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Show Minnesota Millionaires. &- Gossip and Story About the Nabobs of the Great Northncst, , MiNNEArous, April 9. iSoj. Millionaires Million-aires In Minnesota nic thicker than mosquitoes mos-quitoes In New Jersey, and ou can't throw a stone on the streets of St l'aul or Minneapolis without lilting n Cra-sus. The wonderful development of the country Is rolling the dollars Into this hopper of the grcit northwest and there are lumber millionaires, milling kings and real estate magnates and railroad gold bugs galore. This Is the greatest lumber center ol the Union and J. Newton Kind, the editor of the . in turn here, telUmc that Minneapolis I will sell more lumber thin any city In the country In lSjj. Some of the richest j timber dealers of the world live lieru and Wc)crliauser, the lumber king, makes this his home. No man in the world represents so much lumber as Wc) erhauier. He owns timber all over the country and he hu) s by the millions. Just the other day he paid over f j.ooo.ooo for 500,000,000 feet of standing pint) In northern Minnesota and the s)ndlcnte of which lie Is the head will, I am told, within four J cars control alt the while pine of Wisconsin and Minnesota. It lias a capital of (Uo,oco,cuo. It has great saw mills which turnout hundreds hund-reds of millions of feet ol lumber annually, and whose product Is worth ilose to f 10,000,000 a jcar. It buys new lumber regions right ntong, and It Is looking out for new fields In the south and northwest. I ROM 1IRIR TO BULLION. This sjndlente Includes a small number num-ber of rich men, but Frederick Wevcr-hitiser Wevcr-hitiser is the richest and the brainiest of them. He Is a German and he began life In a brewcrj'. lie came to this country without a cent and he worked for one dollar a day. After leaving the brewery he piled slabs In n sawmill lor a time at l ?s a day and gradually worked his way up In lumber until he is worth millions. Hu Isns plain today at fifty as ho was when he worked 111 Ills first sawmill and belabors just as hard. He Is wrapped up in his business and goes at times Irum lumber camp to lumber lum-ber camp, taking pot luck with his men and having a thorough knowledge of every detail of his business. Ha Is a man of great ability, full of common sense and his four sons, who arc all In the lumber business, take after him. The bos have been well educated and his oungest son is now In Yale College. , He gives a great deal In charity nnd his eldest daughter, who lately married n Dutch teformed preacher of Svrscuse, spent a vertr seme llm- before her marriage In going about nu ong the , lower classes of New York cit doing 1 churll-blu work. ' 1 T, II. Walker of Minneapolis Is an-' other lumber king. lie is wild to l worth $10,000,000 nnd his huusc here contains some of llm Illicit paintings jou will find In the United States IOS1H MIN.NSBOTA MANSIONS. 1 wish I could take you Into the houses of these rich men of the northwest north-west They are as fine as those of the money kings ol New York or llostem, nnd manyuf them will rank with the oldest houses In l-uropc In their artistu. furnishing- There I today more art dlsplavedln the bU business blocks and In the fine residences of bt. l'aul and Minneapolis than ou will find III those of lloston, Cleveland or Cincinnati, nnd money Is shoveled out litr. on oiclilteclure, art, and I might say religion as well. Inn finest oung Men's Christian Association building in I the world li here. Tho Minneapolis 1 club has liner quarters than any club in Washington city, nnd there are n number num-ber of million dollvr business hlotks here which liae more fine marbles and Koman inosilc workman the cathedral of St. Mark's at Venice. 'Ihtse men have made their money quickly nnd they spend it freely. Tnelr homes arc full of beautiful things (torn all over the world. Take, for Instance, lh.it ol .Mr. Thonns Lowry, tho street railway millionaire of Minneapolis. It Is a big old-fashioned mansard house of about twenty rooms, which aro packed with att treasures. Old Gobelin taperlries, some of which would carpet n small parlor, hang upon the walls. Oriental rugs, which Tom I.owry bought In Kgypt. he upon the floor, nne' line paintings paint-ings ol the great modem painters cover the walls. Hare Sevres vase stand on the mantels, and pieces of r.'