When railroad millionaire James J. Hill final visited Vancouver in October 1911, he’d already accomplished the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway, a three way partnership of his Nice Northern and Northern Pacific railroads. Three years earlier, the final spike was pushed for that railway alongside the north financial institution of the Columbia River.
Now, because the Nice Northern Railway’s board chairman, Hill spoke of prosperity for Clark County. For 3 years, the SP&S had linked Southwest Washington to the remainder of the nation, turning the world as soon as once more into what it had been since historic instances — a middle for commerce.
Native dignitaries greeted the Empire Builder and his son Louis — one in all Hill’s 10 youngsters and now Nice Northern president — on the Vancouver depot that morning. Two vehicles carried everybody to the fairgrounds. Hill, Vancouver Mayor John Kiggins, Carl Grey of the SP&S and Professor Chamberlain, agriculturalist for the Nice Northern, rode in a single car. Louis Hill, Business Membership member Lloyd DuBois, a Mr. Dunwoody, and others rode in one other.
Passing the courthouse, the dignitaries acquired a “grand reception,” in response to The Columbian. Throngs of highschool boys hung from courthouse home windows shouting chants, ending them with “We are for James J. Hill!” Seven hundred grade-schoolers stood by on the courthouse garden, waving their tiny fingers. The social gathering waved again as they rolled by.
After touring quite a few shows on the fairgrounds, which in these days was nearer to downtown Vancouver, the speeches started. Mayor Kiggins launched Hill as “one of the greatest men in the country.” Hill spoke of the place the land’s bounty comes from — the forest, the farm and the mines. After extracting minerals from a mine, he noticed, nothing is left. That makes the farm probably the most glorious supply of wealth as a result of it’s replenished and performed by man’s hand and head, he defined.
Earlier than listening to the railroad baron’s phrases, The Columbian had editorialized upon the importance of Hill’s upcoming go to: “Mr. Hill can bring about conditions that will make here a great trade center. … The city of Vancouver should not fail to cooperate with Mr. Hill in every plan.”
Hill took no authorities subsidies when laying his rails. In Washington, he did take timberland that he circled and offered to his St. Paul, Minn. neighbor Fredrich Weyerhaeuser for $6 an acre. Weyerhaeuser would minimize the bushes, and Hill would ship the lumber, each being profitable within the discount.
Hill was a savvy, cutthroat businessman. He priced his passenger and timber transport far beneath his Union Pacific competitor, Edward Harriman, who, at the moment, dominated lumber shipments from the Pacific Northwest. Hill charged 50 cents a hundredweight for cedar and 40 cents for fir timber. For a passenger journey from St. Paul to Seattle, Hill charged $35 for first-class and $25 for second — virtually half of what Harriman charged.
Hill may additionally maintain a grudge. When he had issues with officers within the lakeside Minnesota city of Wayzata, he ordered his trains to bypass the picturesque village and moved the depot a mile out of city. Later, he relented, letting the trains cease and rebuilding a depot in Wayzata, which resembles the Vancouver practice depot. At present, regardless of the insult, Wayzata celebrates J.J. Hill Days yearly.