History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 89

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 89

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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, 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 commencing with its provisions and discussing them, he soon enlisted the interest of Mr. Ogden to such an extent that they continued their discussion from nine 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 transportation interests of the country, and to give to each one-twelfth of the enterprise, they paying therefor their proportion of the original cost. Thus the twelve would own the enterprise, each subscriber coming in on the " ground floor." The twelve names presented by Mr. Canfield were acceptable to Mr. Ogden.

During this interview at Boscobel, in considering 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 construction 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, which each one is expected to furnish his proportion of 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 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 Company -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 country, of hostility to railroad grants, assisted by govern- ment 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

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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 Provi- dence has placed at the head of the great transportation interests of the country, should step in at this crisis and use your influence and advance your money to save this mag- nificent enterprise from destruction."

" Well, Mr. Canfield, that is high and noble ground. The charter must be saved and I will take hold with you. Meet me at my office, 57 Broadway, to-morrow morn- ing, and we will lay siege to the directors of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, whose influence we must enlist."

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 Ver- mont 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 Agreement." It was late in the after- noon 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 altera- tion.

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."

"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 Smith and Canfield walked up Broadway, passing Trinity Church, Governor Smith said he felt that a crit- ical turning-point in the Northern Pacific enterprise had been passed and that the pros- pects for the future were very encouraging.

Mr. Canfield soon after procured the remaining signatures to the agreement, which composed the syndicate, as follows :

J. Gregory Smith, R. D. Rice, Thomas H. Canfield, William B. Ogden, Robert H. Berdell, D. N. Barney and B. P. Cheney, A. H. Barney and William G. Fargo, Geo. W. Cass, J. Edgar Thomson, Edwin Reilly.

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-

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field general manager to collect assessments, 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 Burlington, Vt., were after fifteen years brought together again as the active men in starting forward and taking charge of the work.

The subscribers to the syndicate continued to make advances for the cost of surveys and other expenses of the company until they had furnished about a quarter of a mil- lion of dollars from their own private pockets, and until the company was fairly under way by the financial arrangement with Jay Cooke & Co., Mr. Canfield in the mean time receiving all the moneys, making the disbursements, keeping the accounts until they were turned over to the new organization, arising from the arrangement with Messrs. Cooke & Co., and the original twelve parties to the syndicate relieved from their personal obligations. 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 enterprise, when it required faith and courage, when the project was ridi- culed as impossible and its advocates as crazy and visionary ; and in view of the igno- rance which then pervaded the whole country as to the climate, resources and practi- cability 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 report 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 as- sured, have been instrumental in its final completion.

Mr. Canfield spent much time in Washington at different times to procure 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.

The Charter Almost Lost .- But for his vigilance the company would have lost its charter in 1868. The matter had been before Congress, and after much opposition from various quarters, a bill was passed by the House and concurred in by the Senate on the 28th day of June, while the charter expired on the 2d day of July. The bill had been returned from the Senate, reported to the House, engrossed and passed on to the committee on enrolled bills, of which Mr. Holman was chairman, to be taken to the president for his signature. Mr. Canfield, finding the bill did not reach the White House as it should, and as there was but a day or two left, became very nervous and uneasy, as well as unable to find Mr. Holman, who had taken charge of the bill. In this emer- gency he consulted with Messrs. Windom and Woodbridge, members of the House, and they went to the speaker, Mr. Colfax, who ordered the desk of Mr. Holman to be opened, and there found the bill and gave it to another member of the committee to take to the White House. It is supposed Mr. Holman was sick somewhere and had forgotten about it. But for this watchfulness on the part of Mr. Canfield, the Northern Pacific charter might have slept the sleep of death in the desk of its worst enemy in the House. It was signed by the president July 1, only one day before the charter expired.