.tlly fine Japanese art and of rare Ijsi. Indian workmanship arc scattered litre nnd there about the rooms. The house Is, in fact, a museum of curios, but they have been so well selected andnrranged that it Is a most comfortable home. HOW TOVI UIWHY UADU A l-OKTUNK. . And Just here I want to say n word about Tom Lowry. Lvery one calls him Tom here, and he Is every one' Irlcnd. He is -till In his forties, but he controls a capital of $j,ooo,ooonnd his Income Is probably something like jloo,-000 jloo,-000 a )car. He came here from l.oj.in county, III ,as a young lawyer. Ho wanted want-ed to go to some place where he could be known as something more than Just father Lowrv's son. Ills father was a friend to Abraham Lincoln, nnd had Lincoln not been elected president Lowry whould have studied law In his olhce. He was poor when he came here-, but he nl onco Jumped lino a big practice and he wns soon engaged in dearly every speculation of the town. Along hack in the- seventh's the home car Hirer t Mil nay line ol .Mlrme.ipolis whs in n Util wr) and 'I e.m Low ry nor-tnwed nor-tnwed ;';o.xiol IrU'See'iint) I nnk anil lougl I 1 Hu nnpto.ed ii, ixlende'd the linen nnd ruiiiiinged it tint he ..is 1.0011 able to get hold of th St. I'.iul slrect car lluus as will, anil he imw practically owns the stiei car lines of tho too cilli. Ik' Ins made his )tem the bust, it is said, in the United Sinlo. nnd Ins ncdit is sueli ihnt M the time of the linings' f.iluri' he- wis nhle' to uisc $i sco 000 In New Ye rt. at a low rale of imetW Ills street car lines were changed from horse ens tu etrctr city in twelve months nnd he' has s'o miles uf track 1 lie oveiland trollev is used an I he tells me that the conduit sistcni he tried for one of tho St. l'aut lines was a failure. His franchise et the two ut'cs Is nu exclusive' one, and It ru is, I am told, for a long term of )ears these car lines have immense chops here and power homes covering acres Ihey cm make, everything connected with an electric car line. m,d it will not be MJiprlihiK If they eventually add n rrat tnauuMciurincnrindiisir) to their i liuslnrss Mr Lowry is eminently fitted ! lor doln this. He his the best of biisi. ncss Iiiaiiis and his credit Is inch that he i can get an reasonable number of mill lops at four per cent. I 'iru Lowry Is n 111111 ol strong friend-flups friend-flups He is as well known In Nm ork and Washington as lie is here. Hu was one of the few men who had ncceia to lllalne at all times, and he largely aided Senator Washburn In tiding over Ihu financial troubles in which he was Involved at the tine' of Ills election to j the Senate' He Is a good story teller and it is said that hu kuowsShakespearc I by heart and can repvat "I'niadlsc Lost" horn beginning to end. He has a beautful vvifi and n very bright family I am told that he had a fiery red head ns n boy, though his hair Is now .1 beautiful brown am) his whiskers arc nlmobt b'ack. 'I w o of hi girls hav 0 red hair. The vnungest of lnese was onl) five years old when her little baby brother was born Shu saw the bald-headed bald-headed baby and that night they ay she closed her pr 1) cr as follows: "Please. God, bless baby brother, but don't letiilni hue-red hair. Wcliavc enough red heads In this family ahead)." SUNATOK WASIIRt'RN'a II0SIB. Senitor Washburn and Mr. Lowry arc Interested In the Soo raid together and they are rapidly pushing tills on to connect con-nect vv ith the Canadlin i'ai Hie. When this Is done It will form the last great trunk line across the continent. 1 am told by Senator W ishbum that the Soo road has now more than it enn do to haul Its local freight and Its lumber shipments ship-ments arc enormous. There ere millions of telegraph poles Iving along it awaiting await-ing shipment and It promises to pay well. Speaking of Washburn his residence here it worth a fortune; It is an immense im-mense while stone surrounded by ten acres of ground, every foot of which Is valuable. Ik has gotten out ol his financial troubles and Is again rich. nu I11U.