The Bozeman courier., 1927-01-07

years in following, and when it came, it
came with a rush.
without a moments rest" writes Mr..
Pyle, went on the preparations for the
westward march. No matter how pressing
matters were at home for Mr.. Hill, he was
always gathering and storing in that won
derful memory of his every fact which
could be of service in the projected exten-
sion Of his system to the Pacific Still hard
ly more than warm in his seat Of power,
this letter written November "a, 1880, to
Paris Gibson, years afterward to become
United States senator from Montana, is elO-
quent Of Mr.. Hills plans and methods:
1t Will give me great pleasure to see
you during the coming winter and to hear
from you a description Of northern and
western Montana. If it is not too much
trouble you can get me a description Of
the country lying AT the foot Of the noun
tains between the Missouri river and lati-
tude 40, for a distance of one to three hun
dred miles and as far east as you can get
information; also the number of cattle now
in the Sun River, Teton and Marias River
valleys, and any other information that
you think will aid me-
Through n. p. Line Completed
The through line Of the rival Northern
! Pacific was completed by 1888, by the
driving of the last spike in western Mon
tana. Here was real transcOntinetal Op-
GRAFTON, while as yet the Manitoba (as
Hills road was still called) was but part
way across the country.
I'm January, 1886, the Montana Central
|
sibly to connect the new town Of Great
| Falls, built at a water power from which
big things were hoped, with Helena, Butte
and elsewhere in the country. The Mon
tana Central was to all intents and pur-
poses, James J. Hill. 1t was organized tC
occupy the Montana field until the Mani
tOba should be ready for the rush west
ward from MinOt which was to break the
worlds record for railroad building. WheI
the next year, that rush came, the same
contractors who had made record in thu
building Of the Canadian Pacific were EN-
plOyed here. Mr.. Hill knew what could b.
done, and exacted it mercilessly. Not Onl!
grading, but bridging was done ahead o
the track layers, so that the rails were shO
out and spiked down with amazing ra
pidity. Mr.. ID. c. Sheppard, the chief con
tractor, has preserved in a memoir, a con
else description Of this performance as a
en- gineering feat:
"'In the year 1887 our firm constructe
I1175 miles Of railroad, Of which the re
Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railwa
from Minot to Helena formed a part. Th
track laying on this great work was com
menced five miles west Of MinOt, Apr
1st, and was completed to Helena NOvem
Der 1S, 1887, a distance Of 643 miles and 8
an average rate for each working day
three and One-fOurth miles
Building Method First Consideration
"a year later Mr.. Hill reports upon Il
performance of the completed work. As a
ways, the method Of building, with rels
tiOn TO operauOns comes ursC IN d
thought Reference has heretofore bee
made to the exceptional character Of tn
exception Of eighteen miles of tempOraI
lines as to grades and curvature. With Il
line the maximum is 31.7 feet to the mis-
and on about 400 miles Of the $50 from M
not to Great Falls the maximum is only
feet to the mile In like manner he not
that the line from Helena to Butte is Ia.
with steel rails Of seventy five pounds p
yard section, and white oak ties have be-
laid on al 1.-The curves. He built for pc
manence, but he also built to carry bus
lness."