Montana Medicine Show: James J. Hill

Welcome to the Montana Medicine Show. I'm Derrick strong. James J Hill was a scrappy hot tempered Canadian nicknamed the Empire Builder popular historian Stuart Holbrook characterized him as the barbed wire shaggy headed one eyed old son of a bitch of Western railroading Hill sense that Montana's abundant resources could support a second transcontinental line. The Great Northern Railway he bragged. Give me enough Swedes and whiskey and I'll build a railroad through hell Hills nine thousand workers invaded Montana territory on June 13th 1887 covering as many as seven miles a day they raced up the Missouri and Milk River Valleys. Writer Charles Dudley Warner gushed. Those who saw this army of men and teams stretching over the prairie's and casting up this Continental highway think they behold one of the most striking achievements of civilization by November Hill's crew had reached Helena and laid six hundred forty three continuous miles of track in just seven and a half months by 1893 the Great Northern

head links St. Paul to Seattle. No railroad had ever been built so rapidly. Historian Mike Malone described the Great Northern as one of the best constructed and most profitable of the world's major railroads. It was the first transcontinental built without public money. And one of the few never to go bankrupt. When we're all dead and gone hill once said The sun will still shine. The rain will fall and this railroad will run as usual from K.J. L.T. studios. I'm Derek strong. Montana medicine shows supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. A private corporation funded by the American people.