GREAT NORTHERN DEPOT FINISHED
Agent Chamberlain and Crew Will Move Saturday and Be Ready For Business After Noon – May Celebrate on Thursday – January 16 Selected as the Tentative Date For the Reception for the Road’s Officials – J. J. Hill Has a Bad Cold – May Be Unable to Attend – Governor Eberhart and President Vincent to Be Invited
“The new depot will be in use after the noon train Saturday.”
The above statement was made by Mr. Chamberlain, agent of the Great Northern in Bemidji, at noon today. Mr. Chamberlain continued: “The interior is practically finished now and about all that remains to be done is to clean up. We will start moving in Saturday morning and expect to be in full possession soon after the east bound train at 12:08.”
Thursday January 16 is the tentative date for the celebration which will mark the completion of the building. T. J. Burke, chairman of the entertainment committee of the Commercial club, talked with J. J. Hill on the phone this morning and Mr. Hill said that any time between now and the twentieth would be best for the road officials.
“I have a bad cold,” said Mr. Hill, “and may be unable to be present, but the road will be represented by officials from St. Paul.” The invitation sent by the Commercial club includes the high officials of the road who have their headquarters in St. Paul.
Until a definite date has been set for the opening of the depot, invitations will not be sent to others. It is planned to ask Governor Eberhart and President Vincent, of the state University, to come at that time and to have a banquet for the visitors. The entertainment committee is planning additional features. Ray Murphy was on a train with Governor Eberhart a few weeks ago and the governor said that he expected to be in Bemidji when the depot was opened.
The new station is 217 feet long and is surrounded with a brick walk which extends twenty-four feet on the south side to the passenger tracks. The interior is of red vitrified brick with sandstone trimmings and green woodwork. The floor plan is similar to that of the Union station. The ladies’ room is in the west end and is connected with the men’s room by a swinging door. The ticket office is located about in the center with windows in each room. It has a small projection which will give a view both ways on the track.
The baggage rooms, freight and express rooms are in the east end of the building. Each waiting room contains settees and in the ladies room are several rockers. The old depot is to be removed, it is understood, and the site used for a park. All wires will go into the new structure from the rear so that there will be nothing to jar the esthetic eye. The completed structure will have cost the Great Northern close to $40,000. (The Bemidji Daily Pioneer, Thursday Evening, January 9, 1913, Volume 10, Number 216, Page 1)
HILL COMING FOR THURSDAY BANQUET
Word to That Effect Received This Morning By T. J. Burke, Head of Entertainment Committee – Other High Officials Invited – Chiefs of Great Northern Departments Will Gather in Bemidji to Celebrate Depot’s Opening – Dinner in Markham Hotel – Will Be Served at 8 p. m. and Will Be Attended by Local Business Men – Stanton to Preside
James J. Hill will be here Thursday.
T. J. Burke, chairman of the entertainment committee of the Commercial club, received a letter from Mr. Hill this morning stating that he would come to Bemidji Thursday to attend the banquet to be given by Bemidji business men in honor of Great Northern officials and to celebrate the opening of the new depot.
On Saturday Mr. Burke received a wire from Mr. Hill’s secretary stating that Mr. Hill would come if possible and the letter was the engagement definite. As soon as Mr. Hill’s acceptance was received, invitations were mailed to the following officials of the Great Northern railway:
Louis W. Hill, chairman, St. Paul.
Carl R. Gray, president, St. Paul.
L. C. Gilman, assistant to president, St. Paul.
R. A. Jackson, vice president, St. Paul.
R. I. Farrington, vice president, St. Paul.
J. M. Gruber, general manager, St. Paul.
G. H. Emerson, assistant general manager, St. Paul.
J. H. Taylor, general superintendent, St. Paul.
F. Bell, general superintendent, St. Paul.
W. P. Kenney, general traffic manager, St. Paul.
H. A. Jackson, assistant traffic manager, St. Paul.
H. A. Noble, general passenger agent, St. Paul.
A. H. Hogeland, chief engineer, St. Paul.
F. B. Walker, resident engineer, St. Paul.
S. L. Bartlett, architect, St. Paul.
R. L. Knebel, superintendent, Crookston.
J. H. Griffin, division freight agent, Grand Forks.
Libby and (N. W.) Nelson, contractors, St. Paul.
W. J. Powers, assistant general freight agent, St. Paul.
W. H. Gemmel, of Brainerd, general manager of the M. & I. has been invited. Word was received from Minneapolis and St. Paul this morning that neither Governor Eberhart nor President Vincent would be able to attend since the date conflicts with a previous engagement. The board of regents of the University of Minnesota meets Thursday.
A banquet will be served in the Markham hotel at 8 p. m. Thursday with the above mentioned officials as guests of honor. Judge Stanton will come from Park Rapids, where he will be holding a term of court, in order to preside at the banquet. The banquet will not be a Commercial club affair but the business and professional men of the city will be invited.
During the afternoon, it is planned to have the new depot open for inspections and arrangements are being made whereby the building will be decorated for the occasion. (The Bemidji Daily Pioneer, Monday Evening, January 13, 1913, Volume 10, Number 219, Page 1)
Page 1. “NO COUNTRY IS BETTER,” SAID HILL
“Empire Builder” Enthusiastic Over Bemidji, and Says the Land Only Needs Development – Community Spirit is Good – Told Banqueters That It Augered Well For the City That the People Pull Together – Many Disappointed That Former Great Northern Head Would Not Speak; Was Talking Farming
Salient Sentences. At different times during his visit in Bemidji yesterday, James J. Hill said:
“Manure is worth one-third of the value of the crop for it will increase the yield that much and so is worth a third of whatever the market will bring.
“The people we need on the land are strong men with good families – men who are not afraid of work with their hands.
“France today is the banking country of the world. Why? Because its prosperity is founded in the soil. Spain’s gold mines were exhausted long ago, but the French gold mine is constantly growing richer.
“Sir Francis Drake was a good old pirate in his day.
“I am a farmer by proxy. I find the men and tell them what I want done. The rest they do themselves. The tabulated report of the week done by Professor Crane and his assistants last year will be published next month.”
“I feel at home in Bemidji. I feel that you are my neighbors and that we are good neighbors. I like the community spirit here. It is one of the best signs of the time. You know, the new depot here is the last one I ordered and beyond the possibility of a doubt ever will order. So I had a more than ordinary interest in it and to see that it was built to fully carry out my promises.
“I am getting old – will be seventy-five next September, if I live. And I want to live as long as anyone lives. I am no longer the head of the Great Northern. But the company is in condition; its credit is good; and there is but one bit of road yet to be built, that is through Montana, and that is being built now. Younger men are carrying the burden but they are having it easier than I did in the early days.”
So spoke James J. Hill at the banquet given in his honor at the Markham hotel last evening. Mr. Hill was introduced by Judge C. W. Stanton, chairman of the evening, who said: “Banquets are usually given to men from who we expect to receive something. This banquet reverses the usual order of things. We are here tonight because we have already received something and wish to acknowledge the gift.”
Mr. Hill was in a cheerful mood last evening and during his talk of forty-five minutes he commanded the undivided attention of his audience. He dwelt at some length on the development of the Northwest, and said that the soil in this vicinity was as good as could be found anywhere and a lot better than some. Mr. Hill looks for a great tide of immigration into Northern Minnesota next spring.
Must Work With Their Hands.
The key of Mr. Hill’s speech was the fact that men who are not afraid of work are needed on the land. He pointed to France as an example of what a large peasantry can do for a country. Mr. Hill turned aside for a moment to gently roast the congressmen who are back of the illiteracy bill which he claims will turn good farmers from the United States and send them to the Argentina
Page 4. where they will raise wheat to compete with ours in European markets.
Bemidji is the center of a natural dairy country, Mr. Hill believes. He harked back to the time when he brought some 800 good blooded bulls into the state for the purpose of breeding up the grade cattle and the politicians who laughed at him saying that Minnesota was the home of No. 1 Northern and would never be a dairy or cattle country. He believes in the pasturing of cut over lands until the sod rots out the stumps and then the converting of the land into tilled farms.
W. G. Schroeder, who was present at the banquet, was cited as an example of a progressive farmer and Mr. Hill urged Bemidji people to watch the result of the Great Northern test which will be made on Mr. Schroeder’s land next summer. Similar tests are being conducted all over Minnesota and North Dakota and the results for the past year are now being tabulated and will be issued about the last of February.
No Secretaryship for Mr. Hill.
P. J. Russell followed Mr. Hill and brought his name before the banqueters as a man who could be secretary of agriculture for the asking. As soon as Mr. Russell had retaken his seat, Mr. Hill arose and said that he could not think of it as he would see things to be done, would know how to do them, but would be unable to get action, implying that there was too much red tape in such offices.
There were 135 men at the tables when they were seated at 8:30. It was 10:45 before the last course of the dinner, which had included baked wall eyed pike, Philadelphia squab, Great Northern punch and other things which rapidly disappeared from the tables, was served and the soiled dishes cleared away. It was 11:30 before Mr. Hill had finished his address and it was 3 a. m. before the last speaker of the evening was through.
T. A. McCann, A. E. Nelson, W. H. Gemmell, E. E. McDonald, T. J. Burke, Al Jester and J. J. Opsahl were other speakers of the evening. Each contributed in turn to the merrymaking and each spoke enthusiastically of this country and of Bemidji as the center of its industry. At the tables were seated men representative of every line of business in this city. Mr. Hill was informed of that fact and commented more than once on the “good community spirit” he felt here.
Many People at the Depot.
Several thousand people crowded into the depot yesterday afternoon between 3 and 4:30. The Bemidji band played a concert and every available seat was filled until the band had finished. Mr. Hill appeared at the depot several times but disappointed the crowd by not going inside for a short speech. After a short auto ride around the city in the McCann car, Mr. Hill was taken to the Commercial club rooms where he entertained about a dozen members with reminiscences and stories of what the Great Northern is doing now for the farmers.
Mr. Hills’ visit brought to light one fact which had heretofore escaped public notice. The new depot is built of the same material for all of its length. This plan was decided upon so that in case of an unusual growth of the city’s business in the near future, a freight depot can be built and the freight rooms of the present station used for passenger and baggage rooms. The present building can be turned into an all passenger station at a small expense.
The banquet was served in the dining room of the Markham and was a revelation to the Bemidji men of what good management can accomplish. Mr. Lycan augmented his usual dining room force with several of the girls who have worked for him at other times and the service they gave could not have been bettered in the big cities. Even Mr. Hill, who has been banqueted from coast to coast and in many European cities, marveled that such dishes could be served in a city the size of Bemidji. Those who watched him noticed that no course went untouched. Mr. Lycan was freely complimented after the banquet.
James J. Hill, in spite of his wealth and position, is a man of modesty and unassuming appearance and actions. Last night he was dressed in a business suit of gray with a maroon colored tie that harmonized with his suit. His shoes were the solid top boot popular a generation ago and to which many old men still cling. His soft hat made his stature appear shorter than what it really is. His conversation was as interesting as only that of a traveled, well red man of wide acquaintance can be. (The Bemidji Daily Pioneer, Friday Evening, January 17, 1913, Volume 10, Number 223)