Harriman Vs. Hill: Wall Street's Great Railroad War

Now in paperback: how the two most powerful men in the nation's dominant industry battled for control of the Northern Pacific Railway, forever changing the landscape of American businessIn 1901, the Northern Pacific was an unlikely prize: a twice-bankrupt construction of the federal government, it was a two-bit railroad (literally - five years back, its stock traded for twenty-five cents a share).But it was also a key to connecting eastern markets through Chicago to the rising West.Two titans of American railroads set their sights on it: James J.Hill, head of the Great Northern and largest individual shareholder of the Northern Pacific, and Edward Harriman, head of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific.The subsequent contest was unprecedented in the history of American enterprise, pitting not only Hill against Harriman but also Big Oil against Big Steel and J.P. Morgan against the Rockefellers, with a supporting cast of enough wealthy investors to fill the ballroom of the Waldorf