The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-10-08
The Remarkable Rise of ]. j. Hill
From a Country Boy.
DEMONSTRATES HIS ABILITY
His Rapid Ascent From Obscurity
to the Presidency
OF THE GREAT NORTHERN ROAD
His Genius for Large Enterprises
Successfully Shown.


The change in control of the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad brings into the COM
pany type of men wholly different from
any known in its history, extending back,
as it does, for three-quarters Of a CEN
tury, and marked by many eventful
epochs, states writer in the New York
Tribune. The new quartet in control
Hill, Field, Armour and Ream-are hard
headed, hard-fisted, rugged business men
Of the West, men with clear heads,
shrewd natures, and accustomed to busi-
ness transactions of great magnitude.
They have grown up with the West, and
have seen it unfold and magnify as under
an Aladdin touch. They are men of great
resources, steady nerves and dogged te-
nacity. The story of the growth of the
West is so closely interviewer with the
lives Of these men, that to write the life
of one or all would be almost to write a
history of the growth of Chicago and the
great Northwest. But of the four, per-
haps, the personality, the characteristics,
and the life of James ]. Hill are the most
fascinating and most interesting. 1t has
been said of him that his life reads like a
romance, and, indeed, there is much in
the statement.
In all the broad region beyond the
great lakes which is spoken of vaguely
as "the Northwest" there is no man who
has wrought such wonders in the rail-
road world as James ]. Hill. now presi-
dent of the Great Northern Railway COM
pany, and to be the controlling, domi-
nant factor in the new Baltimore and
Ohio railroad. Of Canadian birth, he
never received the benefit of thorough
education. He was born at Guelph, Ont,
iii 1888. He received pretty good edu-
cation before he arrived at the age of 15
when the death of his father compelled
him to do something for his own sup
port. Three years later he started on a
tour of exploration in the United States
a town of 5000 inhabitants, and that has
been his home ever since. From there
he has worked and planned. Had he
lived in New York it is safe. to say that
he would have been as widely known as
was Jay Gould. Today, at the age Of go,
he is still young man in energy, deter
mination and activity. Of medium or
average height, he is of stocky build and
sturdy. He is fascinating tall1er, de-
lightful companion, and impresses one
with his self-reliance and his capacity
for work.
Step by step Mr.. Hill has risen in the
railroad world and everything he has
gained has been by sheer hard work.
careful calculation, tenacious adherence
Up to 1873 Mr.. Hill was engaged in the
fuel and transportation business in st.
Paul. When, in 1873, the St. Paul and
Pacific railroad defaulted on the payment
of it's bonds and passed into the hands
of receiver, MrHill saw his chance for
obtaining control of a wonderfully rich
property. He was at the time thoroughly
familiar with the business Of the road,
and with the enormous resources of the
country tributary to it and it's projected
lines He had seen the moderate stream
of traffic which he controlled over the
railroad and it's steamboat connections
on the Mississippi and Red rivers grow
and widen each year with amazing ra-
pidity. He had watched with a keen
scrutiny the gradual increase of immi-
grafton into the promising region of the
Northwest tributary to the road and it's
proposed extensions, and saw that the
time was rapidly approaching when a
large and Industrious population would
spread over all the Red River valley and
the Northwest, which would be rendered
accessible by railroad.
He realized, what was almost unsus-
pected in the business and financial
world which deals with railroad proper
ties, that when the railroad sank ex
hausted under it's burden it was just at
the threshold of it's most brilliant possi-
bilities of development under vigorous
management. The opportunity was an
exceptional one, and he was by pursuit
and experience better able to understand
the prize that had slipped from the hands
of the railroad and to grasp the oppor
tunity offered. He seized the situation
with a firm and masterful hand. 1t be-
came his fixed idea to get control of the
road, and he set to work to bring about
the combinations necessary to achieve
that difficult result. There were about
s27,OOO,0OO of the defaulted bonds out
standing. They were mostly held in
Amsterdam, and were so discredited that
1t was possible to buy them at low
figure.