Dab solver - James J. Hill

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[[Hillsboro, North Dakota]]; [[Hill County, Montana]]; and [[...|Hillyard, Washington]] (now a neighborhood of [[Spokane, Washington|]]) - are named for him. In 1929, the Great Northern Railway named its flagship passenger train the Empire Builder in his honor. The train continues as [[Amtrak]]'s daily [[Empire Builder]], which uses former Great Northern tracks west of St. Paul, Minnesota. The [[James J. Hill House]] in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]] is a [[National Historic Landmark]].^ref

In 1887, the Great Northern's first company headquarters building was constructed in St. Paul. It was designed by , who also built the Hill's house on Summit Avenue. The 1887 building was converted between 2000 and 2004 to a 53 unit condo in the [[...|Historic Lowertown District of St. Paul]].^ref Hill had seen the devastation done to downtown Chicago by the [[1871 Great Chicago Fire|great fire of 1871]]. As a result, one feature Hill integrated into the construction of the 1887 company headquarters (the Great Northern General Office Building) was barrel vaulted ceilings constructed of brick and railroad steel rails that held up a layer of sand several inches deep. The theory was that if a fire broke out and the ceiling caved in, the sand would drop and retard or suppress the fire.

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{{Infobox person
|name=James Jerome Hill
|image=James J. Hill at 35.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption =James Jerome Hill at about age 36 or 37, ca. 1875
|birth_date={{Birth date|1838|9|16}}
|birth_place=[[Guelph/Eramosa, Ontario|Eramosa Township, Ontario]], [[Upper Canada]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1916|5|29|1838|9|16}}
|death_place=[[St. Paul, Minnesota]]
|occupation=Railroad tycoon
|nationality = [[Canadian-American]]
|spouse= Mary Theresa Mehegan
|children= 10
}}
'''James Jerome Hill''' (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916), was a [[Canadian-American]] [[railroad]] executive. He was the [[chief executive officer]] of a family of lines headed by the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]], which served a substantial area of the Upper [[midwestern United States|Midwest]], the northern [[Great Plains]], and [[Pacific Northwest]]. Because of the size of this region and the economic dominance exerted by the Hill lines, Hill became known during his lifetime as '''The Empire Builder.'''

==Life==
===Childhood and Youth===
Hill was born in [[Guelph/Eramosa, Ontario|Eramosa Township]], [[Wellington County, Ontario|Wellington County]], [[Upper Canada]] (now [[Ontario]]). A childhood accident with a bow and arrow blinded him in the right eye. He had nine years of formal [[school]]ing. He attended the [[Rockwood Academy]] for a short while, where the head gave him free tuition.<ref>[http://www.railserve.com/JJHill.html James J. Hill and the Building of His Railroad Empire] [[Railserve]]</ref> He was forced to leave school in 1852 due to the death of his father. By the time he had finished, he was adept at [[algebra]], [[geometry]], [[land surveying]], and [[English language|English]]. His particular talents for English and [[mathematics]] would be critical later in his life.
[[File:JamesJHill1856.jpg|thumb|upright|James J. Hill, c. 1856.]]
After working as a clerk in Kentucky (during which he learned [[bookkeeping]]), Hill decided to permanently move to the United States and settled in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]], at the age of 18. His first job in St. Paul was with a [[steamboat]] company, where he worked as a bookkeeper. By 1860, he was working for [[wholesale]] [[grocer]]s, for whom he handled [[freight]] transfers, especially dealing with railroads and steamboats. Through this work, he learned all aspects of the freight and [[transport]]ation business. During this period, Hill began to work for himself for the first time. During the winter months when the [[Mississippi River]] was frozen and steamboats could not run, Hill started bidding on other contracts and won quite a few.

===The young businessman===
Because of his previous experiences in [[shipping]] and [[fuel]] supply, Hill was able to enter both the [[coal]] and steamboat businesses. In 1873, he entered the steamboat business and by 1879 he had a local [[monopoly]] by merging (with [[Norman Kittson]]). In 1867, Hill entered the coal business, and by 1879 it had expanded five times over, giving Hill a local monopoly in the [[anthracite coal]] business. During this same period, Hill also entered into banking and quickly managed to become member of several major [[bank]]s' [[boards of directors]]. He also bought out [[bankrupt]] businesses, built them up again, and then resold them—often gaining a substantial [[Profit (economics)|profit]].

