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1990

Corporate Point Men and the Creation of the Montana Central Railroad, 1882-87

William L. Lang Columbia River History

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Lang, William L., "Corporate Point Men and the Creation of the Montana Central Railroad, 1882-87" (1990). Great Plains Quarterly. 481. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/481

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. CORPORATE POINT MEN AND THE CREATION OF THE MONTANA CENTRAL RAILROAD, 1882 .. 87

WILLIAM L. LANG

On 21 November 1887, a crowd jammed Second, the Montana Central brought with it Ming's Opera House in Helena, Montana, to the promise of breaking an oppressive rail agree­ celebrate the completion of the Montana Cen­ ment that had weighed heavily on Montana. tral Railway, a branch line of the St. Paul, The Union Pacific, which had built to Butte Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway. Sharing the in 1881, and the Northern Pacific, which had Opera House stage that day were railroad ex­ completed its transcontinental road through ecutives and managers from the East, Montana Helena in 1883, had concocted a rate pool politicians, and local businessmen. Their rea­ agreement that set artificially high freight rates. son for celebration was three-fold. First, because Third, the completion of the Montana Central Montalaans had struggled for more than a de­ ended a bitter economic and political war that cade to get rail connections, sometimes nearly had divided businessmen and split up political making unwise and unnecessary deals with rail­ alliances within the city.! road corporations, getting a railroad to build The crowd at Ming's had these developments through Montana was cause for celebration. in their minds as they clapped and cheered at the speechmakers. But they turned their pri­ mary focus on James Jerome Hill, the forty­ nine-year-old president of the St. Paul, Min­ neapolis & Manitoba Railway, the man who William L. Lang, research director of the Center had brought the Montana Central to Helena. for Columbia River History in Vancouver, Wash­ Just emerging as a major player in railroad de­ ington, is working on a book about the Columbia velopment in the Northwest, Hill brought with River. For many years he edited Montana the him a reputation as a man of capital, power, Magazine of Western History, and the revised edition of his Montana: A History of Two Cen­ and corporate success. It was a reputation that turies (with Michael Malone and Richard Roeder) often elicited fear among westerners because he is forthcoming in 1991. was one of those distant financial and political power brokers who seemingly controlled Mon­ [OPQ 10 (Summer 1990): 152-166] tana's fate. But he also had a reputation as a

152 CORPORATE POINT MEN 153

FIG. 1. In 1886, the Montana Central had been completed from the main line of the Manitoba at Great Falls to Helena. The line to Rimini and the Red Mountain mines was built by the Northern Pacific. Map by George Cram, 1886, courtesy of Montana Historical Society.

dynamic and manipulative entrepreneur who 643 miles across Dakota and Montana, setting had brought essential rail connections to the a record for track-laying in a single season and isolated northern territories. The Montana bringing relief to Montana shippers who had Central was Hill's first penetration of the Mon­ suffered under the UP- NP rate pool agreement. 3 tana market, but the railway would gain even The crowd cheered when Hill listed the more significance when Hill completed the rest achievements, but their loudest ovations came of the Manitoba's mainline across the state­ when he tipped his hat to his Montana asso­ the new transcontinental Great Northern Rail­ ciates on the opera house stage, his point men way that would be completed in 1893 and con­ in building the Montana Central. 4 They were nect St. Paul with Puget Sound. 2 men of influence in Montana, men who under­ The Great Northern Railway was both dream stood business and had political savvy. Principal and goal in his mind as Hill stood before the among them were Territorial Delegate Martin appreciative crowd, but still he had reason to Maginnis, Great Falls founder Paris Gibson, and boast in 1887. His Manitoba railway had built freighting entrepreneur Charles A. Broadwater. 154 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1990

Greenleaf Clark, and others-who invested in THE POINT MEN his schemes and served as a quasi board of di­ Not unlike a general with his cavalry officers, rectors. They questioned his plans in Montana, Hill used his point men for intelligence reports, advised him on how to organize complementary suggestions on tactics, and reactions to overall corporations, and devised critically important strategies. Hill provided the power of corporate strategies for selling bond issues. He especially investment and decision making, while the point relied on Kennedy, who carefully monitored de­ men prepared the ground in Montana between velopments in St. Paul and Helena from his 1884 and 1888, the critical years of the Man­ office in New York. The Hill-Kennedy combi­ itoba's extension into the Territory. Hill was a nation, as Albro Martin has put it, was "the veteran of successful corporate teamwork and strongest railroad team in the Northwest."6 he understood its importance; he had benefited It was the western end of Hill's transconti­ enormously from his early associations with the nental team, however, that had the most pro­ aggressive entrepreneurs, Norman Kittson, found effect on Manitoba's fortunes. In ways Donald Smith, George Stephen, and John S. that Montanans and Hill could not have an­ Kennedy, who together had created the Man­ ticipated, the point men took on the brunt of itoba road during the late 1870s. 5 Hill listened the tough work of railroad building on the fron­ to his financial partners-Stephen, Smith, tier. That work pushed these point men to their Kennedy, Edward Nichols, Samuel Thome, financial and political limits, forCing them to

