The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1936-12-11

the company, the success OF which was
still a matter of doubt. At his recon-
mendation and largely through his eff
forts, bonds were placed to the amount
of 81, 500 900, secured by a mortgage on
the section between the Missouri and
share of the land grant at the rate of
Is, 900 acres for each mile of completed
road. Thus at length the line was
pushed westward from the Missouri.
After Mr.. Billings was made presi-
dent of the road in 1879, came the most
active period in the history of its con-
struction. At his advice the directors
cific coast end of the line from the
juncture of the Snake and Columbia
rivers east to the Lake Pend d'Oreille.
AS in the case of the Missouri river eX-
tension, bonds were issued, secured by
a mortgage on the road and land grant,
in this instance at the rate of $2O,O0O
a mile. In the following year, while
divisions was still in progress, con-
struction was begun westward from the
Yellowstone and preparations made for
building along the entire line.
In 1880, through the banking house
of Winslow, Lanier & Co., of New York,
a general mortgage was executed for
$4,000, 900, issued in bonds bearing in
IC1CSU az " pSASSAAO Ian
1921. The issue was taken by a syn
dictate at prices ranging slightly above
80 and with a bonus of 5 percent in
preferred stock. When. in 1881, con-
troll of the road passed into the hands
of Henry Willard and associates, Bill
lings resigned as president.
Generous to Namesake City
Billings was named after him by the
group of Northern Pacific officials who
1o;J o,,f thu ritu oYo6 uJhn had hPPn
associated with him in the building
and management of the road. Mr.. Bill
lings' connection with the city did not
begin until after its founding, but he
later had much to do with its upbuild-
ing and made generous donations to
it's welfare. Almost before the town
had emerged from the tent stage, ne
EDUCATIONAL church, although he him.
self was a Presbyterian. He also gave
money towards the erection of the
first school building. The Parmly Bill
lings Memorial library was later given
to the city. In all, the gifts of the Bill
lings family to the city of Billings total
in the neighborhood of $125,0OO.
ton, VT, Sept. 81, 1923. When he was
IL years old his parents, with their
family of II children, moved to Wood
stock, w.t., which has remained the Bill
lings home since that time. Frederick
Billings was graduated from the Uni
versity of Vermont in 1874, then studied
law in the office of o. P. Chandler of
Woodstock, and was admitted to the
bar in 1848. For two years he was
civil and military attache to Gov. Hor-
ace Eaton of Vermont.
In the fall of 1848, Billings Joined the
rush to California where gold had been
discovered in 1847. He landed in Cali
fornia in the spring of 1849, after a
trip around Cape Horn, but he had no
notion of engaging in mining. He was
a lawyer, and he opened law offices in
San Francisco. After practicing for a
time alone he formed a partnership
with Archibald C.. Peachy, under the
firm name of Billings & Peachy.
Influential Lawyer
From the first Mr.. Billings ranked
foremost among the members of the
bar in the new metropolis. He avoided
the drudgery of the profession and
went in for giving legal advice to men
of business where important interests