Hill undertook to establish a monopoly of the steamboat business; he was monopolizing coal, socializing with bankers, and buying other businesses at the same time. Hill noted that the secret to success was, "Work, hard work, intelligent work, and then more work."<ref>{{cite book |title= Highways of Progress |last=Hill |first= James J.|year= 2001 |publisher= Minerva Group |isbn= 0-89499-025-X}}</ref>

===Entry into Gilded Age railroading===
During the [[Panic of 1873]], a number of railroads, including the [[St. Paul and Pacific Railroad]] (StP&P), had gone bankrupt. The StP&P in particular was caught in an almost hopeless legal muddle. For James Hill it was a golden opportunity. For three years, Hill researched the StP&P and finally concluded that it would be possible to make a good deal of money off of the StP&P, provided that the initial capital could be found. Hill teamed up with [[Norman Kittson]] (the man he had merged steamboat businesses with), [[Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal|Donald Smith]], [[George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen|George Stephen]] and [[John Stewart Kennedy]]. Together they not only bought the railroad, they also vastly expanded it by bargaining for trackage rights with [[Northern Pacific Railway]]. In May 1879, the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway Co. (StPM&M) formed—with James J. Hill as general manager. His first goal was to expand and [[upgrade]] even more.

Hill was a hands-on, detail-obsessed [[Management|manager]]. He wanted people settling along his rail lines, so he sold homesteads to immigrants and then imported them to their new homes (on his rail lines, of course). He imported grains from Russia and sold this to farmers. He even sold wood to farmers in order to encourage them to buy his wheat. When he was looking for the best path for one of his tracks to take, he went on horseback and scouted it personally. Under his management, StPM&M prospered. In 1880, its net worth was $728,000; in 1885 it was $25,000,000.

One of his challenges at this point was the avoidance of federal action against railroads. If the [[United States Government|federal government]] believed that the railroads were making too much profit, they might see this as an opportunity to force lowering of the railway tariff rates. Hill avoided this by investing a large portion of the railroad's profit back into the railroad itself—and charged those investments to operating expense. It was at this point that Hill became the official president of StPM&M (not that he hadn't been the man behind the curtain before), and decided to expand the rail lines.

[[File:James J. Hill.jpg|150px|thumb|left|James J. Hill ca. 1890]]

===The "Empire Builder"===
Between 1883 and 1889, Hill built his railroads across [[Minnesota]], into [[Wisconsin]], and across [[North Dakota]] to [[Montana]]. Hill and his men worked in spite of all obstacles—including a [[President of the United States|presidential]] [[veto]] of a bill that would have allowed Hill legally to build through [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] territory.

When there was not enough [[industry]] in the areas Hill was building, Hill brought the industry in, often by buying out a company and placing plants along his railroad lines. By 1889, Hill decided that his future lay in expanding into a [[transcontinental railroad]].

"What we want," Hill is quoted as saying, "is the best possible line, shortest distance, lowest grades, and least curvature we can build. We do not care enough for [[Rocky Mountains]] scenery to spend a large sum of money developing it."<ref>{{cite book |title= James J. Hill and the opening of the Northwest|last= Marin |first= Albro |year= 1991 |publisher= Minnesota Historical Society Press |isbn= 0-87351-261-8 |page= 366}}</ref> Hill got what he wanted, and in January 1893 his [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]], running from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington — a distance of more than {{convert|1700|mi|km}} — was completed. The Great Northern was the first transcontinental built without public money and just a few [[land grant]]s, except for the many that allowed him to build his fortune in the first place,  and was one of the few transcontinental railroads not to go bankrupt.

Hill chose to build his railroad north of the competing Northern Pacific line, which had reached the Pacific Northwest over much more difficult terrain with more bridges, steeper grades, and tunnelling. Hill did much of the route planning himself, travelling over proposed routes on horseback. The key to the Great Northern line was Hill's use of the previously unmapped [[Marias Pass]] first discovered by Santiago Jameson. The pass had been discovered by [[John Frank Stevens]], principal engineer of the Great Northern Railway, in December 1889, and offered an easier route across the Rockies than that taken by the Northern Pacific.

The Great Northern reached Seattle in 1893.