FIG. 2. By 1891, the Manitoba had become the Great Northern Railway and the Montana Central extended through Helena to Butte. Map from the Second Annual Report of the Great Northern Railway Company, 1891, courtesy of Montana Historical Society. Coli., Gibson bad l'IlCJ~ to. An­ tOOlilY FaIIJ; on Ihf: I it'!; M~ 1UlIrl, 'roK: qwilly ImlOOg tM ~ , li'I __ .. i.o.du5tfi.o .a!lillits. Afkr his InVIl!lSllU~ ~fIJ t1 "miJUing mill woo n mill tum ~rd dl,ilri " the ~ion or tho m -1S-1iJ1!l. O· - :t . 1\ew ti 1d in 1879 In 'OO'f.mem ~ ~,vffim: he

h1~ . The bistory of their nploLts. n. bui I ng flmotocm p(11iti¢i;rn· , MontllDlif. . La poP,I}­ d-1I: 'M4JntilJ'iiill Central mint;! a Ilght on how' )aril:oy aM ecmfii:¢RQ with po.1itJiaill BInd buaL.. railto!:id pulitiltlo affC(;tc:d mil!; we6tl!m. temim e:a, 1JlI~ l~l'!l _. de him . valwmk to Hm In

.P.trr:b G~- In Mont:ans.1 the tir&t man In Moo.mna. bu ;_ ~nd and lJl.OIC" i mpo rum: .eh hi1lisc1f to HiiLl was Pan~ Oi.hson. &n:. b=f\

Montana's democracy had with national party leaders. In Montana, echoes of the split would reverberate for more than two decades and rna, terially affect the fortunes of Hauser, Maginnis, W. A. Clark, and Marcus Daly. 14 For Hill, these developments represented an opening in Mon, tana, as Broadwater and Maginnis inclined away from Hauser and the Northern Pacific and to' ward him and the Manitoba. 15 Aggressive, intelligent, and known for keep, ing his own counsel--one newspaper called him "not much of a cackler"-Broadwater would prove to be Hill's most effective agent in Mon, tana. In many ways it was a natural combina, tion. Both men were enamored of the bold public statement while harboring few if any political aspirations; both worked efficiently and stealth, ily through corporate agreements, and both understood that loyalty in finance and politics extended only as long as mutual interests were served. It is likely that Hill first learned of Broadwater's interest in developing northern Montana through Wilder and Maginnis, when Broadwater urged the opening of Indian reser, vation land to settlement in 1881. As chief FIG. 5. Charles A. Broadwater. Photo courtesy of Montana Historical Society. contractor and post sutler at northern Mon, tana's Fort Assinniboine, Broadwater realized that the region north of the Missouri River was buzzed with reports, as Hill's party bounced over the best area in the territory for new railroad rough stage roads from location to location. development. It would open up a vast region Would Hill extend the Manitoba? Would he and coincidentally aid his business interests. 16 build to Fort Benton-to Helena-to Butte? The Butte Miner claimed to have intercepted a message from Gibson that confirmed Hill's promise to build the Manitoba to Great Falls; HILL COMES To MONTANA the Deer Lodge New Northwest speculated about At first Gibson was cautious about the am, Hill's involvement in a newly organized Sand bitious and somewhat secretive Broadwater, who Coulee Coal Company; and Fort Benton's River had risen quickly in Montana and had devel, Press quoted Hill on the spot: "You can say," oped connections with eastern financiers and Hill told the paper, "that I think favorably of politicians. By June 1884, however, Gibson the proposed road from Helena to Fort Ben' joined with Broadwater in hosting Hill and a ton."18 company of engineers on a fast,paced tour of Prominent in Hill's thinking about Mon, resource properties in Montana. 17 In four days, tana, aside from his two,year,old interest in the Broadwater whisked Hill and his men to mining Great Falls townsite speculation, were the min' properties near Helena, to Butte, and to Great ing properties at Red Mountain near Helena Falls, Fort Benton, and the recently discovered and the coal deposits at Sand Coulee. The Red coal properties at Sand Coulee in the Belt Mountain mines were in the rich Boulder Bath, Mountains near Great Falls. Montana's press olith that included Hauser's profitable silver 158 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1990

