יו A Type of Western Enterprise By JOE MITCHELL CHAPPLE T was with a great deal of pleasure I met, while in Washington a few days ago, Mr. J. M. Hagerty, a friend of former days. Mr. Hagerty was a hustler, a city builder, while still a mere youth. He is now located in the new and great state of Washington, exerting, in a broader field, the powers which he first manifested in the early days of one of the best Lake Superior cities. He is a splendid type of the active, far-sighted, courageous young Americans who are taking their places as the captains of industry in the industrial organization of tomorrow, the young men who are developing the latent resources of the wonderful western half of this continent. Here, one of these young men is laying the foundation for fortune and mastery in electricity; there, another is so shaping men and materials that he may serve the common good by directing and expanding an industry or a region that has perhaps been long waiting for just the spark of originality and the firm grip of conviction that he brings to it. Mr. Hagerty is engaged in developing the mineral resources of a region hitherto practically untouched by seekers after metals. It is one of the richest regions, in minerals, anywhere to be found within the United States. At present, and for years past, shut out from profitable development by reason of its remoteness from railroads; and by lack of capital even for the uncovering of its hidden riches. Every such region owes its final development and enrichment to the brains and energy of some one man. He goes over the ground perhaps on some mission not at all connected with the idea of mining development- but he has a good pair of eyes. He sees what probably other men have seen-that the minerals are there. But he sees more. He sees a way to get them out, and to make them profitable. First, he makes sure that the ore is really there in paying quantities. On this point he must be certain. Then he gets possession of sufficient property to base future operations upon. His market is assured in advance. His next step is to interest capital for the working of his prospects. Here is the severest test of his ability. Any one of a thousand average men may find metal: it takes the thousandth man to get the money to take out the metal profitably. The thousandth man is the man who knows he is on the right track, who refuses to be beaten by any obstacles whatever, and who has the business ability to convince other men of the value of his project. Hagerty is exactly this kind of a man. His mines are located on the northern border of the state of Washington. He got possession of them in pretty nearly the manner indicated in the foregoing, and he is working out his plans in a style that insures him an ultimate success probably no less in magnitude than that which Clark, Daly, Heinze and other multi-millionaires have won in the Montana copper fields. Mr. Hagerty is the successor in interest to the famous pioneer miner Okanagon Smith, and owns the first mines ever located in the state of Washington. in 1896, Mr. Hagerty, who was well known to the widow of Mr. Smith, was called in to take charge of the mines and further develop them. The great success he has achieved over the multitude of difficulties that have opposed him does not in the least surprise me: it was exactly what might have been expected of the youth who helped build the Lake Superior city. It was the natural result of his matured judgment and unimpaired energy applied to a proposition that needed just these qualities. He is now the general manager of the "Six Eagles" mines, is the president and manager of the No. I mine, the very first mine located in the state; president of the Ruby Mining Company, a very high grade silver mine, and the president of the Simil Kameen Falls Power & Development Company, which last-named corporation owns and is developing the falls of that name. These falls have a 10,000 horse power capacity. As president of the mining companies, Mr. Hagerty is preparing to erect two large concentrating plants and a smelter this coming summer, when he will util ize the power of the falls for concentrating and smelting the ores from his mines. The utilization of this natural power for these and other purposes will enable the companies concerned to produce the metals-copper, silver, lead and gold, all of which the mines bear in combination at a very low cost. Mr. Hagerty is engaged in several other enterprises, all closly allied and tending to one end, the creation at the mines and the falls of a great mining and industrial city. With the advent of the new railroad now being built by J. J. Hill, the Hagerty properties will make their owners immensely rich, and add another to the picturesque and wealthy mining cities of the West. The Prairie States A newer garden of creation, no primal solitude, Dense, joyous, m8dern, populous millions, cities and forms, With iron interlaccd, composite, tied, many in one, By all the world contributed-freedom's and law's and thrift's society, Walt Whitman The Torch On my northwest coast in the midst of the night a fishermen's group stands watching, Out on the lake that expands before them, others are spearing the salmon, The canoe, a dim shadowy thing, moves across the black water, Bearing a torch ablaze at the prow. Walt Whitman |