THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
Panama Canal commissioner. Fortune did not smile 
upon these two for a long time. They worked on the Eel 
River Railroad, an enterprise that consisted of thirty 
miles of track, sixteen freight cars, six passenger coaches, 
and two locomotives. ... In those days Freer and Hecker 
. . . cooked their meals over an alcohol stove in their 
rooms to curtail expenses. Both were exceedingly at¬ 
tached to the little road, and by the time Freer became- 
auditor Hecker was its superintendent. Their one train 
wobbled daily from Logansport through Mexico and Chill, 
two Miami County towns tropical only in name. There- 
was only one conductor, and often one of these two men 
would help him out. The train stopped at crossroads, 
cornfields, anywhere that a passenger might choose to 
stand and wave his hands. So Freer learned the names of' 
hundreds of men, women, and children—their habits and 
the location of their homes. . . . In 1878 the little road was 
leased to the Wabash and such costly appurtenances as 
auditors and superintendents were discontinued. It was a 
great blow to Freer and his chum. When they were thrown 
out of employment it looked as though fate were against 
them, but as a matter of fact the loss of their positions 
made them both millionaires. Between them they had 
saved several thousand dollars, and together they came 
to Detroit. In those days there were no car shops in the 
Middle West, so Hecker and Freer rented a building and 
began building cars on a small scale. To this company 
they gave the name of the Peninsular Car Works, which 
afterward became famous all over the world. Their busi¬ 
ness developed beyond their wildest dreams. Their 
‘shops’ grew larger and larger, they paid for their build¬ 
ings, erected others, and soon were counted rich men. A 
few years ago the company was purchased by the car 
trust, and both Freer and Hecker went out of it at a 
gain of several millions each.” 
Following his generous offer to the Nation in 1906, 
another idea began to develop in Mr. Freer’s mind. In 
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