, 1883-08-04
HENRY WILLARD,


Portland, Oregon, and Puget Sound
early in September, gives special in
terest to a portrait and biographical
sketch of the President of the CONF
pany under whose management this
important national highway has been
completed.
Mr.. Willard was born in Speyer,
Germany, in 1885, the son of a Bava-
rian judge, who in his latter years
sat upon the Supreme BENCH of that
kingdom. He received n university
education, and at the age of eighteen
came to America to make Il career
for himself, Lying for a short time
with relatives in BelleviIle, Ill. He
studied, but soon turned to the more
congenial profession of journalism.
At first he wrote for German-Ameri-
can papers, but he found that they
offered only limited field, and he
then set himself to work to master
the English language. This task,
always difficult to foreigners, he
achieved 50 well that in 1858 he OBJ
tanned an engagement to report the
Lincoln Douglas political campaign
for a leading Eastern paper. His
occupation was now fixed in the line
Of his tastes, and for nearly a score of
years he was an industrious and sue
cessful journalist. In 1859 he went
to Colorado to write about the new
gold discoveries for the Cincinnati
COmmercidL In 1860 he did political
correspondence for the New York
Herdld, and after the close of the
campaign spent the winter in Spring
field as a correspondent in confiden-
tial relations with Mr.. Lincoln. Dur
ing the Rebellion he saw hard and
hazardous service in the field with
both the Eastern and Western Arm
les as representative, at different
times, of the New York Tribune,
New York Herald, Chicago Tribune,
Cincinnati Gazette, and other papers
winning reputation as one of the
most enterprising and reliable of the
war correspondents. After the close
of the war he did newspaper work in
this country and in Europe. For
two years, from 1858 to 1870, he was
Secretary of the American Social
Science Association.
While in Germany in 1874 events
occurred which brought him in con-
nection with railway affairs. The
German bOndhOlders Of certain Amer
lean railroad companies, which had
defaulted on their interest after the
panic Of 1873, sent him to the United
States as their representative to re-
port on the condition of the Kansas
Pacific and Oregon and California
railroads. lie returned to Europe,
was again sent to America, and be-
came President Of the Oregon and
California Railroad and the Oregon
Steamship Company in 1875, and
from 1876 to 1878 he was Receiver of
the Kansas Pacific.
In 1879 Mr.. Willard organized the
Oregon Railway and Navigation
Company, which obtained control of
the steamship and steamboat lines Of
Oregon and Washington Territory,
and at once began the cOnstTuc-
tiOn Of a system of railroads to
occupy the valley Of the Columbia
River and the new wheat and pas
ture country east of the Cascade
Mountains. This enterprise was re-
markably successful, and Mr.. Willard
conceived the mastery plan Of join
ing the transportation lines thus es-
tablished to the trans-continentaI
trunk road of the Northern Pacific,
under common management, and
making them its western extensions
and feeders. To carry out this plan
he formed, in 1881, what was known
in Wall Street as the "Blind Pool"
About ten millions Of money were
placed in his hands by leading bank
ers and other capitalists without his
giving them definite information as
to the use he meant TO make Of it.
He gave them, at the time only his
personal receipt, without security.
With this money, and with his own
means, he quietly bought a control
| ing interest in Northern Pacific
stock. In the Fall of 1881 he was
chosen President of the company.
He had previously organized the
| Oregon and TranscOntinental Com
pany, tObuild branches for the North
ern Pacific, and to hold a large
amount Of the stock Of both that
company and the Oregon Railway
and Navigation Company. Mr.. VII
lard has energeticany pushed for
ward to completion his entire system
of roads, and will have the satisfac-
ton of driving the last spike of tho
Northern Pacific on the Western
Slope Of the Rocky Mountains early
in September.
In person, Mr.. Willard Is tall and
robust, with broad shoulders, high
expansive forhead, blue eyes and
brown hair. His manner is frank
and cordial. He lives on Madison
Avenue, New York, and has a coun-
try house at Dobbs Ferry, on the
Hudson. His wife is a daughter OF
the late William Lloyd Garrison, the
devoted champion Of the anti-slAvery
movement in the days before the
war, His operations on Wall street,
while often bold and on a large scale,
are usually confined to protecting the
stocks and advancing the interests Of
the companies over which he pre-
sides.-FraHk Ledie's Illustrated