The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-03-14

OF CONSTRUCTION COmmenCeu ne III
quired.
at will require a great deal of prelim-
mary work and your experience teaches
you that it will cost great deal OF
money" replied.
And what are the chances OF getting
our money back ?"
about one in 50,' replied.
And what is your excuse for asking
me to place my money at such risk :"
This enterprise is one of the greatest
ever undertaken IN the world" l an
swered. at is equal to that of the East
India Company,It is the only continuous
charter ever granted across this conti-
nent, from water to water, and with
the prevailing sentiment, which is in
creasing in this country, of hostility to
raj road grants, assisted by Government
aid of subsidy. or even wild lands, II
this is allowed TO lapse, another Will
never be granted; it will open up an
empire, now occupied by the savages,
which will furnish happy homes for
milli ms of the poor of this and other
countries, and the resources and wealth
which it will develop will simply be in
calculable; and wIthal it will be the
great high way for the trade OF China,
Japan, and the East Indies, across the
continent. 1t is due to the people OF
this country and to this nation that you,
gentlemen, whom Providence has placed
at the head of the great transportation
interests Of the country, should step in
at this crisis and use your influence and
advance your money to save this mag
Dificent enterprise from destruction"
"And suppose put my money in for
such laudable purpose what have you
got to give me Or give others to show
for it ?"
81 have nothing to give. l have sug-
gested the names of 10 men, including
ourselves whom believe to be honora
BILE men. and whose word once given
will serve every purpose. II you will go
IN on that basis believe we can secure
them it they seem to you suitable
and we can pull together until
we are in position to organize
1t is simply matter of honor be-
tween gentlemen -
Exactly"
"Well." said he, pausing in his walk,
"that is certainly a high position on a
high and noble purpose. will take
hold with you, The charter must be
saved. Meet me at my office, 81 Broad
way tomorrow, and we will lay seige to
the directors of the Chicago & North
western
So saying, Mr.. Ogden rang for his
coachman and directed him 10 drive me
to my hotel, it being then after mid
night.
That was good days work. 1t was
the turning point in the life of the
, Northern Pacific. The names Ihad sug
! gested were those agred upon, and they
, were all enlisted. The were j. Gregory
Smith of the Vermont Central; Robert
Il. Berdell of the Erie; D. N. Barney
and B. p Cheney of Well, Fargo & Co.
A. II. Barney of the United States and
Canada; William G. Fargo, OF the New
York Central; George W. Cass of the
Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne, and j. Ed
} gar Thompson and Edwin Reilley of The
\ Pacific railroad, r. D. Rice, William B
, Ogden and myself
| drew up simple agreement, cover
/ ing but two pages of letter paper setting
} forth that we would stand together il
the furtherance of this enterprise ,pledg
| ing our means. II any was to die r be
! come unable to carry out his part ht
/ was to hand over his interests to the
I others. That was all. There was M
/ gas in those days down town in New
York, and l remember that when Mr.
} Ogden, Governor Smith and myself haL
I discussed this paper and the enterpriseC
+ in our office, 81 Broadway, it was quite
= dark, and Mr.. Ogden rose to go, s'ying
= "Is that all =
1 There is just one thing more l said
r II wish you would sign this paper"
E Governor Smith sat like a statue
= struck with surprise and interest.
= Il am afraid it is too dark said Mr.
: Ogden.
r "Write it and we will take thu
7 chances" replied.
e He did write it, and as Governo
c Smith and walked up street afterwart
I together the Governor remarked TIA
that signature fixed the star OF th'
. Northern Pacific. And so it did. Tit
e others sgnel without hesitation, anC
e the work at Washington to secure thu
e extension of the charter was resumed
' with better hopes of success. No on
= now can well understand what tina
I work was. The peferred stock ISSUED
3 by Perham kept bobbing up at the mos
7 inopportune moments and we had Il
l meet it always. At one time the BIZ
{ was Just about to be called up, when I
p man came into the lobby, touched m'
. on the shoulder and said, 81 would lik'
= to see you moment" l followed hin
t outside and he dragged $40 600 worth o
P that stock out of his clothes saying
g You will have to buy this. Ihave sev
eral friends in the Senate who are pledg
8 ed to fight this thing until you do
= II had to plank down large part o.
= the funds right there and do the best
= could with him. When we had gotter
well in place Senator ConnOrs of Cali
3 fornia. rose and declared upon his per
4 sonal honor as a Senator through thu
' mountains to Puget Sound was imprac
/ ticable. That little speech cost Us S25,
= 900. o her senators came to me anC
( said that that declaration on the part G
= a fellow Senator was a thing they coulC
2 not get over; that | would have TO prove
] it false or they could not vote against II
u hasteued to New York and arranged
D with General Anderson to come out anC
j make a survey of the Snoqualmie Pass
= After a day or SO he said he could not e
1 and we were in dilemma. We be
3 gan telegraphing all over the country
e II for James Titon, the man who, undti
I President PieTce's order, ran the line o
3 the Willamette meridian and surveyed
/. the tiers OF townships on each side. W.
e found his wife and she told us he was il
Washington, We asked her to tell hin
v to meet us in New York. He came anC
u we asked him il he could get arounC
k here, make the survey and get hacl
again the following December. He saiC
g he could went around by Panama
Z picked up two men in San Francisco anC
II two in Portland who had been with hin
8 and with these accomplished his tasl
&c and returned in time. The bill was call
cd up and the extension secured Just two
q days b. fore The time elapsed.
p Then began the work of raising money
{ for construction. Samuel Wilkinson, ,sr
= was Jay Cookies secretary, and l haC
= interested him in the enterprise aDt
n through him Jay Cooke year before
6 Now we brought our influence directly
! to bear and in an interview at Mr.. Cooke
d private residence at Ogontz near Phila
I delphia. he consented to undertake th'
Is work of negotiating $l00, 900, 600 OF tn,
a bonds. Everything had been agreed L
e when Mr.. Cooke added proviso to tn,
effect that all must be shown to be a
e represented. This was sumner and
j became npttled. The idea seemed to m
d impracticable. Mr.. Ogden called m,
outside and said ''Do not throw any
Y thing IN the way. The provision is rea
4 sonable. This Is the greatest financia
7 undertaking the world has ever seen
o Here / have been trying to raise 81, 900,
q 900 or SO, 900, 900 on a road already built
/ and this man undertakes to raise 800,
= 900, 900 on line not yet surveyed"
o We went back and asked Mr.. Cook
,, to explain what he mean, II he under
u nAnnh Il rnnnnt air InnnIha or a L anr q