The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-10-12
THE RISE OF A LOGGER.
,ol Simpson Began as Laborer and
Became Captain of Industry.

From the Portland Orcgonian.
Sol Simpson logger. died i'll Seattle last
Wednesday, leaving a wide circle of bust
ness and social friends to mourn his lossA
The business of logging has never been
credited With the same degree of import
ance as some other callings in which mon
engage. There nave been loggers oh Pu-
get sound for more than half a century,
lust as there have been on the ColumbiS
river and in British Columbia. Sol Silnp-
son was not an ordinary logger. He was
one of those rare captains OF industry VINO
prove by their life work that, while all,
men are created free and equal, a few of
them. by individual effort and energy, soon
dissolve the bonds of equality. Early en-
vironment aud opportunity caused Simp-
son TO drift into a line of industrial cffore
whore Drawn and brains We're alike neces-
sary to success. The rare executive ablN
ity and financial aculnen that developed
in Simpson later in life is proof positive
that equal success would have followed his
efforts in almost any financial or lmme
cial line on which he might have started.
Beginning as a common laborer on the
railroad grade, Mr.. Simpson saved his
meager wages, and through his great IN
features of the most ordinary task allotted
to him was soon in q position to under
take snb-centracting on a small scale.
From that he moved ON up the scale un-
til In the railroad building of the '7os he
held n number of important contracts ON
the Southern Pacific. With the declinc of
The railroad building he Went TO Seattle
and engaged in the business OF geDeraS
contracting, but, finding an inslfticicncy
of tina class of work. turned To logging, n
business in which for more than twenty
five wears he has stood at the head. BE
ginning with a handful of men, half ~
dozen oxen and q few chains. the Simp-
enterprise which now employs SEQ men,
owns many miles eff railroad, with nu-
merous engines and cars, and annually
| puts in the water more than loo,OI 600 feet
of logs.
A business cannot grow from nothing
| into such magnitude without the controll-
| ing influence of a master mind, and until
the foundation for his success had been
firmly placed Mr.. Simpson remained in the
wooas with his men and oxen, directing
every movement. lie reduced the work of
! TRANSPORTING morchantable timber from
the forest TO the mill TO a science, and
while less enterprlsing loggers We're still
engaged in hand logging or using oxen,
Simpson had installed the donkey engine.
the logging railroad and other up TO date
~cqsipment. The world pays tribute to in
dustrial genus, and In due season. by
strict attention TO his work, Sol Simpson,
logger. accumulated more money than he
NEEDED in his work. He bought ~steamboats
and steamships and became heavily in
tcrested in numerous banks on Puget
| sound
had been lying idle for months badly in
need of repairs. which her owners would
not make because they We're unable to dts
cover q route on which she could make
money. Regarding her in this unfavorable
light. they sold her cheap, and her pllr-
chaser, Sol Simpson. logger. repaired her
and placed her ON the Alaska route, whore
on ner first trip, she made enough profit
TO pay for her purchase price and the cost
of repairs. and on her second trip added
more than $4,000 to the Simpson bank ac-
count.
No preference was shown Simpson in
the Oregon deal, and his success was not
due to luck. There We're plenty of other
men who had more money and knew more
about steamships than Simpson did. but
the same keen Judgment which had made
all of his ventures so successful disclosed
TO him an opportunity not dtscernible to
others less gifted or more timid. The
death of a launch, rugged industrial eX-
pert like Simpson is a distinct loss to the
country where he is best known. As an
example to the youth on whom fate has
not scanned kindly in the matter of birth
or environment, the life of Sol Simpson,
logger, stands forth bright, eXhilaratins
and worthy of emulation.