GIDEON & NORTH ISLAND RAILROAD. The track operated by the Gideon & North Island Railroad Company connects at Malden, Mo., with the Frisco and Cotton Belt and extends in a southeasterly direction through Gideon, 8 miles distant, where it joins the Frisco, to a point known as North Island, a distance of about 21 miles. There are also about 10 miles of sidetracks and spurs and a short branch track which will be mentioned later. The tap line owns the spurs and sidings and 9 miles of its main track. But 7 miles, extending from Malden southward through Five Points, are leased from the Gideon-Anderson Lumber & Mercantile Company, and 5 miles, extending southward out of Gideon, are leased from the United States Cooperage & Handle Company. As a matter of fact, the three companies are substantially one in interest, the stockholders of the Gideon-Anderson Company owning a majority of the stock of the tap line; and stockholders of the cooperage company owning the minority. The president of the Gideon-Anderson Company is president of the tap line and owns about 52 per cent of the stock of the cooperage company. The tap line was incorporated in April, 1908, at which time the 12 miles of track which it leases from the con-trolling companies were laid and in operation, those tracks having been constructed subsequent to 1904 as plant facilities for the purpose of hauling logs to the mills. The additional mileage operated by the tap line was constructed by it after its incorporation.

The leases of track to the tap line will expire in 1918; and the consideration is stated as 4 per cent on the estimated value of the track, with the privilege to the tap line of purchasing the property at a stipulated valuation at the expiration of the term. One of the conditions is that the tap line shall build the necessary logging spurs, each not exceeding 2 miles in length, and shall load the logs on the cars and transport them to the mills. The tap line owns two log loaders. It has 3 locomotives, 12 flat cars, and about 30 logging cars. It leases 40 logging cars from the controlling companies. It formerly also leased several locomotives, which were later sold by the lumber companies.

The Gideon & North Island enjoys trackage rights over the Frisco for a distance of over 40 miles between Gideon and Wardell. Under these rights it hauls logs to the mill at Gideon, paying the Frisco 50 cents per 1,000 feet, for the use of the tracks.

The mill of the Gideon-Anderson Company is reached by the tracks of the Frisco at Gideon, while the mill of the United States Cooperage Company is within a few hundred feet of the Frisco rails in Malden. The tap line loads the logs and hauls them to the mills, making a charge of 1-1/2 cents per 100 pounds against the lumber companies. It switches the lumber from the mill at Malden for a distance of about one-quarter of a mile to the interchange track from which they are taken by the Frisco. The Frisco itself occasionally takes the cars directly from the mill at Gideon; but they are usually switched by the tap line. It allows the tap line a division of 2 cents per 100 pounds out of the rates to Memphis, and 3 cents out of the rates to other territory, all of the rates as published from points on the tap line being 1 cent higher than the rate of the Frisco from the junction point. These rates and allowances relate only to hardwood lumber, staves, and heading. There are no joint rates or divisions on other commodities or on class traffic; and no allowances are received from the Cotton Belt, which apparently gets very little, if any, of the traffic.

There is a small independent sawmill about four miles from Gideon and another on the line between Gideon and Malden. An-other small mill at a point known as O'Neill is reached by a spur track about 1 mile in length connecting with the tap line at Five Points. It formerly teamed its lumber to the tap line, but with the construction of the spur track its lumber is moved by the tap line at a charge of 4 cents per 100 pounds over the rate from Malden. The capacity of the independent mills is not stated of record. But apparently 95 per cent of the entire tonnage of the tap line is supplied by the controlling companies. The traffic for the year ending June 30, 1910, aggregated 103,017 tons, of which all but 1,239 tons were forest products. The tap line carries neither passengers, mail, nor express matter. Two logging trains are run over the road daily.

It first filed an annual report with the Commission for the year ending June 30, 1910, and this report showed a net surplus of $8,125.51. The operating revenues in that year aggregated $52,283.31, and the operating expenses were $24,680.85. It expended out of its net earnings more than $17,000 for constructing new tracks, being apparently logging spurs, and paid for the lease of tracks $1,720.

This tap line comes clearly within the class of cases described in the original report, and is not entitled to any allowance from the trunk lines for the services which it performs for the controlling lumber companies or on their product.