Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-10-21
Life of Frederick Weyerhaeuser
Given Attention by the
Chicago Tribune.
DEALS WITH ROCK ISLAND
Hand of Providence Seen in Rise to
Affluence - Interesting Side
Lights on Character.

Sie by GeOfSe weymouth In the Chi
cago Tribune yesterday. The sub
heads are: Aided by Love AMI
Pushed on by Good Fortune He Fought
the Rivals Who Tried to Squeeze Him
Out of Business and Afterward Be-
came the Lumber King of the World
and He Wanted. to Be Farmer But
Providence Overruled His Plans and
Made Him Potential Billionaire and
Perhaps the Richest Man in the
World" An excellent three-colum1
portrait of Mr.. Weyerhaeuser done i'll
colors and with a background of pine
trees appears. The article is of muc1
interest in Rock Island, the greater
portion being devoted to men and in
stitutions of this city. The opening
paragraphs read:
When destiny means for man to
be rich it is useless for him to dodge.
THAT is the Weyerhaeuser view of
life.
Not that Weyerhaeuser ever dodg-
ed. The man who would run away
from riches never lived in Rock Is
land, which is the natural habitat Of
money and the breeding place of MI
lionaires. The get rich microbe thrives
there. The town claims to have turned
out more milliOnaires than any other
place of its size in the world 1t will
not except Cripple Greek nor the
Rand.
You scarcely can turn the corner
of Rock Island business street with
out humping into millionaire. There
are poor men there, no doubt, but they
are not discussed. The average Rock
Island citizen will reel you off lis
| of home made multimillionaires that
sounds like a liberal extract from the
city directory. Some few of them, it
is admitted, have left the town in re-
cent years to run railroads or social
campaigns in the larger centers of the
country.
DivineIy Guided Into Riches.
| $50 far, however, Rock Island has
produced only one biilionaire. Fred
erick Weyerhaeuser. the man of luck.
Only, Weyerhaeuser doesn't admit that
it is luck or even destiny. He is re.
ligious man and Providence is the
word he uses. Weyerhaeuser would
not say for publication that God in his
goodness has selected him as the trus-
tee of the lumber forests of the lan'i
He Believes it, in effect, but he is not
a boastful man and says little for pub.
lication.
4 simply have been pushed into
good fortune is what WeyerhaeuseE
| in, Of
wOnted confidence to a man who
stands near to him. 4 have been made
rich in spite of myself. I am sure that
Providence not only has guided me
but has compelled me. Whenever
have come to the forks of the road and
have hesitated for a moment as to
which way to go, the freedom of choice
has been taken away from me. The
wrong road has been barred, and
have been pushed along the right road
Opportunity has knocked at my dool
many times. Often | was asleep wheT
she came, and then some other hant
lifted the latch and let it in
Love Made Him Lumber King.
Naturally man who takes tha
view of his fortune is a serious ma!
and is not given to braggadocio. 1t Is
, not his fault if he gets rich, and, oI
the other hand, he cannot justly throw
himself any bouquets.
Providence began early will
Weyerhaeuser and never ceased il
good offices for a moment. After tn,
death of his father he left the littl'
1 ~ Co. 1. Iol l.;
boyhood and came to America witt
his mother and sister. He meant :,
] be farmer. There were many Gey
man farmers who were prospering II
2 Pennsylvania-the Weyerhaeusers SCI
] tied at Erie-and it was the lad
S dream to have broad acres and ia
+ cattle of his own.
e "Why he left Erie and went to Roc
k lIsland is Frederick Weyerhaeuser's r.
n nance. 1t was love that turned hi
,. steps away from the farm and mad
). him a lumber king.
\ Romance Began on Rhine.
O "The girl in the case was Sara
d Elizabeth Bloedel-pronounced and
some of the young woman's earle
1rlendS, rlSHtly OF WTonSly, spelle
'Bladell.' People were not so familia
/ with German orthography so or i
Y years ago as they are now. The nam
r Weyerhaeuser itself was jawbreake
e to the mill hands who worked wit
r. him at Rock Island. They called hi
If Dutch Fred to save trying to pr
nounce it, and they made no effort
spell it.
miss Bloedel lived at Erie al
N Weyerhaeuser loved her. She, to
le had come from Neidersaulheim alor
at the Rhine, and they had been frien,
ID since childhood The young ms
n worked in town for awhile and the
Id having saved up small stake q
!termined to go farming near Erie. I