310223 - Topic: James J. Hill

Recording Status:  Recorded, not circulating

 

James J. Hill, builder of an empire (and the Great Northern Railway).

This presentation of Empire Builders was one of 31 broadcasts in the final season of the series to be recorded off the air as a quality check for the Great Northern. I am still researching the history of the digitizing of known recordings, but at this time their evolution is not clear to me. However, this particular episode is one of 22 that surfaced on reel-to-reel tapes a couple of years ago, and is in the process of being digitized. In the meantime, I also have a copy of the continuity.

As I’ve written about previously, the first three weekly broadcasts of this two-and-a-half year radio advertising campaign focused on the life of the GN’s founder, James J. Hill. He was without doubt a remarkable man who lived a remarkable life. Even following his death, the railroad he built from the ground up continued to sustain itself and grow within the enormous shadow of his business philosophies and influence.

The very first performance of the Empire Builders dramas – that of January 14, 1929 – was reenacted on February 2, 1931. As the series was beginning to wind down in this final season, it was decided to go back to the well again (touching on the life of Mr. Hill), but with a couple of fresh stories. This night’s program was reported to be part of a new series of episodes in the life of the Empire Builder himself. And once again, Edward Hale Bierstadt wrote these stories as he did the first series.

By this time, it would seem Bierstadt had come to a personal understanding of just how compelling Hill’s story was. He wrote of Hill’s dreams for building a great transportation system, but in telling this story he also made it abundantly clear Hill was every bit as much a doer and he was a dreamer. Here are the opening remarks by announcer Ted Pearson, as shown in the continuity:

ANNOUNCER:   Empire Builders presents tonight the first of a series of dramatic episodes from the life of James J. Hill, the Empire Builder. All his life this man dreamed of great deeds; and when his star of destiny blazed white and brilliant over the hazy horizons of limitless plains, he transmitted the fabric of his dreams into steel …… steel for the slim ribbons of rails that pierce the far places ….. steel for the locomotives that roar their resistless way through the night …. Bearing goods and treasure and precious lives onward toward the setting sun. He was a man, this Hill; a man and a maker of men. His life is a saga of achievement – he built where others temporized … and his greatest monument is that shining pathway of steel that traverses the land he loved; the railway that he conceived and fought for; the fruition of all his long life’s work – the Great Northern – Jim Hill’s Road.

Not unlike many episodes of Empire Builders, this one found the Old Timer once again riding the rails. He must have had a lifetime pass. And not unlike several other stories aboard a Great Northern passenger train, the Old Timer quickly found himself deep in conversation with a young woman – one with “man troubles.” In this instance, the character identified only as “GIRL” is found crying when the Old Timer stumbles into her. She volunteered that she had not one but two men waiting for her in St. Paul. She had promised to marry one of them. Up to this point (and with time slipping away with every mile of track they put behind them), she had not decided which beau it would be. In reply to the Old Timer’s question of “which one?” she said:

GIRL:              That’s just it! They’re both terribly nice, but the only one I want to marry lives way out – on the west coast!

Seems the young gal was from out Boston way, and was very unsure of what might await her out west. Much as a lifelong westerner might believe the eastern seaboard of the U.S. is all one massive stretch of pavement and high-rise buildings, she seemed to have it in her head the west was still the land of pioneers living in log cabins and keeping their guns handy in case of attack by bears. Or Indians. Or both.

It was almost like the situation was a made-to-order opportunity for the Old Timer to launch into more of his engaging yarns about the great Pacific Northwest. Oh – that’s right – that’s exactly what this was.

Being the de facto spokesman for the Great Northern Railway, the Old Timer proceeded to tell “GIRL” all about Jim Hill and his dreams and deeds. He mentioned at the outset that Hill was blind in one eye: “He only had one eye, but he saw a heap more with that one than most of us do with two.” It is well-documented that James J. Hill was badly injured in a boyhood mishap with a bow and arrow. He was taken to a doctor who managed to reattach his eye into the socket, but was unable to restore his vision in that eye.

A conversation was played out (prior to the bow and arrow mishap) between a young Jim Hill and his father, in which it was revealed that Jim had ideas of growing up to be a surgeon. He then related to his father a dream he had recently, about being a surgeon in Japan. It involved the daughter of the Emperor, who was gravely ill. The Emperor implored any available physicians to save his daughter. On the one hand, he who saved her would be given her hand in marriage. Failure, however, would result in the would-be savior’s death. The dreaming Jim Hill stepped up and performed his miracle, and took the beautiful maiden as his bride.

