The New York herald., 1921-12-04

Of Lord Mount Stephen, or, as Can
ada earlier knew him, George Ste
phen, there passed the last of tn,
great transcontinental railway build
ers, those strong men who spannet
the North American continent witt
roads Of iron linking the Atlantic I,
the Pacific. Lord Mount stephens
co-worker in the construction Of thu
Canadian Pacific, Lord Strathcona
died seven years ago; James ]. Hill
the friend of both these men and the
moving spirit of the Northern Pa
cific and the Great Northern, lived
until May, 1916; Coils P. Hunting
ton, Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkin:
and Leland Stanford of the Centra
Pacific and the Southern Pacific; the
Ames brothers, Oliver and Oakes
and Charles Francis Adams of the
Union Pacific, and Cyrus Holiday
the father of the Atchison, died years
before, most of them even before the
beginning of this century.
They were all big men, big in head
and heart, men who could see vast
opportunities, conceive great projects
and carry them through despite al
the obstacles which nature or their
financial rivals placed in their way
Many of them went into the West
when II was raw and new. George
Stephen went from Scotland to Can
ada when it scarcely was more than
making a start. Donald Smith, az
the New World then knew Lord
Strathcona, went into the almost
unknown north and served years OF
apprenticeship with the Hudson's Bay
Company before he finally became
one Of its resident governors. Hun
tington, Hopkins, Stanford and
Crocker went to the Pacific coast in
the early gold days, Holiday was on
the Kansas prairies when the Terri
tory was the bone of contention be
tween the Jayhawkers and the pro
slavery men, and Hill had settled in
the Northwest when st. Paul and
Minneapolis were villages.
These men knew from personal OBJ
servation and from contact with the
people the country over which they
were to build their roads. They not
only spanned the nation with iron
but they lived in their long allotment
Of life through all the various phase;
of it's transportation, from the bark
canoe of the Indian to the river
steamboat, from the pony express tc
the fast mail, from the trail freight
caravan to the luxurious express
train Of to-day.
Our first transcontinental railway
the Union Pacific, was brought be
fore the public as far back as 1S46
when Asa Whitney began making
addresses upon the subject before
State legislatures and memorializina
Congress. Work was begun in 1858
by the Central Pacific building east
ward from California and the Unior
Pacific Company building westward
from Omaha. Huntington was the
fiscal agent of the Central Pacific
group and Crocker the pushing
power behind the construction, he
himself personally building much oi
the more difficult section of the road
Progress was more rapid on this por
ton of the road than on the eastern
portion, for the Central was well vi
into the Sierra before the first fort,
miles of the Union Pacific from
Omaha to Fremont was completed
On May 10, 1859, the two lines
met at Promontory Point, Utah, a
point 600 miles east of Sacramento
and 1854 miles west Of Omaha. Th,
last tie. a piece of laurel wood from
California, was put in position, sill
yer spike presented by Nevada and
one of iron, silver and gold furnished
by Arizona were driven and then came
"the last spike" one Of gold given by
California. Five days later through
trains began running over the road
the first transcontinental service.
The next transcontinental line:
were the Southern Pacific, finished In
1881, from San Francisco to New
Orleans; two years later, the North
ern Pacific from st. Paul to Portland
Oregon; then the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe from Kansas City tc
San Diego, followed by the Great
Northern from st. Paul to Seattle and
xrra-4x..inatar pritiah Col1n, hin In