St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-26
TALK OF THE DAY.

Pettigrew Senator r. f. Petit
grew, of South Dakota,
Fayors is modest man except
when booming the
irrigation. youthful state which
he represents. When
he was in New Pork a few days ago he
said:
"You Eastern people do not realize
what South Dakota is. 1t is vast en-
pire in itself. 1t has upwards of 10O,-
100000 acres of the finest land in the
world. Some of it requires irrigation,
which must come sooner or later.
and I think that the government must
furnish it. That would be the best
way. because if left to private
enterprises. it will be done so that thou
sands of acres will be left unproductive.
1t would cost the government a good
deal of money for the plant, of course,
possibly $1,000, 000,0 900, to insure a faiI
distribution of water, but it would pay.
The first thing to be done would be
to locate great basins, which would be
distributing reservoirs. This would be
good business policy for the govern
ment, as the lands would be the richest
in the world, and would support 100.-
O00,000 people. This is no surface soil,
which can be washed away, but it is q
cept in the Yellow river in China; and,
in time, the government must provide
| for its irrigation"
Sketch OF Gen f. n. Finney, of Mil
Waukee, formerly gen.
eral Man eral manager of the
Wisconsin Central rail-
ager Finney. way, one Of the ablest
railroad men in the
! p0nOtrV iG in fhic aifU for q foXy dave
| says Philadelphia paper. Mr.. Fiuney
began his railroad career as rodman,
| and was soon first-clasS engineer. He
| first came into prominence as chief en-
| gineer of the Canada Southern railway,
which he constructed far better than
any railroad in America at that day.
Later he was superintendent of several
important roads, and in 1915 was made
general manager of the Wisconsin Cen
| trail. At that time the road consisted Of
two streaks of rust and stumpy
right-of-way between two interior
Wisconsin towns. 1t was bank
rupt, and its gross earnings were but
| 81 per mile per day. When Mr. FinneY
resigned. in 1888, when the road was
amalgamated with the Northern Pacific,
it consisted of a trunk line from
Chicago to Milwaukee, st. Paul
and Minneapolis, with the best ter
minal facilities in those cities of any Of
the numerous lines. The road also ran
to Ashland, on Lake Superior, and to
many important points, all of it being
constructed in first-class manner. Mr..
Finney was his own chief engineer,
and personally superintendent every de-
tail of cOnStru elton from the first shovel
of earth to the furnishing of the dining
cars.
He is considered to be the best au-
thoritY on the physical aspects of a rail-
road in this country. He is constantly
called upon to inspect railroads and
make reports thereon. He recently flu
ison. Topeka if& Santa Fe railroad,
and it was upon this report that the re.
organization scheme was based. Since
retireing from the Wisconsin Central
he has constantly refused the most flat
tering offers of important posi-
tiOns. He prefers to enjoy life
after many years of hard work,
and devOtes his spare time to
such expert work as he can be induced
to Il Undertake. No man is considered q
higher authority on such matters in this
country, and on a recent visit to Eu-
rope he spent two years in thoroughly
examining their railroad systems.
Mr.. Finney is a son of the celebrated
Rev. G. G. Finney, president of Oberlin
college, whom he in no wise resembles
physically speaking. He looks about
forty two, but is much older, just
how much no one has ever
been able to find out, for he has
the health, humor and good spirits of
youth. He is accompanied by his wife,
very beautiful woman, who is leader
in Milwaukee society. Their home in
that city is one of the mott beautiful in
the west. They go south from here to
spend the winter months.