Railroad Tycoon James J. Hill on This Day in History

 

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"Give me Swedes, snuff and whiskey, and I'll build a railroad through hell."

This Day in History: Canadian born railroad executive James J. Hill was born on this day in 1838. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper 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". 

There have always been two types of businessmen: Free-market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs. Hill was the lone Free-market entrepreneur in the railroad game at the time. The government-subsidized companies were paid by the mile, so they "sometimes built winding, circuitous roads to collect for more mileage." (Burton Folsom) Sometimes they even built on top of snow and ice, which meant they had to be rebuilt later. By contrast, James J. Hill built his rail lines to last, he picked the shortest routes. Also, "what distinguishes Hill from the other railroad magnates of his age is the fact that once he had acquired the land for the Great Northern Railroad, he did not continue to lobby the government for financial subsidies, cartel regulations, and other political privileges. For this reason, Hill is rightly remembered by libertarians as a remarkable market entrepreneur whose talents transformed a failed, politically-supported railroad (St. Paul and Pacific) into a thriving commercial success (Great Northern)."

"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." Hill got what he wanted, and in January 1893 his Great Northern Railway, running from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington — a distance of more than 1,700 miles — was completed. The Great Northern was the first transcontinental built without public money and just a few land grants, and was one of the few transcontinental railroads not to go bankrupt.

"Hill chose the best routes, built the sturdiest tracks, and paid the Indians and other landowners free-market prices for rights-of-way across their property." ~Thomas Dilorenzo

Railroads played a major part in making America an economic powerhouse at the time. Railroad construction spawned new industries in steel, iron, and coal. No other business so dramatically stimulated and embodied industrialization in the late part of the 19th century.

"It made commerce possible on a vast scale. In addition to transporting western food crops and raw materials to East Coast markets and manufactured goods from East Coast cities to the West Coast, the railroad also facilitated international trade."~Source

James J. Hill was at the forefront of this wealth expansion...he was a most significant factor in moving the world and creating wealth for countless millions.