The scene switched back to a conversation again between young Jim and his father. After a fatherly comment or two about the virtues of hard work and such, the elder Hill asked his prodigy what plans he had for the remainder of the day. Jim told his father that we was heading outdoors to play with his buddy, a boy named Bob Bone [which is likely fictitious, but it would be interesting to know if I’m mistaken about that]. Jim and Bob were going to play Robin Hood with homemade bows and arrows. As only a parent can, Mr. Hill warned his son to be careful (knowing darned well that the admonition held scant value).

Most modern sources that describe this next event indicate Jim Hill managed to injury himself, in some cases describing how the bowstring snapped and the arrow somehow propelled backwards into his face. The rendition offered in the continuity is quite different. If the story were pure fabrication from start to finish, I wouldn’t think anything of it. But as I’ve pointed out before, there was a strong commitment with Empire Builders stories to be factually correct. I have to wonder if this accounting of the accident was one of the details that Bierstadt learned from Hill’s elderly brother, Alexander, who was interviewed at length when the radio series was just getting off the ground:

BOB:   Say, Jim which of us is going to be Robin Hood?

HILL:  Well, you can if you want to. I don’t care. I’d just as soon be Little John. He was a better shot anyhow.

BOB:   He was not! Little John was better with the quarter-staff, maybe, but he couldn’t shoot like Robin Hood!

HILL:  Well, if I’m being Little John, then he was the best shot!

BOB:   I’ll bet you I’m the best shot! I’ll bet you I could shoot an apple off your head!

HILL:  That’s not Robin Hood. That’s William Tell.

BOB:   I don’t care who it is. I’ll bet I could do it.

This is just the point at which I’m inclined to pitch an ancient bromide, like “it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye…,” or to paraphrase a much more recent invention “hey Jim – hold my apple a minute and watch what I can do!”

HILL:  I’ll bet you couldn’t!

BOB:   I’ll bet you don’t dare put an apple on your head and let me try!

HILL:  I’ll bet I will! … There! There’s an apple. You go off about twenty feet, and I’ll put it on my head.

BOB:   All right …. You ready, Jim?

HILL:  I’m ready.

BOB:   You sure you’re not scared, Jim? I wouldn’t want to hurt you.

HILL:  Of course I’m not scared. But you don’t dare to shoot!

BOB:   I do too dare! Are you ready?

HILL:  All right. Shoot!

What could possibly go wrong? But I’ve already explained that.

(THE TWANG OF THE BOW AND A SHARP CRY FROM HILL)

BOB:   Jim! Jim – I’ve hit you! I didn’t mean to do it! Jim – are you much hurt?

HILL:  I – I’m afraid I am, Bob. It hit me in the face. I – I can’t see out of one eye at all.

BOB:   It’s bleeding a lot too. Here – take my handkerchief. I’ll go home with you, and we’ll get a doctor right away. Gee, Jim, I’m sorry!

HILL:  Don’t you mind, Bob. It … was my fault I put you up to it. I – I can’t see very well, Bob. I guess you’ll have to help me.

BOB:   I’ll get you there all right. Maybe it isn’t as bad as it looks.

HILL:  It hurts a lot, and – I can’t see …. I guess – I won’t get to be a surgeon – after all.

The broadcast segued back to the interior of the passenger train, and the Old Timer continued his tale of Jim Hill’s ascension to greatness by first making an abortive effort to head off to the Orient by way of the Atlantic Ocean. The Old Timer explained that Hill only made it as far as Syracuse, New York, before his money ran out. As our faithful narrator and spinner of yarns told it, Hill took up with a farmer and helped bring in the harvest by operating a mowing machine.

Next up for the broadcast was a scene that played out between Jim Hill and the farmer, Mr. Boone. As the two took a break from their work and talked over lunch, Jim began to reveal his remarkable visions of the future. Boone asked Hill what it was that inspired him so about the Orient. Hill said: “for hundreds of years, the riches of the world have come out of the east, and men have been trying to find the shortest way of getting at ‘em. I want to go and see for myself.” So Boone asked him, if he did make it all the way to China, what then?

