Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1885-01-30
THREE RAILROAD KINGS.
A San Franciscan Who Now Outranks the
New York nERgnates.

A San Franciscan who Now Outranks the
New York Magnates.
In his last letter to the Cincinnati
Enquirer Mr.. George Alfred Townsend
reports as follows conversation which
he had with one of the bcst-informed
railroad men in New York, whom he
does not name.
''Whom do you consider the first
railroad man in the United StatesPn
Eve rather look at G. p. Huntington
as at the head of the American railroad
system He entered the field late, es-
capped the general misfortunes OF the
Union Pacific railroad, to which his
company was the complement, and
with its earnings he has built COM
plete railroad system from San Fran
cisco nearly to Mexico, thence across
the desert and Texas to New Orleans,
and he has finished his railroad from
Hampton Roads to Memphis, and is
thought to be the controlling spirit in
the new railroad from Memphis to New
Orleans. Therefore, he is the only
American who controlsaa a line from
ocean to ocean
stWhere is Huntington home nowp"
I'm the city of New York. You see,
he owns the American line of steamers
from New York to New Orleans. In.
this line there e probably as many as
thirty steamers They are all Ameri-
can vessels. built at Wilmington, Del,
and well adapted for their purpose. A
branch of this steamship line runs to
Vera Cruz. Huntington also has steam-
ship facilities from New York to his in
itial railroad point at Newport News.
i would not be at all surprised" said
my friend, s'to see Huntington one of
these days complete his railroad system
to New York city. He has married the
widow of one of his railroad officers,
and has Just bought her very expen-
sive piece of ground on Fifth avenue,
New York. He delights in paintings,
and is pretty good Judge of them,
while modest man in his claims TO art
istic knowledge
"How do you rank Jay Gould as
railroad man?"
s.Gould does not operate his own
railroads. He secures the best talent
he can get for that purpose. For much
of his life he has been q consoiidator
and speculator in railroad property,
and therefore does not belong to the
mechanical element in the railroads,
but he controls hardly less railroad than
Huntington, and good deal of it is
profitable. You see, he began at Ell
Paso, or rather ends there, and does
not have that long haul across the des-
ert which Huntington makes. Mr..
Gould sweeps through northern Texas,
the best portion of Texas, and inhab-
tied by the best people there. He
reaches New Orleans by the same rail-
road, and runs through southern Texas
by parallel routes. taking him to Gal
weston and Laredo. He then has par
allel roads from Texas to the Missouri
river, and from Texas to the Missis-
sippi. In his system are some $500
miles, not counting the Wabash sys-
tenn, which has gone into liquidation
and is a thousand miles longer. y
ssHow much is in Huntingtcn's rail-
road system all togetherPi
Nearly 5000 miles. Some 500 miles
of this is in river steamboats, on the
Colorado and Sacramento rivers. He
has about 1920 miles in his Central Pa
cific road, about 1900 in the Southern
Pacific, some 1,200 miles in his Fexas
system, and he is also building into
northern California.
"How do you rank Vanderbilt as q
railroad man?"
Vanderbilt is simply capitalist
who has inherited wealth in railroads,
and has shown disposition ut different
times to get more railroad property or
to get rid of the responsibility for all
that he has. There seems to be in him
speculative tendency combined with
a timidity which at periods becomes al
most rash. He win buy some huge
system like the Michigan Central, or
i. l.
fore you know much about it he is sell,
ing It out again. Sometimes we think
he is little of a crank, and acts ac-
cording to his stomach and his moods
and his ideas of death and life. He
has, however, some very able assist
ants-men who are taught to bring
home returns in money, whether they
please the travelling public or not. If
you put together all the properties Van
derhilt controls in one form or anotRer,
he is the eastern Huntington. He may
be said to control railroad from Bos-
ton to New York, to possess the New
York Central system, the Michigan
Central, the Lake Shore, the Nickel
Plate, with very large interests in the
Reading and in the new Pennsylvania
systems. He owns the Harlem railroad,
or controls it, and has pretty strong
hand in the Northwestern and other
systems. Now, the Northwestern sys-
tenn alone is almost 5000 miles long.
The Michigan Central is another large
concern which stretches from Buffalo
to Chicago and from Toledo and De-
troit to the straits of Maekinaw. There
are at least 1900 miles in this system.
The Lake Shore system is tremendous
affair, reaching from Buffalo to Chi
cago, into the oil regions nearly to
Pittsburg, and into various parts of
Michigan. The main stem of this line
is nearly GOO miles long. Then the Bee
Line, which runs from Cleveland to st.
Louis, nearly 800 miles, with branches,
and to Cincinnati as well, has very
intimate connection with Vanderbilt's
properties. Mr.. Vanderbilt is not dis
tinctly felt in all these properties.
Sometimes he seems to be the ruling
spirit of it, and then again he an
nounces that he has nothing to do with
it, and must be counted out You can
define him, however, to be capitalist
and the heart of railroads. 1t is, per-
haps, good thing for the United States
that Vanderbilt is not man OF Hunt
ington's strong, grasping nature; that
he becomes at times Indifferent and
tired, and sells out. Huntington hard
ly ever sells anywhere.