In January of 1980 a group of the 5 shippers on the Morton line looked into buying the line. In a letter to MILW trustee Ogilvie they stated: “This is to advise that the five major shippers on the Morton line in the Mineral/Morton area have determined that they cannot economically from a railroad at this time to replace or supplant your Morton line. The heavy costs to rehabilitate, restock the line and require the line with locomotives, cars, etc makes the total cost per car nearly double the cost of handling the same freight by motor carrier either to the Tacoma area or Chehalis area where traffic could move.”