===The Hill Lines: The 1890s===
Six months after the railroad reached Seattle came the [[economic depression|depression]] called the [[Panic of 1893]]. Hill's leadership became a case study in the successful management of a [[Capital (economics)|capital]]-intensive business during the economic downturn.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} In order to ensure that he did not lose his patronage during the crisis, Hill lowered rail tariff shipping rates for farmers and gave [[Credit (finance)|credit]] to many of the businesses he owned so they could continue paying their workers. He also took strong measures to economize—in just one year, Hill cut the railway's expense of carrying a [[ton]] of freight by thirteen [[percent]]. Because of these measures, Hill not only stayed in business, but also increased the net worth of his railroad by nearly $10&nbsp;million. Meanwhile, nearly every other transcontinental railroad went bankrupt. His ability to ride out the depression garnered him fame and admiration.

Part of Hill's success during the depression also was due to repeatedly cutting his employees' wages, although this was during a time of deflation when prices were falling generally. That, and his hard micromanaging practices, eventually led to a railway-wide strike and the workers' unionization under the leadership of [[Eugene V. Debs]]. Hill and Debs agreed to arbitration by other business owners led by [[Charles Alfred Pillsbury]]. The result was restoration of the workers' wages to pre-depression levels.

===The Northern Pacific and the "short squeeze" of 1901===
With 1901 and the start of the new century, James Hill now had control of both the Great Northern Railway, and the [[Northern Pacific Railway|Northern Pacific]] (which he had obtained with the help of his friend [[J. P. Morgan]], when that railroad went bankrupt in the depression of the mid-1890s). Hill also wanted control of the [[Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad|Chicago, Burlington and Quincy]] railroad because of its [[Midwest]]ern lines and access to Chicago. The [[Union Pacific Railroad]] was the biggest competitor of Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads. Although Great Northern and Northern Pacific were backed by [[J. P. Morgan]] and James J. Hill, the Union Pacific was backed not only by its president, [[Edward H. Harriman]], but by the extremely powerful [[William Rockefeller]] and [[Jacob Schiff]].

Quietly, Harriman began buying [[stock]] in Northern Pacific with the intention of gaining control of Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy. He was within 40,000 shares of control when Hill learned of Harriman's activities and quickly contacted J. P. Morgan, who was on vacation in [[Europe]] at the time. Morgan, acting on behalf of his friend, ordered his men to buy everything they could get their hands on.

The result was chaos on [[Wall Street]]. Northern Pacific stock was forced up to $1,000 per share. Many [[speculator]]s, who had sold Northern Pacific "[[short selling|short]]" in the anticipation of a drop in the railroad's price, faced ruin. The threat of a real economic panic loomed. Neither side could win a distinct advantage, and the parties soon realized that a truce would have to be called. The winners of that truce were Hill and Morgan, who immediately formed the [[Northern Securities Company]] with the aim of tying together their three major rail lines (Ironically, the Burlington Route, Northern Pacific, and Great Northern would later merge in 1970 to form the [[Burlington Northern Railroad]]). Unfortunately for the Hill-Morgan alliance, on the same day they formed the Northern Securities Company, President [[William McKinley]] was [[assassinated]], placing [[Theodore Roosevelt]]—the "[[Trust (19th century)|trust]]-buster"—in the office of President.

===The Hill Lines survive the trust-busting era===
Roosevelt wasted little time in breaking apart the trust. On March 14, the Northern Securities Company was ordered to be dissolved under the [[Sherman Antitrust Act]]. However, Hill, without the benefit of a central company, managed to acquire the [[Colorado and Southern Railway]] lines into [[Texas]], and to build the [[Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway]]. By the time of his death in 1916, James J. Hill was worth more than $53&nbsp;million {{Citation needed|date=February 2011}} (almost $2.5&nbsp;billion (2007) dollars).

The [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] and the [[Northern Pacific Railway|Northern Pacific]] tried to merge four times, in 1896, 1901, 1927, and 1955. This last attempt lasted from 1955 until final [[United States Supreme Court]] approval and merger in March, 1970, which created the [[Burlington Northern Railroad]]. In 1995, Burlington Northern merged with the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] to become the [[Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway]].

