William P. Kenney

January 24 - On this date in 1939

William P. Kenney, President of the Great Northern Railway (1932-1939)

 

 

Exactly 75 years ago, William P. Kenney passed away. At the time, he was just beginning his eighth year at the helm of the Great Northern Railway. Kenney was promoted into the position of President upon the departure of Ralph Budd, who was hired at the outset of 1932 to run the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad (also known as the CB&Q, or “Burlington Route”). Bill Kenney’s tenure with the Great Northern was 37 years, with another 17 years in railroading prior to that. He was 69 at the time of his death; he started out in railroading at the age of 17 with the Chicago Great Western Railway, joining the GN in 1902.

 

There’s a story that less than one year prior to his death, Kenney received an extortion note at his office, demanding $100,000 and threatening him with kidnapping and bodily harm. The people threatening him tried to negotiate their criminal deal through newspaper want ads, but abandoned their scheme when it was revealed that Federal investigators had entered the case. Nevertheless, a guard was assigned to keep watch for him for many weeks.

From an obituary published in The Daily Interlake (Kalispell, MT) at the time of his death, here’s some more background on his career with the Great Northern Railway:

“In 1902 he joined the Great Northern as Chief Clerk in the freight department and advanced rapidly under the regime of James J. Hill. In 1904 he became assistant general freight agent, advanced a few months later to assistant to the vice president in charge of traffic. In 1907 he became assistant traffic manager, in 1911 general traffic manager, and in 1912 he became traffic vice president.”
It was from this position as traffic vice president that Kenney ascended to the office of president of the railway.

Good luck, pal - you're gonna need it!
Ralph Budd (standing) congratulates Bill Kenney (seated) on his ascension to the position of President of the Great Northern Railway

It is worth noting that William Kenney took the helm of the GN when the company was struggling through one of its most challenging financial times. With the 1929 stock market crash still a fresh memory, the Great Depression had taken hold of the nation when Kenney took ultimate responsibility for one of the largest railroads in the country. In all its history (right up to the 1970 merger that resulted in the formation of Burlington Northern), the Great Northern Railway never failed to pay dividends to its stockholders. With the weight of that legacy on his shoulders, it is understandable that Kenney counted among his highest priorities the need to reduce expenses across the board. I do not pretend to be an expert on the business history of the Great Northern Railway, but from what little I’ve read about this era of the railway, Kenney seems to have done an admirable job guiding the company successfully through this rough patch.

 

There is a tale – a legend perhaps – that credits Bill Kenney with the inspiration to incorporate the image of a mountain goat into the company’s logo. The story goes that a young Bill Kenney sold papers in Minneapolis (a claim that appears to be credible, according to other accounts of his life). A Great Northern press agent known for spinning outrageous yarns, one Hoke Smith, released a press statement around 1922 claiming that Kenney, as a lad, decided to haul his papers around in a goat cart. He owned a few goats for this purpose, but eventually he is said to have sold his goats to a man in Midvale, Montana (later named Glacier Park Station, and known today as East Glacier), who had a wild idea that he could breed these billy goats with Rocky Mountain Goats (which as I understand it are more closely related to antelopes). It seems highly unlikely – impossible? – to interbreed these animals. In any event, Kenney made it back to Midvale several years later (apparently, not long after Glacier National Park was created in 1910), and was informed that the fellow he had sold his goats to had passed away. When asked about the fate of the goats, his informant declared the hills were full of them. While inspecting the area with Louis W. Hill, President of the GN at that time, Kenney spied a goat that reminded him of his long-bearded billies, and he told Hill it must be a descendant of one of his own goats. To that, Hill allegedly replied, “here’s our trademark, Bill.” [My thanks to author and Glacier National Park historian Ray Djuff for sharing this story with me]

Some examples of early uses of goat motifs in Glacier National Park/Great Northern Railway publicity - these are luggage stickers from the 1912-1918 era (author's collection):