Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-05-30

traveller had stopped at the Hin farm
to take dinner, and left his horse al
the gate. Young Hill saw the animal
was tired and he carried it pail of
water, The stranger was pleased with
the lads thoughtfulness. and as he
drove off he tossed him a newspaper
from the United States, and called out
gravely;
Go there, young man That coun-
try needs youngsters Of your spirit
Hill read the paper carefully, II
contained glowing accounts of oppor-
tunities in the states. He resolved to
investigate for himself 1t was the
next morning that he chopped his last
tree.
Started as Rousthbout
As a mere roustabout lad of is, he
toured from Maine to Minnesota.
When In 1856, he disembarked from
a Mississippi river packet at st. Paul,
that place was frontier town of s.
600 Inhabitants. AT the sign of w.
J. Bass C Co., agents for the Dubuque
& st. Paul Packet company, no found
q job as both stevedore and clerk.
In the fifteen years that followed
he seized every opportunity to study
the whole problem of river transport
tation. He gathered no end Of expe-
rience and a little capital, with which
he launched his own firm of Hill,
Griss q Co, which promptly displayed
It's initiative by bringing the first load
Nf a t,a hnn fyx a
section into st. Paul. Two years lat
err, with o. flat-bottomed steamer. he
established the first regular communi-
cation with st. Paul and the Manito-
ba ports of the fertile Red river val
ley.
First Railroad Venture.
At about that time st. Paul was
having its first experiment in railroad
building. Eighty miles had been laid
to st. Cloud. GIG miles to Brecken-
ridge, both of which terminals were
at the southern end of the Red river
valley. and there were about 90 miles
Of track which began nowhere and
ended in that same indefinite spot"
This venture ran up debt of s33,-
100000 and collapsed, with its only
assets being "a few streaks of rust
and a right Of way"
Hin had had sufficient success In
the region to be seized with a consum-
ing desire to purchase the defunct
property After five years of finan-
cial dickering. including the sale Of all
his other interests, which netted o
fortune Of 100000, he and syndi-
cate of three others--Sir Donald A.
Smith. George stephen and Norman
w. Kittson--obtained the object OF
this desire.
Fought Against Odds.
The St Paul Minnesota and Mani
toba railway was formed to operate
the property, with Hill as general
manager. When, in 1888, Mr.. Hill
was elected president, he undertook
the extension Of the road from its Da-
kota and Minnesota homestead to the
| Pacific ocean, He was confronted by
three great competitors to the south,
each of which had received big bon
uses as government aid, whereas the
Manitoba" or the Great Northern,
as 1t came to be known, did not have
dollar of government subsidy or an
acre OF grant to forward its progress
| from the Minnesota boundary to the
sea.
| In this light. Hills plan was widely
deemed pure folly. but he pressed 1t
! to conclusion by building and popu-
lating as he built, For several years
he laid rails westward at the rate of a
mile a day. and at a cost of $40, 900
mile, and as he went he left a trail
of embryonic farms by the railside.
Becomes Empire Builder
! With the line to Puget Sound once
| laid, he turned empire builder. He in
troduced the livestock industry into
vast areas Of bunch-gras plains. and
! developed them by importing blooded
stock; he sent demonstration trains
through the country. with men who
showed the people how to raise more
wheat to the acre; he made an outlet
for the grain by establishing q cheap
rate by rail and steamship TO Buffalo,
where he built great elevators; in
fact, for upwards of twenty years,
he left nothing in his power undone
to develop the country where he had
staked out his claim as the great rom
mon carrier.
/ Opportunities in Orient.
But at the Pacific Underwater he
/ was not satisfied for he saw In the
orient still further opportunities. He
organized fleet of Pacific steamships
for the commercial invasion OF Japan
and China. Japan at the time wanted
steel rails, but proposed getting them
from England. as the rates we're less.
II is related that when John w. Gates,
the steel magnate OF Chicago, came
to Hill with the proposition of get
ting American rails 10 Japan, the
latter replied:
II will make you a rate Of IS ton
hama. If that is too much, | will
carry it for the axle grease used on
, the locomotives and freight cars; and
III you can't stand that, } will carry
your freight for nothing"
At the IS rate named. the Ameri-
, can manufacturer was enabled to Sc
cure the Japanese contract.
, The same tactics were adopted in
getting American wheat and flour in
TO Japan and China where rice was
the staple food.
; His faith in the far east was re-
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