The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-06-01
THE SALT LAKE HERALD: SATURDAY JUNE l. 1907

II LII oAAA LAANZ
tween the United States and the
orient.
Jim Hill made good on the boasts
of his dockhand and clerkship days.
He reconstructed the little Dutch rail-
road. made it a link in the Great
Northern and the whole property paid
dividends from the very start. The
steamship line is vindicating the judg-
ment of the mind that created it. 1t
has NOT yet measured up to Mr.. Hills
ultimate reckonings, but he is biding
mis- time, like the pioneer of the prai-
ries.
Mr.. Hill was once riding at night on
the rear end of his private car when his
train passed over a long wooden trestle.
freight train had gone over a few
minutes before and Mr. Hill remem-
oered he had given orders that after
the passing of all trains over this
trestle track patrolman should go
over the structure with a bucket of
water and extinguish any embers that
might have fallen from the locomotive.
Though the Hill special was going
along at forty miles an hour, the alert
eye of the president caught sight of a
hole in the bottom of the bucket as the
Waterman, in the moonlight, threw the
vessel over his shoulder. Mr.. Hill or
dered the train back to the trestle and
summoned the Waterman TO him.
My man, you are to the great
Northern company Just what that hole
is TO the bucket you carry-a good deal
worse than useless. You may throw
the bucket away and look for another
job Human life is too dear to trust it
TO one of your kind"
Never was the moral courage of a
man put to severer test than when
James ]. Hill engaged powerful Wall
street interests for control of a lead
ing western line. 1t was the battle that
eliminated in panic and ruined for
tunes. Dealers in stock need only say
May - and every one of them knows
what il means. 1t is a tragicaily his
torical day for spectators. and Mr..
Hill came forth from it emblazoned a
hero.
Through all the swirl and stress of
that storm Mr.. Hill was absolutely
fearless and unruffled. He was not a
Speculation. He was playing a thrilling
game for a legitimate stake 1t was not
life and death struggle, but success
for him meant the mastery of interests
that were vital to his plans. Once his
closest friends had given up the fight
and believed the Wall street crowd
would Overwhelm and crush the man
who came out of the west to give bat
tie to his antagonists on their own
ground.
The Story of Loyal Friend.
And Mr.. Hill would have lost if he
had not had friends who put loyalty
above greed. One of these friends was
in Aix-les-BaIns, France. at the time
Representatives of the Wall street in
terests went thither at the critical
stage of the fight and offered him dou-
bic the actual value of his holdings in
the Hill properties. 1t meant a clear
gain of $1,000, 900 to 10000. 900 to this
man TO sell out but the old Scotch
sense of honor, gratitude and friend
ship rose to the surface.
Gentlemen" he said, you have
lions enough. / don't need any more
Jim Hill helped me make those mill
lions. He is my friend and 1 will not
desert him now. I decline your offer
with thanks"
This was the curt message which the
scouts of Wall street We're given to
carry back to headquarters. There
We're other friends as stanch and tue
as the sturdy old Sect, and because
of their loyalty Mr. Hill returned to The
west the biggest single magnate of
u.
cool, masterful general who had out
flsnked and outwitted the enemy in
every maneuver.
The genius of Mr.. Hill in wooing sue
cess from what the average man would
call a doubtful field is nowhere better
Illustrated than in the building and
operation of the Great Northern road.
He neither sought nor received govern
mental aid, but blazed the way alone,
spurred on by an unconquerable cour-
age and the backing of men who be-
lieved that with him nothing was i'm
possible.
William Stoddard, an employee long in
the service of the road, went out one
time with Mr.. Hill to look for gravel,
great quantities of which were needed
for ballast. Stoddard clambered over
hills and through woodland, but could
not see a sign of gravel. Mr.. Hill was
busy in another way. He suddenly
picked up a small weed, examined it
carefully and said:
William, we needn't look any fur
Their. Wherever you find this weed
there's grave underneath"
Sure enough, sufficient gravel was
found to ballast many miles of road.
Mr. Hill had not pOred over his books
or observed natures way without pur-
pose.
He knew his geology and his chem
istry. his biology and his mechanics.
AS a potentiality the great northwest
was to him as an open book. 1t was
to be one of the earth's gigantic gran
aries. 1t was to be the source of limit
less wealth of other kinds.
Give me the freight and the low
grade" said Mr.. Hill to the skeptics,
land the dividends will take care of
themselves"
Best Friend the Farmers Have.
Mr.. Hill went among his farmer
friends and called them Bill and John
and Tom. He told them what a great
country the northwest was destined to
be. He DOTTED his dignity. became Jim
Hill. attended their monthly institutes,
taught them how to breed good cattle
how to coax the maximum yield of
wheat out of their soil how to prOd;Iea