The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-10

enormous output of the concern he an(
his associates in 1S49 bought the railroad
from oswego to Ithaca, and constructed
the road from Scranton TO Grea. Bend
/ which, by consolidation, became known -
1852 as the Delaware. Lacldwanna and
Western railroad
! Mr.. Blair was actively interested in the
development of this line. which .ecamc
Immensely valuable. its mbined aaI,.s,.l
afterward exceeding sl00, 900 0G0 The
growth of Scranton added largely 10 mis-
wealth
After his successes in the East MIR Blair
launched out AS one of the great pathfnd-
ers and railroad builders of the West. IN
later years one of his proudest boasts Mas
that he never speculated IN stocks nor
entered into any rlilroad scheme as Il
mere speculation, but built all his roads
for cash
His railroad operations in the West, in
which he invested fully $50 oOO, o0o, were
conducted entirely on cash basis
he organized ana constructed TIE first
railroad across the State OF Iowa from tn-
Mississippi to the Missouri, beaijes nee
than 1000 other miles of tracl, m NJ
braska and Iowa.
me roads constructe by him include
the oswego and Ithaca Leggets Can
Warren; sections of the Delaware. Lack
awanna and Western: the Lackawanna
and Bloomsburg. Burlington, Cedar Rap
Ids and Northern: part of the Union Pa
cine; Sioux City and Yankton Sioux
Falls and Dakota; Chicago aud North
western; Chicago and Pacific; Chicago.
iowa and Dakota; sections of the New
York, Susquehanna and Western; St
Louis and Hannibal; Bangor and Port
land; Kansas City and Southern, Cayuga
and Susquehanna Cedar Rapids and Mis-
souri, River; Green Bay, Winona and st.
Uux nd D.I,1
Sioux City and Pacific; Chicago, Iowa and
Nebraska; Fremont, Elkhorn and Mis-
souri, Valley; Maple River Sussex and
Mount Hope. and the Kansas City, os-
ceola and Southern.
Mr.. Blair used TO say with pride that hn
had built every road with which he had
ever been connected for cash without put
ting dollars worth Of its stock on the
market TO raise money. He calculated
that in his railroad operations he had
spent S26.000.000. all OF which he either
advanced himself or raised among his
friends.
In the building OF all his Western roads.
Mr. Blair secured enormous land grants
as premiums. In connection with his work
on the Union Pacific he got 1000, 900 acres
OF land in Iowa. For finishing the iowa,
Falls and Sioux City road he got 100000
acres. For building the Sioux City and
Pacific from Sioux City to Omaha and the
tion, on the Chicago and Northwestern.
connecting 1t with the Union Pacific at
vermont. he got $4,000 acres of land
With all this land on his hands Blair
had to do something. He formed land
companies. and these companies. under
his direction. have laid out the sites for
what are now more than 100 flourlshing
cities and towns in the West.
In his railroad building 1t was usually
MIR. Blair's custom to take road that
somebody had begun and failed 10 COM
plete. rebuild 1t entirely or complete il
and then lease it or sell it 10 trunk line,
after connecting it with the trunk line,
In this way he made = proht on the rail-
road building. acquired great quantities
of valuable land and made moro none
by selling or leasing tbs road he had
thus rehabiitsted.
II was not until Mr.. Blair Wen, into
politics that he tasted the bitterness OF
failure. His experience illustrated the
kind OF q man no was.
In 1865 the republicans OF New Jersey
r.rsuaded him IN run for covernor The |