The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-08-15
JUST LEAVE
IT TO Mr.. HILL
He Tells Great Falls People That the
Connecting Link
FROM kALIsPELL INTO BUTTE
Is All the Building the Great North
ern is Going to Do For a While
kalispell Ranks Third as a Pro-
ducer for the Railroad, Following
Butte and Great Falls.

Great Falls, August 13.-President
James j. Hill of the Great Northern |
Railway company, in an address here, |
made the following statement:
1T is not fun building railroads in |
Montana, and l want to say to you
for myself l have called halt We
are building and widening the gauge |
of the narrow gauge line, and there |
is a connecting link we wish to put
in. and | do not know of any more
"You are half way between the east
and the west We will take care of
the sportation-if you do not
take our railroads away from u.s. If
you were to go without them for a
while you would learn to use them
well, and you may be forced to do
this
The people come streaming out
from the east, where they are
crowded out and there is no more
room They have crossed Dakota as
far as the agricultural lands will
carry them and now they are going
over Montana and in on the other
side of the mountains. Take the little
town of 'Ralispell, where ten years
ago we packed the food in on pack
horses to feed our engineers. This
year in revenue paid the company
it will be the third city in Montana
That is, Great Falls is first, Butte
second and Kalispell third. And why
is it? They have gone on to the
ground and dug it up and raised
crops
Take your resources here, your
mineral resources. While they are
great, those that are permanent and
as a consequence employ men, make
payrolls and pay out money, they are
low gtade--what you call low grade
propositions, and their products have
got to be carried at low rates.
Now, when 1 came here in 1885,
in 1886 and in 1887, the rate on cop
per matte to Omaha was $17 a ton;
the cost of coal in Butte was $3.50
and 81 ton. We built the road into
Butte in 1888, and the first rate we
made to ST. Paul and Minneapolis
and the head of the lakes, which al
ways controls the Omaha rate, was
So per ton. What was the result?
| The attention of the people was
called to the mines in Montana, smell
ters were built rivaling in size any in
the world.
There are only two sources from
which a railroad can make money
I am going to take you into my conf
dence now-we have to either earn
the money by selling our transporta-
tion or we have to borrow it, and if
we borrow it you have to pay the in
| terest.
I'VE have built roads, and it has
been our custom wherever there was
a likely prospect to push our road
out and see if we could develop the
country.
we have run the Montana Central
out until it is a good road | am not
ashamed to have anybody come from
been able to reduce it's rates. 1t has
raid in 13 years four dividends; the
rest of the time it has not.
Nov, we started railroad into
Neihart-maybe you think it is nice
thing to have to run road to Nei-
hart. Let me tell you, we would be
glad to turn the receipts over and a
sum of money with them to have you
run it. =
Look at the great state of Iowa
Look at Minnesota. Minnesota has
an income this year from her farm
ing products of over 100000 900.
This is not turning the stuff out of
the ground and leaving nothing but
a hole in it's place. Next year they
can have the same, and you can have
the same if you will put your ground
where the water can be poured over
it. You can't bring it in your little
private bitches. The government
must do it and you must help to do it.
II you do not, remember that the pop
ulatlon of your state will be limited
and if you do, the population of your
state will be almost unlimited, and
your wealth and prosperity will come
quicker than you know. l will be
glad to work with you at any time,
glad to do anything to advance your
interests. but there is very little that
we can do except to transport in or
out, and we are doing that at rates
that astonish other people. other
roads-rates that are constantly de-
creasing-and constantly asking how
we can do it; but we have done it,
and we have paid our bills"