Mr. Canfield was one of the committee, consisting of Messrs. Smith, Ogden and Rice, who went to Ogontz, Mr. Cooke's country residence, near Philadelphia, in May, 1869, to make the arrangement with Jay Cooke & Co. to negotiate the bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad. After spending a day or two and finally agreeing to the

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THOMAS HAWLEY CANFIELD.

terms of the arrangement, Mr. Cooke, just as the committee were leaving, supposing all things were done, insisted upon a condition, as a postscript to the agreement, that the agreement should not be binding upon him, unless by a personal examination by him- self or his agents, of the whole line, it should be shown as equal to all the representa- tions as to resources and practicability which the directors had made. This Mr. Cooke insisted upon, even if it should take a year to do it. Mr. Canfield was selected by the directors to take charge of Mr. Cooke's party, consisting of W. Milnor Roberts, engi- neer ; Samuel Wilkeson, William G. Moorehead, jr., the Rev. Dr. Claxton, and William Johnson, a son of the chief engineer, which was to meet him at Salt Lake City on the 14th of June.

From there they went by the Central Pacific Railroad to Sacramento and Marys- ville, and then by stage through Northern California and Oregon 700 miles to Portland, Oregon, arriving there on the 4th of July, 1869. From there they went to Puget Sound - most of the way by stage- procured a small steamer, making a thorough examina- tion of all the bays, towns and harbors, and returning to Portland they went by steamer up the Columbia River to Walla Walla. There Mr. Canfield fitted out a horse-back ex- pedition, consisting of thirteen saddle and pack horses, and as there were no settlements of any consequence beyond Walla Walla, was obliged to take provisions upon the backs of his horses sufficient to last the party thirty days, which it was estimated would bring them to Helena, Montana, 500 miles. They left Walla Walla on the 20th of July, with the thermometer at 110º above zero, making about twenty miles a day, lying upon the ground at night without any tent to cover them. They went from Walla Walla to Pend d'Oreille Lake, thence up the Clark's Fork of the Columbia to Cabinet Rapids, Thompson's Falls, Horse Plains, along the Flathead and Jocko Rivers, through the Cor- iacen Defile to Missoula, thence along the Blackfoot to Gold Creek, now Garrison's, where they made a detour through the Deer Lodge Valley to examine the Deer Lodge Pass. Returning to Gold Creek, the first place gold was discovered in Montana, they crossed the Rocky Mountains to Helena at Mullan's Pass, where the railroad tunnel now is. Here they disbanded their horses and took stages to Fort Benton, examining Cadotte's Pass on their return, which was the pass Governor Stevens and his expedition crossed in 1854. Here they met an Indian outbreak, but escaped without injury. From Hel- ena they went to Bozeman, crossing the Bozeman Pass to the Yellowstone River, where Livingston now is. The hostile attitude of the Indians prevented them from going any further down the Yellowstone River, as they had intended, which caused them to turn back to Bozeman, the party first assuring Mr. Canfield that their failure to go down the Yellowstone would not interfere with the substance of their report. Mr. Canfield then turned back with his party, went across the country to Virginia City and took stages to Corrinne, and then by the Union Pacific Railroad to the East, reaching New York af- ter an absence of about three months. During the trip the engineers had been very ret- icent as to their views of the route, which created no little anxiety on the part of Mr. Canfield, lest they might not make a favorable report. This was a very important mat- ter to the company at this time, as upon the report of these men Mr. Cooke would fur- nish the money or not to go on with the construction. Mr. Canfield felt that a great responsibility was placed upon him, as in the event of his not showing them a good route, such as would be satisfactory, the whole arrangement with Mr. Cooke must be abandoned, as well as the construction of the road. But Mr. Canfield, by his study of the route in former years - from the information he had obtained from prominent and

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

intelligent citizens in Oregon, Washington and Montana, and officers of the army - was enabled to conduct the expedition through a favorable route, which subsequent surveys have confirmed, and the railroad from the Columbia River to the Yellowstone has been finally built on the route indicated, and most of the way in sight of the very trail which this party made in 1869. The result of the expedition turned out favorably, and the gentlemen sent on by Mr Cooke unanimously reported that the half had not been told by the directors, and that the country was far better than they had ever represented, which complied with the condition required by Mr. Cooke, and he at once commenced negotiating the bonds, and the work of construction began. It was soon found that many of the crossings of rivers and other places favorable to the location of towns were upon even sections, while the company, under their grant from Congress, received only the odd ones, and had no right under their charter to buy lands. In order to get over this difficulty a company was formed called " The Lake Superior and Puget Sound Com- pany," of which Mr. Canfield was made president, which was empowered to buy lands, build boats and do most any kind of business to further the interest of the railroad com- pany.

