The morning call., 1893-04-09

the average cost of the roads in the United
States, taking their bonded indebtedness only
and not the stock, is $40, eco. The Union
Pacific has am told. cost something like
ST. goo mile, the Northern Pacific over
S7O.00 n mile and the Southern Pacific more
than sS0,U00 for every mile OF track Mr..
HIPS new road has a grade of only thirty
one feet to the mile and the road has been
built so that single engine can carry 1900
tons over its heaviest grade. When it Is re-
membered that IN some of the other roads
$50 tons is the maximum for heavy grade it
VIII be seen what wonderful difference
this will make in operating expenses. Mr..
Hill believes That freight rates by rail will
be eventually cheaper than by water, and
lie expects to see the day when by the
means OF wel-constructrd roads and the
best CT modern engines ton of freight can
he carried across the continent cheaper than
ii could be sent the same distance by sea.
In this letter | have not space to write of
the Great Northern road or the wonderful
region j, tTaverses. | may speak OF il here
after. / can only give you something OF
the personality of che man who built 1t.
James J. Hill has been called the Jay
Gould of the Northwest. His friends spurn
this insinuatiOn. They say he is a builder
up Of countries rather Than wrecker of
railroads. He has never been a speculator,
and he has made his great fortune By study
ing the needs OF the times. laying out
good foundation for his plans and steadily
and solidly carrying them out to compile
tiOn. He is a Canadian by birth, and he
came here poor boy along about
had to borrow the money to buy his
railroad ticket to st. Paul. He first
clerked on the leyee. but early saw that the
transportation problem was one of the great
ones of the future and devoted himself to
studying it, l have heard stories OF how
he drove n dog sledge in carrying freight
from one part of this country to the other,
and during my visit to his house here l saw
great silver plato as big around as CELL
ter-tabe which Mr.. George A. Bracket aud
either citizens of Minneapolis gave him as a
testimonial of their gratitude for what he
had done for their town This plate was
made by Tiffany and cost more than S10,-
COO. and the engFayings upon it represent
the different scenes of Mr.. HIPS life work
IN the improvement OF transportation. be-
ginning with his dog sledges and ending
with his great railway.
The Great Northern system was begun by
the buying OF the old St. Paul and Pacific
road by MIR. Hill. This had been built and
was owned by Dutch bondholders, and Mr..
Hill raised the money aud bought it for a
song. 1t represented only n few miles of
track and 1t had been rather extensively
built. 1t was not well enough made, how
ever, to suit Hill, and he tore up the track
ana reduced The grades unit, he made il so
that one locomotive would do the work OF
three in going over II. he gradually ex-
tended his lines into the great Red River
Valley. He saw that this was TO be the
bread basket of the United States and he
has gridirOned it with railroads. Then he
built, in connection with the British Gov
eminent and others, the Canadian Pacific
Hallway. And he was, / am told, the prac-
teal man 10 superlntend the construction
Of this road from Winnipeg 10 the
West. he bad connection with
it from Winnipeg for his roads
in Minnesota and Dakota, but when
the Canadian Government decided to ex-
tend their line on toward the east he at
once saw that this would cut off his revenue
from the west and he planned the great
trunk line which was this month COM
pleted. He went over the whole line on
foot and on horseback, and he knows, am
told, every foot of the track and the char
acter OF nearly every section of land along
his nearly 5000 miles of main track. He
has made thorough study of what is under
the soil as well as what Is In il, and famous
geologist who recently went over the road
said that Mr.. Hill knew as much as he did
about the geological nature OF the country.
1t was the same with La Donx the chemist
OF national note. and Mr.. Bracket tells me
that Mr. Hill can describe to you the de-
tails of the construction Of every side track
and every water tank along this big line
from the headwaters OF the Mississippi to
the Pacific.
There Is probably nothing connected
with railroad building that Mr.. Hill does not
know. He has mind which grasps n sub
jet in all its details, and he has made such
q study OF railroads and railroad manage
ment that he can tell to-day just how long
each part of one Of his engines will last and
TO pound just the amount of work it will
do. record Is kept in the offices of the
Great Northern Of the life and work of each
part of every piece OF machinery connected
with the road, and though Hill could prob
ably not build an engine himself | venture
he could direct the construction of one
Not long ago he was in New York and dur
Ing his stay there he contracted for fifty
seven engines for his road. These engines
cost about $4,000 apiece. and the
contract represented considerable money.
In awarding he asked for bids from
the different car works and five
great companies submitted bids and specif-
cations. Their agents brought in these
bids. They were sealed. of course, ana Mr..
Hill opened them in the presence of the
agents and looked them over. After few
moments his br0ws began TO knit, and at
the end OF half an hour he said: "Gentle-
men. there Is something wrong about these