biography
| name: |
Hill, James J(erome)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1838–1916)
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| biography:
| Railroad executive and financier, born near Rockwood, Ontario, Canada. He moved to St Paul, MN (1856), where he worked in the offices of a steamboat line and a railroad. In 1872 he formed the Red River Transportation Co with partner Norman Kittson, and they prospered in the Manitoba fur trade. In 1875 he bought the Northwestern Fuel Co and, with three others including Kittson, he bought out the bankrupt St Paul & Pacific Railroad in 1878. This launched what became the Great Northern Railway, which extended west from St Louis and Chicago to Seattle and N to Winnipeg. Hill led this successful and important railroad in various capacities (1879–1912), and was one of the few railroad entrepreneurs who took a hands-on approach to the details of the operation. He became known as ‘Hill the empire builder’ because of his important contributions to developing the Northwest. |
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