In carrying out the plans contemplated by the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Com- pany, Mr. Canfield located and laid out on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, between Lake Superior and the Red River, the towns of Kimberly, Aitkin, Brainerd, Motley, Aldrich, Wadena, Perham, Audubon, Lake Park, Hawley, Glyndon and Moor- head.

In May, 1872, while there was not yet a white inhabitant west of the Red River, he crossed the plains with his horse and buggy, carrying his own provisions, from Moor- head 200 miles to the Missouri River, while it was yet Indian territory, and located Fargo, and laid out and located Valley City, Jamestown and Bismarck, and the crossing of the Missouri by the railroad.

In November, 1871, he crossed the desert from Ogden on the Union Pacific Rail- road, when there were very few settlers in that country, to Snake River near Shoshone Falls, thence to Boise City, Idaho, and to Baker City, Eastern Oregon, via the Burnt Creek crossing of the Snake River, where the Oregon Short Line Railroad has just reached, thence across the Blue Mountains to Umatilla, on the Columbia River, and thence by steamer to Portland, Oregon. While on the Pacific coast Mr. Canfield for the second time explored Puget Sound with reference to selecting a site for the future terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and secured large tracts of land at some eight or ten different places on the Sound, any of which might be available for a terminus of the railroad.

While it always had been the intention and policy of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to use the navigable waters of the lakes and rivers across the continent in the first instance and connecting the portages by railroad, in order to get a communication through the whole route as soon as possible, which would at first make the Columbia River route available and Portland the terminus of the branch line, and the commercial center of Oregon. Yet Mr. Canfield always insisted that sooner or later the interest of the railroad would demand the construction of the short line across the Cascade Mountains to Puget Sound. However much the views of the directors of that day may have been modified in favor of Portland as a final terminus in consequence of the ob- stacles presented by the Cascade Range, he never subscribed to their views, but took the ground that the future great commercial city on the Pacific coast would be on the

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THOMAS HAWLEY CANFIELD.

waters of Puget Sound, where it could be approached with ease through the Straits of Fuca by the largest vessels from all parts of the world, without being subjected to delays, damage and shipwreck by the bars which necessarily are formed at the mouths of the great rivers. Accordingly, as above stated, he secured large tracts of land at various points on the Sound from Olympia to Bellingham Bay, and had a thorough examination made of all the bays and harbors, as well as of the country contiguous, with reference to the practicability of approach by a railroad, and the supply of fresh water for a city.

At Tacoma he purchased a large tract, believing it would be the point on the sound where a railroad from the south would first touch it, and connect it with the Willamette valley and all the immense productive country west of the Cascade Mountains for hundreds of miles to California and beyond by branches to Utah and Nevada, at the same time being located, as it were, in front of the Cowlitz, Natchez, Stampede, and Snoqualmie passes of the Cascade range, one of which he believed the railroad would, sooner or later, adopt as its crossing, as it would be the easiest point of access for the main line from the east, forming a junction at Tacoma with the lines from Oregon, California, Utah, and Nevada from the south ; even if in the future it should be deemed expedient by the company to continue the line down the sound to some point nearer to the en- trance of the Straits of Fuca as the final terminus. The wisdom of this selection has since been demonstrated by the construction of a railroad from California to Tacoma, and the Northern Pacific is also rapidly constructing its main line through the Stampede Pass to the same place.

Thus through the agency of Mr. Canfield the Northern Pacific Railroad Company has been enabled to secure a large tract of land on the Mediterranean of the Pacific, giving it ample facilities for its terminus, buildings, side tracks, wharves and warehouses, approachable without difficulty by the largest vessels in the world, as well as enabling it to lay out a city upon a plan and scale which shall adequately provide for all the wants and comforts of future generations, and which shall be a fitting counterpart to one to be built at its eastern terminus, Lake Superior, at the mouth of the waters of the St. Louis River, where Duluth and Superior now are, and which shall be the great center of business of that empire of the Northwest now being so rapidly developed, and second only to Chicago in population and commercial importance on the great chain of lakes.