-I uvnsi St Paul hi downs o' ki ,1 I, .i which would d credit to ,n mimi eii),butlhcrosldtiiCf of Vr ums Hill, Ihu Great Northre.i r nl iy m.g tin'c, is mis of the; trail) hi,. I.. 1 es I the wi thl. fitorg V. i liilds vh-n hi v idled It, suite! Itititpased iiit ol Hie inelerbilis In many wav- ml ih.t K. hlti-d It belter linn hl home it Wooicn. I visited Itinwiipi wnl, Mr. Hill's fr.end, Mr. (... A lineket, VU-.tcrel.iV, and I like It far I. Iter II ill Ihu home of Notth, in- 1 1 r 1 c kiug which I raw in litis,) 1111I List u nil r It Is more homelike end Ic )..i:l. It in lonileil In Si. l'aul on hu inn 1 ivetui' and Its grounds slops) down toward the Mississippi river. It Ins ncte. ol gioumli about It, nnd its win lows giw w deviewsof thehlllsanda'le)soithe MIssUsippl. The house is .111 immense two slot) building nf brown stune put together III the rough and ir ,wued with ii steel rjof, wh cli slopes down In many gables. A portccochcie liij enuugli for an orthniry hotife, under which vou could haul Ilia biggest i;i. load til hay vou have ever seen without touch-hu touch-hu lis walls or Its sides, forms tho entrance to it, and ns you o into this ou arc Impressed with tl.c m sivvncss and soli Itty of the urn tuu The house looks as though 1 wn built to outlast the ages. The w il me ulxitit four let I thick, nnd In roiisirueitng it Mr. IHU went down thnt) u-ht lect until be struck the solid bid rucl; for the fnundatloii. This is one of the cluraeli rlttics of his work he oe to the bottom of cvcr)tlnn. before he begins It and builds subsuiitl.it)' and without frills ur filigrees. Ills railroad olhce-s at St. l'aul arc severely plain in their construction, and jou sec the same good taitu displaced about ever) patt of his houeo Tho front doors are of massiv c oak, beautifully carv ed, nnd you piss through them over a vestibule oi Konun mosilc, ns ctrtltuly inlild ns n I lorentlne breastpin, into 11 grand hall finished In antique oak As)oti go In you note that the walls are of curved oak and tint the ceiling is of the samo wood In grcit panels. 011 m ue first into n grand lull nearly is I h g is the promenade corridor of tin White House, but fir more; beniitifull) liui.ned. It must be n hundred feet I.. 111: ind about twenty feet wide, ai.d 11 iiins trom the picture gallery nt one end to Hie grenl mahogany dining 100111 at the other. Its roof Is mulo up ol lour great panels Inclosed In rafters of carved oak, etch four feet wide, and these are upheld by eight llui.d oak culumns, each of which is as Llg around as the waist of n good sized nun The walls of this Ii ill are hung with fine pilntings. Its floor is covered with soft rugs, ami It Is lighted, ns arc the I irc rooms of the hourc, in n most wonderful way. 1 rum the center of each of these panels, strung as it were uponlwlres, r-ccms to lung down a bushel of diimonds. These are prisms of cut g.ass festooned in the shape of a basket, and lighted by clcctricltv, which coming fruni globes behind them nnd reflected by mirrors above make a most w mdcifully elective elec-tive illumination. There are four of these diamond btskcts in the lull, one In the dining loom, another In the library and others In ill? music, recep tion and driwlng rooms. A chandelier iiu it loeLs out of place inn house it nnkrs a hie room look larger mil a nnll mom look smaller, but lhei 1 iiiiond baskets take up no rnori and the) ire the must beautiful things I have 'verseen In hou-o lighting, from the 1 enter of this hall liseil the Mnire.iNC bttween thrrto fluted oak columns, bv easy I Hidings to the second stor) , nnd looking down upiui ymi from It, in voti mi- la, are great windows of ttsincd glass, which throw n soft light Into the hull At the right and lell of the stilr ease bio gtaten covered by mantels of the same massive o ik, and over one of these is a imiiuli.g of Mrs. Hall and the other of Mr. Hall. Tim iiimnci kodvi. The dining room Is about fifty feet long by thirty feet wide. Ills finished hi South Amer.ean mahogany, and the fitrnittitu Is of Ilia samu wood. The walls from your leet to above jour liend are paneled in the richest of mahogany, which lias .1 polish imial to that of the finest piano. Tho celling is made up of panels iramed lit great mahogany ratters, otttl tho panr-U are of rough stucco covered with gold leaf. Window seats 11m around tin end of the dining room, Hitting upon w hicli v ou can look out over I the Mulsslppl There lsngrr.it side-I lioird of mnhogaiiy twelve feet long ' filled with the lincst of china and cut glass. In twu corners of the room arc glass covered eupbon'ds filled with beautiful gliss ware, and on the side-boird side-boird and other places nlwut the room arc pieces of the finest of all kinds of china, not a few being ol Sevres anil Ko)at Dresden. 