The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-09-12

|
ry' Hon: VIM. M. Evarts. the orato
OF tie day, the Right Hon. jaime
Hannen and several other M
tables whose names have escapet
your correspondence memory. A
soon as the swaying, surging thron
mad become partially quieted Pres
deht Willard arose and in q clear dis
tlnct voice aud without any attemu
at oratory said:
1t is my agreeable duty and yer,
great pleasure to offer hearty wei
come TO this distinguished assem-
blage on this memorable occasion
and in these remarkable surround
lngs. 10 you, the representatives O
foreign nations, the members of tn
executive, legislative and judicia
branches of the United States govern
ment, the governors of states ant
territories, the representatives of tn,
European and American press, ant
our guests from abroad and at hom,
generally, to you, one and all, be-
to offer, in the name of the Northern
Pacific Railroad company, profount
thanks for your kind presence an(
participation in this, the most i'm
portant event of our corporate exist
ance. Our work means the conques,
of new fields for general commerce
and industry. It creates new high
way between Europe, America and
Asia: The population of the states
and territories traversed by our road
is largely mads up from the Euro.
pean natiOnalities represented here.
We deemed it fit and proper, there.
fore, to bid, so to speak, both the old
and the new world to this celebra-
ton, or, in other words to arrange a
sort of international festival. Many
of you have crossed the ocean, and
all have travelled great distances, in
order to be with us to-day. Be
pleased to accept my assurance that
we gratefully appreciate your sacri-
flee OF time and comfort. In return,
we earnestly wish to do our guests ali
possible honor and to give them all
possible pleasure, and we trust that
this transcontinental journey has
been and will be an unalloyed enjoy
ment to them. We hope, moreover,
that as in this hour a new and indis-
soluble bond will be formed between
the countries to the east and to the
west of these Rocky Mountains, this
gathering may also strengthen the
ties of good will and friendship be-
tween the Republic of North America
and the parent countries Of Europe.
Thanks to the foresight Of Presi-
dent Thomas Jefferson, well nigh
four score years ago, LeWl- and Clark
tOiled through these mountains as
the first explorers of Anglo-Ameri-
can origin, and lifted the veil that
hid from civilized mankind the re-
gions watered by the Upper Missouri,
the Yellowstone, the Columbia and
their tributaries. The exploits of
these gifted and fearless men were
the rich germ, the full fruition of
which we celebrate this day.
More eloquent lips than mine will
describe to you the long and singular,
but interesting process of evolution,
by which our enterprise slowly grew
out of the discoveries then made with
so much courage and intelligence.
They will te you how the record OF
these discoveries first gave rise, as
long as nearly half century ago, to
to prophetic visions of transconti-
mental railroad along Lewis and
Clark's route, and how, within ten
years after these visions were first
embodied in print, they filled the
mind Of one man with such fire OF
as to move him to go
forth, like another apostle, and to
spend the best years OF his life and
II | he possessed in the propagation OF
his faith. You will learn how in the
end he became very martyr to his
belief, but how the project Of rail-
road to the Pacific, despite the fail
ure of its first prophet, made con-
verts, spread widely and grew into
until it finally attained
t. the Importance of Il leading public
question and object of national legis-
latiOn.
You will be shown how the north
ern route, which at first was the only
one thought of, gradually lost pres
tige, and other routes took promi-
nence. You will see the quaint fig
ure of an honest visionary appear
upon the scene, first as the promoter
of an odd illusion, and next as the
spirit in the formal birth and
Of our enterprise through
the congressional charter of 1864.
You will hear that the charter failed
to give real life to the corporation,
owing to certain abnormal features
engrafted upon it, and that it passed
to the control of wise, eX-
perienced and influential men, but |
who, however, also failed at first to
attract the needed capital until those
features were eradicated by congress
,ional amendment.
Then the brilliant episode in our
history will pass before you, in which
IN able, bold and resoIute man was
;he central figure, to whom, most of
Ill, the company owes its practical
existence. You will be reminded
now the hopeful brightness of that |
period was eclipsed by the black
darkness of the cataclysm of 1873.
Dur fabric seemed then to be lost in !
| bottomless pit Yet an entire resur- |
'ection followed, owing to the inher-
mt vitality of the PROSTATE body, |
md to the resolute application of the |
leroic remedies of foreclosure and !
reorganization.
There was no immediate restora-
ion to very active life Years of
'low recuperation followed, until the |
advent of the extraordinary revival
If commerce and industry generally,
md OF railroad undertakings espe-
ia ly, in the years 1879 and 1889.
The sagacious men who then directed
he company's affairs saw their pa
ience re ~arded and the time ripe !
nee more for the resumption Of con-
truction work on the road.
They began cautiously, seeking |
What was possible rather than what
vas desirable. All at once, fortune
miled with intense radiance upon
he company. A financial alliance
With great syndicate was formed.
Is conclusion meant nothing less
han the assurance of all the capital
eouired to complete the road, and
hereby the end of all uncertainty in
he prospects of the company leap,
n short, into assured success.
With flood tide in the company's
reas,ry, there arose not only the pos
;hiIitv hut the necessity, OF pushing