Sir William Cornelius Van Horne (1843-1915) was an American-born Canadian railroad entrepreneur who supervised the building of the trans-Canadian railroad.

William Van Horne was born in Will County, Ill., the eldest child of Cornelius Covenhoven Van Horne, a struggling farmer-lawyer, and his second wife, Mary Minier Richards Van Horne. In 1851 the family moved to Joliet, where the father became the first mayor and William attended his first school. After his father's death 3 years later, poverty allowed William only 3 further years of schooling.

At 14 Van Horne quickly achieved advancement as a telegraph operator successively with the Illinois Central, the Michigan Central, and the Chicago and Alton railroads. In 1864 Van Horne became the Chicago and Alton's Bloomington train dispatcher, in 1868 its superintendent of telegraph, and in 1870 superintendent of transportation. In 1874 he rose to general manager of the Southern Minnesota Railroad; later he became its president. In 1879 he returned briefly to...