For parts I, II, and III, see James J. Hill, Entrepreneur, James J. Hill, Empire Builder, and James J. Hill, Conservationist.
In 1912, at the age of 74, James J. Hill retired as chairman of the board of the Great Northern Railway. “Most men who have really lived have had, in some shape, their great adventure,” he wrote in a letter to his friends and employees. “This railway is mine.”
James and son Louis Hill at a Minnesota State Fair. Hill often offered prizes for the best livestock and produce shown at state fairs.
Hill and his wife Mary had nine children including three sons. James was nominally a Presbyterian but Mary was Catholic, and when their eldest son, James N., married a divorced woman, she banished him from the household. That left the second son, Louis, as the heir apparent. (James N. moved to Texas and earned millions investing in the Texas Oil Company.)