HILL:              Well, sir, just as sure as I’ve got a hat on my head, some day all the country between here and the Pacific coast is going to be developed, and when that day comes we’re going to need somebody to buy the things they’ll produce. I think the Far East is the place – if we can get at it easily – and we’ll be the market for Far Eastern produce – raw silk and all sorts of things.

FARMER:       Jim, if you wasn’t such a good farm hand I’d think you was gone in the head!

HILL:              Well, we’ll see, but I was thinking just a few minutes ago – that’s why I forgot dinner – that there’s an opportunity just waiting round the corner out there for me. You see, Mr. Boone, it’s like this.

The radio play then launched into a enactment of a couple of Chinese characters stressing over a famine that was threatening to devastate their land (“eat your broccoli, kid – there are starving children in China!”). Just as Jim Hill had dreamed about becoming a surgeon and coming to the rescue of a lovely Japanese maiden, he seemed to envision himself yet again coming (in this case sailing) to the rescue of the starving Chinese populace.

MAN:              (COMING ON)  Your Excellency! … Your Excellency, Tsing Tso!

TSING TSO:   Quick, man, and speak your message! What news? And who is this white man?

MAN:              (APPROACHING)  Your Excellency! Your Excellency Tsing Tso! I bring American man – captain of great ship in harbor – ship from America – with food – food for us!

Sure enough, James J. Hill (at least in his reckoning of the future) arrived on this scene of desperation captaining an entire ship loaded with grain – grain harvested from vast wheat fields of the vast realm that stretched from Minnesota to Washington state. And of course, not being one to sit back on his laurels and gloat, Jim Hill and the grateful Chinese in his tale of salvation arranged to load his ship with tons of treasure from China to ship back to America (Hill always understood the folly of running freight in only one direction – empty ships and rail cars don’t bring in much revenue). One last exchange between Hill and farmer Boone caused Hill to quote something his old mentor William Weatherall once told him: “‘First, production; then, transportation; and last, the market.’ The transportation is what interests me.”

James J. Hill was a dreamer. What set him apart from most other dreamers
was that he was also a doer.
Author's collection

At this point the continuity was about to segue back aboard the Great Northern passenger train and the conversation between the Old Timer and “GIRL.” In the process, the continuity indicated the sound effects crew were to produce a train whistle of one long and two short toots – warning of another train approaching. As the Old Timer and his rapt audience were chatting together, the sound of a freight whistle was to be heard, followed by a “(PASSING TRAIN EFFECT).”

The Old Timer went on to explain how Jim Hill did make it to the east coast of the United States – New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore – but he came up empty both in the way of finding passage across the Atlantic and finding a job. He switched gears, and had a notion to track down an old school friend at Fort Garry (now Winnipeg).

GIRL:              Goodness! He certainly changed his mind in a hurry!

OLD TIMER:  He was following his star, and his star moved westward. Well, by the time he had worked his way out to St. Paul, winter had set in, the last ox-train for Fort Garry had left, and there was nothin’ to do but stay in St. Paul till the first train, in the spring. Well! St. Paul was just one street on the waterfront in those days, but that was enough for Jim. It was right there in St. Paul that he laid the foundation for his fortune.

GIRL:              I think I’m tired of hearing about his fortune, and his dreams. Can’t you tell me just one thing about him where he was just – a man?

OLD TIMER:  Land of glory, I could tell you a hundred! But as long as we’re talking of Jim’s early days in St. Paul, I’ll tell you one story that showed him as a man all right. It was one evening when Jim was walking down the street with a friend.

Some transitional music brought the story to Jim Hill and a fellow named Charlie Coffin. The two were making their way past some rum joints in St. Paul, and Jim was lamenting about the disgusting pointlessness of inebriated behavior. Just then, a couple of drunks who knew the two men staggered up and tried to draw them into their wanton debauchery. Jim and Charlie had to bash the drunks in the noggin to get them to back off. The two men with the greater moral fiber then lamented how badly St. Paul needed to be straightened out.

OLD TIMER:  Well, that was Jim Hill all over. When he believed in a thing, whether it was a dream or a principle, he was always ready to fight for it. That was why he won.

          (WHISTLE)

GIRL:              Do you know that in all this story so far there’s one funny thing?

OLD TIMER:  What’s that?

GIRL:              Why – there aren’t any women in it!

