To save itself the Union Pacific was driven to a rapid extension of its branch mileage, which Mr. Adams held to be the only means by which fixed charges could be paid.[490] Between 1884 and 1890 3132.45 miles were built or acquired, all under separate organizations, but with their accounts and management under the supervision and control of the officers of the parent line; and the amount invested in branch-line securities was raised from about $28,000,000 in 1881 to $41,879,724 in 1892. These roads reported annual deficits, which were either paid out of earnings or carried as floating debt. The report of the Government Directors in 1891 declared that $15,000,000 out of $21,400,000 of floating debt were the result of expenditures and advances in the construction of branch and tributary lines and the purchase of stock in such lines for the purpose of control.[491] But speaking in 1887, Mr. Adams declared the branches to be worth $5,000,000 a year to the main line, entirely apart from anything which appeared in the accounts of the branches themselves, and in a letter to the Government Directors in 1884 he said: “The branches and auxiliary lines of the Union Pacific should be considered the only real security the Government has for the repayment of its indebtedness.... Were it not for these branches the Union Pacific would be confined to such small local traffic as it could pick up at points directly upon its main line; and to its share of the through transcontinental business which has recently been subdivided by four through the construction of competing routes.”[492] The most important of the branches remained the Oregon Short Line, with the connecting line of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, of which the Union Pacific became finally possessed in 1889. This last road had been long considered the natural outlet of the Northern Pacific to the Pacific coast, but had been leased by the Union Pacific in 1887 through the Oregon Short Line with a guarantee of 6 per cent dividends upon its stock as well as interest upon its bonds for 999 years. In 1889 negotiations with the Northern Pacific resulted finally in the sale of the Oregon Railway & Navigation stock held by Mr. Villard and his friends. Pending the issue of a collateral trust mortgage the stock was deposited with a trust company, a note was given for the amount, and the sum was carried as floating debt. Whatever the value of the property to the Northern Pacific, it proved of great worth to the Union Pacific, providing it with an independent outlet to the coast, and giving it a haul on its main line of over 800 miles on all interchanged traffic. The method of payment proved a dangerous one, however, in that it so largely swelled the volume of the Union Pacific’s quick liabilities.