mines south of Helena and Tommy Cruse's spec­ Delegate Joseph K. Toole and Missouri's Sen­ tacular Drumlummon goldmine north of Hel­ ator George Vest supported Hauser. The split ena. Early reports from Broadwater's mining was now complete and tinged with political bit­ engineers suggested that the Red Mountain terness. Broadwater, for example, had gone so properties might be the richest of the lot. After far as to charge that Hauser had contributed to looking over the Sand Coulee coal field, Hill the Republicans during the 1884 presidential was sufficiently impressed with the results of campaign. 22 Broadwater's early tests to contract with J. S. Newberry of the Columbia School of Mines to CONTROL OF THE RED MOUNTAIN MINES inspect Sand Coulee and Red Mountain de­ posits. Newberry's report confirmed Broadwa­ In the competition that mattered most-the ter's boasts. 19 economic one-a significant prize was control At the heart of Hill's plans for Montana, of the Red Mountain mines. That contest can however, was the construction of an industrial serve here as a case study of the intricate and railroad, one that would link Great Falls and effective relationship Hill had with his point adjacent coal fields with Butte. The Montana man in Helena. Located fifteen miles west of Central would ship coal to Butte, Butte copper Helena up Ten Mile Creek, the mines had first matte to a future Great Falls smelter, and Red been coveted by investors associated with the Mountain precious metals to the Manitoba NP when Hauser, Maginnis, and Broadwater mainline at Great Falls for shipment. Hill chose had hoped the NP would build a branch line Broadwater to quarterback the development of to the area.23 Hauser had urged the NP to act his investments in Montana and to head the quickly and company vice president Oakes had Montana Central. responded in early 1884, writing Hauser that "there will be no difficulty in building Ten Mile branch." But nothing materialized. By midyear CONFLICT WITH THE NORTHERN PACIFIC Broadwater and other Hill associates made their A constant element in Broadwater's work on move, investing in the Ten Mile district and Hill's behalf in Montana was the enmity of the planning a rail line to serve the mines. Broad­ Northern Pacific. That animosity had simmered water enlisted the help of Helena mining en­ for years and had developed from both railroads' gineer John Longmaid and Butte mining expert beliefthat the other had invaded their territory: Thomas Couch. Throughout 1884 and 1885, the NP claimed Montana, while the Manitoba Longmaid and Couch tunneled into Red Moun­ claimed the Red River valley. 20 Using telegrams tain claims and sent their reports to Broadwater. sent in code, Broadwater kept Hill apprised of First secretly buying up claims and then dis­ the latest feints and tactical actions by NP man­ guising their connection with Hill's interests, agers in Montana. Hill, in turn, relayed the Broadwater maneuvered in Helena financial information to Kennedy and other financiers circles to tie up the best claims. 24 before devising overall strategies. Between 1885, Broadwater played a secretive game, pur­ when Hill's group began planning for significant chasing blocks of Red Mountain claims and investment in Montana, and the completion of passing on the results of mineral tests to Hill, the Montana Central to Butte in 1888, the NP who kept abreast of developments. "Have they and Manitoba forces contested each other on cut into the Lexington [mine] on lower level," several fronts. 21 Hill queried Broadwater in October 1885, "and The conflict between the NP and the Man­ if so what was the thickness?" Encouraged by itoba became politically explosive in mid-1885, what he learned from Broadwater, Hill had al­ when Hauser captured the territorial governor's ready factored these mining properties into his spot in a bitter fight with Maginnis. Broadwater planned investment in Montana by mid-De­ and Hill supported Maginnis, while Territorial cember. Meanwhile, St. Paul and Montana pa- CORPORATE POINT MEN 159 pers speculated about ownership of the mines, by any delay. "28 the amount invested, and when a railroad would While this drama over the Red Mountain be built to the mines. 25 line was beginning, Broadwater and Hill tipped In the Red Mountain business, Broadwater their larger plans by chartering the Montana had an advantage that must have frustrated Central Railway, the road that would connect Hauser's group. In 1873, he had married Julia Butte with Great Falls and the Manitoba main­ Chumasero, daughter of a prominent Republi­ line. The wording of the charter described their can lawyer and political ally of Wilbur F. Sand­ claim to a right-of-way "from a point one mile ers and other NP supporters. Not only had east of junction of the NP ... to some point Broadwater married into what became the other near the northeasterly corner of [Lewis and camp a decade later, but he also had an inside Clark] county." Although the general public line on the purchase of Chumasero's Red Moun­ might have missed the point, the NP knew that tain properties, reportedly the best claims in the Broadwater's facile description of the "north­ district. So by early 1886, Broadwater had de­ easterly corner" meant Great Falls. The charter livered to Hill a handsome group of mining also included a right-of-way for a branch line properties and an opportunity to build a paying to Red Mountain. A few weeks later Broadwater rail line smack in the heart of NP territory. 26 and his associates also incorporated the Red NP managers privately fumed and publicly Mountain Consolidated Mining Company to questioned what Hill intended in Montana. exploit the thirty-eight lodes of the Chumasero Prohibited by their charter from building branch claims. It was a fast start for Hill's foray into lines, the NP had to create separate companies Montana. 29 to build branches. Writing as governor of Mon­ In many respects, Hill's investments in Mon­ tana Territory in mid-January 1886, Hauser told tana were only as safe as Broadwater's intelli­ NP executives that although he would encour­ gence and energy. As executive head of both age the building of any road that brought in­ the mining and railway companies, Broadwater vestment to Montana, he urged them to act directed engineer Dodge to survey the Ten Mile quickly. But the NP dallied too long. Hill hired line and the Montana Central line north from away one of the NP's finest engineers, Joseph Helena to Great Falls while he contended with T. Dodge, and sent him to Helena to work the NP's challenge to their new enterprises and under Broadwater's keen direction. 