Page:Memoirs of Henry Villard, volume 2.djvu/334

 Montana, Idaho, and Washington, Mr. Villard realized to the full the serious responsibilities he had assumed in providing for the comfort and safety of his guests. There were as yet no stations on hundreds of miles of the line, which rendered the direction of the movement of the trains most difficult. This devolved upon him. There were no supplies to be had for half the distance, and the different trains had to be stocked daily from a special provision-train. Mr. Villard was in constant trepidation, too, lest accidents should upset the schedule of the trains. Several minor ones did occur, indeed, east of the Rocky Mountains, but they caused no injury to persons, and but little delay. In descending the western slope, after passing over the switchback road above the Mullen tunnel, not then completed, he was much alarmed by the breaking into two parts of his own train, owing to a defective coupling. A collision ensued, the end of the car occupied by the British Minister and six other prominent guests being smashed, without, however, doing injury to any of the inmates.

The closing receptions at Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle were not surpassed by those at the eastern end of the Northern Pacific in lavishness of hospitality and in enthusiastic popular participation. In Tacoma, Mr. Villard put himself at the head of his guests, and, preceded by a military band, marched them from the station to Commencement Bay, where they first saw the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and where they embarked for Seattle. The magnificent giant of the Cascades, Mount Tacoma, rose right before them, covered with an alpine glow wonderful to behold, for the sun was setting just as they reached the shore. Seattle was reached with an escort of more than a score of steam vessels. The last scene of the transcontinental celebration was fittingly enacted in the grounds of the University of Washington, which Mr. Villard had relieved from distress. An address to him, the most eloquent and most moving of all, was delivered by the daughter of the president.