Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

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3lMEMOIRS OF JOHN ADAMSS DIX.

is, like his namesake, worth knowing as a variety of the human type,
and a gem of his kind; and we have all agreed, therefore, that you and
he must not die in ignorance of each other. To prevent this catastrophe I shall be at your door with my wagon at half-past one, this day,
and I trust you will let no obstacle prevent my taking charge of you for
the remainder of the daylight. I will restore you safely at your own
hour of the evening with the family wagon. We shall have some good
music after dinner. Believe me, yours most truly,
" N. P. WILLIS."
During those years in which he was excluded from public
life my father gave much time and thought to matters connected with the development of the country. I-e was actively employed as one of the pioneers in the gigantic enterprise of uniting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by one
continuous line of railway. On withdrawing from politics he
accepted an invitation to become President of the Chicago
and Rock Island Railroad, a post which brought much hard
work, with small pecuniary return. It gave him, however,
what he most desired, constant occupation, and filled his
active mind with large and important subjects. His journeys to and from the West for several years were frequent;
and as the work under his immediate observation grew so did
his enthusiasm increase, until he saw, by faith, the "Union
Pacific Railroad" already an accomplished fact. His speech
at Davenport, Iowa, in the month of June, 1854, in response
to that of the Mayor of that place, contains his views of the
grandeur of the work in which he was engaged. An excursion was made in which some twelve hundred citizens of the
East-capitalists, merchants, statesmen, geographers, and scientific men-took part. On returning from St. Anthony's
Falls to Davenport they were received with appropriate demonstrations. The Mayor, in addressing them, said:
" LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ---We invite you to an entertainment on this side the great water. It is not of bread, though
we could feed a multitude, and we touch not the wine. You
see yonder archway invading the bold shore of old Missis