Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Van Horne, William Cornelius
VAN HORNE, Sir WILLIAM CORNELIUS (1843–1915), Canadian railway builder and financier, the eldest son of Cornelius Covenhoven Van Horne, lawyer, by his second wife, Mary Minier, daughter of Benjamin Richards, was born at Chelsea, Will county, Illinois, U.S.A., 3 February 1843. His father's ancestors had emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam in 1635; on his mother's side he came partly of German, partly of French stock. From 1851 to 1857 he attended the common schools in Joliet, Illinois. He then became a telegraph operator on the Chicago and Alton Railway, one of the lines which was opening up the west, and by energy and ability rose steadily. From 1874 to 1879 he was general manager of the Southern Minnesota Railway, and from 1879 to 1881 general superintendent of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul line.
In 1881 Van Horne accepted the general managership of the newly-formed Canadian Pacific Railway, the construction of which was one of the terms upon which British Columbia had entered the Canadian federation. Such was his energy that, though the contract did not call for the completion of the transcontinental line until 1891, the last spike of the main line was driven on 7 November 1885. From the first he saw that settlement must go hand in hand with construction, and showed foresight and ingenuity in his methods of encouraging and assisting immigration. In 1884 he became vice-president of the company, and in August 1888 he was succeeded as general manager by Thomas George (afterwards Baron) Shaughnessy. From 1888 to 1899 he was president of the company, and from 1899 to 1910 chairman of the board of directors.
Van Horne became a naturalized Canadian in 1888, and in 1894 was created an honorary K.C.M.G. From 1883 onwards he lived in Montreal, but he travelled so constantly that he claimed to have covered more miles than any other living man. From time to time he intervened in Canadian political life, and he was influential in the defeat of reciprocity with the United States in 1891 and 1911. From 1900 till his death he was increasingly interested in the development of Cuba, was president of the Cuba Company, and was largely responsible for the railway law of that island. He died in Montreal 11 September 1915, after an operation for an internal abscess.
Van Horne was tall and strong, with great physical vitality and power of work. In his later years he became very corpulent, but his energy never slackened. After a hard day's work he would spend the night at chess or poker, and turn to the next day's work with unexhausted ardour. His interests were very wide; he had great natural talent as a water-colourist, and made large collections of old masters, pottery, and palaeontological specimens. He was a member of the Unitarian body.
Van Horne married in 1867 Lucy Adaline, only daughter of Erastus Hurd, civil engineer, of Galesburg, Illinois, who survived him. They had one son and one daughter.
[Walter Vaughan, Sir William Van Horne, 1920.]