| Show THE GREAT WIN JIM HILL ST PAUL april jadv 3 i well boys s you na may laugh ie at jim hill dimou now inq but the time will soon boos come when you noa pule and every railroad manager of the united states will have to oi take your hats yo off to oi jim IM hill he si is the greatest railroad roan in the aej country today pug and have to acknowledge it the speaker was sem S S merrill the manager of jo the chicago milwaukee pus and st IS paul railway it 11 was ig at a meet ins au of the great railroad men of 30 the unoo country Ail which took place a maj few years james J f hill ot 10 st IS paul then ago representing a comparatively small QUIT line of 10 road had made a ui in a halting modest way V after jai speaking he had left the meeting aatu PUB and some of JO the a eastern 1 railroad men had laughed at his manner 1 pus and his ideas PUB and this had angered his old mr JN merrill pug and the above prophecy was made it II has already come true the railroad men of jo the united ballun states have long since begun to ol take off their hats to 01 jim hill PUB and he seq has ince that alu meeting aana accomplished more sc as le a railroad builder than aug any man ut in the OM world he ah is si ui in liall the modern aladdin of the great northwest though WET he sl is su as yet IQ d practically unknown to the rest of jo i he ati united states you noa can us buy his photograph ut in the book stores si you noa will not find his biography aadu ui in xau any io 0 the aai fat books on millionaires PUB and little a seq has ever been said plus about him tit in the newspapers papers sj still he began suf his ajl li fehere without a dollar pug and he st is now mou worth more alota than he started here as a 18 VOID clerk on the levees along back near the sixties pus and he si is now moa the aej owner and builder of jo the great northern railway system which seq has asni been completed pule and which with its sj more than miles of 10 iron 11 tracks has given us sn another great trunk line across the continent I 1 ivol save 04 1 spent some aluos aidin time here studying irim pue and his personality through chats with his most allut intimate friends pus and he si is OUO one of JO the most remarkable men ui in the world his great trunk biml line across the continent seq has been practically built within the sea past six years pus and the aej united states hardly knows of sit its existence S still lit he has 4 had us an army of jo something bice to OI bioux men at work right along day asp jav after day laying down this slip wonderful system pule and the construction of jo the line seq been such that it 11 st is even more wonderful every foot of jo it 1 seq has been built to 01 stay AVIS it 41 is s called here the pennsylvania railroad of jo the west pug and it 11 si is so os built that it can us be run more cheaply qz Aldea and better than the other roads of jo the country built se as it I 1 sim was by one man I 1 who had sole alos control of jo sit its capital mid it q has cost only a mile while the average isoa cost o of 0 the roads ut in the united states taking their macj bonded indebtedness only pug and not IOU the stock Iq st is the union pacific tj has I 1 am told isoz cost something 2 like aal a pux mile aux the northern alij wa pacific over a mile PUB and the mp southern pacific more than for AT every mile of jo track mr JN SIH hills new road seq has a grade of only thirty one feet to the mile pus and the road seq has been built so ool that a single engine can carry 1500 tans so over JOAO its BaEl heaviest ISaIA grade when it 11 st is that on some of jo the other roads simi tons at is the maximum for grade it will be seen what a at wonderful difference this will make in operating expenses mr JN IM hill believes freight rates by rail will be evenou jamy 46 cheaper jadv than by water pus and he expects to oi see the day asp when by the means of jo well llam constructed roads pus and the best iraq of jo modern engines a ton jb of freight can be carried lav across aso the continent cheaper than it j could be was sent the s same distance by sea THE hui JAY AW GOULD OF AO THE NORTHWEST uj in this letter I 1 have not jou space to write of jo the great agaj Nor thren road or 10 the wonderful region it 11 traverses I 1 may autu speak of it I 1 hereafter I 1 can only AITIO give you noa something of 0 j the iad personality 0 of the man who built it james J 1 hill has been called pailun the aej jay adf gould of jo the ou northwest tai MIT his friends spurn this insinuation L they aaa say ass he st is a builder up of jo junoD countries sau rather than a wrecker of jo railroads he seq has never been a speculator and he seq has made his great fortune by studying the needs of jo the ott times laying out ino a good foundation aoi for his plans PUB and steadily PUB and solidly carrying them out 1110 to 01 completion aid ion he st is a canadian by birth pus and ol he came here a poor boy along about 1856 PUB and I 1 have been told that he had to oi borrow aal he money to ol buy his railroad ticket to ol st IS paul he ah first Jala clerked paI on the levees inq but rea early alrea al saw mus that the transportation problem was SUM one allo of JO the 12 great lea ones of the future PUB and devoted q himself to 01 studying it 1 1 I have heard stories of jo how he drove a dog