27 oversaw mining operations. In at least one in­ As Dodge went out to survey the line and stance he had to put the whip to Dodge: "I find pick the best route, trouble developed in Hel­ he is very much inclined to have his own way ena. On 16 January 1886 Broadwater disclosed about things," Broadwater informed Hill. "He to Hill, "I have always had some fears that the delayed our maps at least 3 days and would not NP or its agents might get in ahead of us and have had them yet if I had not given him pos­ give us some serious trouble." Broadwater told itive orders to put 2 more engineers on them." Hill that Maginnis had pumped T. C. Power, Hill worried that without a map filed with ter­ a wealthy Republican businessman with ties to ritorial officials the incorporation of the railroad the NP, about the NP's plan to build their own would be in jeopardy. As it turned out, such line up Ten Mile Creek and he got bad news. was not the case. It was the NP, however, that Broadwater immediately had his attorneys, worried Broadwater most. As Hill put it to Chumasero and Chadwick, look over the le­ Broadwater, "I do not think our NP friends en­ galities of branch line building in Montana, tirely enjoy your enterprise. "30 telling Hill: "If they [NP] organize ahead of us they would have decidedly the best of us, in CONTROLLlNG ROUTES AND FINANCES fact they would have rights." Act now, he warned Hill: "We have paid out so much money In mid-February 1886, Hauser went to New now that I do not deem it wise to jeopardize it York to drum up support for NP branch lines 160 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1990 from Helena to Butte and Helena to the Red planted embarrassing stories in Helena news­ Mountain mines. Rumors of his success in or­ papers, further stirring the issue. As Broadwater ganizing a syndicate floated through St. Paul had hoped, Hauser began to hear from his Mon­ and Helena. One of Hill's financial partners in tana allies. Hauser's banking partner, A. ]. Davis New York, Samuel Thome, warned him to of Butte, warned Hauser that the conflict with "move very quickly" in Montana. But R. B. Har­ the Montana Central "was raising havoc with rison, a Hill and Broadwater confidant, was not the bank" and if Hauser did not desist he would so sure. Telegraphing Broadwater on 20 Feb­ "kill himself politically." Talking with Broad­ ruary, Harrison thought that the rumors were a water about the situation, Davis assured him "possible bluff to compromise territory with that Butte would fight for the Montana Central you-watch and move quickly." Meanwhile because they wanted access to Great Falls coal. Broadwater went to St. Paul to confer with Hill. This news helped further allay Broadwater's From Helena, Maginnis confirmed on 23 Feb­ worries about Hauser and the NP, but he steamed ruary that rumors were flying there. Writing to at what he considered Hauser's audacity. Hill Broadwater in St. Paul, Maginnis repeated pub­ himself worried that Broadwater might do some­ lic statements that Wilbur Sanders had made thing foolish. Broadwater assured him: "I have on behalf of the NP, testing the waters with been extremely cautious to say nothing that promises of branch lines. But Maginnis down­ would antagonize them," but it was clear that played the incident, writing that "nearly every­ Broadwater had reached his limit. "While I dis­ one here construe [it) as a big bluff." Sanders like to make war on anyone," he wrote to Hill "got no sympathy," Maginnis reported to in a plaintive tone in early March, "the sooner Broadwater; "the whole town is with you." we put him [Hauser] down the less trouble we While Maginnis reassured St. Paul, the Mon­ will have in the future. He never put a dollar tana Central managers in Helena moved to keep into Red Mountain, we did, and now he is their advantage. William Harrison-a Mani­ trying to ruin our investment." Among his sug­ toba man who had gone to Helena to be sec­ gestions, Broadwater thought that spreading retary of the Montana Central-fired off a embarrassing news about Hauser in New York telegram on 24 February to Broadwater and Hill to ruin his credibility with financiers might be in St. Paul: "have deeds on record or contractors a good plan. 32 in possession all critical points to and including The situation concerned Hill, but removed mouth canyon Red Mt. Branch. Dodge not re­ as he was from the scratching talons and flying turned. Enemy invisible." Explaining further, feathers in Helena he moved with more delib­ Harrison wrote that "Hauser's championship of eration to settle the issue with the NP. At Hill's the N.P. is strongly deprecated [in Helena] .... direction, Manitoba general manager Allen I don't think they can follow Ten Mile Creek Manvel met with Oakes and NP president Rob­ unless they . . . use our roadbed through the ert Harris in New York in mid-March. In re­ passes. "31 sponse to questions about Hill's plans in Broadwater and his men had moved quickly, Montana, Manvel disingenuously-and evi­ but had they been quick enough? Once he had dently with a straight face-told Oakes and returned to Helena and surveyed the situation Harris that the Montana Central was a private Broadwater became convinced that the NP ploy operation and not connected with the Mani­ was all bluff. Nonetheless he kept agitating toba in any way and that "if it [Montana Cen­ against Hauser and the NP and threatened to tral] was to be sold [Hill] had expressed a call the matter before the Helena Board of Trade, willingness to let the Northern Pacific have the a commercial club, to get "leading merchants first chance at it." Probably dumbfounded and to withdraw their patronage from N. P. and ship certainly angry, Oakes was not fooled by Man­ by U.P. until we get to Benton when they will vel's explanation. He reacted caustically, scold­ use water route and our rails." Broadwater also ing Manvel and telling him to deliver a message CORPORATE POINT MEN 161 to Hill: Oakes considered the Montana Central CLAIMING THE ROUTE an unwarranted Manitoba invasion into NP ter­ ritory and the Manitoba could expect the worst The issue was joined in a particularly narrow from this. Manvel left the meeting certain that canyon where NP engineers forcefully tried to the NP planned to build the Red Mountain line impede the grading. Broadwater appealed to the and certain that the NP fully expected Hill to court for an injunction to halt the NP, arguing that the Montana Central had occupied the extend the Manitoba to Montana. 33 ground and had prior right to the grade. The Montana Central got the injunction, which was upheld by the Montana Supreme Court in late BUILDING QUICKLY 1886, forcing the NP to find another grade and The NP "bluff" had suddenly become real. to complete full legal requirements before con­ As the conflict in Helena continued to foam demning property along their line. 37 during March, Hill urged Broadwater to move The deadlock had been broken, at least for quickly. "I am satisfied that the N.P. are greatly the time. The Montana Central crews contin­ alarmed at Montana Central . . . and will do ued to prepare the grade to Rimini, the terminus everything in their power to head it off." He of the line, while Chief Engineer Adna An­ instructed Broadwater: "work fully and . . . derson of the NP located another line through crowd the grading as fast as you can. I expect the narrow defile at the canyon mouth. Broad­ to have 3,000 tons of rails, with splices and water and Hill could have breathed with some spikes, ready to ship to you within two or three relief, but the NP was still determined to make weeks." A hard push, Hill believed, would put the Manitoba's entry into Montana expensive. the Montana Central line so close to finishing Knowing that Hill planned to ship his rails during the summer of 1886 that building the for the Montana Central over their line, the Red Mountain branch could proceed immedi­ NP charged a high rate-$35 per ton-and re­ ately. Hill's financial partners-especially fused to ship at the $20 rate Hill requested. The Thome and Kennedy-agreed. 