Evening journal., 1916-05-29
HILL, BUILDER OF
Great northwest.
TAKEN BY death
CONTINUED From First Page.)

Continued From First Page.)
grasp the hand Of her dying father. lie
retained consciousness TO the end.
Mrs. A. NJ. Beard, New York, arrived
half an hour after the empire builder
died. AZ the bedside were all of the
other children and the widow Mrs. Hill
collapsed and is in extremely nervous
condition. The children are;
James w. Hill, New York; Mrs.
George 7. Slade. St. Paul Mrs. Egil
Boeckman, St. Paul; Walter Hill.
Halleck, Mimi; Mrs Michael Gavin.
New York, and Miss Clara Hill and
Louis w. Hill. who lived at home with
their father, and Mrs. Samuel Hill, of
Washington; Mrs. A. NJ Beard, New
York
Walter Hill arose from a sick bed to
come to the bedside of his father. The
entire city of ST. Paul Immediately be-
gan preparations to honor the memory
OF HILL The Northwest considering
him its greatest man was ready to
pay tribute in memorial ceremonies at
every railroad division point.
A history of the life of James Jer-
ONE Hill is a history of the develop
ment of the Northwest His was per-
haps the most thorough influence in
the development of this vast expanse
Of almost half continent over which
his railroads extend Fifty years ago
Hill was a dock clerk in St. Paul
practically penniless. Today his for
tune is millions.
Born near Guelph. Ontario, Septem-
Der l6, 1888, Hill had perhaps less
than the averag early opportunities.
His parents James and Anne Hill,
were plain. Woodworking. Scottish and
North of ireland stock.
Hills early boyhOod dream Of be-
coming a great surgeon was blasted
when he was fifteen. by the death of
his father. which sent him to work.
For three years he worked in a coun-
try grocery store near his home.
His dreams OF bigger things than
grocery store work caused him to
come to the United States. 1t was in
July. 1856, that he reached st. Paul.
Then the railroad system of the North
west ended at Galena, Illinois. Com
municatiOn with that point. just 27l
miles from St Paul. was by stage
coach in winter and by steamboat on
the Mississippi river i'm summer.
Without technical preparation OF
any sort. Hin took a job as clerk
i'm the Office the Mississippi River
Steamship Company. which he held
for nine years. Then he became
agent for the Northwestern Packet
Company.
Two years lator-the same year he
married Miss Mary Theresa Michigan,
of st. Paul-he went into the general
fuel and transportation business, on
his own account. About the same
time he became stationmaster on the
only railroad entering ST. Paul-his
first railroad job
Because OF the application and per
sistent study of commercial condi-
tions in Southern Minnesota. Hin in lS6l
headed the Hill-G -Griggs Transportation
, Company. which also handles fuel II
was in 1870, however, that he took The
! first step m the wonderful program o
I development that has marked his life
II was in this year that NE organized
the Rcd River Valley Transportation
Company. and hogan the development OF
the great Red River valley. Ont of this
plan grew syndicate that finally took
over the st. Paul and Pacific Railroad
out of which grew the Great Northern
| Railroad
4 railroad running from the present
site of st. =. MI TO what is now Mime.
apolis, distance of about ten miles
was the first foundation upon which
the great Hill system OF railroads was
] built
In 1860. the road went into the hands
| of the state. and it expanded 90 20.
miles, but in 1873 again went into
! financial chaos, with seven mortgages
| aggregating S33 .O00OO0 Holland capi
/ tahsts held the interests and they de
sired TO unload. George stephen, nov
Lord Mount Stephen; Donald 4. Smith
afterward Lord Strathcona and Norman
/ w. Kittson. bought the defaulted bondl
from the Dutch holders, making Hill
general manager
The three promoters raised money
and in May. 1879, organized the st.
! Paul. Minneapolis and Manitoba rail-
road. with a capital Of Sl5,O00,00O.
| Branches and feeders were thrown
out These lines today form the net
work of lines in Minnesota and the
Dakotaa
In 1889 the Great Northern was or
ganized 70 merge all the branches and
feeders that had become too large for
the limitations OF the Manitoba line.
! The same year the line under Hills
direction was pushed TO Puget Sound
The same year branches of the Hill
controlled road nosed into the ore
producing county Of northern Mime
sofa. ORGANIZATION of steamship COM
panies. operating with the Orient
through Seattle and in conjunction
with Hilrs transcontinental railroad
system was the next step in his build
ing career In the meantime. the
Northern Pacific a second st. Paul TO
the coast line. had been put through
4 But a Chicago to the coast line was
needed and in 1901. the Hill interests
represented by the Great Northern
and the Northern Pacific bought the
Chicago. Burlington G Quincy Com
pany. In 1907 the fourteen railroads
operated subsidiary 20 the Grea
Northern were purchased by the
! Great Northern and operated as a par
of the Great Northern system
throughout his rugged life, expansion
had been Hills keynote. His faculty
of doing many things well and stimuli
taneously forged him ahead in thu
ranks of railrOader. capitalist. farmer
banker. fnancier and adviser. He wa
on the board of directors of sew
eral banks in Chicago, New York an'
St. Paul. Since 1912 he had not beel
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