Omaha daily bee., 1908-07-05
PLUTOCRAT AMONG INDIANS
Lon Hill, the of His Race,
His Huge Farms and His
WAYS.


The richest Indian in the world is Lon
Hill. of Harrington. Tex. His wealth is
conservatively estimated at 50, 5OO,OOO. He
owns more than 100000 acres of the best
land in the Rio Grande valley. Every foot
of it can be irrigated. At the rate which
other land in this section of the same
character Is selling, 500 per acre for
this 300, 900 acres would not be an excessive
figure. Figured on that basis this Indian
is worth 100000 He is not given TO over
ratirng things and the first estimate is his
own.
Lon Hill is a full blood Choctaw. He is
proud Of his Indian blood, and a stranger
is not long in his presence before the fact
is made known by Mr.. Hill that he is an
Indian.
This Indian has been able to take care
of himself he will say. II never have re-
ceived anything from the government and
l am not expecting anything"
This is true. He has never shared in any
of the allotments ia indian territory. He
has been making his way alone and I'M
aided ever since he was a boy.
The marvellous thing about the great for
tune which Hill now possesses is that he
has accumulated It all during the last six
years. He located at Brownsville. twenty
five miles below Harlingen, a little more
than six years ago. That was before Il
railroad had been built into the region. 1t
was then 16O miles TO the nearest railroad
outlet to the outside world. Hill says that
when he arrived in Brownsville he was
"worse than broke" He did not have any
money and his debts amounted to 500. He
had been practicing law at Beeville, Tex.
He had made a good reputation as a lawyer
in southwest Texas, but he reached the
conclusion that the time was not far dis
tant when the valley of the Lower Rio
Grande would be transformed from its
primitive wilderness of chaparral into cul-
tivated farms and gardens.
When he had got well settled In the
border town, this progressive Indian began
the work of interesting capital to build a
railroad to the place. He enlisted the eff
forts of wealthy land owners in the pro-
ject, and a party of them, accompanied by
Hill, went to St. Louis TO lay the scheme
before men of means of that city. II was
the original intention to submit the propo-
sition to the chief officials OF the Mis-
souri,, Kansas and Texas Railroad COM
pany, which was at that time building into
San Antonio, and was headed in the direc-
ton OF the Lower Rio Grande region.
II happened that B. F.. Yoakum, now
chairman OF the executive committee Of the
Rock Island and Frisco systems, was per-
sonally known to Hill and othere members
of his party, and they naturally thought It
would be a good plan to get his advice be-
fore calling on the Missouri, Kansas and
Texas people. They called upon Mr.. Yoa-
KUN at the general offices OF the Frisco
in St. Louis and laid their plans before
him. Mr.. Yoakum listened TO what they
had to say. He then surprised the commit
tee by telling them that they need go no
further, that he was perfectly familiar
with the resources and requirements Of the
region which was so badly lacking IN
transportation facilities, and that he would
enlist the necessary capital and build the
road.
Possessed of this knowledge Of the practi-
cal certainty of the building OF the road
the redskin lawyer began to secure options
upon the rich valley land adjacent to
Brownsville This land was covered with
an almost "impenetrable growth Of brush
and small trees. II was considered almos'
qnfit for grazing purposes. so thick was
he chaparral upon It. The value PLACED
upon the land ranged from 50 to $50 pc,
and some Of the owners thought that they
were robbing the prospective purchase
when they fixed those prices In the options
Hin. for his own purposes was willing al
that time TO concede that he was agreeinE
10 pay an exorbitant price for the land