sledge in u carrying duj freight from quo one part of jo this nol country AJ to ol the other iahlo pue and during my aut visit to 01 his coq house as here I 1 saw mus a great silver plate aigid se as big around se as a center table which mr jw george A brackett PUB and other citizens of jo minneapolis s gave him se as a 11 testimonial of JO their gratitude for what he had done for their town this eld plate ol was sem made by tiffany and isoo cost more than pug and the engravings upon it represented the different scenes of jo mr IN hills s life ajl work in ui the improvement of jo transportation beginning tifai with his dog sledges pus and ending with his great railway GREAT NORTHERN SYSTEM the great northern s system was SUM begun by the buying of jo the old pl st is paul inva pug and pacific poo road i by mr IM hill this had been built PUB and was sem owned primo by dutch bondholders bond holders pus and mr JN hill raised the money pus and bought it for a song it 11 represented only a few salta miles of jo track PUB and it had been rather expensively built it 11 was SUM not jou well ilam enough made however to ol suit ins hill and he tore up the track pus and pai reduced pan the grades until he made it 31 so Os that one DUO locomotive would op do the work of three ut in going jaad over if it OH he ja gradually aixa extended his saull lines into oitt the gul great d red pod PO a river valley he all saw AM that IBM this was sum to oi be the bread baskets of jo the united states pug and he has laupi it I 1 with railroads then he built ui in connection conui conin aau 1 bot with qia the british government pug and others the canadian Luu pacific Tj railway and he was sum I 1 tuv am told the practical man to 01 superintend the construction of this i road irom winnipeg buim to 01 the west ISOM OH he had le a connection with it from winnipeg aa juul for his roads in u minnesota pug and dakota inq but when the canadian government decided to 01 extend their tine on toward the ina east he IV at once saw mes ivila this would ina cut off his revenue from the liam west PUB and he planned the great trunk line aut which was SUM this SIM month completed he went juam over the whole line aull on foot PUB and on horseback pus and he knows I 1 tue am told every foot of jo track PUB and the character of nearly aaa every aa section o of 0 puli land along q his st nearly three thousand miles of ja brew main track he has made i a thorough study of what is st under the soil sv as well as 99 what si is ut in it pus and a famous snotie geologist who recently f went juam over the road said that mr JW hill ulf knew aia sic as much su as he PIP did about the geological nature of jo the country juno Ai it 11 was the same with I la doux the chemist of jo national I note lajou PUB and mr q brackett tells me aeu that mr JN IM hill 33 can us ap describe to 01 you noa aej the details of jo the construction of jo every side ibis track PUB and every water tank along this big line aul from the headwaters of JO the mississippi to the pacific MOH HOW HILL sana BUYS STEAM ENGINES there iaal a st is oid probably nothing connected with railroad i building that mr IM hill does monalou Alou not know mou he has a mind which grasps a subject in but all 11 sit its details elop Isly pug and he seq has made such a study of jo railroads PUB and railroad management that he upa can tell 1191 today just how long each coped part of quo one of q his s engines will last isel pus and to ol a pound just the amount 6 of jo work it 41 will op do A record si is kept ut in the offices of jo the great northern ot jo the qui life ajl pule and work ot each vied part of jo every piece of jo machinery connected with the road pug and boqi though qan hilt could probably not iou build us an engine himself I 1 venture to ol say ass he could direct the construction of one abo not ION long ago he was ul in new mam york pug and during his stay avis there he contracted for fifty seven engines for his road peo i 1 hese engines isoz cost about apiece put and the contract represented considerable money uj in awarding he asked for bids ij from mo the different JUZ car works put and five great companies submitted bids pule and goads specifications jua huou their agents brought ut in these bids they aahl were sealed jo of course pus and mr JW hafl opened them ut in the presence of jo the agents PUB and looked them over JOAO after a maj few moments his brows began to ol knit PUB and iv at the pua end of jo q half jal us an hour he said pius gentlemen there st is something wrong bol about these bids you have combined together ui in the making of jo them pus and this st is a put ind up job ao now I 1 want to 01 tell you noa you cant op do work for out me in u that way aum pus and you noa uva can take your bids pus and yourselves out ino of jo the room and with that he threw their papers to 01 them pus and showed them the joop door OH he then q had pv his own amo engineers draw up aids specifications voy of jo just jsnr the kind of JO locomotives he wanted pule and he went juam to 01 the companies pug and told them if j they wanted to 01 bid honestly on them they could op do los so buthe would have nothing more to 01 op do with their agents pus and they must have honest bids or jo he would send the work elsewhere IV at this same awes 