Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-10
BRED IN BLIZZARDS.
Strong Men That Come to Congress
From the Bleak Northwest.
THEY WON THEIR OWN FORTUNES
How Pettigrew Made Forty Thousand Dol
lars by an Engine Ride.
DAVIS ADMIRATION OF NAPOLEON

rational politics. It will be by no means
the last. The baby States of the Union
have some of the strongest men of the
country. They come from q region which
has everything to develop strong men and
great men. Their muscles and their spirits
are toughened by their continuous fight
with the elements that oppose the settle
ment of a new country. Their Billiards are
the strongest, their winters are the coolest
and their air is the purest of that of any
part of the United States, and their repre-
sentative men have fought their way inch
BY inch to fame. There is scarcely a man OF
prominence in the Northwest in the Senate
who did not begin life poor boy, and there
is not one who has not been a bread-winner
sll his life.
Senator Sawyer, of Wisconsin, worked on
his fathers farm in New York until he was
II, and then bought his time of the old man
for S100 and started out to work for him.
self His father was blacksmith and a
farmer and Philetus did days labor, hauled
wood and anything he could turn his hand
to for the next four years.
He Paid Twelve Hundred for One.
He made enorgh to pay his brother the
500 which he had loaned him to buy his
time, and he made very fair living besides.
He worked in New York ten years longer,
and in this time saved s2,199 His brother
made him present of 81 more, and with
this sum of 81, 200 be took his family and
went to Wisconsin.
Out of his fortune he has enriched all his
relatives, and he made his brother present
Of 81 200 few years ago, telling him that
this was the legitimate interest on the 81 he
had loaned him when he started to Wiscon-
sin, and that he mad made about 81, 200 for
every one of the capital he had at that
time A large part of Sawyer's fortune
came from his lumber investments
Shortly after his arrival there was big
auction sale of pine lands. Sawyer had a
map of the district, and he figured out on
what quarters the best pine was. In many
cases three-quarters of section would be
swamp and the other quarter would be the
finest of timber land.
Sawyer went to the sale with this map in
his mind and the first day he bid upon the
New York men were banking en- his knowl-
edge of the lands and were bidding against
him. Whenever he wanted a particular
section, these men would run it up beyond
his figures and take it. He had reputa-
ton for knowing the State and they were
relying upon his Judgment.
How He Took in the New Yorkers.
The second day of the sale, Sawyer got
one of his friends to bid on the pieces of
land that he wanted and he himself bid up
only the poorer sections. The New York
men still followed him and every time he
made bid they increased it by few dol
lars better The result was that Sawyer's
agent got his lands for song and that these
New York men bought great quantity of
swamp and marsh. The day after the sale
had closed they came around to call upon
Sawyer and asked him what he thought of
their purchase. He replied that they had
gotten two or three pieces Of good land the
first day, but, as for that they had bought
during the rest of the week, they had bet
ter take fatboat along if they wanted to
get at them.
The history of Senator Pettigrew shows
how they make men in the Northwest Pet
tigrew came from Wisconsin to Dakota. He
was born on farm in Vermont and at 6
years old was taken to Wisconsin, where his
parents engaged in farming. The family
was poor, and young Pettigrew worked his
way through two-years' college course and
got his tuition for ringing the college bell
and doing other chores of that sort. When
he went to Dakota to make a fortune he
walked, and he travelled over good part of
the State carrying chain for the sur
veyors
Built His Own Log Cabin.
He built the log cabin in which he lived
at Sioux Falls, and in the words of one of
his friends, seeing that the place was good
one, he stuck in his toes and stayed there.
He engaged in surveying and the real estate
business, threw himself into the develop
ment of the Territory, and slowly but surely
amassed wealth. He is now but a little over
40 years of age, but he has an independent
income. He works, however, as hard as he
did when he was at college, and you see
plain, everyday common sense sticking out
all over him. He is tall, angular and loose
jointed. He weighs, I judge, about $50
pounds, and his long face, covered with a
thick brown beard, is more like that of a good
country grocer or drygoods merchant than
that of one OF the la-de-dah members of the
Club. He dresses in business
wears turnover collar and is not
Mortified when he looks down and finds that
the creases have come out Of the front of his
pantaloons and that the legs begin to bag at
the knees. He is known in Dakota as the
Pickerell Statesman, and he is considered
One of the sharpest and shrewdest men of
South Dakota Some of his speculations
have been peculiarly fortunate.
Race for Forty Thousand.
He owned at one time the section upon
which the best part of the city of Sioux
Falls now stands, and he bought this with
.he first 81 900 that he had saved, having to
20 S4, 600 in debt for the balance. Shortly
after he had made the investment he found
hat his title to the property was weak and
suit was brought against him to recover
of the land. Matters were
10 fixed that he could perfect his title by
going to Minneapolis and getting man
here who had some claim to the land to
Iced it over to him. He got this deed and |
1ad just started for the station when he |
earned that the other parties to the suit |
we're in town after the same deed. He found |
before he left that they had gotten the deed, |
90, and the first deed that was recorded at |
Sioux Falls would be the one which would |
lold
Both parties were on the same train and |
t was question as to which would get to |
he court house first. Pettigrew saw his |
ival get off and telegraph at the station |
md he found that he had telegraphed for a |
cam of fast horses to meet him at the de- !
,ot. He saw that his game was lost with
'ut he could checkmate his rival before be |
cached Sioux Falls.
Fixed 1t With thu Engineer.
At the next water tank he got out and |
Tipped around to the locomotive and was
DON riding with the engineer After few
Moments conversation the engineer de-
ached the locomotive from the train and it
teamed on ahead into Sioux Falls which
vas three miles away, leaving the tram
With Pettigrew's rival in at the water tank.