James Hill: Empire Builder

James Jerome Hill was an American executive who became the CEO of the Great Northern Railway (GNR), which serviced Upper Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and the northern Great Plains. GNR was just one of the many lines the Hill family owned. Hill was known throughout his lifetime as “The Empire Builder” because of the sizeable markets his companies have covered.

Hill was born in Wellington County, Upper Canada on September 16, 1838. He attended Rockwood Academy but was forced to quit schooling when his father died in 1852. At that time, Hill had a good grasp of English, geometry, algebra, and land surveying.

He learned bookkeeping while working in Kentucky as a clerk. He was 18 when he decided to permanently move to the US and settled in Minnesota. Hill worked as bookkeeper in a steamboat company in St. Paul, MN. In 1860, Hill took care of freight transfer while working with a wholesaler that dealt with steamboat and railroad operators. This job exposed Hill to the transportation and freight business.

Using his experience in fuel supply and shipping, Hill started to work for himself. He ventured into the steamboat business in 1873, which eventually grew to a monopoly in 1879. Hill started his coal business in 1867. By 1879, it expanded five times over. Thereafter, Hill entered the banking business by buying bankrupt banks, helped them recover, and resold them at a substantial profit.

Many railroads went bankrupt during the Panic of 1873. Hill saw the crisis as a pot of business opportunities. After three years of research, Hill partnered with Norman Kittson, John Stewart Kennedy, George Stephen, and Donald Smith, and acquired St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (StP&P). The group bargained with Northern Pacific Railway for trackage rights. The expansion was so wide that the venture resulted in the establishment of the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway (StPM&M). Hill was its first general manager.

While sitting as the general manager of StPM&M, Hill moved the homes of his workers along the railways. He sold rice he has imported from Russia to farmers. To encourage farmers to buy his wheat, he also sold wood to them. He scouted potential tracks on horseback. From a net worth of $278,000 in 1880, StPM&M’s net worth grew to $25 million in 1885.