The building of the SLS&E was a combination of hard-headed business and frontier disregard for law. On at least one occasion, Burke convinced the Snohomish County sheriff to head off to the wilderness with all of his deputies to prevent a representative of a rival railway scheme from serving a writ that would have prevented the construction of a bridge across the Snohomish River. Exploits like this helped to bring him to the attention of James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway.