Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens, Part 108

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company
Number of Pages: 872

USA > Minnesota > Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens > Part 108
USA > North Dakota > Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens > Part 108

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

But the rigid system instituted by Mr. Canfield of guarding the track the whole distance by day and night, the employment of experienced, loyal railroad officers and men whom he knew, and in whom he had confidence; an implicit obedience of all employes to the rules and regulations, enabled him to transport the immense amount of freight, passengers and troops during the whole blockade without an accident of any kind. Never, perhaps, has there been, before or since in this country, so much business done in the same length of time, with so much promptness and safety, upon a single-track railroad. Upon its successful operation the fate of the nation may then have been said to de- pend. Even after the Army of the Po-

tomac had been collected, had the opera- tion of this railroad been cut off by the rebels, Washington with all its treasures and archives, and even the Army of the Potomac itself, would probably have fallen into the hands of the enemy, the effect of which at that time upon the future of this nation no one can imagine. The recognition of the South- ern Confederacy by foreign governments would have been assured, which, together with the small Northern army then in the field and the sympathy of the copperhead element in the North with secession, the preservation of the Union and the suppression of the Rebellion would, to say the least, have been much more difficult. The prevention of such a calamity was due to a great extent to the great experience, untiring watchful- ness, cool judgment and careful manage- ment of Mr. Canfield, who was master of the situation, keeping his own council as well as the secrets of the Government entrusted to him, so very necessary in those critical times.

Soon after reaching Washington, Mr. Can- field, with the assistance of the Hon. Solomon Foote, senator from Vermont, got permission from Mr. Cameron, secretary of war, to raise a cavalry regiment in Vermont, and within twenty-four hours from the time it was sug- gested he received a commission for Col. L. B. Platt, of Colchester, with instructions to purchase the horses and raise the regiment at once. As Mr. Canfield could not be spared from Washington, he wrote to lead- ing men in different parts of Vermont, ap- pealing to them to assist, among them Z. H. Canfield, of Arlington, and J. D. Hatch, of Windsor, the result of which was, within sixty days, Col. Platt reported with his regi- ment at Washington, which rendered service during the war second to no other in the army. The general movement of the army the next season into Virginia and the South raised the blockade and removed the necessity of further vigilance at Washington;

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and the death of Mr. Doolittle, the superin- tendent of the steamers on Lake Champlain, created a vacancy which the directors of the company desired Mr. Canfield to fill, which he accepted, returned to Bur- lington, Vermont, and for several years was the general superintendent and treas- urer of the company.

During his superintendency the business of the company increased rapidly, and the few years during his administration were the most prosperous the company ever saw.

In 1865 the Clyde Coal and Mining Com- pany, of Nova Scotia, owned mostly in New York and Pennsylvania, secured his services to go to Cape Breton to open some mines of gas coal, from which place the gas com- panies of New England, New York and even Washington were supplied. While there Mr. Canfield, in the winter of 1865-66, made an examination of Louisburg Harbor, the best harbor on the Atlantic coast, from Cape North to Cape Sable, thinking it would ultimately become the terminus of the trans- continental railroads, from which point a steamer can make Liverpool in four days. Since that time railroads have been built from the Pacific Ocean to within 100 miles of this place, thus practically confirming his views on the matter.

During the war Josiah Perham, of Maine, had procured a charter from the State of Maine for a railroad from Maine to the Pacific coast, which he called the Peoples' Railroad. His plan was that no person should have more than one share of stock, and that it should never be mortgaged, a purely visionary scheme. Subsequently his friends induced him to abandon it, or in other words, apply to Congress for a new charter with more practical provisions, which, by the assistance of Maj. Isaac I. Stevens, Colonel Aldrich, of Minnesota, and others, he procured under the name of the North- ern Pacific. After the war was over he

made an attempt to organize it and carry it forward, but his plans were too impracticable, and after spending much time and all his means, as well as some of that of his friends, having issued $600,000 of preferred stock, also, he became discouraged and proposed to transfer the charter and franchise to a for- eign party. One of his neighbors, the Hon. R. D. Rice, of Maine, hearing of this, called upon the Hon. J. Gregory Smith, of Ver- mont, and Benjamin P. Cheney, of Boston, who knew of the value of the franchise, and they arranged with Mr. Perhanı, the ostensi- ble proprietor, to transfer the whole enter- prise to them to save it to this country and from going into the hands of the Grand Trunk Railroad of Canada, which was endeavoring to get control of it. An active man was wanted to take charge of the busi- ness, to attend to all the details, to bring the merits of the enterprise before Congress and the country. Mr. Canfield, who was well known to all these gentlemen as having given much attention to the matter in former years, with Mr. Johnson, was appointed a director and general agent of the company, with power to take such measures as he thought necessary to get the company into operation, and to carry out the provisions of the charter in the work of construction, under the advice of the directors from time to time. After the failure of Congress in 1866 and 1867 to grant aid, it was evident that the temper of that body was hostile to further government aid to railroads, which was encouraged by those interested in the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, to prevent, if possible, the building of the northern and southern lines. The directors of the Northern Pacific were much discouraged, and at times were about ready to abandon the enterprise and lose what money they had already put in. But the charter would expire in two years. Mr. Canfield, who had been so many years work- ing for the enterprise, would not consent to

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give it up without one more effort to save it, knowing full well that with the state of public sentiment then existing, if this charter expired, another would never be granted.

To secure an extension of the charter and give it a more national character than it seemed to have had before, in consequence of most of those identified with it being from New England, Mr. Canfield conceived the idea of a syndicate of gentlemen, to be made up from those occupying prominent posi- tions in the leading railroads of the country. He went to St. Albans and laid the matter before Governor Smith, who was then presi- dent of the Northern Pacific Railroad, who concurred in it; but, being too busy with the affairs of the Vermont Central Railroad to give much personal attention to the plan, he told Mr. Canfield to go ahead and he would endorse anything he might do. Mr. Canfield left Burlington for New York on the 26th day of December, 1866, with a heavy heart, but resolved to make a last desperate effort to save the magnificent enterprise about which he had already spent so many years of his life. Mr. William B. Ogden, of Chicago, with whom Mr. Canfield had long been acquainted, was the president of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, was better informed upon the resources of the great Northwest, and had spent more time in investigating them than any other man of his time, and could better appreciate the magnitude of the Northern Pacific and the development of an empire which must follow its construction. Mr. Canfield felt that his first point was to secure the active co-operation of Mr. Ogden and induce him totake hold of it, notwithstanding he was overwhelmed with business.

It was some days before he could get Mr. Ogden to give any attention to it; but finally secured an appointment with him to spend a day at his home at Boscobel, near

High Bridge, twelve miles from New York, and take up the subject.

Mr. Canfield, early on the day appointed, went to Boscobel with his maps, plans and printed copies of the charter, and commenc- ing with its provisions and discussing them, he soon enlisted the interest of Mr. Ogden to such an extent that they continued their discussion from 9 o'clock in the morning until midnight. Mr. Canfield's plan was to form a syndicate of twelve men, representing the leading railway, express and transporta- tion interests of the country, and to give to each one-twelfth of the enterprise, they pay- ing therefor their proportion of the original cost. Thus the twelve would own the enter- prise, each subscriber coming in on the "ground floor." The twelve names pre- sented by Mr. Canfield were acceptable to Mr. Ogden.

During this interview at Boscobel, in con- sidering the various questions and emer- gencies which might arise in the unknown future before the road should be "put upon its feet," and the work of construc- tion commenced, Mr. Ogden said to Mr. Canfield, " How much money will it require to bring this about ? how much money will each one have to pay, and how long will it take ? "

Mr. Canfield frankly replied, " that it was a long road to travel, that it had bitter and strong enemies in and out of congress to contend with, and that you, Mr. Ogden, with your experience, know that it would take considerable money to make surveys and do preliminary work upon so long a route across the Rocky mountains, of which each one is expected to furnish his proportion from time to time."

" What then," said Mr. Ogden, " will be the chance of our getting our money back ?" " About one in fifty," said Mr. Canfield. " A fine chance," said Mr. Ogden ; " and upon what ground then, Mr. Canfield, do

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you ask us to put up our money, with so little prospect of return ?"

" Upon this ground, Mr. Ogden, which I have no doubt will commend itself to your good judgment : This enterprise is one of the greatest ever undertaken in the world - it is equal to that of the East India Com- pany- it is the only continuous charter ever granted across this continent, from water to water, and with the prevailing sentiment, which is increasing in this coun- try, of hostility to railroad grants, assisted by Government aid of subsidy, or even wild lands, if this is allowed to lapse, another will never be granted ; it will open up an empire, now occupied by the savages, which will furnish happy homes for millions of the poor of this and other countries, and the resources and wealth which it will develop will simply be incalculable; and withal it will be the great highway for the trade of China, Japan and the East Indies, across the continent. It is due to the people of this country and to this nation, that you, gentlemen, whom Providence has placed at the head of the great transportation inter- ests of the country, should step in at this crisis and use your influence and advance your money to save this magnificent enter- prise from destruction."

" And suppose I put my money in for such a laudable purpose, what have you got to give me or others who may be associated with us to show for it?"

"I have nothing to give. I have sug- gested the names of twelve men, including ourselves," said Mr. Canfield, "whom I believe to be honorable men, and whose word, once given, will serve every purpose."

" I suppose it is, then," said Mr. Ogden, "simply a matter of honor between gentle- men."

" Exactly."

" Well, Mr. Canfield, that is high and noble ground. The charter must be saved and I

will take hold with you. Meet mne at my office, 57 Broadway, to-morrow morning, and we will lay siege to the directors of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, whose influence we must enlist." So saying, Mr. Ogden rang his bell for his coachman and directed him to drive Mr. Canfield to the Fifth Avenue Hotel.

It was past midnight, and Mr. Canfield retired much lighter-hearted than when he left Vermont, and feeling that a good day's work had been done, and that daylight was about to dawn upon his favorite project.

In order that there should be no cause for disagreement in the future and that the objects for which the syndicate was formed should be distinctly understood, as up to this time Mr. Canfield had made only a rough sketch of them, he telegraphed to Vermont to Governor Smith to come to New York, and with him spent most of the 10th day of January, 1867, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in putting on to paper in a condensed form the agreement for the twelve parties to sign, which was really the constitution upon which was based the future proceedings and which was afterwards known in the affairs of the company as the "Original Interests Agree- ment." It was late in the afternoon when they took this document to 57 Broadway to submit to Mr. Ogden, which, after discussion and explanation, received his hearty approval without a single alteration. It was getting dark, and as Mr. Ogden had to drive to his home at Boscobel, twelve miles, he said :

" Well, gentlemen, is there anything else to do ? "

" Yes, there is one thing more," said Mr. Canfield, "that is, for you to take the pen and put your name to this paper for one of the one-twelfth interests."

"But it is so dark," said Mr. Ogden, “I do not know as I can see to write, and if I do, as you can read it."

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" Well," said Mr. Canfield, " try it and we will accept the signature for better or worse." Mr. Ogden then signed his name and they separated. As Governor Smith and Mr. Canfield walked up Broadway, passing Trinity church, Governor Smith said he felt that a critical turning-point in the Northern Pacific enterprise had been passed and that that signature fixed the star of the Northern Pacific.

Mr. Canfield and the Governor soon after procured the remaining signatures to the agreement, which composed the syndicate, as follows : J. Gregory Smith, of St. Albans, Vermont, president of the Central Vermont Railroad ; Richard D. Rice, of Augusta, Maine, president of the Maine Central Rail- road ; Thomas H. Canfield, of Burlington, Vermont ; William B. Ogden, of Chicago, Illinois, president of the Chicago & North- western Railroad; Robert H. Bardell, of New York, president of the Erie Railroad ; Danforth N. Barry, of New York, president of Wells, Fargo & Co., Express Company ; Ashbel H. Barney, New York, president of United States Express Company ; Benjamin P. Cheney, of Boston, president of United States & Canada Express Company ; Will- iam G. Fargo, of Buffalo, New York, vice- president of New York Central Railroad and president of the American Express Com- pany ; George W. Cass, of Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, president Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad; J. Edgar Thompson, of Philadelphia, Pa., president of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad ; and Edward Reilley, of Lan- caster, Pennsylvania. At a later day a division of some of these interests was made by which Jay Cooke & Co., Charles B. Wright, Thomas A. Scott, of Philadelphia ; Frederick Billings, of Woodstock, Vermont, and William Windom and William S. King, of Minnesota, became actively interested, the two latter gentlemen being the only men from Minnesota, except Governor Ramsey

and Mr. Donnelly, who manifested at that day any great interest in the undertaking, and the only men from that State who ad- vanced any money to help along the enter- prise. Strange does it seem that the citizens of a State which it was evident then must receive, and since has received, so much benefit from this railroad, should not have taken more interest in promoting it, when it needed the most assistance in its dark days, and when men from the East who had not a dollar of property in Minnesota were de- voting their time and money to organize and put into operation this magnificent under- taking.

And at this day it seems hardly possible to believe that all the delegation in congress from Illinois except General Logan and Nor- man B. Judd; from Indiana except Gov- ernor Morton, Daniel Voorhees and M. C. Morton ; from Ohio except Senator Sherman and two or three others, should have opposed it in congress, and that such men as E. B. Washburn, John Wentworth and Columbus Delano should fight it bitterly on the floor for many days, and finally defeated any aid of any kind, either in subsidy of bonds or guarantee of interest.

Six of the former directors resigned, and Messrs. Ogden, Cass, Thomson, Berdell, Fargo and Canfield were elected in their places.

The new board found it necessary, in order to satisfy the numerous inquiries made in congress as to the practicability of the route, and in order to fix a definite location, to institute surveys from Lake Superior going west and from Puget Sound coming east. In order to do this Edwin F. Johnson was chosen chief engineer, and Thomas H. Can field general manager to collect funds, make disbursements and attend generally to the business of the company. Thus the two men who, in 1852, so often laid plans for a Pacific railroad in the " stone store " at Bur-

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lington, Vermont, were, after fifteen years, brought together again as the active men in starting forward and taking charge of this great enterprise.

Gen. Ira Spaulding was detailed as assist- ant engineer of the Minnesota division, with instructions to run a line from Bayfield, Wis- consin, to St. Cloud, Minnesota, thence via Sauk Centre and Alexandria, keeping south of the Leaf Hills, to some point on the Red River near Georgetown ; and another line from Superior, Wisconsin, in charge of M. C. Kimberly (now assistant manager of the road), via French Rapids (now near Brain- erd), Leaf River and Detroit Lake, to inter- cept the other line, which was done, making the point of intersection on the south branch of the Buffalo river, about two miles west of Glyndon. At that time it was the expecta- tion that the road would run north of the Missouri river, via Devil's Lake, Fort Ben- ton and Cadott's Pass, to Missoula, although the route via the Yellowstone was under consideration, and which was finally adopted, crossing the Rocky mountains at Mullan Pass to Missoula. The point of diver- gence of the Yellowstone route from the upper Missouri route was at the west end of the cut, two miles east of Audubon. Gen. James Tilton, of Delaware, who was the Government engineer appointed by Pres- ident . Pierce to establish the Willamette meridian and to survey the original town- ships in Oregon and Washington Territory, was employed on account of his familiarity with that country to examine the Cascade mountains, which presented the most formid- able barrier to the passage of a railroad. His examination determined the existence of at least three or four practicable passes in the Cascade range, viz : Peckwoods or the Caw- litz, south of Mount Tacoma, leading from the Cawlitz river on the west to the Atah- nam branch of the Yakima river on the east ; another, the Snoqualmie pass, north of

Mount Tacoma to Lake Kitchelas, a trib- utary of the Yakima; and Cady's pass, still farther north, between the waters of the We-nach-ee and Skykomish. Since that time a fourth one has been discovered between the Snoqualmie and Mount Tacoma, the Stampede pass, through which the rail- road now runs.

