Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-10-20

tions with Mr.. Kittson. who had been
associated with him in the Red River
Transportation Company, proved of
immense value. Mr.. kittson was a
personal friend of Donald A. Smith.
of Winnipeg. now a member of the
House of Lords in England and Cana
dian Commissioner to the home gov
eminent. Mr.. Smiths influence
brought in connection with the party
Mr.. George Stephen. who is now also
a member of the House of Lords in
England. Al that time he was presi-
dent OF the Bank of Montreal. n of
the financial institutions on
the continent. The result was that
the property and land grant of the old
ST. Paul and Pacific were foreclosed
upon, and the purchasers of the bonds
in Amsterdam were the purchasers of
the entire system under the foreclos-
ure The road passed from the hands
of the receiver into the hands of the
new company. They obtained in this
manner 1871 miles of railroad. to wien
they promptly added 220 more. as well
as rebuilt much of the old line. sub
shutting iron bridges for wooden, low
ering grades, so that the expense fer
operating produced greatly increased
~ ,,pipn~ Thic ic tho thnnry 1nnT,
which Mr.. Hill has always acted and
in a large measur is the cause of his
success in railroad construction and
operating.
1t was in 1879 that the st. Paul,
Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad
Company was organized by the syn
dictate which Messrs. Hill and Kilt
son had formed. Mr.. Hill was the first
general manager of the company and
devoted his wonderful energies and
vitality to the direct operating affairs
of the railroad. He threw all the ener-
gies of his nature into this work. and
no detail of the system escaped his
Eersonal attention. He knew what the
cost of. every item should be. From a
spike to a steel rail or a locomotive,
he could tell in an instant what the
company should pay for it. The bond
deal already alluded to had made him
a millionaire. but no employee on the
road in any cacapity performed the
amount of work which Mr.. Hill did
in those early days.
In 1883 he was made president OF
the company. but it was only within
the past few years that he has relaxed
his grasp on the little details OF the
operation of the road, and, in fact,
even now, his familiarity with con
struction and operating expenses are
such that he can detect at a moments
glance when reports are made to him
whether his subordinates are acting
judiciously for the best interests Of the
company. Perhaps no other man has
ever lived who would have undertaken
the great task of extending the st.
Pau. Minneapolis and Manitoba rail
road with its 600 or 700 miles of con
structed roadbed almost entirely in
Minnesota. to the Pacific coast. =.
The most wonderful and remarkable
thing in his career was the fact that in
spite of two failures on the part of the
Northern Pacific road, which was en-
bowed with land grants, failures which
brought desolation to the Northwest
and almost paralyZed the whole u
try. he could obtain the capital to
build a second Northwestern railroad
to the coast. when there was not stuff
cient business to maintain one. He
was. however, enabled to inspire CAPT
talists with the confidence he already
had concerning the greatness of the
Northern road he followed the same
principles which he had adopted ear
Z vi iAdhlhS W." 6AoaSo ohu ShPSh-
slve tunnels and a direct line to short
en- the distance as far as possible. un-
til when he had the reat Northern
completed, one engine could draw or
the Great Northern road double the
amount, and possibly more, than could
be pulld by a single engine on rival
roads. This fact enabled Mr.. Hills
road to always earn it's dividends, and
as he operated the line on the princi-
| pie of live and let live, traffic rates in.
were never excessive, with the result
tnat people by the hundreds of thous.
ands fiocked along the line Of his road
developed the country, built up cities
and towns. and made in a few years &
development which the widest dream
err could not imagine possible to be &C
complished in a century.
He became a farmer himself pos
sibly for personal qualification. ant