Back to top

Hill, James J. (1838–1916)

Creator: 
  • Cite
  • Share
  • Correct
  • Print
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, 1902. Photograph by Pach Brothers.

James J. Hill, 1902. Photograph by Pach Brothers.

James J. Hill fit the nickname “empire builder.” He assembled a rail network—the Great Northern (1878), the Northern Pacific (1896), and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (1901)—that stretched from Duluth to Seattle across the north, and from Chicago south to St. Louis and then west to Denver. He was one of the most successful railroad magnates of his time.

Hill arrived in St. Paul in 1856, from a farm near Rockwood, Ontario. He got work as a clerk on the waterfront with the firm of Brunson, Lewis, and White, agents for the Dubuque Packet Company (a steamboat line). From there, Hill observed both the increasing demand for shipped goods and how laborious and expensive steamboat traffic was. He concluded that in better transportation lay the path to wealth.

Soon after railroads came to St. Paul, in 1866, the newly formed James J. Hill Company built a warehouse between the tracks and the steamboat landing to make moving goods between boat and train cheaper and more secure. Hill prospered.

In 1867, he saw that coal had advantages over wood as a fuel—more concentrated carbon and an apparently inexhaustible supply. By 1875, his Hill, Griggs and Company dominated the Twin Cities coal market. Buying coal in high volume, he got discounts from sellers and shippers and undercut his competitors in price. He made a second fortune.

Intrigued by the rising flow of immigrants into the Red River valley, in winter 1870 Hill made an adventure-filled visit. He traveled by dogsled, waded the icy Red, set a guide’s dislocated shoulder with a stick and a rope, and returned convinced of the area’s bright future. In 1871, he went into the steamboat business, hauling goods and immigrants north toward Winnipeg and bringing back the bountiful wheat of Dakota Territory. His net worth rose to $150,000.

In the early 1870s, the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ran a line toward the Red River but fell into receivership. In 1878, with partners Norman Kittson, Donald Smith, and George Stephen, Hill bought the company for roughly $5 million. He valued its assets at more than $19 million.

Hill and four associates renamed the railway the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba to reflect its focus: hauling people and goods up the Red River valley toward Manitoba, and wheat back to St. Paul and beyond. Hill built an efficient road and lowered shipping costs; the abundant profits were reinvested in improvements and expansion.

Never satisfied, Hill now looked west to the mines of Montana and beyond. In 1887, “the Manitoba” began building cross-country. Renamed the Great Northern, it reached the Pacific in January 1893.

The 1893–1896 Depression stressed railroads and forced Hill’s competitor, the Northern Pacific, into receivership. The well-run Great Northern made steady profits, partly by cutting wages. Eugene Debs’s American Railway Union struck the Great Northern in summer 1894, and Hill consented to an arbitration that restored the cuts.

In April 1896, through an arrangement with New York financier J.P. Morgan, Hill acquired control of the Northern Pacific.

In 1902, Hill bought the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, a profitable railway based in Chicago that ranged south to St. Louis and Kansas City, then west to Denver. He fought off a furious effort by Edward Harriman to crack Hill’s empire by buying control of the Northern Pacific out from under him. Hill then helped create Northern Securities as a secure holding company for the stock of several railroads, including the Northern Pacific and Great Northern. The U.S. government challenged this under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. In 1904, the Supreme Court ordered Northern Securities dissolved; Hill thereafter ran his railways separately.

Away from his office, Hill and his wife Mary raised a large family, first in Lowertown and then on Summit Avenue. Three sons and six daughters survived to adulthood. Hill gave often to charity—usually in small amounts to individuals, sometimes on a bigger scale. He built the St. Paul Seminary and helped endow the downtown St. Paul Public Library. He owned the St. Paul Globe newspaper from 1896 to 1905 and the First National Bank of St. Paul from 1912 until his death.

Hill resigned as president of the Great Northern in 1907 but stayed on as chairman of the board until 1912. He died on May 29, 1916, after a short illness, at age seventy-seven.

  • Cite
  • Share
  • Correct
  • Print
© Minnesota Historical Society
  • Bibliography
  • Related Resources

Haeg, Lawrence. Harriman vs. Hill: Wall Street’s Great Railroad War. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

Malone, Michael P. James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.

Martin, Albro. James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.

Veenendaal Jr., August J. The Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad: An Empire in the Making, 1862–1879. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1999.

