The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1924-03-14

she said, Eat the mouth of the Col
umbia river, which impressed me a
having tremendous possibilities. |
fronted on the Pacific, and was tn
only fresh-Water harbor on the coast
"The first day there / walked 81
miles looking the ground over.
spent several days investigating, ant
returned to Portland satisfied that ;
fortune for myself, and others, coulC
be made there.
'I had 81 left from my borrowed
fifty. With SIS of it, I rented an of
flee for a month, paid dollar dowr
on necessary furniture, and opened
a real estate business in Portland
capital 81 in cash.
with nothing but that dollar tc
back me, I took an option on piece
of property in Warrenton. L believe
can sell real estate I told the
owner. Give me thirty days to find
out. A chance is all ask
"On the twenty-ninth day I was
about to acknowledge l had been
crying for the moon when 1t suddenly
| fell in my lap. I sold that piece of
land for enough to pay for it and
make a thousand dollars for myself.
81 was the richest woman in the
world. No matter how much money
l ever have, 1 will never be as rich
and as Independent as was that
day.
at took me a week to come down
to earth again. l bought up several
other pieces of property. I was
launched. And / was remarkably
successful.
Things began to break as had
dreamed, when along came the war.
I knew there was no use trying to
sell real estate. So 1 took the exam
ination for chauffeur in France. But
my two brothers got ahead of me.
Both were accepted and went across,
the ban against relatives prohibiting
my going.
with my attention diverted back
again to Warrenton, concentrated
it on what could be done in wartime
to build it up. In order to build we
had to have tonnage. The idea oc-
Cured to me that the time was ripe
to go after Montana wheat. Rather
than ship it thousand miles to the
eastern market, why not route it
west, relieving the railroad conges-
ton and the farmer, too"
She went to Great Falls, Montana,
and presented her suggestion to Rail-
road Commission Jack Hail. He took
it as joke. However, says her bio
grapher:
Mrs. Barrett soon convinced him
that it was not, and when the logic
of her argument sank in he went out
to investigate what she had been
telling him. He called a meeting of
the Middle Western farmers coop
erative organizations.
Of a membership of 400, 200, thir-
ty-five delegates attended, and voted
to send a representative to Washing
ton to interview Mr.. McAdoo and Mr..
Hoover.
The Minneapolis people got wind
of what was happening. They sent
representatives to Wash
ington, and also sent a special train
the Northwest with press
agents and silver-tongued orators adj
the st. Lawrence Ship
Canal.
Which gave Mrs. Barrett another |
card to play. She went to New York |
to see the New York Waterways Com |
mission. "Look here" she said, I'M |
rolling neat little map, "it is time |
enough to develop harbors in Canada |
when American harbors are develop |
ed" She astonished the commission
ers with her facts about Warrenton |
and Astoria port potentialities, with |
her inside knowledge of western in
dustries, of commerce and of freight. |
Three months later things began
TO happen. A seven per cent prefer
entail rate west was granted on Mon
tana wheat, and soon the first car
Of wheat ever routed west was on
It's way, beginning the steady stream
Of wheat flowing down the Columbia
liver into the Pacific. What no man
had ever attempted to do was accom-
olished by lone woman.
When on March IS, 1928, Mrs.
Barrett received the telegraphic an
nouncement of her appointment as
city manager of the town she had
BUILT, she was in Portland. Friends
ran her down in their private car,
and on this Mrs. Barrett held re-
;eption. The band turned out and
he whole town came to the railroad
siding to welcome the woman who
but few years before had walked
is unpaved streets With weary feet
one dollar in her pocket and a mil
ion dollars worth of faith in her
heart.
Explaining Warrenton's need for
city manager, Mrs. Barrett said
here were certain political and fin
ancial interests against the town that
Kept it from growing. "And the
mayor and commissioners offered me
he job because they knew I had
.aith in it and wouldn't give up when
.hings got tough" II
She appointed five of the leading II
men in Warrenton to act as
her board of directors-at the same
salary she is receiving, a dollar
year. And cooperating with the II
board are several committees-on
housing and building, parks, civic
improvements, and river and har-
Dor committee.