The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-12-22
C. p HUNTINGTON

c. p. HUNTINGTON.
to pay his way ut school. And it is told
that the ncighborS put so much work on the
shy boy that he had but little time left for
study Strange what Il remarkable group
of men, or rather boys, he was born among
10 say nothing of soldiers, senators and so
on, there were p. Il. Barnum, Brigham
Young, Joseph Smith and such like strong
natures. No, don't dcspise Barnum A
man who has made millions of little ones
happy is neither knavc nor fool Brigham
Young? He built n city in the heart of "the
Great American Desert" as it was then
called, that is Il marvel and Prophet Smith
furnished the material.
This man of iron has probably built more
miles of railroad than any other 10 men liv-
ing or dead. Yet who ever heard of him or
about him as long as he could hide himself
and his marvellous works behind others? t
was only when Hopkins, Crockera and Stan
ford fell from the front and left him stand
ing all alone that we began to see and heed
the power behind the throne"
If he had done nothing else but bore that
hole through the Sierra Nevadas and cross
the sands ofthe continent, he would have had
fame enough and fortune enough, and it
is Il fact that the other three great builders
wanted to stop there and then, but the
greater force of this one man bore down all
others, and he began building from Sacr;l.
mento to the SEA at once and from Arizona
to Oregon.
Have you any idea what that first road
cost? The people laughcd the press of the
Pacific coast jeered derided howled. and
being disappointed in their prophecies are
still bowling, jeering, deriding Hunting
ton sat with his finger on the financial pulse
of the world. Crocker at the head of con
struction, kept right with his men in the
mountains day and night He, TOO, had
been day laborcr in his youth, and he
knew what toll was. He once told me that
for years he toiled so hard and inccssantly
that he scarcely had time or strength to
throw off his clothes ut night, but he fell
on his blankets and slept as he fell When
his tunnel was half through the mountains
he tapped it from the top, drew up his
thousand tons of track and ran the rails
away down the mountains i'll grooves of
wood
The other day Il lady writer came to me-
as thcy come to all scribes, reckon, and
begged me to tell her how to make some
money with her pen. She had Il fine article
on Huntington; bette than could du
dainty, delicate and so sensible that even
the most shy man could not be afraid of il.
Take that to Huntington or to his wife
L never saw and source know him. said l.
'and get his permission 10 publish it as au-
thentic; then | will give you Il letter TO n
magaZinc.'
She came back in IL few days
"Well?"
well, saw Huntington, and got $50"
Fifty dollars Gccl Where do YOU want
to publish it,"
publish it! He gave me the $50 TO burn
it up!'
But this young woman had dug up a fact
that l, as Californian, don't care to have
burned. 10 make certain of it | went TO n
certain man. l said, Look here, Hunting
ton is the richest man in the United States
and closest, eh?''
Sir, he may not be the richest, but lie is
the freest handed of all the many free
handed men in California. Why, Sir, his
bencfactions are like a brook-they go on
forever"
And then this certain man, who has
charge of his charities, wheeled about in
his Indignation at what had said and took
an hour and IL half to tell what he had done
only the last month
THANK you," 1 said; lust the thing |
wanted!"
WHAT What do you means"
well, it won't hurt Huntington to pub
lish it,"
Hurt? 1t will enrage him, and it will
ruin me, for he knows that am the ONLY
one VINO could know all this and he is a
man who literally will not let his one hand
know what the other does" So | am 81
fenced OH that
The one other notable thing about this
great Californian that distinguishes him
from all the railroad builders on the other
side OF the Rocky mountains, lvingor dead,
Is the fact that he is, was and ever has been
from the first builder from the ground
up"
Other men bought bankrupt or wrecked
roads. You may put your finger on some
who even made Il profession of wreckins
roads i'll order to buy them and build up
their fortunes on the ruins of others But
G. =. Huntington, If you except his road
from Newport News TO Huntington, XIV.
took his ground fresh from the hand of God
and turned the grass, roots and daisies
where the buffalo and other wild beasts had
fed only the day before. He has conquered
and redeemed more land from the desert
and savagery than care TO estimate. He is
literally an Alexander the Great: greater
than Alexander the Great, for when ho
reached the sea ut the Golden Gate he did
not sit down and weep. but right and left
and up and down the Pacific sea banks he
built and built and still is building. But
he Is Il wise man, knows he is human, and
hear he Is coming now ut last to sit down
with us at the Golden Gate and rest May
he come soon and rest long.
JOAQUIN MILLER