread from the original source documents by Murry Hammond. Contact Murry for all corrections, additions, and contributions of new material.