1 time lawt a friend of jo his tells lu me 60 mr jn hill wom went to oi Taff anys to ol buy some autos jewels for his wife OH he looked at 49 a 8 very expensive piece of JO workmanship pus and liked it pug and asked sit its cost ISO one of the Tiff anys who was waiting upon him wit asked him what he thought the isoa cost would haq be pug and mr jw hill began to eq calculate OFT he told the value pus and weight of jo each stone estimated the isoa cost of jo the workmanship pus and figured it out ino within a few dollars of JO the actual price tiffany I 1 says sags he si is aido one of jo the best judges lo 10 ol 01 I 1 precious stones ut in the united states A FARMER AND nv AN ART connoisseur it II st is the same with his farming he oa 04 knows lle all about stock pug and stock raising pus and he seq has some autos of jo the finest stock ut in the united states on his farm near here this farm contains about acres it 11 has more than oot head of jo out fine animals on it 11 he can I 1 tug am told tell you the pedigree of jo aug any quo one you noa may d pick at 4 out ino IV at a glance pus and 04 he knows the record rethe of jo each moz cow it 11 is s the same awes with a half dozen other branches of jo know ledge and you cannot strike a subject on which he is not posted he is a man of wide scientific reading and he is one of the best judges of pictures and fine arts in the united states he can go into a gallery and can tell you the names of the artists of any famous pictures that may be upon the walls and his house here is is just filled with paintings in 9 by the great masters he has a large art gallery connected with his house which is lighted from the roof and which contains more fine modern paintings than you will see in in the corcoron art gallery in washington he has four paintings by millet the famous french painter a number by troyon and others by diaz delacroix and others some ot of his paintings cost apiece and among others other 4 he has a beautiful portrait of one of his children by Pour Bour gereau I 1 doubt whether there is is another private house in the country which has so many fine pictures I 1 visited it today and I 1 will write of it in my next letter HILLS KNOWLEDGE OF HIS ROAD hills knowledge of his road is I 1 am told wonderful he knows personally nearly every man employed upon it and he is liable to be found at any point along the line at any moment he has a thorough civil service organization as to his employed emp loyes and promotion goes entirely by merit and the man who dis obeys orders is discharged instanter an instance of this was told me the other day by his son in law mr samuel hill the president of the montana cental we were sitting one day said he be in mr hills house in st paul when he asked me if I 1 want to go west for a little trip I 1 replied that I 1 object and asked when he wanted to go he sai dright away and I 1 thereupon telephoned to have my ny bag sent over from minneapolis and in the course of an hour we were on his special train and goin going i g out to the lar far 11 west we stopped at a point in the mountains in montana and here got off t the he road and rode forty miles by stage with relays of horses we then slept and rode forty miles further and stopped at a tavern mr hill tramped around all that day over the country and came back in th the e evening md and had su supper alfter after supper he said 1 I think we could reach ch the car if we took the horses tonight and we had them harnessed up and cut across to the track it was a long ride and a dark night and we came the road at a station above the one which we had expected to strike just as we got there a freight train from butte city was pulled in with flames bursting out of its side As it pulled up at the station mr hill saw it and his voice rang out in the darkness wheres the conductor of this train here was the reply in a gruff voice what whai rate are you running about eighteen miles an hour said the man rather resenting the question you are not telling the truth aepli ed mr hill you have been running over olver thirty miles an hour and your orders are not to run more than twelve you are discharged this instant and I 1 will have another conductor to take your mur place when that conductor left 1 butte atte city mr hill was sitting in his office in st paul and it must have scared the man almost to death to find him away out here in the heart of montana discharged BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON another instance of mr hills prompt discharge of an inefficient employed was at a famous trestle bridge on the line A man was kept to patrol this bridge after every passing train he was expected to have a bucket of water in his hand and he was there to put out any sparkes that might fall from the engine engin e one night a freight train had just g gone over and as it left the bridge mr agne hills ill special car shot out through 9 h the darkness and came over it during ring his rides over his road he spends a good deal of time outside th the e car a and nd he was standing on the platform as he came to the bridge the moon at this point shone through a cloud and he saw the in man an who was expected to take care of the sparks throw his bucket over his sho shoulder u ider and as he did so his eye noted the fact that there was |
