The Washington times., 1909-09-26
From One Who Knows

From One Who Knows
THIS is a strange message to the
people OF the United states from the
overload Of the great Northwest. II
seemed the stranger as he delivered IT,
He sits with his back to the window
IN his private office in the warehouse
fortress general offices Of the Great
Northern railroad in St Paul. Down
The corridor one can read on the frost
ed glass General Traffic Manager
and office Of the General Solicitor
But the entrance 70 the workshop of
James ]. Hill IS marked simply '21l"
and one passes from that room through
three others before he reaches that in
which Mr.. Hill hews ties and LAYS rails.
over his head is an engraving OF the
first Mr. Armour. About the walls
hang oil paintings of other industrial
and commercial trail-blazers beyond the
Alieghenies One side OF the room is
flanked by two long tables covered with
blue prints. and when I spread one OF
these prints hack 10 sec what it was
Dir Hill followed so closely I found il
20 be an arrangement of tracks for
terminal in a city OF the third or fourth
class. Books are everywhere volume
, on the Columbia river Is on the top OF
his desk. and I wondered as I noted il
II II told Mr. Hill as much as he al
ready knew Of the lodged cliffs the
swirling torrents. the shifting sands he
overcsme on the north bank Of that
stream in order to make the haul from
Spokane 10 Portland without climbing
hill. Census reports and compilations
II laws are on a table behind him. with
she backs creased in long lines: and
there are essays by many authors in
many places.
Strength of Man Shown
In the Lines of His Body.
The blinds are drawn so that tho
room Is in a twilight. Against the win
dow Mr.. Hill is silhouetted in deep
shadow. But there is that in his poise,
in his heavy set frame in the wicker
chair he uses at his desk. in the out
line Of his great head on his pile-driver
shoulders. that keeps one alive 10 every
impression that had threatened TO
swallow him in the better lighted ante
room
he is a human buffalo. In a scant
i've feet two inches mis- body broadens
man. When he walks the fun weight
OF a heavy trunk comes squarely down
on each heel and there IS a suppleness
Of motion. an easy bending OF the
waist from side 10 side. that makes
one ready 20 believe this fighter or
Feventy-one years can still lift more
than any Of his SONS
His head is the GROWING strength Of
the figure. il was made for his thick
shoulders. NOT for his height II is Of
the type that could better he hewn in
stray stone thar painted IN coIors. Ev-
erythins about II is heavy-the nose is
large enough 10 show forth will and
personal force: the bald dome spreads
out into a collar Of shaggy gray hair
for all the world like a name The
lips are fun, tho mouth hard drawn.
even under thick beard
Eyes Redeem Head
From Unhumanized Force.
It is the eyes that redeem this head
from utter. compulsive unhumanized
force. a dynamo Of heat and tireIess-
ness and patience bouudIess as the
plains. They are keen enough. glow
ing there IN the half dark Of his office,
nearly all pupils. and studying you
from the shadow Of brows as thick as
the branches Of Sierra pines But the
flesh AZ their sides Is wrinkIed into a
thousand lines that Jespeak kindness
and mcrriment. that make % possible 20
believe after an those stories of his
broad practical jokes and hearty guf-
flaws when q worker on the ST. Paul
levee. that explain somewhat the puz-
2ling loyalty or subordinates an over
the West, or men who can earn more
elsewhere and do not leave him, who
have had an their pride swept away in
The tornado Of this mans great wrath.
end yet count themselves "HiU men
From the windows OF the Great North.
srn building In ST. Paul one can see
that same icyee where "Yim" Hul go1
his start His coming TO St Paul, thu
summer Of 1886. when only a boy OF
eighteen, was q fine Illustration OF some
thing he was 90 say fifty years later {,
the farmers NJ Scott county al a Utfb
fair. His voice, always roughly low
had grown vehementlv intense as Do,
looked out over the families that ha,
come into the little town chiefly to- heal
him. There is something in luck" D.,
said sharply. There IS more I'M oppor
tipity. There Is still more Zoo applica
tion. n YOU ever expect 10 hit the bulls
eve you Ne got 10 Keep your eve on th'
gun barrel And if ne Thought a
probably he lid think. how his own lif
justified that saying, his mind mus
have run back 10 his FIRST home in "a lot
cabin IN Ontario.
His Father an Irishmsn,
Mother Of Stern Scotch Stock.