The Holt County sentinel. (Oregon, Mo.) 1883-1980, 1915-08-20

binary interest In the article to which
] refer. | am free 10 admit your His.
tory Of fortescue, as your article gave
II. Is IN the main. true.
Tile citizens, the builders OF For.
tescue, are all your article claimed
them to he, have done an immense
amount Of business, not only with the
present generation, but with some Of
the fathers before them. am free
10 say no better class OF enterprising
and loyal citizens can he found, not
only In Holt county, but In the state
OF Missouri. am happy and proud
TO claim them, almost to a man, ny
personal friends, but as ! stated there
SHOULD he some corrections.
] personally claim to have done
more and invested more TO build up
and bring business to Fortescue than
oil others combined. and TO have paid
out more money for improvements
and for their products than all others
combined, up to the time that I sold
my business In 1914. built one OF
the best elevators IN the state there,
one that the citizens could be proud
Of also built the lumber sheds and
the warehouses connected with Il. !
put In . stock Of lumber as good as
usually carried In q small town. IL Is
no" owned by the Arkansas Val.
ley Lumber Co, which Is q good re.
liable firm. built the grain oiice,
coal houses and the hardware store
nov occupied by the bank. also
built the implement warehouse and
put In a good stock OF implements,
hardware and all kinds OF building
material: also built the nice cottage
owned by Vess Howard, also the one
nov occupied by Mr.. Brownlee, the
banker. ] have built nine buildings
In all, and none Of these enterprises
we're represented In Fortescue until !
put them there. also owned large
warehouse that burned . few years
ago All Of these enterprises remain
In the town, but none were mentioned
In your article, except the elevator.
We were not mentioned as stock.
holders In the original organization
OF the bank, but that was fully and
very satisfact orilly explained by our
popular cashier, Mr.. Brownlee. When
we went TO Fortescue there WAS prac.
tically no business there. We began
by buying wood. We shipped many
thousand cords Of wood and posts
from there.
Referring TO the railroad matter: In
the tirst place, the ROAD from Napier
TO the river, opposite Rulo, was pro.
jected by Superintendent Barnard,
but WAS built, also the bridge st Rulo.
by the Burlington Railroad company,
west OF the river, and has been con.
tinuously operated by them since be
Ing built. Al hrst business there was
OF little importance and did not have
either depot or agent. ! believe Mr..
Beesley, In . way, looked after the
business, but 1t was . prepaid Sta.
tion. There we're no bills OF lading
issued there until l Issued them.
They we're sent to Napier to be signed.
As soon - began 10 ship wood and
other material from there ] asked
the company TO give US an agent.
They said they would appoint me II
! would accept the position, which !
did. Soon after this ] bought the
horse power elevator from the rail.
road. II fell into their hands by the
failure Of Kendall b Smith, ! soon
rebuilt this elevator and made II
larger and equipped II with
steam power. 1t burned soon af.
ter. When l rebuilt 1t again
! made much larger and finer Gle.
vator. Business began to get better
and l asked for . depot and telegraph
station. They told me II / would
employ . telegraph operator they
would give Us . depot. They did this
by moving the building used - . de.
pot 1t Bosworth, opposite Rulo, while
building the bridge. ] then employed
an agent who WAS . telegraph opera
tor. A while after the business grew to