The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1896-03-07

ison county cannot succeed as well IN
railroad building as has a certain Da-
kota farmer:
In the village Of Drayton. on the
North Dakota side of the Red River OF
the North, lives a remarkable charac-
ter known throughout that region as
Farmer Hines. He is regarded by his
aeighbors as the prophet Of a new era
in railroad building and operating,
when roads will be built to primal Y !.
markets by the producers in the coun-
try they traverse, capitalized for their
actual cost, and operated with the
closest possible economy. Farmer
Hines has been preaching his faith at
country school house meetings through
out the lower Red River valley for two
or three years past, and last summer
he began putting his theories into
practice. BY his talks and by the dis
tribution of circulars he succeeded in
enlisting SO large a body of adherents
that he commenced to build a railroad
without money and without credit, aGd
actually finished 40 miles of grade be-
fore the frost came.
Farmer Hines studied the map care
fully and found that the grain from
any central point IN the lower Red
River valley-say Grafton-is hauled
4l2 miles over the Great Northern line
to reach the primary market at Duluth,
whereas a direct line from Grafton to
Duluth would be only PSI miles long,
saving l3l miles. The Great Northern
has four lines in that part of the valley,
running north and south and cOnverg-
to the south as far as ST. Cloud, Mimi,
before it strikes out direct for the head
of Lake Superior. The Northern Pa
cifc has only one line in that part of
the valley. This parallels the Great
Northern roads and gives a grain route
to Duluth about so miles shorter from
competing points than the Great North
ern's average haul. Farmer Hines
railroad runs across the valley east
and west, and is to go on through the
woods region of northern Minnesota &c
a connection with the Duluth and Win.
nipeg road, already running for a dis
lance of about 1913 miles west of Du'
luth.
Hines calls his road the Farmers
TO~;1~o,l ,-l +h,,C fon q l fhn v,OrG nr
it has been done by the North Dakota
and Minnesota farmers. His tlnancier
, ing methods are unique. He has nov
about 200 men at work in the northern
Minnesota woods cutting trees an(
clearing the right of way. Each mar
gets his necessary provisions. $lS
month in the stock Of the company
and So a month in mOney-barel,
enough cash to buy his tobacco and pa.
!, for an occasional glass of beer. Tn
, men are enthusiastic converts to tn
Hines theory of railway construction
. Hines is a sturdy, nervous. indefatie
> able solt OF a man. only "a years ole
The merchants of Duluth recent
l. made up a car load Of provisions an
shipped them out to his camps south {
Red Lake. A few thousand dollars i
4 money has also been subscribed to al
'e his enterprise. Hines told the Dulut
lie people lately that he will have II
is miles of road graded and furnishe
with ties ready for the rails by the en-
of next summer.
re No more bridges for Senator Carte
He has burned those structures benin
ri him.
1t looks as though the era of Sener
- prosperity is o to dawn in Madist
county.
~. The congress Of the United Stat
has set its seal Of approval on Cuba
20 holy cause and that means the birth
RI another republic.
lip What's the matter with Cuban bon
in exchange for Montana caval
m, horses? The Montana mustang is iu
the animal for the Cuban guerilla.
The MAD1sONIAN prOphesies tn
before snow flies with apologies
Louie Coulson for the rhyme that V:
r;~;, t';t,- .;)l lo,N D,o IS fhn l,,