The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-12-26
PACIFIC COAST MILLIONAIREs.
How Huntingdon, Hopkins and Croker
Amassed Their Fortunes.
! National Republican.

$50 business IN sacramento, Cal. III Ine SdIue
so city Leland Stanford was an oil merchant,
1r1 Charles Crocker was noted dry-goods deal
- err, and Judge Croker was lawyer OF small
OIL means. In 1861 these five men, with fifteen
w or sixteen Others formed corporation for
s. the purpose of building the Central Pacific
on railroad. The united fortunes of the incor-
mt porators at that time did not amount to more
e! than $4,000. BY the statutes OF the State
III of California, they were obliged to pay up
he certain per centage on their stock. that per
al centage amounting to. 81 800. The next
- step after incorporating the company
e was to get certain bills passed through
"a congress by which they obtained sub
aa1sidies for building the road. This they
al did, but the subsidies were given ON such
ns conditions that they could get no money
lyl from the federal government until twenty
- miles of the road were built They Induced
nel the State government to guarantee their
,dl bonds, upon which they raised money
r. enough TO build the first twenty miles of the
III road, after which the enterprise was easy.
=. There was money enough in the scheme, but
ls there were too many people to share in it.
1 Y Accordingly the five men above named either
: lfro2e out or bought out all the other stock
~ 3hoders Some of the latter, who stayed IN
p, Suntil the magnificence of the scheme began
= Ito be foreshadowed. realized ten for one on
y 3their investment. Having disposed of these
g outsiders, the five projectors of the scheme
4 formed the Credit and Finance Company"
y (which was the Credit Mobilier of the Central
y Pacific. These five men, as directors of the
= fCentral Pacific, made contract with them
I SELVES, as the Credit and Finance Company,
. ito build the Central Pacific road giving
!. Therefor $27 100000 of government bonds
,o,.f(whioh they received as subsidy, $27 000,-
1000 of the cempany's first mortgage bonds,
land about $S000,000 of land bonds which
athey issued on their grants. This, of course,
came piecemeal as the work was done, but
IA the above sum, together with about
~ $27 600, 900 more of bonds on unsubsidized
,S roads which the company afterward bought,
n were paid to the Credit and Finance Company
III for building the road. Lest some trouble
~ should arise because of this scheme the stock
u holders held Injecting, and fully Endorsed
~ the action of the directors; that is, the five
n linen named met, and Endorsed their own ac-
k ton in making contract with themselves.
a. Out OF the surplus which they made, after
y declaring per cent. dividend on $54 000 600
q of stock, these men bought all other railroads
70 in California, all the river and bay steamers,
and the horse-car lines in San Francisco es-
ttablished mail line to China, built the
HSouthern Pacific railroad, which they stocked
a and bonded for 500 900 mile, although it
:. did not cost, at the outside, more than $780,
- 600 mile, built palaces in city and country,
} which did not cost for all Of them less than
: $40, 600 000 The earnings OF their roads last
y year were about $25 900, O00 The assets of
q these men, as stated in their annual report
= ment, twenty-five years ago. was Sill, 500. The
- story is wonderful one, even in this bold
Il outline.
= Owning the Central and Southern Pacific,
a these men have virtually owned whatever
> they chose to take of the country through
. which they ran. The people of California
. complain that the railroad declares itself a
i partner in every business started, and takes
the greatest share of the profits. The rates
- charged upon freights have been fixed at the
= amounts which the owners would pay rather
o. than not have them carried. Twenty-Five
a million dollars of earnings have been paid
=. by population of million people, an aver
& age of SIS each. Compared with the earn
q ings of other roads the figures are astonish-
s ing. Tom SCOTS roads, running through a
+ population OF 8 100000 people, in 1876, when
/ every body travelled, earned 0000 600. The
. earnings of the Central Pacific in 1878 were
e half as much as the earnings of all the New
a England roads and hall as much as the
earnings of all the roads OF all the former
slave States.
Oh the five men who originated the Central
Pacific Mark Hopkins and Judge Croker are
q dead. The other three own most of the pro-
b ceeds of that plan formed twenty-five years
r. ago. 1t is SAID that no agreement in writing
> was ever made between them; that in all of
q this immense business each trusted the sim
j pie word of the other although at present
II Huntington and Stanford at least, are not
! on friendly terms. Huntington, Croker
b and Stanford are each about sixty years old,
II and the two first are still vigorous men.
Stanford, however, is broken in health.
H The leading spirit in all the transactions
!. named was c. P. Huntington. He is a hard,
4 thrifty, close New England business man.
& lie started his business career as q peddler.
q During the building of the Central Pacific he
& was the purchaser of materials His shrewd-
l ness is best illustrated by two of his opera
u tons in buying materials and getting them
/, to the Pacific coast. Nearly all the railroad
& iron had to be shipped from the Atlantic
i coast and carried around Cape Horn to San
= Francisco. There was a race of diligence
& between the Union Pacific and
! The Central in getting 10 Salt
II Lake City. 1t was important that iron
:. should be brought without delay. Hunting
ton knew that if the vessel owners knew that
! he was about to shipsuch an enormous guam
! tity of iron they would put up the rates on
s him. So he simply gave out that he wanted
e one ship, aud asked for bids. The vessel
q owners made bids, putting the figures as low
as possible. He accepted all the bids and
4 look every vessel. He did the same thing
Z with iron mills. He gave the iron men to
4 understand that there would not be much
ron wanted Immediately, bat that lie could
use q few rails. They made offers at low
{ igures. He accepted all the offers and ex-
I nausted the capacity of the mills. Hunting
ton now lives in New York in magnificent
Y palace on Park avenue. He has proven him.
4 self to be a match for Gould and the rest of
the hard men in that city. He
nas always held his own After
struggle with all the railroad magnates,
including Gould, be is master of
5 the situation in the Southeast. Among his
achievements is the connection of the gulf
n with Newport News, in Virginia, through
: which place he intends that the commerce of
Europe and America shall flow
/ Leland Stanford, the president of the Cen
/ trail Pacific, studied law in the Office of Will