Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-15


Inc men who are building the Grand
trunk Pacific railway, the second line
| across the entire CONT
inspiration nent, are all Americans,
~ p..:..4 although the project Is
O'S1'' backed by the Canadian
| government. and the directors Of the COM
| pany are Englishmen. with their head
quarters in Eastwood House. London.
Charles NJ. Hays is the protector. pro-
moter, president and the man higher
up He was the inspiration. and is the
power that is carrying the plan to COM
pletion The contractors are ]. NJ. Stew
art & Co. of st. Paul. B. B. Kelliher. the
| chief engineer. was recently engaged upon
| the short line that the late David H.
| Moffatt was building through the noun
| tains OF Colorado from Denver to Salt
Lake City. H H Brewer. general SUPER
intendent, recently came from the Wa
bash system: H. II. Mccall, division
superintendent, is Louisiana man, who
came here from the Illinois Central, and
the boss OF the track-laying gangs is G..
A. Miller Of Sac City. Iowa. who has laid
ties and steel on all Of the great railways
Of the northwest.
With the single exception Of the Cana
Dominion were conceived and constructed
wholly or In part by Americans. Some
OF the builders have been knighted, to be
sure. but they were made in America"
the middle west. He was originally a
telegraph operator at Joliet. and later
superintendent of the Chicago and Alton.
and being genial. happy and artistic, was
popular and strong.
1t was an ancient vow Of Sir William
Van Horne that when the shares Of the
Canadian Pacific railroad were worth a
dollar he would retire from Its active
management. 1t reached par some six
years ago, when Sir William accepted the
post OF chairman of the board. and was
| succeeded as president by Thomas
Shaughnessy. When the Prince OF Wales.
now King George. came over to celebrate
the QuatrO- centennial of Canada the new
party about the Dominion, and. when 1t
was all over, he became Sir Thomas
Shaughnessy. He has been as successful
as his brilliant predecessor.
Sir Thomas was born and brought up
in Wisconsin under the eye of Van Horne,
who brought him here as a storekeeper.
and advanced him from year to year as
he deserved promotion - Chiefly In the
operating department. The vice presi-
dent and operating manager OF this ex-
tensive system is David McNichol.
The Grand Trunk is even more Ameri-
can than the Canadian Pacific. The on.y
exception to the rule of American meth
DDS in the Canadian railway world Is to
Mackenzie and Mann Of the Canadian
Northern. These are Scotch-Canadians.
Charles Melville Hays. the man who Is
doing things out here, was born In Rock
Island. ILL.,, May I6. 1856.
Native Of His father was druggist
restless wanderer VINO
VIC v. .. left his native state or
PENNSYLVANIA before Charles was born,
and after spending year or two at a
dozen different places went back to his
native village. where he died when the
boy was seventeen. A friend of the fam
ily got the latter a clerkship in the office
of the Atlantic and Pacific auditing de-
partment at st. Louis, and in 1873 he
began his railroad career counting and
checking up the punched tickets that the
conductors sent in. He had an ambition
to become a lawyer. and used to read
law books in his boarding house at
night. He hoped to secure transfer INTO
the legal department of the road, but
fate determined otherwise. and within a
year he was making the wheels go
around in the operating department:
He remained in the service OF the
then went over to the Missouri Pacific.
where he served under the direction OF
A. A. Talmage, general superintendent,
who was an ideal railroad manager. He
was pushed up rapidly because ne ulo
things, and did them we'll. and when the
Gould interests got hold Of the Wabash
i'm 1885 he was appointed assistant to the
general manager: three years later ne
was promoted to the first place. ana
when he was thirty-seven years old was
made vice president Of that system.
In January, 1896. the directors OF the
Grand Trunk Company Of Canada. after
looking about for several months to nnd
the right sort Of man. induced Mr.. Hays
to 90 to Montreal and take charge Of the
REORGANIZATION. regeneration and recon
struction Of that railway. which had been
going down for years. and mad reached
that point of decay which railway men
describe as 1.-TWO streaks OF rust over
corduroy grade" Sir William Van Horne.
who had risen from the key of a tele-
graph operator to be general supern-
tendent Of the st. Paul road. had gal
cifc, and the Grand Trunk directors
wanted some one who was capable or
performing that operation on tieir prop
erty. Mr.. Hays came to CANADA ana
was given the right of way. he reoulit
all that part of the road east Of the
great lakes, annexed the Central Yer
mont SO as to get an outlet to New YORK
city at New London. built the victoria
Jubilee bridge over the ST. LdWTeHCo, anu
the single span steel arch over the river
above Niagara falls, and double-tracked
the road for S7S miles from Montreal 10
Chicago with 1OO-pound rails.
About this time the late Coils +.
Huntington one Of the greatest OF en-
pire builders, died and
Succeeded Mr. Hays was invited
| <olx oh NJ tho
Huntington. southern ,r Paciac sys-
tenn. He went to San Francisco the
LIST OF January. 1901, but remained
there only seven months. when he was
recalled by the English directors OF
the Grand Trunk with higher rank and
wider powers and an opportunity to
construct second transcontinental
railway from ocean to ocean. That has
been his greatest ambition and is now
about half done.
Sir Wilfrid Iaurier and his liberal
parliament made it possible by the
enactment OF necessary legislation In
the years 1908 and 1904. The line Is
now being constructed from Moncton,
NJ B., from which point 1t will have
access to the ports of st. John and
Halifax by means Of the Intercolon1al
ra lway, to Prince Rupert. B. c..
distance of approximately $500 miles.
crossing the Rocky mountains with
maximum grade OF only four-tenths OF
l per cent or twenty-One feet to the