At this time also Mr. Canfield located Tennio, Newaukem, Olequa, and Kalama, on the line between Tacoma and Portland. Kalama was selected because it was at the head of high water navigation of the Columbia River, at the same time being near Coffin Rock, which was one of the few places that the Columbia River could be bridged. Kalama was the place on the Pacific coast where the Northern Pacific Rail- road laid its first rail, and which was its headquarters for several years on that coast.

It was while here Mr. Canfield foresaw the importance which the Oregon Naviga- tion Company might be to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which was a com- pany owning twenty steamers, navigating from the ocean at Astoria the waters of the Columbia, Willamette and Snake Rivers, and Pend d'Oreille Lake for thousands of miles into Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana Territories. It was principally owned by Messrs. Ainsworth, Thompson and Reed of Portland, and Alvinza Hay- ward, of San Francisco.

Mr. Canfield commenced negotiations with them for the whole property, which finally resulted in Messrs. Ainsworth and Thompson meeting Mr. Canfield and Mr. Jay Cooke at the latter's residence, Ogontz, near Philadelphia, in the following winter, and

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

the sale was consummated, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company buying three- quarters of the stock of the Oregon Navigation Company, and the original parties re- taining one-quarter.

In 1872 Mr. Canfield escorted the board of directors of the Northern Pacific Rail- road to Oregon and Washington Territory, taking them from Sacramento to Portland overland, and thence to the Puget Sound. They visited all the principal places on the sound in a steamer, examining them with reference to fixing upon a terminus for the main line of the road on the Sound, which was subsequently settled upon as Tacoma.

The result of Mr. Canfield's experience is, he has traveled over nearly all the coun- try between Lake Superior and the Pacific Ocean via the northern route, on foot, or horseback, or muleback, in carts or wagons, long before the iron horse was heard in the land, and consequently has become familiar with the topography and character of the country.

Few men comprehended so fully at an early day, even when St. Paul and Minne- apolis were in their infancy, the great capability of this immense country - the fertility and extent of the Red River valley, equal to that of the Nile - the abundant resources of various kinds awaiting future development between Lake Superior and Puget Sound - their capacity for easy and rapid development, such as no other country has ever before shown, which, combined with the facilities offered by the Northern Pacific and Manitoba, and other railroads yet to be built, to hasten settlements and accommodate the people, will create a Northwestern empire which will not only add incalculable wealth to the nation, but will form an important factor in its future government.

Mr. Canfield continued as president of the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Com- pany, and a director of the Northern Pacific Railroad until the bankruptcy of the com- pany in 1873, when, upon its reorganization, it became the principal owner of the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Company, and no necessity existed longer for an active manager and Mr. Canfield resigned, after having devoted over twenty years of the prime of his life to inaugurate and put into operation this magnificent enterprise, with which his name must be forever identified as its most active organizer and promoter in its dark days, when very few had the faintest idea it would ever amount to anything.

His health was so much impaired that he was compelled to give up all active busi- ness and now lives at Burlington, Vt., spending a portion of his time at Lake Park, Minn., where he has a farm, and is demonstrating the importance of a more diversified system of farming, by raising, in addition to the various kinds of grain, horses, cattle, and sheep, instead of confining his work to producing wheat alone, which sooner or later will exhaust the elements in the soil necessary for its production, unless restored by rotation and rest.

Amid all the ups and downs of the times - amid all panics and financial storms - notwithstanding all the discouragements of the early days of the Northern Pacific and the hostility of Congress to its applications - Mr. Canfield has always maintained the same abiding faith in this magnificent undertaking and the same confidence in its ulti- mate success, and he still believes it will become the great transcontinental highway across the continent to Europe, not only for the products of the soil and mines along its border, but for the products of Japan, China, and the Indies.

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 89

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054