34 Writing to Hill NP's obstinance, plus other discourtesies such on 30 March, Kennedy sent in his order for 300 as denying pro forma passes for Montana Cen­ blocks of shares in Montana Ceptral stock and tral officials, confirmed Hill's view of the NP's assured Hill: "I am quite sure you need appre­ management, which he had long considered hend no trouble from parties connected with idiosyncratic and shortsighted. After discus­ the Northern Pacific Railroad. "35 sions with Broadwater and his financial part­ What Kennedy and Hill knew, as Hill told ners, Hill decided to press forward with the Broadwater, was that while the NP might try Manitoba's extension to Montana and carry the to harass the Montana Central there was not rails themselves. They would lay them down time for them meet the legal requirements al­ during the 1887 season. 38 lowing them to condemn property for their Red At a gala held at the Grand Central Hotel Mountain line. Broadwater had beaten them to in September 1886 in his honor, Hill told Hel­ the ground. "We are so far ahead of them," enans that the NP's exorbitant freight rates had Broadwater had written Hill, "they [NPl would delayed the Montana Central, but the road not believe it. "36 Keeping on the offensive, would be completed to Helena by autumn 1887. Broadwater fed a news story to Associated Press And, he reminded his audience, they would get in New York through R. B. Harrison that sought a bonus. The Montana Central's connection to embarrass Hauser in Helena. But the NP had with the Manitoba in Great Falls would give no intention of giving up the fight. Throughout Helena shippers a faster route to St. Paul. the next several months, their surveying crews Standing before the group, Hill jabbed the NP contested Broadwater's men along the Ten Mile as he read from a Northern Pacific timetable route. some jokester had placed under each dinner 162 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1990 plate. Hill told the group that the NP was twelve While Rogers had been in the field, claiming hours too slow; the Manitoba would serve them the best line in the steep and broken gulches better and faster. 39 between Helena and Butte, Broadwater had been busy in Helena, purchasing depot property and staking out potential sites for a smelter on the BEST ROUTE To BUTTE city's south side,43 The NP had also been busy, As much as Hill genuinely reveled in the incorporating their Helena, Boulder Valley & Montana Central's successful pursuit of the Red Butte Railroad Company, surveying their line Mountain line and surveying the Helena-to­ to Butte, and estimating the costs. But Broad­ Great Falls route, the ultimate destination and water was confident that he had beaten them. payoff for the Montana Central was Butte. One of his engineers had intercepted the NP Broadwater long before had convinced Hill that contractor's grading estimates, which disclosed the Butte connection would guarantee that the that the Montana Central had taken the best Montana Central would be a paying road. In ground, forcing the NP to run their line with late April 1886, Broadwater reported to Hill "a very large amount of curvature [with] ... that Daly had confirmed that earlier evaluation. numerous high trestles." The costs to the NP "Daily [sic] says Butte is in her infancy," Broad­ of building from Helena to Butte, Broadwater water wrote Hill, "and will work 5 tons of ore realized, would be prohibitive. 44 where she is working one now. If so, the road from Butte to the falls value is unknown. So I CONCLUSION think we had better fight it out on our line if it takes all summer. "40 Broadwater had delivered on his promises The fight Broadwater anticipated was again and Hill had a secured road from Great Falls to with the NP. Hauser had been after the NP Butte. What remained to be done by the Hill managers for years to invest in an extension of forces in late 1886 to make the Manitoba's ex­ the Wickes branch (built in 1883-84) to Butte, tension and the Montana Central's building a and it seemed they were now ready to proceed. reality is another story, too long to detail here. Hill and Broadwater knew they would be in a The arena was Washington and the prize was a race with the NP to run the first survey line to right-of-way across Indian reservations in Da­ Butte, so they put the best man they could hire kota and Montana. Successful lobbying by Ma­ into the field. Discoverer of the Canadian Pa­ ginnis and others had brought out a bill to open cific's route through the seemingly impregnable the Indian reservations to white settlement, but Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia, A. B. President Grover Cleveland stunned Hill and Rogers came to Helena in early May with in­ his colleagues by vetoing the measure in July structions from Hill to find a route to Butte and 1886. Hill, Broadwater, Maginnis, Kennedy, to keep his purpose confidential. 41 Rogers strug­ and others applied more pressure and Hill finally gled through heavy snow drifts in mid-May, got his right-of-way in 1887. 45 reporting to Hill that he had found a line "at There were more fights with the Northern a grade not exceeding 116' per mile." Nearly Pacific over the Red Mountain and Butte lines. one month later, Rogers could report to Broad­ And there were scraps in Helena, including a water "I have succeeded in getting a line. . . . desperate harassment just days before the last I will call on you for that box of cigars . . ." mile of track was spiked down south of town. Rogers had staked out the ground to Butte ahead In a final gesture of spite, the NP laid track of the NP. As Rogers wrote Hill in August, "I across the Montana Central's right-of-way, know you have the best route the country af­ where it crossed over the NP's grade. The NP fords, and the present efforts in the field will parked one of their locomotives on the spot, assure the possession of it to you. "42 threatening to force the Montana Central into CORPORATE POINT MEN 163 court to get the NP engine off their line. Cooler to gain advantage on the frontier, often em­ heads in the NP organization ordered the tracks ploying the energy and creativity of their point taken up in time for the completion of the Mon­ men. tana Central, but it was testimony to the con­ In Montana, as elsewhere, the railroad wars tinuing enmity of the two roads in Montana, corrupted and disrupted territorial politics. The an enmity that prevailed until the signing of battle between Broadwater and Hauser split the the London Agreement in 1896. 