Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-05-06
The Northern Pacific Railroad.
A Concise History of the Undertaking &

A Concise History of the Undertaking
The following address of Freder
lex Billings, President of the North
ern Pacific Railroad Co., to the
Committee on Pacific Railroads OF
the House of Representatives, April
Is, 1850, relates to the plan of or.
ganization, the issue of stock, and
other matters of interest at this time
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen of the
Committees Whatever views you may
have, gentlemen, of the utility, of the ne
ccssity of the great transcontincntal rail
road, which i, called the Northern Pacific
or of the wisdom of the policy of aiding
such road by land grant or otherwise
l beg to say at the outset that those who
now constitute the Northern Pacific Rail
road Company had nothing to do with
the procurement of its charter or the cstab
lishmcnt of such II policy. There is not a
soul now connected with the corporation
who was in the original corporation.
Three sets of men really have had con-
troll of this Northern Pacific, and each in
turn has gone to the wall, and the ques-
tion now is, whether the fourth shall fol
low suit or be allowed to succeed. The
first set of men were Mr.. Perham and his
associates, and MIR. Po-ham was an opti-
mist and dreamer. He. thought he could
find in this country q million men who
would be willing to take one share of
stock each ut 800, and 50 raise one hun
drcd millions and thus build the road.
OF course he failed He is long since
dead. The next set of men were wiser
than Mr.. Pcrham. They realized some
thing of the magnitude of the undertake
ing, and the impossibility of carrying the
enterprise through upon simply the grant
of land which the Government made, and
came to Congress and asked for aid in
Government bonds; and | believe bill
was passed favoraby in one body, and
just failed of success in the other house,
and because of such failure they gave up
the scheme.
Later there came an era, which was full
of crazincss, in the matter of railroad
building, and a combination was made of
railroad experience and general ability
and wealth which could not be surpassed.
Such men as j. Edgar Thompson, who
was then President of the Pennsylvania
railroad, Thos. A. Scott. its Vice President,
William b. Ogden, the then President of
the Chicago d Northwestern road, j.
Gregory Smith, the President of the Yer
mont Central system, B. p. Cheney, OF
Boston, George w, Cass, the President OF
principal men in the great house of Wells,
Fargo ~ Co., and others of that class took
hold of the enterprise, and they, by virtue
of their character and experience, secured
as the fiscal cgcnts of the company the
banking house at that time best known
throughout the country by its successes in
the management of the sales of Govern
ment sccuritics--thc house of Jay Cooke
x Co.
As | look back upon the situation at
that time, and consider the difficulties that
cncompasscd this enterprise everywhere,
cannot realize how men of so much rail
road and financial judgment and expert
cncc, could have been persuaded to take
hold then of this immense undertaking
and have expected to succeed. Why, lust
look at it, 1t was Il road to be built from
Lake Superior to the Pacific ocean. 1t
was to he, with its main road and branch
over the Cascade range, over 230O miles
in length From Lake Superior, through
Minnesota in its northern part, clear tc
the Red river, there was not Il settler. On
the Red river there were II few hamlrts
lbN bul llc Itttl IlNtl, loI lltuIlN I,'u'
miles, there We're no living persons except
the Indians and soldiers that were III the
iortsss here and through that region Then
in Montana there was a small population
and from there westward for 800 miles nc
settlement until you struck the Columbia
river. On that river there was only 4
small population, and over tire Cascade
range really none at all.
The rpll WIS to run through region
Of which 1900 miles were given up to the
Indians, polircl and garrisoned hy forts
and outside of these forts no white settlers
This was the actual state ofthings.
See, too what prcjudiccs there were
against that whole section of country
Everybody supposed that it was hardly
habitablc, the climate was considered St
inhospitablc, the soil so poor the rain st
inircqucnt-it was II great belt which onl,
here and there would allow life and settle
mcnt.
General Sully, writing of the bac
lands in Dakota-lands through whicl
We are building our road now-state,