James J. Hill: The Empire Builder

“10 years later, Hill was building his railroad and intentionally built his line to avoid Caledonia and instead Pointed at 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 cap…”

“When he was nine years old, he was out hunting with a bow and arrow. The bow that he had handmade had snapped, and the arrow flies backwards, hitting his right eye and prying it out of its socket. They were able to reattach the eye, but he was permanently blin…”

“If you want to know whether you are destined to be a success or failure in your life, you can easily find out the test is simple and it is infallible. Are you able to save money? If not drop out, you will lose. You may think not, but you will lose as sure as y…”

“He doesn't start working in the railroad industry till he's 40.”

“There is no standard oil empire without the experience of Rockefeller as a Hewlett and Tuttle. And there is no great Northern railway empire without James J. Hull having all these businesses and jobs that all interacted with the railroad for two decades before…”

“The very best employee at any job at any level of responsibility is the person who generally believes this is their last job working for someone. The next thing they'll start will be their own.”

“James J. Hill was the only American Railroad entrepreneur in history to build a railroad and never go bankrupt.”

“There's a maxim that I have about this that I think about all the time. It says, genius has the fewest moving parts.”

“I think now you're starting to see why Munger said, Hey, this James J Hill guy was one of the best business operators. He's up there with a Carnegie. He's up there with a Rockefeller.”

“So by 1885, railroads brought in twice the revenue than the federal government did.”

“Railroaders were the largest private landholders in the country. They owned more than 10% of the land in the United States.”

“Hill convinces the Dutch investors to accept about a 10% down payment on the purchase price. And then the rest is financed with bonds that, that pay them seven percent interest.”

“There's a great quote by Mark Andreessen, where Mark says, I'm a firm believer that most people who do great things are doing them for the first time. I'd rather have someone all fired up to do something for the first time than someone who's done it before. An…”

“He says it pays to be where the money is spent. Staying close to the money is excellent advice.”

“Hill soon had the workers laying rails at a rate of more than two miles per day, over twice the pace that Farley had made earlier.”

“The line showed net profits by the end of the year, well above 500,000 dollars. That is an 1878 dollars.”

“Munger would say that you need to find what you're good, good at, and then pound away at it forever.”

“Any regional carrier, even one with a de facto monopoly would only harm itself if it gouged its customers with excessive rates.”

“It's just really hard to compete with a well-run company because many times they can make money at rates. A poorly run company cannot.”

“Stevens did not obey his orders and he kept construction going. So Hill then tells Stevens, show me this curve. Stevens shows it to him. And Hill realizes that Stevens was right. It had to be a 13 degree curve. There was no other option. Hill also realized tha…”