46 Democratic Party in Montana and soon became Despite the ongoing competition with the a scene in a broader political struggle that pitted NP, Hill would achieve most of his goals in Helena against Anaconda in the fight over the Montana after the completion of the Montana permanent location of the state capital and Central. The first trains to Butte arrived in 1888, erupted in the estrangement and then open hos­ and within two years Butte ore was being shipped tility between copper barons Marcus Daly and over the Montana Central to a smelter in Paris William A. Clark. The content of political dia­ Gibson's industrial city on the Missouri. Hill logue followed the low path outlined by the also built branch lines to the Sand Coulee and corporate struggle. Political alliances were made Belt coal fields and a major feeder line north to acquire local economic advantage that could to Canada, but despite the effort on the Red be enlisted to aid in the ongoing corporate bat­ Mountain line the Manitoba abandoned the ef­ tle. The point men brought all of it home and fort and let the NP build to Rimini. allowed the corporate managers to wage their Meanwhile, the NP did not complete the disputes on Montana's turf. At the conclusion, too expensive Helena-to-Butte line, opting to Montana's political system suffered, and Hill build directly west to Butte from Three Forks. and his men moved on to other fields. An NP-sponsored company did build a line to These disruptions and dislocations aside, for the Drumlummon mine at Marysville, but none most Montanans the completion of the Mon­ of their building seriously damaged the Mon­ tana Central and the Manitoba brought enor­ tana Central. Hauser got his extension of the mous gain. The NP-UP rate pool had been Wickes branch in 1887, even though he de­ broken, which meant more competitive freight cided the next year to build a new silver and rates, at least in the short run; within a decade, lead smelter next to the NP mainline east of however, the railroads had combined to levy Helena, a smelter that still operates today and rates Montanans thought were extortionate. is one of only a few remaining lead smelters in Montana's industrial economy expanded as a North America. direct result of Hill's foray into the territory, Throughout it all, Hill's point men in Mon­ especially at Great Falls where construction of tana had done their job. Gibson had attracted a dam across the Missouri, the construction of investment and settlement in Great Falls and a sizable copper smelter, and mining nearby coal Maginnis had done his work well in Washing­ fields made it one of Montana's major industrial ton and among Montana politicos. Broadwater cities within a decade. By connecting Butte to had been the most involved and the most suc­ Great Falls, the Montana Central opened an cessful. But what had happened to Montana in industrial corridor along the Continental Di­ the process? There are always two sides to any vide, which spurred more mining and manu­ ledger and it was no different in this case. The facturing activity and gave the area access to a corporate war in Montana left stains. The effort national market through the Manitoba line. that had taken so much of Broadwater's time Agricultuml development also benefited from was part of a longer and larger battle over con­ building the Manitoba-Montana Central line. trol of investment, the sources of that invest­ Whites who had lusted for access to Indian lands ment, and the colonialization of the American north of the Missouri River got their wish ful­ frontier by interests east of the Plains. The cor­ filled, even if meant wholesale theft of Indian porate managers used the power of investment lands in service of the railroad lords. Within 164 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1990 two decades, agricultural immigrants rushed to had served his interests and what he perceived the area served by the Manitoba, constituting to be Helena's and Montana's interests, while the largest land rush in the history of the north­ for Hill he became an ultimate operative-a ern Plains. Hill's dream of an agricultural fee­ corporate point man on the western frontier. simple empire of farmers served by his railroad along the northern tier became a reality when NOTES the homestead boom brought thousands to stake out dryland farms on the Montana steppes. Hill Research for this project was completed with a spared no effort to encourage settlement along Research Fellowship from the James Jerome Hill Ref­ erence Library, St. Paul. his line, echoing some of the promotional hy­ perbole that accompanied the Montana Central 1. On Montanans' efforts to secure railroads dur­ excitement of the 1880s. That great inrush of ing the territorial period, see Rex C. Myers, "Mon­ settlers radically altered Montana politics in the tana: A State's Relationship with Railroads, 1864- twentieth century and led directly to the cre­ 1970" (Ph.D. diss., University of Montana, Mis­ soula, 1972); Clark C. Spence, Territorial Politics in ation of dozens of new counties and a new con­ Montana, 1864-89 (Urbana: University of Illinois stituency that continues to playa major political Press, 1975), pp. 116-28. role in the state. 2. The best modem work on J. J. Hill is Albro Finally, for Helena, the Montana Central Martin, James]. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest meant an infusion of new capital, as Broadwater (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976). See also funneled investment from Hill and Hill's finan­ Joseph Gilpin Pyle, The Life of James]. Hill, 2 vols. (New York: Peter Smith, 1916-17). On the Great cier friends into railroad, real estate, and mining Northern Railway see Ralph W. Hidy et aI., The companies that he managed. It also bolstered Great Northern Railway: A History (Boston: Harvard Helena's position in competition with other cit­ Business School Press, 1988). ies, especially Butte and Daly's Anaconda. So, 3. W. Thomas White, "The War of the Railroad for Helenans, there was great reason for rejoic­ Kings: Great Northern-Northern Pacific Rivalry in Montana, 1881-1886," in Montana and the West: Es­ ing on that day in November 1887, when the says in Honor of K. Ross Toole, edited by Rex C. town feted James J. Hill at the Opera House. Myers and Harry Fritz (Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Pub­ And Broadwater must have been at least a little lishing Co., 1984), pp. 41-42. bit smug as he heard Hill recount the essence 4. Helena Independent, 22 November 1887. of Broadwater's service to the Manitoba: 5. Martin, Hill and the Northwest, pp. 122-89; Hidy, Great Northern, pp. 28-36; Pyle, Life of James ]. Hill 1:178-276. It is now about three years since I first saw 6. Martin, Hill and the Northwest, p. 284. Kennedy your beautiful mountains and your city [when] first became associated with Hill in dealings with St. . . . Col. Broadwater, your enterprising cit­ Paul & Pacific Railroad bondholders from Amster­ izen, was at that time particularly anxious dam. Kennedy became the Dutch group's corre­ sponding banking house in the United States to deal that I should come out here to see what a with Hill and the "Associates." Kennedy left his field there was for railway development, and banking house in 1883 to become vice president of when I came here he did not give me any the Manitoba. See Pyle, Life of James]. Hill 1:184- peace until he had rushed me over the moun­ 86; Saul Engelbourg, "John Stewart Kennedy and tains four times, I think, in three days. He the Scottish American Investment Company," in Essays in Economic and Business History, vol. 6, edited insisted that every stone was a mine; and he by Edwin J. Perkins (Los Angeles: University of told his story so well that I am half inclined Southern California, 1988), pp. 37-54. to believe him rightY 7. "Paris Gibson," Progressive Men of Montana (Chicago: A. W. Bowen, Co. [1902]), pp. 112-14; During those three years, Broadwater had told James G. Handford, "Paris Gibson: A Montana Yan­ kee" (M.A. thesis, Montana State University, Mis­ his story well enough to bring Hill's money to soula, 1952), pp. 1-14. Helena, to cut his friends in on much of the 8. Gibson to Hill, 3 April, 17 June 1881, James opportunity, and to prevail over his rivals. He J. Hill Papers, James J. Hill Reference Library, St. CORPORATE POINT MEN 165

