The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1902-01-31

The artist who pictured MI. James
] Hill. president of the Great North
ern railway, shoveling coal at so cents
a day." drew from mis- imagination:
and the reader who regards the famous
railroad man as one who got his first
money by rough toll has been misin-
formed. If the writer has not been
imposed upon Mr.. Hill inherited his
first few hundred, and from his boy
hood his head has always helped his
hands.
+, In the first half of the past century
many Hills of Scotch-English origin
came from the north Of Ireland and
settled in the Canadian wilderness.
| Only two of the original Hills lived
long enough to raise families. One Of
these had Two sons, James j. n A.. ).
T.-"Jim" and "Alec"-and one daugh-
ter. lowering about a rocky glen,
| cleft by the crystal waters OF the Lit
! tie Grand, sleeps the picturesque VII
lage Of R~ockwood-the home Of the Hill
boys Although but 60 years old Rock
wood has 600 Inhabitants, and deserves
even more, for 1t is one of the quietest
| and most picturesque places IN CANADA.
Moreover, 1t Is in the heart of the On
tario turnip belt. Here the turnip is
entrained and shipped in carload lots
to the United States to be made into
marmalade and pear preserves. one
farmer, who was probably trying to be
! funny, informed me that the Canadian
cheese which bore such a striking re-
semblance to the late William Nye,
and which captured first prize at the
Pan-American exposition, was only an
ordinary Ontario turnip chemically
treated by an enterprising Yankee. "A
Hartford man, he said, had put
whiskers on some, stuck pine needles
in others and sold them for ~cocoanuts
and pineapples. When I became sat
is1ed that he was chatting me I mount
ed nv bicycle and wheeled out to the
edge Of the village where there Is a
vacant lot, where three half-rotted
logs, a stone Or two and a small heap
OF crumpled brick and plaster remain
to mark the place where the humble
home stood. -,
Across the rlll, at the top Of the hill,
an old frame storehouse stands. In
this store Jim" Hill worked as a clerk.
THAT was his first job. Here he used
to spend his evening after school.
Weighing turnips and taking care OF
the books. When not In the store he
did odd Jobs to pay his tuition at the
lockwood academy, for his widowed
mother was poor.
Farther down the road I found. q
man who had been playmate and
schoolmate with the Hill boys. He was
an interesting man, who showed the
Influence of the old academy that
| nourished there some thirty years ago.
.sThe secret Of Jim Hills success" he
said. repeating my question, lis jim
HilLi He had it in him, n he has
hacked out his OWL fortune with his
| own little Ratchet, and deserves 1T all.
what sort Of a boy was he? He was
a good boy, intelligent; Industrious
kind-hearted, scrupulously clean and
honest. I did not know then, have new
or known since, and know not now a
finer Young fellow than James Fill was
when. after making his way through
the lockwood academy, he quit Pass
more's store and walked down the road
and out OF the village. He may have
lost some Of his lamb-like meekness
working his way in the wild west ano
later battling with the bulls and bears
in the tumultuous east, but as q boy
James Hill, was q model
Many quaint and interesting tales
are told of Jim" Hill around Rock
wood, some possible. others impossible
OF a piece with the acoal-shovelins
dent related by farmer McNabb. HI
claimed, until he died. hat he EN-
ployed young Hill to NOW a meadow
the contract price being S11, and tina
Fill, being anxious to have new boot'
to wear out west, went barefootet
Whlle ne moved, anu tnat II WAS LII
s11 that carried him out of Canada
Another man was of the opinion that
all told, the president Of the Grea
Northern had sent back to Canad:
about 500 for every dollar he hat
taken away. There is plenty Of eyi
dence that from one hundred to tw,
hundred thousand have come back
and there is evidence also that Q
ready money he had not enough to rat
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