The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-21
BUILDING UP
AN EMPIRE
Continued From First Page.

1888 1t was commenced in the fall OF
1889 finished in 1893. Probably in jan
the Cascade range, and opened Tor trafnc
the following June.
Selection of the Route.
@. Before undertaking the construc-
ton of the railway to the coast, to what
extent did you acquaint yourself with the
ersed and in the neighborhood of the ter
minus, and the sources to which the ROAD
must look for such traffic as might be
obtained? A. / visited and made personal
inspection of various lines on the ground.
examined the country and the soil, water
and climate, and the company spent
very large sum of money IN examining
the various locations; practically mace
examinations enough from the 1nterna-
tional boundary line south to the Big Hole,
to enable us to make a model OF the ROCKY
mountains. We spent somewhere, thlnK,
over 100000 in surveys ,r5 before we + dio
was to be certain that we built upon the
best possible location, that we secured the
best line in regard to distance ana es7
pecially in regard to grades. A great
part of the co 4ntry and rebuilt, and we
wanted to avoid that if we could For
instance, l remember between Phlladel-
phia and the Allegheny mountains,
through to Pittsburg, the Pennsylvania
was building it's road, part OF 1t, on the
fourth right of-way. I wanted to avoid
that II / could.
O. Was there anything in the nature OF
the traffic which you expected to get,
which made you give especial attentlon
to those grades?
A. The traffic in that country TO De DE,
Veloped-it was all to be deVeloped-muSl
come from the natural resources or the
country. 1t was country very Sparsely
populated, with no manufactures, ano
none likely to be except in connection WIN
lumber and mining and possibly milling
flour manufactured for local consumption,
and for export on the Pacific coast.
@. What eaStern-bound trafhc, then,
did you look for and expect to get from
the Pacific coast?
Lumber Rate Prohibitory.
A. Well from the entire line the traffic
had to be what the country would pro-
duce From the Pacific coast, the pres
ent great item of traffic eaSt-bound is
naturally the lumber from the forests
They have large forests of very hgh-
grade timber. l remember, When Wet
to the Pacific coast before our road was
built there, the rate on lumber east was
80 cents a hundred pounds, and 1t was
practically prohibitory. | called the rep
thought a reduction of 20 cents hundred
would enable them to ship their lumber
east, and if we could make a rate of %
cents a hundred they would be able &c
could not pay so cents and move any
large amount of lumber. The rate we
made was 40 cents a hundred, ana ina,
rate has continued. 1t Is the presen1l
rate And that has built up considerable
trade, a trade equal at the present time
or maybe a little more than equal, to the
west bound tonnage.
O. What is the principal market fol-
this lumber of the Pacific that you haul
eastward in what territory?
A. Portions of it go from Washington
or Newport News to Portland, Me-, but
the great bulk of it is in the interior OF
the West, north Of the Ohio river and
north of ST. Louis; you may say through
Central Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and q
good deal is used in this state, North
Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana
Utah and great deal goes to California
The market on the coast, when the road
was completed, was more than sufhc1enl
to furnish empty cars to move the lum-
Der east, because the lumber had beer
moving at 80 cents a hundred, and there
was little demand for it and little knoWl-
edge of what it was; and by building ii
up, by. seeking markets for 1T and max
ing a low rate we developed the lumber
trade very fast, faster than the merchan-
disc trade of the people of Washington!
or even with the addition OF Alaska and
Honolulu.
@. What steps did you then take;
what markets did you seek for west-bound
trafIic on the line?
Watched Oriental Trade.
A. Well, we took every step that we
thought would result in developing the
trade. I sent men to Japan and China
and kept them there-one man for over
fest of every ship that entered or left a
Chinese or Japanese port, as far as he
could; to find what the exports and the
imports of those countries consisted of,
and where they went Afterwards we sent
one of our traffic representatives, kept him
there for a time. We also had men in
the East, and wherever there was any
business or likelihood of business.
@ Mr. Hill t wish Won would go or
now and state in a general way the growth
and development of this Oriental business
and traffic, and what steps you took to
secure transportation across the Pacific
ocean, and also what connection or re-
lation, if any, there was between the
building up of this Oriental commerce
and the purchase of the Burlington road
or the stock of the Burlington road?
A. We found that the lumber supply
of the United States east of the Rocky
mountains, and north of the Ohio river
was becoming more and more dependent
upon the Washington and Oregon forests,
and the time rapidly approaching when
the states that heretofore furnished the
lumber for that region were not able to
furnish lumber enough to meet their own
consumption; as, for instance, Michigan
Michigan furnished for a long time the
bulk of the lumber going into the states
east of Lake Erie or east of Detroit, and
also the large market in Chicago AND
west of Chicago. I think it is reason
ably safe to say that Michigan does moi
furnish today as much lumber as she
consumes. have given a great deal OF
attention to that matter, because at the
time we considered building the road anC
when | first went to the Pacific coast, il
we could not carry that lumber to mar
ket there was absolutely nothing else fol
us to carry, and no use in building roaG
there. l felt, after making a thorough
examination of the lumber trade of the
country, that 1t was only a question OF
time when that would be the source from
h oh oil he m
supplied, or practically all; and the result
has shown that the time when such will
be the case was much shorter than l haC
anticipated. But In order for that flum-
Der to move, it must be moved at a low
rate, and in order to make low rate
you must have large tonnage, and yor
must load your cars in both directions
That carried us to investigating the diff.
ferent markets where we could send any
thing that was made in the East
American Rails In Japan.
In 1896, in the fall, we had just closed
| with the Japanese General Steamship
company to put on line of through
| steamers running to our terminal at Seat
| tie, in connection with our road and the
| conditions under which we made the con.
tract were such as would enable US tt
make d rate from the East to the orient
When these men were present with US
some of them We're interested in securing
| rails for their railways. I asked then
where they We're going to get their rails
| They thought they would either get Bel
| gian rails from Antwerp, or English rail.
| from Middlesborough. l asked them, as
| they were going to stay here day or two
| to let me see what could be done fol
American rails, and I Immediately cableC
to my friends in London and got the quo
| lions for Antwerp and Middlesborougl
rails and the best charters to Yokohama
1 remember that the rails could be lai(
| down at about 500, the English or Bel
gian rails. 1 telegraphed to Chicago ant
the time was rather quiet one in Amer
rail mills (the joliet and one or two 9th
ers were. about closing DOWN three O
| four weeks before election. and possibl.
| mills running. I told them if they woult
| make a rate of $3.50 we would give then
a rate of IS ton--of 40 cents a hundred
from Chicago to Yokohama, which woult
Belgian quotations. And after some hest