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I like my friend Mitchell. He is what some people unkindly say of me: He is a fighter. You
have heard of Patrick Cleburne, one of the greatest soldiers that died for the South. He was
handsome and brave. As he rode up to the breastworks, and received a death-dealing missile, he had
only time to cry out as his life's blood flowed away: "Boys, I am dying. Fight it out." So, my friend
Mitchell has fought it out, but he didn't have to die like my comrade. He survives the completion of this
stupendous task, and we all hope he will live many years to witness its good for Louisville and its trade.
You younger people here cannot understand what it meant to build the Kentucky & Indiana Bridge.
The Pennsylvania and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad had a hand on the throat of Louisville. In
the possession and control of the only bridge that crossed the Ohio, here. It sometimes cost $15.00 or
$16.00 a car to put freight from one side of the river to the other. When people complained about it,
they not literally but practically answered in the voice of Vanderbilt "The Public be damned." Well, the
public got tired of being damned, and there were some men who took up this enterprise, and said "We
will give Louisville relief; we will build another bridge." This was done, but it cost great effort, and to
some great sacrifices. The K&I was built, and the Pennsylvania Railroad hasn't got much left. She has
her own traffic and that is about all. The Monon has come here; the B. & 0. S. W. is here; the
Southern is here; and the Pennsylvania is alone, and has received the rewards that come to the selfish.

It is a little piece of history. I put $42,000.00 in the bridge, and then we had to stop for four years.
A friend of mine wrote Mr. James McCrae, President of the Pennsylvania Company, and said to him,
"Young is tired of this enterprise; if you will give him the $42,000.00 that he put into it, he will drop it."
He said "It is dropped anyhow." (Laughter). I said "Not on your life. We will see." So we went
ahead, and I had the able assistance of men, nearly all of whom are dead, but they were public spirited
and nervy. The greatest assistance I had was that from W. S. Culbertson. (Applause). He was dead
game. He was a man of fortune, and a quarter of a million dollars did not look as big to him as it does
to some of us. We haven't got that much. It didn't look big to him when he put himself behind the
scheme, and he laid down a quarter of a million dollars to start with. Then we had Morris McDonald.
He was a great help. We called him "Tip." Then we had my friend, Louis Hartman. Then, gentlemen,
we had a little Irishman, whom I always liked, Tom Hanlon, and we got New Albany to endorse the
bonds of the K. & I. Bridge Company for $250,000.00, and that assured the enterprise.

I have always been fond of Capt. Hanlon, since, as President of the Monon, I carried President Arthur
over the Bridge. Capt. Hanlon was conductor of the train I was President of the Monon Railroad then
and President of the Bridge. The Pennsylvania tried to steal the President. I said, "If you try to get Mr.
Arthur off this road, I will run the train two miles from New Albany, and hold it over night so that the
Pennsylvania can't take him." President Arthur was very much pleased with Capt. Hanlon, and before
we got to Chicago he said, "Capt. Hanlon, I am very much impressed with you. There is an office
paying $4,000.00 in Indianapolis and if you will take it I will give it to you. Tom looked at him with a
stare and said: "Mr. President, don't you know that I am a Democrat?" (Great Laughter) So, Tom
turned down Mr. President, and his $4,000.00 offer.

When I was actively engaged with the K. & I., they met with many difficulties I was telling some of these
gentlemen this morning that for the right to go under the Pennsylvania Railroad, an arbitrator of the City of
Louisville, then holding office, made this Bridge Company pay $33,000.00, to pass under the
Pennsylvania tracks at Fourteenth Street. When I built the Southern from Versailles to Lexington, 22
miles of railroad, I paid $167,000.00 for the right of way. This is not the right sort of spirit to exhibit.
These people may injure property, and they ought to pay for it, but they only ought to be required to pay
reasonable prices. There were many difficulties here, but Mr. Mitchell, with splendid courage, overcame
them all. I tried to hold him up myself awhile, but he brushed us out of the way. I see now how he fixed
it. He had seen Mayor Head, and he had seen the Board of Works and the Board of Trade, and
converted them all to his way of thinking, and these are powerful agencies; but I am glad they put it
through. It is a splendid monument, and this company today ought to make Mr. Mitchell, as he is now
retiring, a present of at least $100,000.00 for the magnificent work that he has accomplished for them.

There is only one other man that I desire to mention, and then I am done, and that is W. T. Grant.
He helped me to build the K. & I., and he was the bravest financier I ever knew. He did more to
build this terminal than I, and Louisville owes him a debt it can never pay. This connection for
factories and manufacturing plants has added $30,000,000.00 to Louisville values, and for this he
deserves the most praise. I suppose, without being immodest, I may say that I was the head and
front, and got all the abuse, and lost a good deal of money, and he and I have got about $200,000.00
in the first bridge. The money is gone, but I have got one satisfaction: It has helped my people and
my living here has not been in vain. The money is gone, but it did much for Louisville and Kentucky,
and I am content. When the L. & N. Railroad bought the stock of the Chesapeake & Ohio, and
Southwestern from Louisville to Memphis, I, with Capt. Headley, induced the Governor of Kentucky
to come in and say: "You can't buy it; you shan't buy it," and brought the Illinois Central Railroad into
this town. I feel I have done something for my town, and something for my people, and that my
services of twenty-five years ago have not been forgotten, gives me profound satisfaction. I have
come to mingle my cheers with the cheers of the people here, to offer my congratulations, and to
tender my admiration for the splendid enterprise which marks this terminal railroad. I don't think the
bridge is the biggest thing. The terminals are the biggest thing, - these tracks. Terminals make
railroads, and this is a great terminal. Anybody can build a bridge, but this terminal here is a
magnificent development, and in its undertaking, Mr. Mitchell putting it through, as he has done,
deserves the respect and the admiration of all the people of the City of Louisville, which I today, as
the original builder of the Kentucky & Indiana Bridge Company, tender him at this hour. I thank
you."