OLD TIMER:  Sakes alive, and you a woman too! Well, now I sort of skipped Jim’s mother – thought I’d tell you about her some other time – but the one big romance in Jim’s life came along just about now, in his early days in St. Paul. It was there that he met Mary.

If you’ve gotten the impression that the story was kind of jumping back and forth a little, you would be correct. Keep in mind, this was just a 30-minute radio play, and they were attempting to touch on a considerable number of aspects of Jim Hill’s character and visions for the future.

Mary and James J. Hill, late in life.
Minnesota Historical Society collection

The dramatic performance continued with a scene involving Jim Hill and Mary Mehegan – the woman who would become his wife. This was one more ample opportunity to lay out some of Hill’s ideas about the transportation empire that he would soon build.

MARY:       It’s a big country, Jim. Who’s going to open it up?

JIM:            Who knows? Maybe I’ll have a hand in it. I’d like to. Transportation, Mary, that’s the big thing.

MARY:       Transportation! We’ve got boats on the Mississippi, we’ve got ox carts. But what this country needs Jim, is a railroad, don’t you think?

JIM:            I’ve thought of that. We’ll get it. Give us time. Some day, Mary, you’ll be able to go from St. Paul to Seattle by rail, and from there …

MARY:       And from there – yes?

JIM:            And from there – ships to the east – to India, China and Japan. I’ve always dreamed of that.

MARY:       If only dreams came true!

The story switched back once more to the passenger train, and the conversation between the Old Timer and “GIRL.” On a foundation of the tales of James J. Hill, the young woman found inspiration to help her set her own course.

GIRL:               Why – he was human after all!

OLD TIMER:   You’re right, he was human. Jim Hill was a man! … Well, that’s the story – or a little of it anyways. And now you’re headed west, just like Jim Hill, and like Jim Hill you’ve got a dream to follow. You can’t disappoint that.

GIRL:               I suppose – I can’t. After all, it doesn’t matter so much where you live, as long as …

           (CROSSING WHISTLE)

OLD TIMER:   As long as you really want to live there! That’s it. So, if I were you, I’d marry the man I wanted, and I wouldn’t worry about much of anything else.

GIRL:               But – I was going to do that all along!

OLD TIMER:   And you were cryin’ about it! Singe my whiskers, women are – women! … And what’s his name?

           (CROSSING BELL)

GIRL:               His name is Jim!

Well, dog my cats! His name is Jim. Why wouldn’t it be?

GIRL:               But not …

GIRL:               (LAUGH)  No – not Jim Hill!  BOTH LAUGH.

           (MUSIC IN QUICKLY DROWNING TRAIN. FADE FOR ANNOUNCEMENT)

A 1925 illustration titled "A Vision Realized." This was an homage to James J. Hill, and the vision he had of building - and accomplishing - a major transportation network across the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

The evening’s presentation drew to a close with some parting words from announcer Ted Pearson. It was one more opportunity to summarize some of the amazing accomplishments of James J. Hill.

ANNOUNCER:          James J. Hill was a fighter who never learned to quit. Practically single-handed he built the Great Northern. He had no government subsidy to aid him; and the railway that he built has never failed in its dividends to its stockholders. Today it stretches from a St. Paul grown greater with the years to the mighty young cities of the North Pacific coast – cities that have drawn their strength from the railway Jim Hill built. Even now it is pressing on farther and farther; in a few short months its famous Empire Builder named for that first great Empire Builder, will run regularly all the way to California. The Great Northern, with its far-flung connections with the famous Burlington system, today offers transportation that covers the west like some great net. The Pacific Northwest; California; the Gulf of Mexico and the Southwest; each is served in some measure, great or small, by the Great Northern.

                                    Tonight’s Empire Builders playlet again featured Harvey Hays as the Old Timer. The cast also included Bernadine Flynn, Lucille Husting, and Don Ameche. The Great Northern orchestra was under the direction of Josef Koestner. The next playlet of this series will be presented by Empire Builders on March 23rd.

(MUSIC UP AND SEGUE TO SPEEDING TRAIN EFFECT UP AND OUT. MUSIC UP AND FADE)

                                    This is Ted Pearson speaking. Empire Builders, a presentation of the Great Northern Railway, comes to you each Monday evening at this time from the NBC Studios in Chicago.

 

Until next time, keep those dials tuned to Empire Builders!