'I ho butler was with me while I stood in the room mid lie I told me the cost of furnishing it was I over 14 coo. The dining table Is of I carved mibogany, nnd It Is of Immense , size. Ill fact, nil the furniture in this I house Is fully from cne third to twice ns large as that vou find in ordiniry houses. Mih Hill told me tint when she came into the house she was surprised at the Immune size of the rooms nntl she was In despair as to how she could make them look Km illcr nnd more homillke. She did M by hiving the furniture mide in proportion, nntl the result is tint the whole bouse liunn homelike character and cver)thing is Intmonluus, In Mrs. Hill's bed room, fur Instance, the bed, of white tnnplr, Is six feet wide, but it does not look larger than an ordinary one, nntl 1 was not aware that It was so large until mv attention was called to It. Ihu sofas are very long nnd the chairs nnd tables match, l'.veil the limps have been made larger than those ol ordinary ordin-ary houses, and the result Is n cumbhia Hon which vou will net find In the great palaces of L'urope itnilnthc other fine nouses of the world. Speaking of lamps, one on the center tible in the inu-lc room has a body two feet hlh nntl is fully .1 foot In diameter Mrs ! Hill hunted fur It for n long lime, mid finally had It made out of n vase whlih she found which just harmonized with the coloring of the room, run den or a kaii novo uaunath The living room of the house is the library, and Just oil this Is Mr. Hill's lien. It is 1101 mora than ten feet square-and square-and It Is walled In mahogany. It lias an air of rolidity about It, nnd it is furnished elegantly but simply. On the book cases on one side 01 the room are great volumes of railway reports and railway magn.ineti, while 11 globe stands In one lorner I hern Is n little library table under the window with paper and pens on it, and nt the rear of the loom there is n mahogany door, which otttns Into a "great v null, In which is stored nt times, 1 doubt not. securities which are worth millions. The library is furnished In inahogan). llronec figures of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster stand on each end of the low book cases, which run around the room on cither hand nsvoti enter. The great library table Is covered cov-ered with papers nnd mig nines and the room looks as though It were used The collection of books is n good one. All of the great authors if fiction nnd science may be found upon the shelves, and )ou will find I'rench and (-ctman bonks as well ns rnghsh. Mr. Hill is a good French seliol.ir and both himself mid his wife have good literary taste. They are both well read and their domestic do-mestic relations ate of the happiest nilure Hit! IIASKMKNT AMU THE ATTIC, 1 he basement and the attic of this great mansion are to me even more interesting in-teresting than tlic living rooms The house must have 11 quarter ol an acre of floor space and the bAKiucnt is n house In itself. It has n hall, so wide Hint )uu could drive a wagon through it without grating the walls and its rooms arc nil large, ulry and well lighted. I he floors are ol nurhlr. The liallt and rooms are piurled with slabs of while miibte, no polished that you call see your face In them nnd the whole is lighted by uleclticit). These matble floors rest on a lied of mineral wool nnd J0.000 pounds of mineral wool were used in making this house lirt proof. Mr. Hill says It is fireproof, rat proof and cyclone proof, and It has a steel roof over the w hole of it so strong that v ou could run n triln of cars over it without Injur). T he attic has lieen turned Into a theater for the amusement nf Mr. Hill's children, chil-dren, nntl there is 11 miniature stage here nnd an audience room about thirty feet w ide by lifty feet long. T lie aLsgc has recites nnd footlights nnd