James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest (The Oklahoma Western Biographies Book 12)
updated 2d ago
updated 2d ago
the author also points to Hill’s excessive pride and his willingness to blink at questionable actions that benefited him and his projects. Although Hill’s family and friends often respected and admired his drive and perseverance, few wholeheartedly loved him.
Blas Moros added 1mo ago
A year later, in partnership with Wellington and George Blanchard, he proudly formed the firm of James J. Hill Company. He negotiated an exclusive arrangement as forwarding agent for the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad whereby his firm would transfer produce from riverboats to this firm’s rails that pointed westward to Minneapolis and up the Minnes
... See moreBlas Moros added 1mo ago
At the time of his marriage, he had figured that once he had amassed $100,000—a modest, little fortune in those days—he would retire and devote himself to a life of study, philanthropy, and fatherhood. But like other ambitiously driven entrepreneurs of his time, he soon abandoned that dream. Eleven years later, at the time he entered the world of r
... See moreBlas Moros added 1mo ago
PERHAPS no other generation in all of American history played so fascinating or central a role in national development as the one that, born in the 1830s and 1840s, came to maturity in the Civil War crisis of 1857–67. For this was the generation that not only forged the modern American nation but also worked the industrial-commercial-transportation
... See moreBlas Moros added 1mo ago
Clearly, Billings’s strategy of placing top priority on westward extension had prevailed, and in fact, this NP faction that looked west got something in return.
Blas Moros added 1mo ago
In sum, this key railroad, like its predecessor, would be a predictable target for speculators, would be hastily and poorly constructed far ahead of demand, and would be naturally entangled with the road that did reach northwest from the Twin Cities—the Saint Paul and Pacific (SP&P).
Blas Moros added 1mo ago
Thus the NP developers, motivated by a federal land-grant policy that encouraged reckless building, isolated the Twin Cities.
Blas Moros added 1mo ago
He knew that the best defense against invading roads that were looking for budding branches to gobble up was a well-built system that could outcompete any interloper with rock-bottom rates.
Blas Moros added 1mo ago
Kittson became his close friend, mentor, and longtime business associate. Jim would name his firstborn son James Norman in the older man’s honor.
Blas Moros added 1mo ago