George B. Harris had a long and varied career with the CB&Q in which he rose through the ranks of the company at its time of greatest growth. He was a man involved in every facet of the company from interpersonal conflicts between rail men to the physical and financial expansion of the CB&Q to one of the most powerful companies in the United States. Harris started at CB&Q as an office boy in 1866, was promoted to clerk, then paymaster and then moved to the Land Department of the Burlington & Missouri in Iowa. It was through his influence in securing right of way that the line was able to reach into Nebraska. In 1899 he became president of the Chicago, Burlington & Northwestern and when the road was absorbed by the CB&Q, he was made vice-president of the larger company. He was elected 2nd vice-president in 1890 in the wake of the 1888 strike and the departure of H. B. Stone, and in 1901 he was made president of the CB&Q. He retired from the CB&Q in 1910, but remained on the board of the company until his death in 1918.