flâneur

Founders Notes: James Hill

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James J. Hill: The Empire Builder David Senra In the dead of winter in 1870, a young James J. Hill was on a 500-mile trek from Canada to St. Paul, Minnesota. He had traveled by dog sled, horseback, and was now on foot. It was dark; he was exhausted and covered in snow. He arrived at an inn in the town of Caledonia in the Dakota Territory. The innkeeper took one look at Hill and refused to rent him a room. Hill then had to backtrack on foot, trudging through snow 15 miles to a farmhouse where a widow allowed him to stay for the night. James J. Hill would never forget the widow's kindness. He would not forget the cruelty of the innkeeper in Caledonia who had refused him shelter either. Ten years later, Hill was building his railroad and intentionally built his line to avoid Caledonia and instead pointed his road past the town of the widow who had taken him in. As a result, Caledonia disappeared from the map. The widow's town became the capital of the county. That town was renamed Hillsboro in Hill's honor and still exists to this day. Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charles T. Munger Charles T. Munger The famed James J. Hill Stone Arch Bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only railway s

James J. Hill: The Empire Builder David Senra In the dead of winter in 1870, a young James J. Hill was on a 500-mile trek from Canada to St. Paul, Minnesota. He had traveled by dog sled, horseback, and was now on foot. It was dark; he was exhausted and covered in snow. He arrived at an inn in the town of Caledonia in the Dakota Territory. The innkeeper took one look at Hill and refused to rent him a room. Hill then had to backtrack on foot, trudging through snow 15 miles to a farmhouse where a widow allowed him to stay for the night. James J. Hill would never forget the widow's kindness. He…

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