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of the Pacific division of the Northern Pacific railroad, and being the lowest of sixteen bidders, the contract was awarded to him. He subse- quently built fifty miles additional of the same road, and also the draw- bridge across the Willamette at Harrisburg, Oregon, for the Oregon and CaUfornia railroad. Mr. Montgomery was also one of the owners of the charter of the Baltimore and Potomac railroad, and in connection with Thomas A. Scott, George W. Cass, .Joseph D. Potts and J. Donald Cameron, succeeded in making arrangements for the completion of this most im- portant highway between Baltimore and Washington City, and in 186G and 1867 he was interested with Shoemaker, Miller & Co. in the completion of 400 miles of the Kansas-Pacific railroad extending into Denver. As an in- stance of Mr. Montsromery's energetic character and as an illustration of his enterprise, it will not be out of place to mention the following incident: In 1879 he went to Great Britain for the purpose of organizing the Ore- gonian Railway Company (Limited), which built and acquired 103 miles of railroad in Willamette valley, and of which he himself constructed seventy- eight miles, and in which he is the largest stockholder. On his trip across the ocean Mr. Montgomery formed the acquaintance on board the steamer Bothnia of Captain Gilmore. Captain Gilmore informed Mr. Montgomery that he was on his way to Cardiff to bring out the ship Edwin Reed, which was laden with railroad material destined for Portland, Oregon. Mr. Montgomery told Captain Gilmore that he himself was on the way to Eng- land for the purpose of organizing a company to construct a railroad in the Willamette valley. When Mr. Montgomery arrived in Great Britain he succeeded in organizing the company, and then proceeded to Stocktou-ou- the-Tees and contracted for the manufacture of rails, and then went to London and chartered ships, which sailed six weeks after the departure of the Edwin Reed, Captain Gilmore. Mr. Montgomery left by steamer for New York, bough<^ in Philadelpliia and Pittsburgh the necessary ears and locomotives for the road, which were shipped overland, and then started for Oregon. On arriving he immediately put surveyors in the field and pro- ceeded to the construction of the road. When Captain Gilmore arrived some time after he sought an interview with Mr. Montgomery, and to his surprise learned that not only had Mr. Montgomery's material arrived, but that fifty miles of the track had already been laid. Although this feat of rapid railroad construction may seem somewhat remarkable to the reader, it is only fair to say of Captain Gilmore that his ship's cargo had shifted and he was compelled to put into Rio for the purpose of rearranging it. In the year 1872, when the general government undertook the removal of ob- structions in the upper Columbia— noticeably the troublesome John Day Rock, in John Day rapid, which was 170 feet long and 80 feet wide, and on which many a good steamer had been wrecked — it was Mr. Montgomery who received the contract to perform the difficult work. Theoper;ition was a dangerous one— much more so than that of the celebrated Blossom Rock in San Francisco harbor, which received such world-wide comment, and the work was accomplished wdthout the loss of a single life and so successfully that Mr. Montgomery received many other contracts for the rem
