I remember several
interesting experiences connected with the working out of these
problems.

BUILDING THE SHIPS

After this railroad problem was solved, it was apparent that we needed
our own ships to transport the ore down the lakes. We knew absolutely
nothing of building ships for ore transportation, and so, following
out our custom, we went to the man who, in our judgment, had the
widest knowledge of the subject. He was already well known to us, but
was in the ore transportation business on a large scale on his own
account and, of course, the moment we began to ship ore we realized
that we would become competitors. Mr. Gates got into communication
with this expert, and came with him one evening to my house in New
York just before dinner. He said he could stay only a few minutes, but
I told him that I thought we could finish up our affairs in ten
minutes and we did. This is the only time I remember seeing personally
any one on the business of the ore company. All the conferences, as I
said before, were carried on by Mr. Gates, who seemed to enjoy work,
and he has had abundant privileges in that direction.

We explained to this gentleman that we were proposing to transport our
ore from these Lake Superior lands ourselves, and that we should like
to have him assume charge of the construction of several ships, to be
of the largest and most approved type, for our chance of success lay
in having boats which could be operated with the greatest efficiency.
At that time the largest ships carried about five thousand tons, but
in 1900, when we sold out, we had ships that carried seven thousand or
eight thousand tons, and now there are some that transport as much as
ten thousand tons and more.

This expert naturally replied that as he was in the ore-carrying trade
himself, he had no desire to encourage us to go into it. We explained
to him that as we had made this large investment, it seemed to us to
be necessary for the protection of our interests to control our own
lake carriers, so we had decided to mine, ship, and market the ore;
that we came to him because he could plan and superintend the
construction of the best ships for us, and that we wanted to deal with
him for that reason; that notwithstanding that he represented one of
the largest firms among our competitors, we knew that he was honest
and straightforward; and that we were most anxious to deal with him.

EMPLOYING A COMPETITOR

He still demurred, but w