Related Images

Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, 1902. Photograph by Pach Brothers.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, 1902. Photograph by Pach Brothers.
Black and white photoprint of James J. Hill, 1856.
Black and white photoprint of James J. Hill, 1856.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, 1864.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, 1864.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill warehouse on St. Paul's Mississippi River levee, c.1869.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill warehouse on St. Paul's Mississippi River levee, c.1869.
James J. Hill
James J. Hill
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill residence on Ninth and Canada, St. Paul, 1884.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill residence on Ninth and Canada, St. Paul, 1884.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, 1885. Photograph by Hayes Robbins.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, 1885. Photograph by Hayes Robbins.
Black and white photograph of the wedding of Charlotte Hill Slade, daughter of James J. Hill, at 240 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, 1901.
Black and white photograph of the wedding of Charlotte Hill Slade, daughter of James J. Hill, at 240 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, 1901.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill with two engineers on the William Crooks train engine, 1908. Photograph by T.W. Ingersoll.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill with two engineers on the William Crooks train engine, 1908. Photograph by T.W. Ingersoll.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, at spike driving celebration extending the Great Northern Railroad, Bend, Oregon, 1911.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill, at spike driving celebration extending the Great Northern Railroad, Bend, Oregon, 1911.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill (left) with his son, Louis W. Hill, 1912.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill (left) with his son, Louis W. Hill, 1912.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill and Mary T. Hill, c.1915.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill and Mary T. Hill, c.1915.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill walking down street with overcoat flapping, c.1915.
Black and white photograph of James J. Hill walking down street with overcoat flapping, c.1915.
Color image of riding habit clothing worn by James J. Hill. Clothing made by Schaub Brothers, Inc.
Color image of riding habit clothing worn by James J. Hill. Clothing made by Schaub Brothers, Inc.
Color image of a suit worn by James J. Hill. Suit made by Schaub Brothers, Inc.
Color image of a suit worn by James J. Hill. Suit made by Schaub Brothers, Inc.
Color image of the James J. Hill House on Summit Ave., St. Paul, c.2010.
Color image of the James J. Hill House on Summit Ave., St. Paul, c.2010.
Black and white photograph of James J. and Mary T. Hill, 1906.
Black and white photograph of James J. and Mary T. Hill, 1906.

Turning Point

In March 1878, after nearly three years of laying groundwork and amassing capital, Hill gets into the railroad business by buying, with three partners, the St. Paul and Pacific Railway.

Chronology

1838

James Hill is born to farmers James and Anne Dunbar Hill in Rockwood, Ontario, Canada, on September 16. His name, like his father’s, is simply James Hill—he adds the middle “Jerome” later.

1856

Hill arrives in St. Paul on July 21.

1867

Hill goes into the coal business.

1871

Red River steamship lines begin operation under Hill and Norman Kittson.

1878

On March 13, after more than two years of negotiations, Hill and his associates get control of the barely functioning St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. They pay about $5.5 million for assets that Hill calculates are worth more than $19 million.

1887

In November, the Manitoba completes a record-breaking track-laying project: 643 miles from Devil’s Lake, Dakota Territory, to Helena, Montana, in one season.

1889

The Great Northern Railway Company becomes the official name of the former St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba.

1893

On January 6, the symbolic “last spike” is driven, signifying the completion of the transcontinental Great Northern from St. Paul to the Pacific. By midsummer, there is regular service from Seattle to St. Paul.

1894

On April 14, Great Northern workers associated with the American Railway Union strike over wage cuts. After an eloquent presentation by Eugene Debs, an arbitration panel sides with the workers. The strike ends after eighteen days.

1896

In April, Hill comes to terms to control the Northern Pacific, now in receivership.

1901

The Great Northern buys the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. Hill wins an epic battle with Edward Harriman and retains control of the Northern Pacific.

1904

On March 14, the U.S. Supreme Court affirms a lower court decision holding the Northern Securities trust in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

1907

Hill resigns as president of the Great Northern, ceding the position to his second son, Louis. He remains chairman of the board.

1912

Hill retires as chairman of the Great Northern, ceding another position to Louis. For the first time in thirty-three years he is not running a railroad.

1916

On May 29, Hill dies at home in St. Paul, of a gangrenous infection. He is seventy-seven years old.