ise alive through the harrowing panic
days. I had to loan my personal securities to raise money, and finally
we were compelled to supply a great deal of actual cash, and to get it
we were obliged to go into the then greatly upset money market and buy
currency at a high premium to ship west by express to pay the
labourers on the railroad and to keep them alive. When the fright of
the panic period subsided, and matters became a little more settled,
we began to realize our situation. We had invested many millions, and
no one wanted to go in with us to buy stock. On the contrary,
everybody else seemed to want to sell. The stock was offered to us in
alarming quantities--substantially all of the capital stock of the
companies came without any solicitation on our part--quite the
contrary--and we paid for it in cash.

We now found ourselves in control of a great amount of ore lands, from
some of which the ore could be removed by a steam shovel for a few
cents a ton, but we still faced a most imperfect and inadequate method
of transporting the ore to market.

When we realized that events were shaping themselves so that to
protect our investments we should be obliged to go into the business
of selling in a large way, we felt that we must not stop short of
doing the work as effectively as possible; and having already put in
so much money, we bought all the ore land that we thought was good
that was offered to us. The railroad and the ships were only a means
to an end. The ore lands were the crux of the whole matter, and we
believed that we could never have too many good mines.

It was a surprise to me that the great iron and steel manufacturers
did not place what seemed to be an adequate value on these mines. The
lands which contained a good many of our best ore mines could have
been purchased very cheaply before we became interested. Having
launched ourselves into the venture, we decided to supply ore to every
one who needed it, by mining and transporting with the newest and most
effective facilities, and our profits we invested in more ore lands.

Mr. Gates became the president of the various companies which owned
the mines and the railroad to the lake to transport the ores, and he
started to learn and develop the business of ore mining and
transportation. He not only proved to be an apt scholar, but he really
mastered the various complexities of the business. He did all the
work, and only consulted me when he wished to; yet