===Family life===
In 1867, James J. Hill married Mary Theresa Mehegan, born in 1846 in New York City. They had ten children:

# Katherine (died in infancy)
# Mary Hill Hill, who married [[Samuel Hill]] of Washington D.C. & Seattle. Samuel Hill was an executive at the Great Northern Railway when he married Mary Hill.
# James N. Hill of [[New York City]].
# [[Louis W. Hill]] of [[St. Paul, Minnesota]], who was named president of the GN in 1907 and board chairman in 1912.
# Ruth Hill Beard, who married [[Anson McCook Beard]] of New York City.
# Clara Hill Lindley, who married [[E. C Lindley]] of [[St. Paul, Minnesota]], who was Vice President, Counsel General, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Great Northern Railway.
# Charlotte Hill Slade, who married [[George T. Slade]] of [[New York City]] and [[St. Paul, Minnesota]]. George T. Slade was an executive at The Great Northern Railway and Yale classmate of Louis W. Hill.
# Rachel Hill Boeckmann, who married [[Egil Boeckmann]] of [[St. Paul, Minnesota]].
# Gertrude Hill Gavin, who married Michael Gavin of New York City.
# Walter Jerome Hill of [[St. Paul, Minnesota]].

==Death==
He died in his home in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]] on May 29, 1916.<ref name="times">{{cite news |title=J. J. Hill Dead In St. Paul Home At The Age of 77 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0916.html |quote=James J. Hill, builder of the "Northwest Empire," died at 9:30&nbsp;A.M. today at his house, 240 Summit Avenue. In his room, in the southeast corner on the second floor of the brownstone house, overlooking the city to which he came sixty years ago as a clerk, the end came. His age, 77 years, was a handicap in combating the hemorrhoidal infection, which dates from May 17.  |work=[[New York Times]] |date=May 30, 1916 |accessdate=2009-08-26 }}</ref> Mary Hill died in 1922 and was buried next to her husband by the shore of [[Pleasant Lake (North Oaks, Minnesota)]] on their North Oaks farm. Because of vandals or curious admirers both graves were later moved to [[Resurrection Cemetery]] in St. Paul for safer keeping.

===Art collection===
Hill was an avid collector and patron of the arts. The [[New York Times]] described Mr. Hill, in his obituary, as "gifted with fine tastes and a keen artistic sense of beauty of form and color, and his collections of art and jewels were among the finest in the country."<ref name="times"/>

Much of his collection is hanging in the [[Minneapolis Institute of Arts]], the majority of pieces having been donated by his heirs. ([[Peter Hill Beard]] is his great-grandson.)

Politically, Hill was a [[Bourbon Democrat]]. The Democratic Party's continued enchantment with the populist [[William Jennings Bryan]] led Hill to support Republican presidential candidates [[William McKinley]] (1896 and 1900), [[Theodore Roosevelt]] (1904), [[William Howard Taft]] (1908 and 1912).

Hill was also a member of the [[Jekyll Island Club]] (aka The Millionaires Club) on [[Jekyll Island, Georgia]] along with [[J.P. Morgan]] and [[William Rockefeller]].

Hill was a supporter of [[free trade]] and was one of the few supporters of free trade with [[Canada]]. In St. Paul, the city's main library building and the adjoining Hill Business Library were funded by him. In addition, he donated to numerous schools, including the [[Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity|Saint Paul Seminary]].

In 1891, after three years of building, construction was completed on a new Hill family home on [[Summit Avenue (St. Paul)|Summit Avenue]] in St. Paul. Over 400 workers labored on the project. Built at a cost of $930,000 and with {{convert|36000|sqft|m2}}, the [[James J. Hill House]] was among the city's largest. As with his business dealings, Hill supervised the construction and design himself, hiring and firing several architects in the process. The house has many early electrical and mechanical systems that predate widespread adoption in modern domestic structures. After the death of Hill's wife in 1921, the house was donated to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis]]. It was obtained by the [[Minnesota Historical Society]] in 1978 and today is operated as a museum and gallery. Upon completion of the Summit Avenue residence, Hill had the family's old house, which he had constructed in 1878, razed.

Though a [[Protestant]], Hill maintained a strong philanthropic relationship with the Catholic Church in St. Paul and through the northwest. Hill's historic home is located next to the Cathedral, largely due to the special relationship Hill's wife, a practicing Catholic, had with the Diocese. The Hills maintained close ties with Archbishop [[John Ireland (archbishop)|John Ireland]] and Hill was a major contributor to the Saint Paul Seminary, [[Macalester College]], [[Hamline University]], the [[University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)|University of St. Thomas]], [[Carleton College]], and other educational, religious and charitable organizations.

