Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-09-11
THE HILL PARTY.
J.J. Hill. the Railroad Magnate and
Northern Montana's Patron Wis
its Great Falls
Accompanied by a Large Party OF
Prominent Eastern Capitalists
Other Matters.
The Hin Party.

he Flil Pafty.
Tie visit of the j. J. Hill party was one
of more than ordinary significance to the
Interests of Great Falls and Northern Mon
tana. The distinguished guests whom we
Were ~ GLAD 70 receive into our midst
were: ]. ]. flill, tha railroad king and patron
of Great Falls: Samuel T. Thorne one Of
1he most prominent Of Wall street bankers;
]. :. Kennedy, noted .ban&er and 1fnan-
cter aG Eew Torh City ard 1st Vice Pres
iGelt III the Manitoba railroad; Smith ri.
Weed. +1e iron manufacturer, fnasc:aG
AID statesman os NeN- York City. III.
Weed was the intimate friend and adviser
ot tlie late Sa.nneI ]. .Eildan, and is one Of
the heavy weight democrat of tile country.
1Er. 3fiaat end Vice President of the Man
ieo}a r. L. was also one OF the party. lie
is 3 yovng man, formerly from Boston.
lie belongs to family distinguished in
financial circles and Is said to be Il gentle
1naa Of brilliant Intellect and splendid bus
mess qualifications. Col {. \. Broad~ater
needs 10 introduction TO Montana. His
accurate knowledge Of every nook and
corner il the territory is Ct great assistance
to him in carrying out the great enter
prises in which he is now engaged. This
distinguished party in their actual individ-
ual wealth represent over fifty millions and
their credit is assswidesas the earth.
On Saturday Mr.. Paris Gibson, the
founder OF Great Falls met them with car
riages at UIidia and drove them rapidly to
the Falls. Though it was raining quite
hard, the view which was laid out before
them as they reached the summit OF the
uine surprise. They were at once impress
ed with the beauty Of the townsite. Nlr.
Hill was astonished at the substantial and
speedy growth of his promising protige,
which he had not seen for over two years,
when there was but one tent and no build
ings upon what is now the plat Of Great
Falls. Saturday evening was spent in con
slltation with Col. Dodge. the veteran
railroad engineer, who is now 50 ably
managing the construction Of tie Montana
Central. Sunday Mr. Gibson showed them
about the series of falls which they all
agreed, comprise the largest and most
available water-poWer on the continent.
These progressive capitalists We're pro-
foundIy impressed with the resources of
this section and were not backward in ex-
pressing their belief that Great Falls is
bound to be great city One feature ot
the country which did not escape theirnotice
was It's great agricultural advantages which
they saw to be capable Of supporting a vast
rural population. Monday was passed in
looking over the great coal fields in com
pany with Mr. G. Napier the mining engi-
neer. They drove up Sand Coulae and
out to the Belt Mountains and saw enough
to confirm their ideas of the excellent quail
ity and unlimited supply Of coal and iron
which nature has placed at our very doors
Mr.. Napier will continue his researches in
the coal and iron deposits and hydraulic
engineer who has no superior in the world,
will soon be on the ground. at the request Of
the company, to decide upon the best meth
cd Of developing the water power. The
piers for the bridge across the Missouri at
the foot of Central ayenue viii be put in
this fall ready for the placing of the super
structure early in the spring. 1t will be
exclusively a carriage bridge instead of
combined railway and road bridge as has
been rumored. Work upon the railroads
leading to Great Falls will be pushed with
renewed vigor and we are safe in saying
that by a year from this time we will have
connection with two great transcontinentaI
lines. lti evident that these gentlemen did
not make Us this visit ssfor fun" nor for So
ciability but for strictly business reasons.
They spent three days of their valuable
time in the careful examination of Great
Falls and its wonderful resources. After
this critical investigation in detail. they all
expressed themselves more than satisfied:
in fact fact they saw more in it than they
anticipated. The new corporation which
has taken hold of this great enterprise is
the most powerful one which has ever
been organized for the development of any
western country. The names of the stock
holders are not yet made public but they
are the leading men of financial circles of