James J. Hill

Born James Jerome Hill in 1838 near Rockwood, Ontario, Canada, J. J. Hill became known as 'The Empire Builder' by the time of his death in 1916. Beginning his business career after his arrival in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1856 he became involved in several businesses, a river steamboat line based in Winnipeg, Canada and with the formation of a fuel company to supply coal to the railroads. Between 1856 and 1878 he concentrated on the steamboat trade along the …

…and from major Midwestern cities today. The northern states depend on his railroads for goods, food, and transport. He was much like Rockefeller and Carnegie, trying to create a [railroad] monopoly, the Northern Securities Company, by attempting to acquirer the Northern Pacific R.R. and the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy R.R. but failed before his retirement in 1907. In other words, the country's history was changed and we should study him for settling the Northwest.