In this volume, Michael P. Malone provides a succinct interpretive biography of James J. Hill, the "Empire Builder"-so called for his work in developing the region of the United States between the Great Lakes and the Pacific Northwest. Malone explores Hill’s complex life and personality, his activities and interests, and recreates both the story of the railroad race to the Pacific and the complex interactions involved in the development of the region. "Michael Malone has written a model. . . .interpretative biography of James J. Hill. He has drawn on the research of others, published and unpublished, as he says, but also on his own knowledge of American economic development in Hill’s time as a leading historian of mining and of a state in whose development Hill’s railroads were major factors." -Earl Pomeroy, Professor of History, Retired, University of Oregon and University of California, San Diego
In 1901, the Northern Pacific was an unlikely prize: a twice-bankrupt construction of the federal government, it was a two-bit railroad (literally—five years back, its stock traded for twenty-five cents a share). But it was also a key to connecting eastern markets through Chicago to the rising West. Two titans of American railroads set their sights on it: James J. Hill, head of the Great Northern and largest individual shareholder of the Northern Pacific, and Edward Harriman, head of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific. The subsequent contest was unprecedented in the history of American enterprise, pitting not only Hill against Harriman but also Big Oil against Big Steel and J. P. Morgan against the Rockefellers, with a supporting cast of enough wealthy investors to fill the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria. The story, told here in full for the first time, transports us to the New York Stock Exchange during the unfolding of the earliest modern-day stock market panic. Harriman vs. Hill re-creates the drama of four tumultuous days in May 1901, when the common stock of the Northern Pacific rocketed from one hundred ten dollars a share to one thousand in a mere seventeen hours of trading—the result of an inadvertent “corner” caused by the opposing forces. Panic followed and then, in short order, a calamity for the “shorts,” a compromise, the near-collapse of Wall Street brokerages and banks, the most precipitous decline ever in American stock values, and the fastest recovery. Larry Haeg brings to life the ensuing stalemate and truce, which led to the forming of a holding company, briefly the biggest railroad combine in American history, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the deal, launching the reputation of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes as the “great dissenter” and President Theodore Roosevelt as the “trust buster.” The forces of competition and combination, unfettered growth, government regulation, and corporate ambition—all the elements of American business at its best and worst—come into play in the account of this epic battle, whose effects echo through our economy to this day.
Written by historians at Harvard Business School, Mississippi State U., and St. Cloud State U. (Minn.), this history details the development and day- to-day affairs of this powerful business, and the careers of the main figures instrumental in its operation. This definitive work, first published by
More than one thousand entries and more than one hundred photographs present an entertaining history of the often quirky origins of St. Paul place names, from A Street to Zimmermann Place and including parks, lakes, streams, roads, cemeteries, bridges, neighborhoods, and many other landmarks. Original.
From the time he was 18 in St. Paul, James J. Hill (1838-1916) dreamed of a ship and rail bridge to the riches of the mysterious Orient. Through a succession of jobs, he absorbed every detail of moving goods by land and by water, which contributed to the excellent management and low-cost operation of his railroad empire. He made financial history by shaping the Northern Securities Co., a holding device dissolved by the Supreme Court in 1904. As founder of the Great Northern Railway, Hill was an American railroad icon and one of Ayn Rand's industrialist heroes. After his retirement, he wrote "Highways of Progress," originally published in 1910, and toured the country speaking about the virtues of capitalism and a hard work ethic. Near the end of his life, James J. Hill was asked by a newspaper reporter to reveal the secret of his success. Hill responded with characteristic bluntness, "Work, hard work, intelligent work, and then more work." Hill became a pivotal force in the transformation of the Northwest as his railroad served as the backbone of American settlement, agricultural development and commercial expansion. Book jacket.
Travel the rails of the American West in this stunning illustrated history Names for renowned entrpeneur James J. Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railway, the incomparable Empire Builder was jaunched in 1929 by legendary CEO Ralph Budd. Powered by steam until 1947, the Empire Builder charged into the diesel era at full-bore with streamlined EMD E7As trailing Pullman cars from St. Paul to Spokane and generating millions for the railroad. This authoritative and richly illustrated history [Illegible] the Empire Builders through their 1970s demise. Included here are the trains, their various forms of motive power and rolling stock, and their services. wealth of black and white archival images and period color photography depict the Empire Builder along one of the nation's most scenic routes. Also shown are uniforms, dinnerware, terminals and stations, interior views of Pullman and dome cars, period advertisements, and route maps.
