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.

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

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.

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. 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.

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

he enlisted in the 9th Regiment, New York S. M. and was immdediately summoned to Washington, where his company (K) was equipped as a light battery. This command so distinguished itself by gallant and conspicuous service during the Peninsular Campaign, that the government conferred the rank of horse battery, and from the date of this change until the close of the war, the 6th Independent New York Horse Battery was the only volunteer command of its kind in the United States Army. The company first served under General Pattison, in Virginia, and was praised for its conduct at Harper's Ferry and Balls Bluff. From the command of General Pattison the battery passed under the control of General Hooker, and at Chancellorsville they were largely given the credit of saving the day, as it was this battery which checked, and finally stopped the onslaught of Stonewall Jackson, after breaking through the lines of the 11th and 12th Corps. The gallant New Yorkers received the personal thanks of the generals on the field of battle at the close of this most eventful day. Again at the battle of Malvern Hill, the first great artillery duel of the war, the New York Battery received additional honors. The first gun from the land forces in this fight was fired by George Browne's order, received through General Griffin. The discipline and heroic services of the battery caused it to be constantly employed in hazardous and danger

ous enterprises, and it was finally placed at the disposal of the gallant and intrepid Sheridan. It shared the dangers, marches, and fatigues of the campaign of the Wilderness, as well as that final and masterly maneuvre which terminated the great war. George Browne had enlisted as a private among the heroic band of men. He rose to be senior first lieutenant, commanding the battery at Kelly's Fort, the first great cavalry battle of the war. Several times he was offered a higher command, but preferred a subordinate rank in the veteran troop which had become so famous.

Just previous to the surrender of Lee, George Browne resigned his command and returned to civilian life, settling down to the ways of peace, and became a clerk with the banking firm of H. A. Stone & Son, of New York. Within a year he was

a

member of the New York Exchange, and for years continued to share in the success and reverses of the Wall street folk. In 1873 he married, but had not as yet laid the foundation of his fortune. All good things seemed to come to him with his charming wife, Ella Haskell, second daughter of Leonidas Haskell, an early pioneer in California and native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, the fruits of the happy union being three sons. Early in 1882 George Browne retired from active business, having acquired an independent fortune, and resolved to travel. In May, 1882, he, with his family, visited England, Bel

gium and Holland, and in the winter of the same year took up his abode at Florence, Italy, visiting every point of interest in Italy. In 1883, they visited Paris, where they remained until 1885. Then removing to Dresden, a year's residence in Germany ended their sojourn in Europe, and their return to America was that their sons might have the benefits of American schooling. Immediately on returning to America George Browne accompanied the officers of the Northern Pacific Railroad on the yearly inspection of the road, and during his tour Mr. Browne made his first investment in the northwest, and at Tacoma. These purchases which he made in 1886 had increased in value so rapidly that with the contemplated improvements it became necessary for him to reside in Tacoma and give his personal attention. to the work. It was during a second visit that he became acquainted with Col. C. W. Griggs and Henry Hewitt, Jr., and that the great corporation of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company was formed.

Mr. Browne became secretary of the Company. Subsequently he was called to the presidency of the Tacoma Smelting and Refining Company, and one of the guiding spirits in every new and noble enterprise for

the city of Tacoma. He built the first suburban street car line, of which he was president.

was

Mr. Browne is a Republican in politics, and in 1889 was returned to the first State legislature as a representative from Tacoma. He made chairman of one of the most important committees of the Housethat of the Tide Lands, and the satisfactory settlement of the question was, in a great measure, due to his tact, forbearance and business ability. Mr. Browne is still in the very prime of life, and is equally popular with the proletaire and with the literary, legal and financial circles. The hospitality of his house is worthy of the owner, and reminds the visitor of those courteous days that existed prior to the deluge of modern ideas that have inundated the world.

It is unquestionably a pleasure to enjoy the characteristic, ardent greeting with which he meets his friends; the warm smile, the genial manners and address win at once. He is a happy man, and his best characteristic is that his whole being seems bent on making others happy; his home in the "City of Destiny," is but an outward expression of his inward tastes and feelings.

P. A. O'FARRELL,