HENRY HEWITT. to be written, but to be made, and foremost among the men who are making the history of the northwest must be ranked the subject of this sketch. PERCHED on the crest of a hill overlooking Commencement Bay stands a finely built villa, on the embellishment of which taste and skill have been freely lavished. Few spots in the world equal, and none certainly surpass, the prospect to be had from that charming villa. Around are lovely homes, cosily set in tiny verdant lawns and gardens of fruits and flowers; the placid waters of Puget Sound wind away to the north, amidst fairy shaped islands and thickly wooded shores. Away to the east rises Mount Tacoma, the snowcrowned monarch of the Cascades, which, 14,400 feet high, is the giant of this mountain region, and looms. up in the midst of the lesser giants in solitary grandeur. the west, the snow-capped peaks of the Olympian range form another grand chain of mountains. Between these mountains lie that wondrous inland sea of Puget Sound, with its thousand wooded isles and its shores clad in the beauty of the primeval forest; add to the beauty of the sea and sky, to the grandeur of the forest and the mountain, a summer clime sufficient to make old hearts young, and then some idea can be had of the beauty and loveliness of Tacoma, the city of destiny of the far northwest. Washington is a great new country, whose history has not only Το Fifty years ago Henry Hewitt was born in a quiet English home. His father was a farmer in Lancashire, but foreseeing few chances for himself or family in the older civilization, the year his son was born he left England for the United States. He settled at Racine, Wisconsin, and in the following year brought over his wife and children. The elder Hewitt became a street contractor, and having become well and favorably known at Racine during a three years' residence there, removed to Chicago to undertake a sub-contract on the Illinois Canal. Unfortunately, however, the chief contractor of the works absconded, and Hewitt was compelled to dispose of everything he had to meet the claims of his workmen. He disposed of his furniture, not excepting even the kitchen stove, to satisfy his creditors, and he was again left penniless. Cast once more upon his own resources, he moved to Wisconsin and took up a farm claim near Milwaukee. He continued at farm life but a short time, for we find him again at Milwaukee in 1848 From there he moved to Neenah, Wisconsin, and thence to Kaukauna. It was during these peregrinations of his family that Henry Hewitt picked up what little education he could find. Schools at that time in Wisconsin and Illinois were few and far between, and the vicissitudes of the family did not permit the father to send his son to a good educational establishment. Young Hewitt's education, was, therefore, neglected, and it was when he had laid the foundation of his fortune that he acquired the best part of the literary education which he now possesses. But though lacking in proper school training, he acquired under his father's eye a business training of immense value. While a mere lad he was employed as timekeeper, and at sixteen he was superintendent of the workmen engaged on some of his father's contracts. It was then that he developed that wonderful tact and shrewdness which won him the entire confidence of his father and the respect of the employees. Two years later we find him in partnership with the elder Hewitt, and engaged in the construction of a canal, for which he was paid in timber lands. It was the knowledge acquired then that first directed his attention to the lumbering business, and having made about $20,000 as his share of the profits from his first venture as a contractor, he invested every dollar in timber lands, and formed logging camps to market the product. This was during the war period, and by the conclusion of the war Henry Hewitt had acquired a large fortune. His father was still in partnership with him, but fearing a panic the father insisted on selling out his interest at the conclusion of the war, and Henry bought it and made $30,000 by the transaction. Life in the logging camps of Wisconsin twenty-five years ago was rough and hard. The logs were cut during the winter, and in the spring. and summer they were floated down the rivers to the mills. In the camp none was as active and as hardworking as Henry Hewitt, and his skill in floating the rafts and logs down the river used to excite the astonishment and wonder of the oldest hands. It was during this period of his life that he acquired that extraordinary knowledge of everything connected with the lumber trade that places him as foremost among the lumber men of America. It was then, also, that he met with an accident that nearly killed him, and left him the legacy of a lame leg for life. He was accidentally shot by a trapper's gun, and it took eighteen months for the most skilled surgeons to heal the wounds inflicted. Mr. Hewitt then entered into the banking business with his father at Menasha, Wisconsin, and soon acquired almost the entire control and management of the concern. The same ability and shrewdness that had made him the foremost lumberman of the State he now displayed in bank management, until he made the Hewitt banking concern one of the rich 4 est and most prosperous institutions in the State of Wisconsin. His father and brother still manage this bank as part owners, but Henry Hewitt continues to own one half interest. Meanwhile, he was extending his operations in all directions! He had acquired the ownership of 60,000 acres of pine lands in Wisconsin. He had acquired the controlling interest. in 10,000 acres of mineral lands along Lake Superior, out of the iron mines of which he has a present income of $40,000 a year. He became Vice President of the Manufacturers' Bank at Appleton, Wisconsin, and he had visited Arizona and Mexico, and built a smelter on the borders of Mexico. space of nine months they had built eleven miles of railroad track, put up the mill, and sawed 24,000,000 feet of lumber. The mill once under way, the company aided the formation of a bank of their own, and took a half interest in the Traders' Bank of Tacoma, an institution which has a present paid-up capital of $560,000 and a surplus of over $60,000. Full of the restless spirit of enterprise, he sent inspectors to the far northwest to look up the iron and coal lands of Washington, and on the strength of their reports he hastened west to share in the untold wealth of that region. Coming to Tacoma in 1888, he met Col. Griggs and Mr. C. H. Jones, of Michigan, and President Oakes, of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He had