The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1922-12-28


and cash to anyone who would bull
a railroad from that city to Castle.
Three companies we're organize
70 build the line, my WI among tn
others, but the other two 60
! beyond the paper stage.
! In the summer of 1890 in the mids
OF the excitement, al eastern frienl
dropped into my office Unexpected
and told me he had some money to in
vest and it was not long before
told him that l had a place to pu
1t, and thus the railroad was born.
My friends total assets were no
nearly sufficient to build the line; il
TACT, he had only enough to make
good start but that seemed sufficien
for us in those days.
Before we got fairly under way
however, the panic of 1898 overtooI
us and the Helena bonus went glim.
mering. Not a penny of it was ever
paid to us in any form whatever.
Time passed and every plan we
made went awry, but my friend had
nerve and faith and some money and
that, with the work I could do, en-
abled us to finally begin work in
May, 1895, on the 16 Mile creek divi-
sion. Work began hear the present
site of Deer Park.
But even then work was pushed
in only a half-hearted way because
my friend, whose name, by the way,
was J. P. Whitney of Glassboro, N. j.,
would not agree to get in too deeply
until I could complete some financial
arrangements that l agreed to make.
How the Road Was Named
It was these financial arrange
ments that really built the road. They
were covered by four contracts. The
first was with the contractors who
built the grade and who under their
contract agreed to accept notes of the
company, secured by bonds, in lieu
of cash. 1t was this contract that
gave me the reputation of building
the railroad without money. l should
like to say here that there was some
thing over $2,950,000 invested in the
road before it was completed and of
that amount, 100000, or about 3R
per cent, was represented by the notes
given the contractors.
The second contract that I had to
get was with the Cumberland Mining
company in which that company
agreed to exchange 1000 tons of ore
that vas lying on its dump for our
railroad bonds.
The third agreement was with the
East Helena Smelling company, in
which that company agreed to pay
lis $150,00O in cash for the 1000
tons of ore when we delivered the
same at their smelter. 1t was agreed
that we were to get s150,000 in any
event, whether the ore was worth
that much or not, but if it should
prove to be less valuable than that
then we were to give the smelling
company our notes secured by our
bonds for the difference between the
value and $150,000.
The fourth agreement was with the
Northern Pacific railroad company
in which that company agreed to sell
us rails, spikes and fittings, locomo-
lives and rolling stock and accept
notes secured by bonds in pay
ment in which that company agreed
% give certain traffic divisions,
which were very satisfactory to us,
% take effect when we got in opera
ion.
The work began in earnest and I
bought that our troubles were over
,ut 1 then had the experience of the
.verage man who borrows money to
'uy an automobile; 1 found that my
roubles had only fairly begun.
We had a frightful time getting
upplies up 16 Mile creek. A team
nd wagon had to travel 60 miles to
ct from the lower to the upper end
f the box canyon, which is scarcely
ne-half mile long. A four-horse
with oats was sent to a camp
Toston and landed without a :
ound of oats in the wagon. 1t was
in a snow storm and the driver
ad to feel all of the oats to the
We had troubles with labor,
18th our engineering parties and, it i
semed, with everything with which
9 came in contact. Trouble was
le normal condition. The owners of :
10 little ranches that we crossed held 4
5 up with shotguns. The ranchmen :
.ong the route hesitated to sell us
fearing they would not get {
leir money.
When our money was all spent :
Ind it was gone in a remarkably 4
Tort time) the want of more was
ways staring us in the face. That
as the one trouble that was with :
days, nights and Sundays. 1t was :
gloomy accompaniment to our y
her troubles; and credit went
it'll u money and how we finally
It our rails laid to Leadboro in the :
astle mountains is, and ever will be, :
puzzle to me. E
We got there, however, in the fall
1897. On the day before Thanks :
of that year our last construc- :
IN train left Leadboro for Lombard
AIDED with passengers. 1t was :
ught in the O at Dorsey and lay :
ere 72 hours without fuel or sup 3
les. The polar regions shifted to
that year and that was the :
st instalment. =
We finally got the train through b
thout any serious damage to pas :
1gers and managed, through some
sans, to finally get our ore hauled L
East Helena. During construction
yer and lead had been steadily
and when the ore was IL =
lily delivered both of those commo- !"
les were AFT the lowest point thew