James Jerome Hill

Hill, James Jerome

James Jerome Hill, pioneer transportation official, railway magnate (b at Rockwood, UC 16 Sept 1838; d at St Paul, Minn 29 May 1916). In 1856 Hill settled in St Paul. His many business ventures there included the Red River Transportation Co, which had a monopoly of the steamboat business on the Red River. With George STEPHEN and others he acquired the St Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1873-74 (reorganized as the St Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad in 1879) and became its president a few years later. Although an original director of the CANADIAN PACIFIC RY, he resigned in 1883 to protest the decision to build the main line north of Lake Superior. He later expanded the St Paul line into the Great Northern Railway, of which he was president from 1893.