When railroad millionaire James J. Hill last visited Vancouver in October 1911, he’d already completed the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway, a joint venture of his Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads. Three years earlier, the last spike was driven for that railway along the north bank of the Columbia River.
Now, as the Great Northern Railway’s board chairman, Hill spoke of prosperity for Clark County. For three years, the SP&S had linked Southwest Washington to the rest of the country, turning the area once again into what it had been since ancient times — a center for trade.
Local dignitaries greeted the Empire Builder and his son Louis — one of Hill’s 10 children and now Great Northern president — at the Vancouver depot that morning. Two automobiles carried everyone to the fairgrounds. Hill, Vancouver Mayor John Kiggins, Carl Gray of the SP&S and Professor Chamberlain, agriculturalist for the Great Northern, rode in one automobile. Louis Hill, Commercial Club member Lloyd DuBois, a Mr. Dunwoody, and others rode in another.
Passing the courthouse, the dignitaries received a “grand reception,” according to The Columbian. Throngs of high school boys hung from courthouse windows shouting chants, ending them with “We are for James J. Hill!” Seven hundred grade-schoolers stood by on the courthouse lawn, waving their tiny hands. The party waved back as they rolled by.
After touring numerous displays at the fairgrounds, which in those days was closer to downtown Vancouver, the speeches began. Mayor Kiggins introduced Hill as “one of the greatest men in the country.” Hill spoke of where the land’s bounty comes from — the forest, the farm and the mines. After extracting minerals from a mine, he observed, nothing is left. That makes the farm the most excellent source of wealth because it’s replenished and conducted by man’s hand and head, he explained.
Before hearing the railroad baron’s words, The Columbian had editorialized upon the significance of Hill’s upcoming visit: “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 government subsidies when laying his rails. In Washington, he did take timberland that he turned around and sold to his St. Paul, Minn. neighbor Fredrich Weyerhaeuser for $6 an acre. Weyerhaeuser would cut the trees, and Hill would ship the lumber, both making money in the bargain.
Hill was a savvy, cutthroat businessman. He priced his passenger and timber transport far below his Union Pacific competitor, Edward Harriman, who, at that time, dominated lumber shipments from the Pacific Northwest. Hill charged 50 cents a hundredweight for cedar and 40 cents for fir timber. For a passenger trip from St. Paul to Seattle, Hill charged $35 for first class and $25 for second — almost half of what Harriman charged.
Hill could also hold a grudge. When he had problems with officials in the lakeside Minnesota town of Wayzata, he ordered his trains to bypass the picturesque village and moved the depot a mile out of town. Later, he relented, letting the trains stop and rebuilding a depot in Wayzata, which resembles the Vancouver train depot. Today, despite the insult, Wayzata celebrates J.J. Hill Days annually.