The evening world., 1920-12-29
THE BROWNIES
SOLVE AN ENGI-
NEERNG PROBLEM

were engineers, as well as business
and financial guides.
Bare statements in the writing Of
such a story as this. are meaningless
II they cannot be substantiated. but
the advice OF my Brownies was acted
upon and the value Of the railroad
property doubled. They had solved
problem that no one on this plane
had been able to solve, the results Of
which to-day may be found in gran
ite and steel. \
To put the problem simply-the
Kansas City Suburban Belt was
only partial belt, for it connected
only those railroads that entered the
territory at the eastern part Of
Kansas City. To mako 1t a success
1t was necessary to build to the west
and thus connect all railroads so that
we might to able to transfer cars
from any of tho roads entering the
territory.
What stood in the way was the
overcoming of a tremendous grade
from I'd and wyandotte Streets
entering the West Bottoms. The
West Bottoms was a stretch Of lanu
covered with factories. packing
houses and n network of important
railroads. A part of the West Bot
toms where the people who worked
in the factories and packing houses
lived, was called Hells Half Acre,
and was one Of the eyesores and
evil spots of the town.
Many a time when walking through
the streets OF Helrs Half Acre, crowd
ed with its untidy, evil inhabitants,
the difficulties Of the situation made
me despair of ever finding a way in
which to enter the desired territory
which lay to the west of our passe n
ger station. For l had brought well
known engineers from different
parts of the United States to Kansas
City, and after days Of work with our
engineering corps they had invariably
given up the task. Such men as Mr..
Hays, one OF the keenest minds in
railroading, OF st. Louis, director
of my trust company, Vice President
! and General Manager of the Wabash
Railroad, and afterward President of
| the Grand Trunk Railroad, came to
| Kansas City at NV request and spent
| several days attempting to solve the
problem and finally gave ii up. ]
was shaken by these decisions, but
| strong in my first belief that the
coveted territory could be entered.
At this point my Brownies came 70
! the rescue.
One morning, about three O'Clock,
| 7 heard a voice saying to me as clear
| " as any human voice:
gYou wish to connect the cas-
tern part OF your railroad with
the West Bottoms. Your mis-
! take is in attempting to form
continuous line thus passing all or
your freight trains through the
| small restricted area that you
now have in front Of your pas
senger station. 1t cannot be done
in this way as the grades are not
! practical
! There is only one way to solve
this problem: Start to enter the
West Bottoms at Grand Avenue
| and Second Street, swing north
| with overhead bridges. Cross the
| Missouri Pacific overhead with
pier Just west Of their main track.
In this way you can reach the
West Bottoms at fair grade and
your problem is solved"
After the message, regardless OF the
hour l dressed and rushed to Secopd
and Grand Avenues to 60 over the
ground.
| was amazed to see how practical
the Brownies plan seemed, but OF
i course, surveys would have to prove
It,
How we'll I remember with what
impatience ] awaited s o'clock and
the arrival of Judge Hyland, our en-
gineer,
Judge Hyland was tall, spare
| man-controlled and quiet eyed, and
clad In the Prince Albert which he
invariably wore at his work of sur
veylng-even though 1t took him into
the woods or fields-I thought 'in-
voluntarily Of a Methodist minister
but for all his eccentricity IN mat
ters Of apparel he was an extremely
clever man.
: This morning, upon his arrival
grabbed his arm and rushed him uI
J to his office-his coat tails Tapping
behind him.
once in his office he eyed me sol
emily
: "Wen, after all the rush.
But I had no time to apologize fol
upsetting his dignity. / tore down
the map Of the road from the wal
and hurriedly gave him the outlines
, Of the Brownies vision.
He listened intently, saying at last
ut sounds sonable-reosonable
repeating the word reasonable.
, At II o'clock q preliminary survey
= had been made, and Judge Hyland
Tapping his cOattails more furiously
! than ever, came up to me, saying
MIR. Stilwell, / don't understand
4 where you got your idea; all ] know
is you have doubled the value Of you
property"
e Maps were filed for this extension
4 as soon rs the plans were finished.
. Immediately the Missouri Pacifi
4 enioined us from putting in our bridg
q pier on the west OF their main tracks
d Claiming that It was railroad prop
y erty and that they expected to put II
y a switch there shortly. They pro
duced a map where the switch wa
= to be located.
J. II looked as If my Brownies ha
. overlooked an important fact, hut
e had such implicit faith that had tn
70 real estate abstracts examined, an
n TO nay qualification found that thi
Y reduisite 40x6O feet Of ground was no
d owned by the Missouri Pacific.
= IA was owned by the Coates cstat
!. and they were not even aware OF II
n They had paid no taxes on II 70
]. nfteen years, as the city map Shove
d il part OF the Missouri Pacific prop