As there were hardly any settlements or roads then through the country where these lines passed, and the only way to reach the Pacific coast being by Panama and the Isth- mus, consequently, so soon after the war closed, when gold was 175 to 200, the expenses of all preliminary surveys or work over a country of thousands of miles, so inaccessible for ordinary transportation, many of the sup- plies having to be carried in upon the backs of horses and in some cases by Indians, became very great, and at times it seemed almost impossible to carry on the work at all. At the same time, while these surveys and other explorations were being made, its enemies were at work with congress to pre- vent an extension of its charter, destroy its land grant, and defeat a money subsidy, such as had been given to the Union Pacific. To accomplish this, strong inducements were offered by powerful parties for a surrender of the west end of the line from Montana to Puget Sound to competing routes, coupled with the assurance that with such surrender their assistance would be given to secure a subsidy for the whole line, but without such surrender they would defeat it. Tempting as such a proposition was financially, in the straitened circumstances of the company, yet it was spurned with contempt by the officers, and Mr. Canfield gave the party making it to understand that it was the only continuous charter that ever was or proba- bly ever would be granted across the conti- nent, and that under no circumstances or emergency, however pressing, would the promoters submit to its dismemberment,

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subsidy or no subsidy, and that the railroad would be built as a continuous, unbroken, transcontinental line, under its charter, intact and unimpaired, from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean.

The result has been that the promise of the party was fulfilled, and the subsidy was defeated, while that of Mr. Canfield has also been fulfilled, and the Northern Pacific Rail- road has been built from Lake Superior to Puget Sound with its charter unimpaired. Too much credit can not be given to the pro- moters for taking their strong stand against dismemberment in those stormy days.

Notwithstanding all these difficulties, in addition to numerous others which the lim- its of this article will not permit to be men- tioned, the subscribers to the syndicate con- tinued cheerfully to make advances for the cost of surveys and other expenses of the company until they had furnished about a quarter of a million of dollars from their own private pockets, and until the company was fairly under way by the financial arrange- ment with Jay Cooke & Co., Mr. Canfield in the meantime receiving all the moneys, making the disbursements, keeping the accounts until they were turned over to the new organization, arising from the arrange- ment with Messrs. Cooke & Co., and the original twelve parties to the syndicate relieved from their personal obligations. During the whole of this time not a member of the syndicate hesitated for a moment when called upon for his proportion, nor entertained a doubt as to the ultimate results of the undertaking.

To those of the present day who pass over this beautiful, diversified country of 2,000 iniles, from Lake Superior to Puget Sound, at the rate of forty miles per hour, in the elegant palace cars of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, through flourishing villages and cities, amid the golden wheat fields of Minnesota and Dakota, the rich

mines, and flocks and "herds upon a thousand hills " in Montana, and the mag- nificent forests of Washington Territory, it is impossible by any language to con- vey to them an idea of the innumerable trials, the almost insuperable difficulties and insurmountable obstacles which surrounded this enterprise for two or three years, even before a bar of iron was laid, not to mention those which the panic of 1873 entailed upon it. But for the advances, courage, faith and influence of these twelve men, there would have been no Northern Pacific Railroad to- day. Those were the dark days of the enter- prise, when it required faith and courage, when the project was ridiculed as impossible, and its advocates as crazy and visionary ; and in view of the ignorance which then pervaded the whole country as to the climate, resources and practicability of this route to the Pacific, and the consequent obloquy and ridicule which was poured out upon those who had undertaken it, it is safe to say that at least as much credit is due to those twelve men who, amid good and evil report, stood up with their brains and money and carried it through, as to those in later days, who, after its practicability had been demonstrated, confidence created, money raised and success assured, have been instrumental in its final completion.

Mr. Canfield spent much time in Wash- ington at different times to secure the neces- sary legislation for extending the charter of the company, procuring the right to mort- gage, and the right to build from Portland to Puget Sound as well as resisting the repeated attacks upon the land grant. Inasmuch as sec- tion 10 of the original charter prohibited the company from making any mortgage or issu- ing any bonds, without which it would be im- possible to construct such a road, Mr. Canfield went in the winter of 1868-69 to Washington, and by the assistance of Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, and others, got an amendment to

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Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens, Part 108

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company Number of Pages: 872

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company
Number of Pages: 872