4
THE ' CHEMAW A AMERICAN
Richest Indian.
(Continued from Page 1)
enough money to renovate and repair
the building, and, placing it in charge
of competent parties, it was opened as a
hotel, but for several weeks the nly pa
trons were Hill and . one or two of his
friends. Then, the awTakening came and
there has not been a day during the
last two years that this very hotel has
not been crowded to its utmost capacity
with guests. ','..
When he had become well settled Hill
began thn work of interesting capital to
build a railroad to the place. He en
listed the efforts of wealthy land-owners
in the project and a party of them, accompanied-
by Hill, went to St. Louis,
where B. F. Yoakum, now chairman of
the executive committees, of the Rock
Island and Frisco systems, who person
ally was known to Hill and other mem
bers of hi party, agreed 10 enlist the
necessary capital and build the road.
When the plans for building the rail
road' had progressed sufficiently far,
Yoakum and his associates secured the
services or Plill . in getting options on :
other vast tracts of land for them. He
was well paid for this work and was able
to purchase outright many thousands of
acres upon which he had secured options,
to purchase on his ow n account.
The building of the railroad was b
gun and as each mile of track was com
pleted the land adjacent thereto" and ex
tending back for several miles camp into
demand for farming purposes and its
value doubled, trebled and. quadrupled
in a short space of time. In the mean
time Hill was buying more land and
loading himself up with options to pur
chase still more. The land which he
had bought , for $1 and $1.50 per acre
wnt to $5 per acre before the railroad
had reached Brownsville. When the
line was finished and the influx of in
vestors and home-seekers began land
values mounted higher and higher.
Make hay while the sun chines! Nev
er was a motto lived up to so completely
as this one by Hill. When he found
that horses were too slow and the pas
senger trains did not run at all times to
suit him, he purchased an automobile
the first ever brought to the lower Rio
Grande region. His landed possession's
extend al l the way from the internation
al boundanT stream to beyond Harlin
gen for several miles. It- is 25 miles
from Harlingen to Brownsville, and
when this town was laid out Hill estab
lished his home here. Hh maintains an
office at Brownsville and the daily trips
between the two points are made by
him in his automobile. When he heard
of a tract of land that could be bought
cheap, the automobile was made to carry
him to the owner with all possible speed.
Quickly closing the deal, he Mould be
back in his office attending to other
business before investors who had in
tended to make the purchase had got
fairly started on their trip ; to see the
owner. ?
Hill's enormous wealth is not specu
lative or "on paper." He has the land
and other property to show for it. His
vast holdings are i his own name and
he has paid for them. The vvildness of
the region when he first located. here
appealed to his rndinn nature, and he
took the greatest. delight in exploring
the mysteries of the chaparral and in
leading the 'primitive life of his tribf.
He still spends practically all of his
time in the open air, traveling from one
landed possession to another.