In order to generate business for his railroad, Hill encouraged European immigrants to settle along his line, often paying for Russian and Scandinavian settlers to travel from Europe. To promote settlement and revenue for his rail business, Hill experimented with agriculture and worked to hybridize Russian wheat for Dakota soil and weather conditions. He also ran model experimental farms in Minnesota such as [[North Oaks, Minnesota|North Oaks]] to develop superior livestock and crop yields for the settlers locating near his railroads.

An enthusiastic conservationist, Hill was invited by President Theodore Roosevelt to a governor's conference on conservation of natural resources, and later appointed to a lands commission.

Drawing on his experience in the development of Minnesota's Iron Range, Hill was, during 1911–1912, in close contact with [[Gaspard Farrer]] of [[Barings Bank|Baring Brothers & Company]] of London regarding the formation of the Brazilian Iron Ore Company to tap that nation's rich mineral deposits.

Near the end of his life, Hill played what a recent biographer, Albro Martin, called his "last and greatest role." After the first punishing year of [[World War I]], the [[Allied Powers]] desperately needed financial support to continue the war effort. To that end, Hill was a major figure in the effort launched by J.P. Morgan to float the [[Anglo-French Bond]] drive of 1915, which allowed the Allies to purchase much-needed foodstuffs and other supplies. In September 1915, the first public loan, the $500,000,000 Anglo-French loan, was floated. Concomitantly, the resulting trade in munitions with England and France carried the United States from a depression in 1914 to boom years in 1915 and 1916.<ref>[http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/barnesww1.shtml Harry Elmer Barnes: The World War of 1914–1918] at tmh.floonet.net</ref>

[[Hillsboro, North Dakota]]; [[Hill County, Montana]]; and [[Hillyard, Spokane, Washington|Hillyard, Washington]] (now a neighborhood of [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]]) - are named for him. In 1929, the Great Northern Railway named its flagship passenger train the ''Empire Builder'' in his honor. The train continues as [[Amtrak]]'s daily ''[[Empire Builder]],'' which uses former Great Northern tracks west of St. Paul, Minnesota. The [[James J. Hill House]] in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]] is a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jjhh/history/house.htm|title=Hill House: James J. Hill House|publisher=[[Minnesota Historical Society]]|accessdate=2008-12-16}}</ref>

In 1887, the Great Northern's first company headquarters building was constructed in St. Paul. It was designed by <<link:0>>, who also built the Hill's house on Summit Avenue. The 1887 building was converted between 2000 and 2004 to a 53 unit condo in the [[Lowertown Historic District (Saint Paul, Minnesota)|Historic Lowertown District of St. Paul]].<ref>[http://www.yourstpaulhome.com/GreatNorthernLofts Great Northern Lofts - Condo and Loft Directory] at www.yourstpaulhome.com</ref> Hill had seen the devastation done to downtown Chicago by the [[1871 Great Chicago Fire|great fire of 1871]]. As a result, one feature Hill integrated into the construction of the 1887 company headquarters (the Great Northern General Office Building) was barrel vaulted ceilings constructed of brick and railroad steel rails that held up a layer of sand several inches deep. The theory was that if a fire broke out and the ceiling caved in, the sand would drop and retard or suppress the fire.

Hill was intimately involved in the planning and construction (1914–1916) of a new company headquarters in St. Paul (to be known as the Great Northern Office Building), which was to house the corporate staffs of the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific and Hill's banking enterprises. The 14-story building cost $14&nbsp;million to construct.

{{cquote|''Give me snuff, whiskey and Swedes, and I will build a railroad to hell.''|10px|10px|Attributed to James J. Hill}}

Hill's heirs established the [[James J. Hill Reference Library]] in St. Paul,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.startribune.com/business/11209771.html|title=James Hill legacy a wealth of information |author= Todd Nelson |date= August 12, 2007 |work= Star Tribune|accessdate=February 7, 2010}}</ref> which is considered by the [[Small Business Administration]] the premier source for publicly accessible practical business information in the United States, and many SBA programs rely on the Hill Library's HillSearch service to provide business information resources to small businesses nationwide. The Hill Library has developed numerous online programs and now serves millions of small business owners worldwide.

In ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'', Hill is the man whom Gatsby's father says Gatsby would have equalled if he had lived long enough.

Hill and his railway are mentioned in the [[Harry McClintock]] song "[[Hallelujah! I'm a Bum]]."

[[Supercentenarian]] [[Walter Breuning]], the world's oldest verified living man from September 21, 1896 to his death on April 14, 2011, began working as a railroader for Hill's company in 1913 at the age of 17. He stated that he had to constantly hide, as Hill did not want anyone under the age of 18.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[Charles T. Hinde]] railroad executive, founder of the [[Hotel del Coronado]], and long time friend of James J. Hill.
* [[Pierce Butler (justice)]]
* [[List of railroad executives]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
'''Primary Sources'''
* [http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00698.xml James J. Hill Papers], Minnesota Historical Society.
* [http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00901.xml Great Northern Railway Company Records], Minnesota Historical Society.
* [http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/01010.xml Northern Pacific Railway Corporate Records], Minnesota Historical Society.
'''Secondary Sources'''
* [http://www.okabenamedia.com/pdf/Okabena-StoneArchBridge.pdf A History of James J. Hill's Stone Arch Bridge]
* {{cite journal |last=Blossom |first=Mary C. |year=1901 |month=May |title=James J. Hill |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=II |pages=721–728 |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=IF6tNZnhO7wC&pg=PA721|accessdate=2009-07-09 }}
* [[Burton W. Folsom, Jr.|Folsom, Jr., Burton W.]], ''[[The Myth of the Robber Barons]],'' Young America.
* Garraty, John A., ''The American Nation: A History of the United States'', pp.&nbsp;469, 481, 587.
* Malone, Michael P., ''James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest'' [[Norman, OK]].: [[University of Oklahoma Press]], 1996. ISBN 0-8061-2793-7
* Martin, Albro. ''James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. ISBN 0-19-502070-7.
* Poole, Keith T., http://voteview.uh.edu/jjhill.htm
* Sherman, T. Gary, ''Conquest and Catastrophe: The Triumph and tragedy of the Great Northern Railway Through Stevens Pass'', AuthorHouse, 2004, ISBN 1-4184-9575-1
* [[Robert Sobel|Sobell, Robert]] ''The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition'' (Weybright & Talley 1974), chapter 4, ''James J. Hill: The Business of Empire'' ISBN 0-679-40064-8
* Zinn, Howard, ''A People's History of the United States,'' p.&nbsp;343.
* [http://www.rchs.com/dutiful_son%20Louis%20Hill.htm Dutiful Son: Louis W. Hill Sr. Book], Book about Louis W. Hill Sr., son and successor of empire builder James J. Hill at Ramsey County Historical Society.
{{Refend}}

==External links==

* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7294 James J. Hill Washington State History]
* [http://www.jjhill.org James J. Hill Reference Library]
* [http://www.railserve.com/JJHill.html James J. Hill and the Building of His Railroad Empire]
* [http://www.neo-tech.com/neotech/global/appendix4.html The Destruction of a Wealth and Jobs Creator by Parasitical-Elites] A criticism of government intervention in the business of Hill
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7445 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']
* [http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8334.htm James J. Hill Scrapbook, 1916] Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTjEceZfjFE Webvideo:James J. Hill and the Building of the Stone Arch Bridge]
* [http://mises.org/daily/2317 The Truth About the "Robber Barons"] A discussion of Hill's building of the transcontinental railroad by [[Thomas DiLorenzo]]

{{Authority control|VIAF=3266829}}
{{Persondata
| NAME              =Hill, James J.
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH     =September 16, 1838
| PLACE OF BIRTH    =[[Guelph/Eramosa, Ontario|Eramosa Township]], [[Ontario]], [[Canada]]
| DATE OF DEATH     =May 29, 1916
| PLACE OF DEATH    =[[St. Paul, Minnesota|Saint Paul]], [[Minnesota]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, James J.}}
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1916 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American railroad executives]]
[[Category:American railroad executives of the 20th century]]
[[Category:Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople]]
[[Category:People from Wellington County, Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Great Northern Railway (U.S.)]]
[[Category:Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway]]
[[Category:Northern Pacific Railway people]]
[[Category:Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad people]]
[[Category:Robber barons]]
[[Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)]]
[[Category:People from Minnesota]]

[[ru:Хилл, Джеймс Джером]]

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