It is, in fact, a complete little theater. T he buy s h iv c a magic lantern nnd they sometimes give exhibitions. TttOTOOI COAI A HAV It tikes two tons of coal a day to keep this house warm, and I spent some time in looking nt the gieat boilers in the basement There is an engineer who does nothing else but Mleud tu these, and Mrs. Hid tells me that the house Is so thick that during the lust w Inter they have not had to open the registers of the ihirerent rooms fur heat, but have only had to waim the halls. The engines en-gines rt present voo horse-power, and II you will keep .son homes nt work day and night vou will get an idea of the amount of force that it takes to turn winter Into summer fur Mr. James J. Hill There is a d)it.imo nnd electric plant connected with tho housr. One of the most interesting parts of the basement Is the laundry. It has a matble floor and brick walls. The washing Is done In great porcelain tubs nnd the clothes are put on racks that are rolled In and out of cases under which steim pipes H are coiled. These pipes keep the lent H perature of the drying cases at X., tie H great .mil the clothes arc dried In a lilly H 1 he kitchen has the same marble floors, H but its tables are of white wood, which H are ns clean as those of A Dutch house- H wife. I noticed that most of the cook- H ing utensils were of copper and the H range seemed to me to be large enough H fur the roasting of an ox. H HILL'S I'AVIII.YLtPlt. H As I said above, the strongest feature H of this big mansion Is its homelike H character, Mr. Hill Is n inin of domes- H tic tastes. He loves his family and he H Ins n beautiful home life. Ills wife has H twrnc him nine children, nnd when I H look lunch witli her there were three H pretty dark-evcel girls and a very brignt H eight )car-old boy with us nt the table M The lunch was served in the brcaklast M room, nnd it was as simple and uncon- M venttonsl as those which )uu find in any H well-to-do family In the United states M any diy. Mrs. Hill Is a charming H woman She does not look to be more H thin furlv, nntl thouli she has these M nine children there Is not a gray hair in M her head, and her fice Is free from H wrinkles. She Is refined and well edit- M cated ami Is full of common sense. She H is n woman of remarkably good tiste, M and she impressed me ns nn excellent H mother She is n Catholic, but not nil M Illiberal one, and she l, I am told, alw a) a doing good In the way of charity. H Mr. Hill is liimself very charitable, H though most of his gifts are never known to the public Not tongngnhe M attended a sermon of IlUhop Ireland which pleased him very much It was H one In vvhlcli the great bishop preached on true Americanism, In which he said M it was every young mill's duly to be n 1 true American, to become pcimeated iH with tho spirit of the country and to aid H In lis government and development At iH thectose of the sermon Mr. Hill told H the bishop he would like to have him H call upon him ami that he would give M him a check which would enable him tu H carry out to n certain degree his ideas. H Ikilldnnd hr received more than halt a million dollars to build a Catholic H theological seminary, the priests of which should lie educated along the M lines which be had marked out In his H sermon I don't know that Hill Is a H Catholic, but he Is a great friend of the archbishop, and Mrs. Hill showed me a beautiful medallion of Leo Mil which H the pone recently sent as n present to M Mr. Hill. T he picture Is as big around H nslhepilmof your bind, and it repre- kcnlsa lovely face, kind and gentle. H As wu looked at it I remarked on the M sweetness nf the expression of the H good father's features, and Mrs. Hill H said: "Yes, he Is a beautiful character, H and I only wish he was filteen years H younger." I then asked her a question H or so about lllihop Ireland, and she said 1 tint a ladv of St, Paul who had recently H been in Rome had met the pope and H that he tad spoken In the highest terms 1 of the bishop, and had asked her If ihu H was one of his friends. She replied: "Yes, we people of the northwest are H all friends of HUhop Ireland," Where H upon the pope said: "I am glad to hear H it, for 1 think he needs friends. H l'KASk G. Cartentkr. H |
