This piqued his interest in establishing one, thereby purchasing a hard granite hilltop called Bacon Hill as the site for his new Raymond Hotel. The dynamiting and grading off of  of the hilltop came to more than twice Raymond's estimates, and he turned to his father Emmons Raymond for assistance.
This passage describes the process of how Raymond acquired land and faced unexpected costs for construction. He was inspired by the idea of building a hotel and chose Bacon Hill as the location. The project's cost exceeded his initial estimates, prompting him to seek help from his father.