The St. Louis Republic., 1901-01-06
RAILROAD AND STEAMSHIP OWNER WAS FARMERS SON.
LABORER CLERK MERCHANT


pcssiole time. at the lowest possible ooe
And then. again. there was a new idea IN
railroad construction adopted by Mr.. Hill.
He took the cost OF material and added to IL
the cost OF labor. and the result gave the
cost OF the work There were no coustruc-
ton companies and purchasing companies
and scores OF inner companies to milk the
property all the way along the line. ana
contracting companies TO rob the laborers IN
their board and keep. and the whole train
OF camp followers that cling to the skirts of
construction corps were told to be of
and about their business. 1t was a now
city IN modern railroad bgilding. this course
OF strict honesty.
Some of His Disciples.
From this property of only $50 miles In
length In 1873 was evolved the Great North
ern system with its 5.441 miles Of road
Reference has already been made to Hri
men and Hi methods and the desire OF
other roads 10 re-enforce their operating
departments by men who have obtained
their experience under Mr. Hill. Among
such men are W. II. Newman. president OF
the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern; ].
d. Barr. third vice president of the Atchi-
son. Topeka ard Santa Be. who previously
had performed wonders for the Norfolk
Il.
ident OF the Central Railroad OF New Jer-
sey; +. D. Underwood. vice presi-
dent and general manager Of the
Baltimore and Ohio. and Russell Harding.
third vice president and general manager Of
the Missouri Pacific. who. with Mr.. Wat
rous. was taken by the Goulds TO ind out
what was wrong with the st. Louis South
western. and having discovered and set
things going right. was taken to the Ms
souri, Pacific to put that property in the
position that IL should rightly occupy. And
there are many others that might be mem
toned.
Training His Sons.
That so many fine railroad men wsrs
taken from the Great Northern without "a.
fecting its prestige speaks well for Mr.. Hln.
He always has men in training. He In al
ways studying himself and always educas-
ing his men, This is true Of his SOMA
James ana Lewis. both graduates OF YalA.
who are in training to take up the work
OF their father. They have gone through
every department of the Great Northern
road. from the construction work and the
machine shops TO the executive ofdoes.
spending SIX months or a year in familiar
izing themselves with the work OF each and
obtaining a practical knowledge of Hin
methods And whils his sons and his men
are studying Mr.. Hill continues to study.
His experience with river transportation
aided him IN establishing his lake steam
ships and his transpacinc project. and he -
studying something to-day. What Il is no
one win reveal. but that It s of vast I'm
port to the railroad world few who know
the indouitabls character OF the man can
doubt
Owns Some Great Pictures.
Mr. HIS house. In Summit avenue. y.
Paul. IS ore Of the show places Of the city,
but as for himself he Is a plain man. almost
careless in his personal appearance and
hating display. He opposed strenuous OBJ
jections when the twin cities OF Minneapc-
lis and ST. Paul desired TO celebrate the
completion OF the Great Northern Rail-
read. TT will cost lot Of money 10
raid. Appropriate the money. but give
up the oeIsbration- I'll add as mucs
more to the appropriation, and give pub
lie library to each CITY," But the peopAs
wanted the celebration. and. much TO Mr.
HilFs disgust, they had it. II was a great
thing. though. the connection OF the Twin
Cities with the Pacific Ocean
Mr.. HiIrs art gallery Is well known aS
one Of the finest in America He IS the
owner of Ribots painting Christ Taken
From the Cross" and Millets Cleaners.
which are of worldwide reputation, and IN
addition he has superb examples OF Dan
bigny, Dupre. Delacroix. Diaz. Corot. Fro
mentin. DE Camp. TrOyon. Cain, Herner
ard many others.