Steel Rails - Part 9

Originally published in the Hysham Echo on Dec. 30, 1926

(By Dan R. Conway)

Cont. from last week

Through N. P. Line Completed

The through line of the rival Northern Pacific was completed by 1883, by the driving of the last spike in western Montana. Here was real transcontinental operation, while as yet the Manitoba (as Hill’s road was still called) was but part way across the country.

“In January, 1886, the Montana Central Railroad company was organized, ostensibly 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 Montana Central was, to all intents and purposes, James J. Hill. It was organized to occupy the Montana field until the Manitoba should be ready for the rush westward from Minot which was to break the world’s record for railroad building. The next year, that rush came the same contractors who had made a record in the building of the Canadian Pacific were employed here. Mr. Hill knew what could be done, and exacted it mercilessly. Not only grading, but bridging was done ahead of the track layers, so that the rails were shot out and spiked down with amazing rapidity. Mr. D. C. Shephard, the chief contractor, has preserved in a memoir, a concise description of this performance as an engineering feat:

“ ‘ In the year 1887 our firm constructed 1,175 miles of railroad, of which the remarkably rapid construction of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway from Minot to Helena formed a part. The track laying on this great work was commenced five miles west of Minot, April 1st, and was completed to Helena November 18, 1887, a distance of 643 miles and at an average rate for each working day of three and one-fourth miles.’

Building Method First Consideration

“A year later Mr. Hill reports upon the performance of the completed work. As always, the method of building, with relation to operation, comes first in his thought. ‘Reference has heretofore been made to the exceptional character of this exception of eighteen miles of temporary lines as to grades and curvature. With the line the maximum is 31.7 feet to the mile, and on about 400 miles of the 550 from Minot to Great Falls the maximum is only 21 feet to the mile.’ In like manner he notes that the line from Helena to Butte is laid with steel rails of seventy-five pounds per yard section, and white oak ties have been laid on all the curves. He built for permanence, but he also built to carry business.”

Paris Gibson and “Jim” Hill

How the influence of this empire builder reached out and into the building of a Montana City, is briefly explained by the late Senator Paris Gibson. Mr. Gibson, in his memoirs, stated:

“The all-important object before me at that time was to acquire title to the lands required for the future city and to secure the lands along the river adjacent to the several important water-power sites. As this step involved the expenditure of much more money than I could command, I decided, after weighing the situation carefully, to open communication with James J. Hill, whom I had known for many years while living in Minneapolis and who had recently acquired great wealth through the purchases of the bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Having decided upon this step, without delay I opened correspondence with Mr. Hill, and during the summer and early fall, I placed before him by letter, much information as to the extent and availability of the water-power as well as to the coal and other useful minerals immediately tributary to it and, in November 1882, I went to St. Paul where I at once concluded an agreement with Mr. Hill, whereby we were to become jointly interested in the development of a city here, at the head of the falls.”

Hill’s First Visit to Great Falls

And, the founder of Great Falls, also adds:
“In June of this year, (1883) James J. Hill came out from St. Paul to Helena over the Northern Pacific Railway, which had just been completed, and having been met by Theodore Gibson he proceeded to Great Falls by team, employing relays in order to make the journey in the shortest time possible. Arriving here on an early morning in June, I met him at the ferry, just below the mouth of Sun River, and took him over the townsite, and then to the several falls above the big falls, after which I piloted him to one or two openings in the adjacent Sand Coulee coal fields. Returning to my tent at the foot of the Long Pool, we enjoyed a fine dinner prepared by John Woods. It was evident that what Mr. Hill had seen during the day had made a deep impression on his mind for, while standing on a spot about 50 feet away from my tent, this man of wonderful perception and of broad vision outlined to me a plan for the extension of the Great Northern Railway, (then called the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway), westward from the Red River valley to Great Falls and assured me that this great work would at once be undertaken and would be pushed forward to completion in a shorter time than any trunk road on the continent had ever been built. This great plan for railway extension seemed to proceed, fully matured, from the brain of this remarkable man as we stood near the head of the rapids that mark the beginning of the falls of the Missouri.”

A Humorous Incident at Fort Benton

Many stories have been told of James J. Hill, depicting incidents akin to this railroad building enterprises. Most of these praise the “empire builder; others curse him; still others are of a humorous nature.

Despite the many yarns of Ole, his bull and “Yim Hill”, there are few persons who “slipped things over” on “Jim” Hill, and, as the history of a few Montana towns and communities will well bear out, there are few associations of individuals or communities which bear the distinction of having gone “one better” than the great railroad magnate. It is a fact, however, that the little river town, Fort Benton DID “slip one over on “Jim” Hill.

It was during the building of the Great Northern railway from Havre that Fort Benton made Mr. Hill do a thing he very much did not want to do - and Fort Benton made him do it and like it.

The story was told a few years ago by John Farrell who was an official of the Oregon, Washington Railway and navigation company. Mr. Farrell was in charge of various departments of construction work when the line was being rushed to Great Falls and Helena. The narrative here referred to is best told in Mr. Farrell’s own words:

“I was in charge of a construction gang and train that was ‘dressing’ the road-bed and laying rails from Havre to Helena. We had reached a point near Fort Benton when we learned that Mr. Hill and a party of officials were to arrive within the next two days. These men were making a general inspection tour of the work and were going on to Helena. They were coming by train as far as Fort Benton and from there would drive through to Helena.

“I gave out the news and immediately the people of Fort Benton arranged a big ‘banquet-breakfast’ I suppose you would call it. The arrangements for this big party were going on finely and Mr. Hill was informed that he would be royally entertained in Fort Benton. He wired me to have outfits ready to start in the morning as soon as the train arrived.

Couldn’t Hire a Rig

“We who were on the job know that the ‘banquet-breakfast’ might not be altogether a love feast, because Fort Benton did not relish the idea of the railroad being built so far from the then main part of the town. Mr. Hill must have ‘gotten wind’ of this and the result - his decision to go right through to Helena.

“I had nothing to do but obey orders. When I received Mr. Hill’s wire I began making arrangements for his trip to Helena without the Fort Benton stopover.

“I went to the largest livery stable in town and asked for teams and drivers for a trip to Helena, the outfits to be ready at eight o’clock next morning, the time scheduled for the arrival of Mr. Hill and party. To my dismay, I was told that all the outfits had been engaged and my order could not be taken or filled. I went to another stable. I got the same answer.

Nothing Doing Anywhere

“All day I went from place to place trying to get those teams. I went to the farmers near the city. Same answer. Nowhere, for love or money - I had increased the price offered generally charged in my now almost frantic efforts to carry out Mr. Hill’s orders - but I couldn’t get the teams. Someone had ‘tipped’ Mr. Hill’s hand. The whole town and the farming community near it was a combination in restraint of trade as far as Mr. Hill and his party were concerned.

“I was ‘stumped.’ I had done all possible but had to admit defeat. When Mr. Hill’s train arrived, the whole town was at the little shack station platform to meet him. He asked for his outfit to go on to Helena - then asked for me. I explained as best I could. After some discussion, very distasteful discussion to me, Mr. Hill laughed and proved himself a ‘good-sport.’ He took his party to the ‘banquet-breakfast’ and immediately after the people of Fort Benton had finished with him, he found better outfits awaiting him at the door than I could have hired. He and his party were then set down in Helena in what was record time for the distance in those days.

The first railroad train to reach Great Falls - This is a photograph of the crowd of enthusiastic citizens who participated in the exercises akin to the arrival of the first train at the Electric City on the afternoon of October 15, 1887. This is from a photograph loaned for use in this paper by Mrs. Volmey G. Babcock of Great Falls.

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