The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-02-15
A NoRrHERN PACIFIC BOOM.
Paul Lindau, the Great German Autho
to Write Up the Pacific Northwest.

to Write Up the Pacific Northwest.
New York World.
Henry Willard Is one of Wall streets most pro-
found mysteries. Jay Gould Is Q half-open book
compared with him. Willard works in sas dark,
and his schemes are scarcely dreamed Of By the
public until they blaze out with q sudden,
dazzling light
When Mr.. Willard, through the operation OF
his celebrated 100000 blind pool, obtained
control Of the Northern Pacific railroad and
actually pushed 1t to completion, he made the
occasion of driving the last spike Q memorable
one by great excursion over the road. In that
celebrated party there were included English
and German nobility and capitalists and Ameri-
can money kings. But Willard was not unmind-
full of the public. and he made careful arrange
ments to reach It through the medium of the
newspapers.
Among his guests on that royal trip, when the
golden spike was driven that completed the
road, wa Paul Mndau, one Of the best known
and most brilliant dramatists and writer's in the
German empire. He il said to BE- without Z
superior a. descriptivewriter, and his accounts
of the journey across the continent at that time
were widely read in the German papers. Nndau
not infrequently departs from his usual line OF
work and dips successfully into financial mat
tiers, and il looked upon ~ IN oracle in that line
by the Berlin Bourse.
Wizards excursion was q great success as
such, but It worked havoc with his plans in a
manner be had not calculated on. Lndau
wrote his finest descriptions of the country
traversed by the road-the Bad Lands, the
mountain view, the vast grazing plains, the
great forests and the queer little mushroom vii
lagos along the line. But the foreign capitalists
and the other business men, while they were en-
tranced with the wonders and the beauty OF the
country, were also impressed with the idea
that after all, Il was nothing more nor less than
stretch OF Thousands Of miles of wilderness.
AS practical men they wondered where the traf.
fc was to come from that would make the
Northern Pacific paying investment
Then they returned to the haunts of the stock
exchanges and the European bourses and began
forthwith to cell their stock. The result was
disastrous to Mr.. Willard. He was "wiped out"
to use street expression, and retired from Wall
street broken hearted and supposed bankrupt.
But Willard had pluck and brains. He was not
discouraged. He was down, to be sure, but he
retained enough vitality to rise again. After
season OF Oblivion he reappeared on Wall street.
and was found to be backed by his German
friends again. Not only that, he was again the
controlling power In the Northern Pacifice Rail-
road Company. For year or more he has been
the Wall street sphinx again.
Within q few days his old German newspaper
friend, Paul Lindau, has also turned I'D about
Wall street. He has been his guest at the thea
tiers, ct the opera and at other social entertain
ments. Moreover, IL 10 known that Lindsu il
soon to take another trip over the Northern Pa.
cdfic railroad to the Pacific coast Lindau does
not take extensive journeys across the Atlantic
and across the American continent without an
object He 10 still the leading writer in Ger
many. He q still quoted on the Berlin bourse.
even more than he was ak or seven year, ago
He has had an opportunity to cram himself With
facts and figures during his visit to M, Willard.
His contemplated trip over the road again
will open his eyes TO the wonderful
growth and progress OF the Northwest
country. He win find the struggling,
demonstrated villages Of half dozen yesrs 40
grown 70 thriving, busy cities, already assuming
metropolitan airA Fargo, Bismarck, Helena and
Seattle have become centsrs Of Western ciyiliza-
ton Mr.. Indau 10 expected to rswrite the de-
scription OF the Northern Pacific road and the
country, and naturally 70 enlarge upon tts
growth, the increase Of business and the future
prospects, Again the German papers win tenn
with the story OF the great Northwest The tilted
and capitalistc crowd viii not be present this
timc TO look with too practical an eye on affairs.
but IAndsu's rounded periods are expected to
capture the German gold