former business relations with Col. Griggs, and he soon acquired a knowledge of the wealth of the Washington forests, and in conjunction with the gentleman named he formed the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. They purchased 80,000 acres of timber land from the railroad company, and at once built a mill at a cost of $250,000. Mr. Hewitt pushed the enterprise with his usual impetuosity, and in the Meanwhile Col. Griggs had arrived from St. Paul. Mr. Percy Norton, a brother-in-law of Mr. Hewitt's and his confidential partner in banking and mercantile business for twenty years, also arrived, and became assistant treasurer of the company. Their arrival enabled Mr. Hewitt to devote most of his attention to looking up coal and mineral lands, and also timber lands. On foot or on horseback, he penetrated to almost every part of Western Washington, and in the course of a year and a half he bought 40,000 acres more of timber lands for the company and 50,000 acres for himself. To this must be added 23,000 acres of coal and iron lands, and 16,000 acres which he bought with another syndicate. These mineral lands include the well known Wilkinson coal mine, a property valued at $300,000. During a visit to California he acquired a knowledge of the bituminous paving business, and on his return to Tacoma, in the present year, he formed a Bituminous Paving Company, with a capital of $200,000, which has already made contracts for $80,000 worth of paving with the city of Tacoma. The next step was putting a great smelter in operation at Tacoma, owned by a company, of which one of the principal partners of the firm, Hon. George Browne, is president. Right in front of the city, on the tide lands, the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company have their plant located, and as they own eighty acres of this land, they are preparing to build extensive wharves and docks around the mill. They will build ships and smelters of their own, and will ship their coal, and lumber, and iron to all parts of the world, from their own docks, and will import the ores of South America' in exchange to be smelted. In fact, the business operations of this firm are growing into gigantic proportions. They are to-day the greatest railroad builders, real estate owners, manufacturers and traders in the northwest. During the year 1890 alone they have taken contracts for building two hundred and fifty miles of railroad, which are destined to connect the Willapa and Grey's Harbor with Tacoma, as well as the coal and iron mines of the Cascades. Col. Griggs has immense financial interests still in St. Paul and Minnesota, and Henry Hewitt has millions invested in Wisconsin. But both are determined to transfer the greater part of their interests to the new State of Washington, the most promising of all the States of the union. Mr. Hewitt was married in 1868 to Miss Rocena L. Jones, the daughter of a Wisconsin manufacturer. His eldest son, William Hewitt, was born the following year, and the son is unquestionably the heir of the father's ability and executive talents. His father's robust common sense and sterling qualities of head and heart have been inherited by him. Two younger sons and two daughters also brighten the Hewitt household, a household so singularly blest by the gifts of fortune. It is questionable if Henry Hewitt knows to-day the extent of his own wealth and fortune. His possessions must increase in value at an abnormally rapid rate, and if he lives to a good old age he will be the owner of colossal wealth. Yet it must be remembered to his credit that fortune did not smile on him until he had conquered the fickle goddess by persistent toil and continued labor. continued labor. What he has, he has earned, and earned honorably, and he is a bright and shining example of the grand things in store for young Americans who emulate his energy and pluck. Henry Hewitt is small of stature, most unassuming and unpretending in manner. His countenance is ever brightened by a smile that amuses and attracts, and though he leaves you under the impression that he has never a moment to spare, he has always a kindly word for every one. Candid, straightforward and unconventional, Henry Hewitt is a noble type of the young and vigorous northwest. He is a type of the men who have settled in Tacoma, and that are rapidly building it up to be the foremost city of the west, and one of the great commercial centers of the world. GEORGE BROWNE. FOREMOST among the men who are bent on making Tacoma the Metropolis of the Great Northwest, stands George Browne. There are richer men in the bright, young city, there are abler and more eloquent men, but Tacoma without George Browne, would not be what it is. He is one of her institutions, an ideal, and most attractive citizen-noble, disinterested, with a kindly smile, and a warm clasp of the hand for every one. He is the best type of a man and citizen that dwells in the young Metropolis of the Northwest. He inherits the qualities and worth of the men that clustered about the Great Protector. The founder of his family left England when Cromwell assumed the dictatorship, and settled at Salem, Mass. The family have ever since been among the foremost of the sturdy men of New England, and were heard from in the Revolutionary days. During this war they were merchants and performed incalculable services to the nation, by furnishing ship stores to the United States Navy, at what proved almost ruinous cost to themselves. They could have made fortunes by the disposal of their stores otherwise, but patriotism was dearer to them than wealth, and they firmly backed the government in the prosecution of the war, bequeathing to their descendants a gallant and patriotic record. The father of George Browne married Joanna C., daughter of Charles C. Nichols, of Boston, Mass. Mr. Nichols was the inventor of rubber clothing, and his factory at Lynn, turned out the first goods of this character ever manufactured. George Browne was born in Boston, on the 25th of July, 1840, being the eldest of a family of four sons and three daughters. His early education was gained at Saybrook, Conn., in 1849; his father removed to New York where his sons all had the advantages of the public schools. While scarcely fourteen years of age, George Browne entered business as a clerk in a dry goods house having a large and exclusively Southern business. His rare tact and business ability marked him out for a successful commercial career, but at twentyone the current of his life was changed and the descendent of the Brownes of Salem, was called on to prove his love of country in camp, on the field, and in battle. Early in 1861 |