Paul, Minnesota (Hill Papers). For Gibson's rela­ Roeder, "Electing Montana's Territorial Delegates." tionships with Hill see W. Thomas White, "Paris 15. Earlier in 1882, Hauser had been shaken when Gibson, James J. Hill and the 'New Minneapolis': Oakes declined to participate in a major mining in­ The Great Falls Water Power and Townsite Com­ vestment near Helena. Hauser appealed to Maginnis pany, 1882-1908," Montana the Magazine of Western for aid, but Maginnis was already in Broadwater's History 33 (Summer 1983): 60-69; Martin, Hill and camp. Hauser to Maginnis, 10 January 1882, Hauser the Northwest, pp. 333-35. Papers. 9. Gibson took every opportunity to lobby in his 16. Broadwater wrote to Maginnis in late 1881: city's interests, using questionable political tactics to "My idea is to throw open to settlement all the coun­ get the permanent state capital, the state university, try between the Mo. and Milk Rivers as far west as and other public institutions. See William L. Lang, the Coal Banks or Marias. . . . I do hope you will "The Spoils of Statehood: Montana Communities in make an effort to accomplish this matter this winter. Conflict, 1888-1894," Montana the Magazine of West­ It would materially help me in my business by a large em History 37 (Autumn 1987): 34-45; Richard Roe­ increase in city trade and would be a large feather der, "Paris Gibson, Community Builder," in your cap with the people of northern M. T." Broad­ (Unpublished ms, 1984). water to Maginnis, 6 December 1881, Martin Ma­ 10. "Martin Maginnis," Progressive Men of Mon­ ginnis Papers, Montana Historical Society Archives tana (Chicago: A. W. Bowen, Co. [1902]), pp. 300- (Maginnis Papers). Butte Inter Mountain, 1 May 1889. 301; Clark Spence, "Beggars to Washington: Mon­ 17. Gibson worried about Broadwater's motives, tana's Territorial Delegates," Montana the Magazine mostly because he realized that Broadwater was more of Western History 24 (Spring 1974): 2-13. For Ma­ interested in his own investments and not committed ginnis's aid to Hill, especially with railroad legislation to Great Falls. But Gibson himself hedged his bets. in Congress see Martin, Hill and the Northwest, pp. As late as March 1884, he had tried to convince NP 334, 339; Dennis J. Smith, "Procuring a Right-of­ managers to build a branch to Fort Benton to boost Way: James J. Hill and Indian Reservations, 1886- his investments there. By the time Hill came to Mon­ 1888" (Seminar paper, University of Montana, Mis­ tana in June, Gibson argued forcefully for the Man­ soula, 1983). itoba to build from Helena to Great Falls through 11. On territorial political structure see Kenneth Fort Benton. See White, "Railroad Wars," p. 39; Owens, "Pattern and Structure in Western Territorial Helena Independent, 19 July 1883; Helena Herald, 13 Politics," Western Historical Quarterly 1 (October September 1883. 1970): 373-92; Owens, "The Prizes of Statehood," 18. Fort Benton River Press, 10 April, 14 June Montana the Magazine of Western History 37 (Autumn 1884; Helena Independent, 6, 9, 10, 11 June 1884; 1987): 2-9. On territorial political priorities see Rich­ Butte Miner, 28 June 1884; Deer Lodge New North­ ard B. Roeder, "Electing Montana's Territorial Del­ west, 27 June 1884. egates: The Beginnings of a Political System," 19. J. S. Newberry Report, October 1884; New­ Montana the Magazine of Western History 38 (Summer berry to Charles A. Broadwater, 18 November 1884, 1988): 58-68. Hill Papers. One year later Newberry confirmed his 12. "Charles A. Broadwater," Progressive Men of original evaluation, Newberry to Hill, 3 November Montana (Chicago: A. W. Bowen [1902]), pp. 67- 1885, Hill Papers. 70; "Charles Broadwater," Herbert M. Peet Papers, 20. Martin, Hill and the Northwest, pp. 223-27. Box 1, Montana Historical Society Archives, Hel­ 21. Martin, Hill and the Northwest, pp. 336-37; ena, Montana (Peet Papers). St. Paul millionaire Broadwater to Hill, 21 September 1884. businessman A. H. Wilder met Broadwater in 1876 22. George G. Vest to Hauser, 30 March, 1 May, when he had a transportation contract with the army 29 June 1885, Hauser Papers; Spence, Territorial Pol­ during the Sioux War. Wilder introduced Broadwater itics in Montana, pp. 164-68; Butte Inter Mountain, to other St. Paul businessmen and to a host of gov­ 10 June 1885. ernment officials. 23. John Caplice to Maginnis, 22 June 1876, 13. Samuel T. Hauser to Martin Maginnis, 21 Maginnis Papers; T. F. Oakes to Hauser, 3 January, June 1882; T. F. Oakes to Hauser, 22 June 1882, 12 December 1884, 3 January 1885; Hauser to Oakes, Samuel T. Hauser Papers, Montana Historical So­ 2 December 1884, Hauser Papers; Hakola, "Hauser," ciety Archives (Hauser Papers); John W. Hakola, p. 165. "Samuel T. Hauser and the Economic Development 24. Thomas Couch to Broadwater, 11 February of Montana" (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1885; John Longmaid to Broadwater, 9 November Bloomington, 1961), pp. 107-09. 1885, Broadwater to Dennis Ryan, 28 December 1885, 14. For more on the political aspects of the rail­ Hill Papers. road wars see White, "Railroad Wars," pp. 46-48. 25. Hill to Broadwater, 2 October 1885, Broad­ For the divisions among Montana's Democrats, see water to Hill, 31 December 1885, Hill Papers; St. 166 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1990

Paul Pioneer Press, 29 December 1885; River Press, to Hill, 16 March 1886, Hill Papers. 30 December 1885. 34. Hill to Broadwater, 19 March 1886, Hill Pa­ 26. Helena Daily Herald, 16 January 1873. pers. 27. Hauser to Robert Harris, 16 January 1886, 35. Kennedy to Hill, 20, 30 March 1886, Hill Harris to Hauser, 23 January 1886, Hauser Papers; Papers. Helena Daily Herald, 9 January 1886; telegram, Hill 36. R. B. Harrison to Hill, 24 March 1886, to J. T. Dodge, 19 December 1885, Hill Papers. Broadwater to Hill, 20 March 1886, Hill to Broad­ 28. Broadwater to Hill, 16 January 1886, Hill water, 23 March, 17 June 1886. See also Broadwater Papers. to Hill 14, 17 March 1886, Hill Papers. 29. Broadwater to Hill, 27 January 1886; Pioneer 37. Helena Independent, 2, 26 August 1886; Mon­ Press, 15 January 1886; Helena Daily Herald, 16 Jan­ tana Central Railway Company vs. Helena & Red uary, 4 February 1886; Helena Daily Independent, 27 Mountain Railroad Company, 6 Montana, 416-41. January, 4 February 1886; Red Mountain Consoli­ 38. A. C. Thrall to William Harrison, 24 March dated Articles of Incorporation, 1 February 1886; 1886, Hill to Maginnis, 6 April 1886, Kennedy to William Harrison to Charles H. Benedict, 10, 11 Hill, 8 April 1886, Hill Papers. Broadwater had ar­ February 1886, H. C. Ives to William Harrison, 18 gued for a charge of $11. 50/ton for shipping the rails, February 1886, Hill Papers; Great FaUs Tribune, 20 Helena Independent 20 May 1886. February 1886. In a letter of 13 January Broadwater 39. Helena Independent, 12 September 1886. had instructed Hill on the minimum stock issue for 40. Broadwater to Hill, 27 April 1886. a mining corporation-$2 million-and advised not 41. A. B. Rogers to Hill, 9 May 1886, Hill to springing jt until the rail line was located. Broadwater, 10, 11 May 1886, Broadwater to Hill, 30. Telegram, Broadwater to Hill, 3 February 1886, 13 May 1886, Hill Papers. Hill Papers; see also Clark, Eller, and How (law firm) 42. Rogers to Hill, 11 June 1886, Rogers to Broad­ to Broadwater, 21 December 1885, Hill to Broad­ water, 15 June 1886, Rogers to Hill, 13 August 1886, water, 19 January 1886, Broadwater to Hill, 27 Jan­ Hill Papers. uary 1886, Hill to Broadwater, 5 February 1886, and 43. Helena Daily Herald, 26 August 1886; Broad­ Chumasero and Chadwick to Broadwater, 7 February water to Hill, 7 May 1886, Hill Papers. 1886, Hill Papers. 44. River Press, 7 July 1886; Robert Harris to 31. Samuel Thome to Hill, 18 February 1886, R. Hauser, 12 August 1886, W. A. Haven to Hauser, B. Harrison to Broadwater, 20 February 1886, Ma­ 7 September 1886, A. Anderson to Hauser, 16 Sep­ ginnis to Broadwater, 23 February 1886, William tember 1886, Hauser Papers; Helena Daily Herald, 16 Harrison to C. H. Benedict, 24 February 1886, Hill September 1886; J. T. Dodge to Broadwater, 20 Sep­ Papers. tember 1886, Hill Papers. 32. Harrison to Benedict [communicating Broad­ 45. See Smith, "Procuring a Right-of-Way." water's message], 2 March 1886, Broadwater to Ben­ 46. Helena Daily Herald, 17, 18 November 1886. edict, 3, 4 March 1886, Broadwater to Hill, 6, 7 On NP-Manitoba enmity and London Agreement, March 1886, Hill Papers. see Marrin, Hill and the Northwest, pp. 443-50; Hidy, 33. Allen Manvel to Hill, 16 March 1886, John Great Northern, p. 90. S. Kennedy to Hill, 16 March 1886, Samuel Thome 47. Helena Daily Independent, 22 November 1887.