Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-03-02
SENATOR LELAND STANFORD.
THE FOREMOST CALIFORNIAN OF THE
PRESENT DAY.
His Early Life, Literary Taste, Railroad
Building, Political Career and
Personal Habits.
Especial Correspondence of the SUNDAY Ux1oN.l /
Co. t.. .-c-.,1 NIL 1oon

Especial Correspondence Of the SUNDAY UNION. I
SAN Francisco, March I, 1890.
The foremost Californian of to-day is
the States senior representative in the Ma
tional Senate. Only within few years
has he become known to the masses east of
the Missouri river, yet here, where his
home has been so long, he stands in the
very front rank of her citizens. While his
associates in the great railroad enterprises
with which his name has been for years
connected, have often become the target of
public abuse, Leland Stanford has steadily
maintained large share of popularity.
And yet this man, who was the most ac-
complished Governor California ever had !;
whose destiny it was to build the first rail-
road through her richest and most beautiful
valleys and over her snow-clad mountains !;
who has accumulated by the exercise of his
genius and business foresight a fortune of
over $50 900, 900 was, as late as 1860, aquiet
and unobtrusive merchant in Sacramento.
HIS EARLY LIFE.
While Leland Stanford has been such a
large figure in the history of his State. and
his public acts are public property, there
are some incidents in his career that are
not generally known. He is, like almost
all successful Americans. emphatically a
self-made man. If he is not a living ex-
ample of the Manchester saying, that the
most successful business men are those who
begin the world in their shirt-sleeves, it is
certain that it was by the exercise of man
ual labor that he got his first start In life.
Born in Albany county. New York, sixty
six years ago, one of a family of seven sons,
he had only such educational advantages
as were to be obtained in the district
schools of that day. He worked on the
farm in the summer and attended school in
the winter. As boy he gave evidences
of business talent. Some time ago he told
to friend the story of how he earned his
first money.
HIS FIRST DOLLAR.
81 was 6 years DID," he said, "but 1 can
remember it we'll. Two of my brothers
and myself gathered load of horse,radish
in the garden, washed it clean-I think
they made me do most of the scrubbing, for
! was the youngest-took it to Schenectady
and sold it. We received six York shil-
lings for the lot, and of that received two
shillings. felt very proud of that money
you may be sure. Two years later made
my second financial venture. One day
fathers hired man came home from Albany
and told us that chestnuts were very high.
We boys had lot of them on hand that
we had gathered in the fall, and council
of .ro. bos,,c, bal1 - ,roc Iaoidad III of r,ovU
was the time to put our chestnuts on the
market. Accordingly, we took them to
ALBANY and sold them for S25. That was
good deal of money for those times, when
grown men were only getting two shillings
day."
His first business venture on a compare
lively large scale was yet to come, how
ever. When he was 18years old his father
bS1sLt d piece Of woodland, and that wir-
ter told Leland that if he would cut the
timber he could have the proceeds. The
young man hired several hands to help
him, o. letter they cut and piled 500
cords of wood He hauled it to Albany
River Railroad Company at the net preft
to himself of $4,000. He now had a little
capital and he gave more time to his stud
les, laV1IlI uGteIlulncQ W III u1u1oSll lOI
the law. At the age of % he entered the
Office of Wheaton, Doolittle & Hadley,
prominent law firE in Albany. In three
years he was admitted to the bar, and then
started West to locate His first objective
point was Chicago, then looked upon as
the coming metropolis of the West. 1t is
probable that the young lawyer would
have settled there, and his whole future
might have been changed but for one
thing-the mosquitoes were so thick that
existence was rendered torment. 1t was
in the summer season, and the insects piled
their vocation SO vigorously that they
fairly drove the newcomer away. He had
heard about town just being laid out on
the shore of Lake Michigan, some distance
above Milwaukee, called Port Washing
ton, which its projectors declared was
bound to eclipse both Chicago and Mil
waukee in the near future. Stanford jour
neyed thither, liked it, and resolved to
locate. He hung out his shingle and dur
ing the succeeding four years had a good
legal practice.
LITERARY TASTE.
Senator Stanford has always acknowl-
edged the great influence of the press.
Some years ago he remarked: Not the
richest banker in San Francisco nor the
ablest member of the bar wields as much
power as theordinary newspaper reporter"
Few people, however, are aware that the
railroad magnate came very near being a
newspaper man himself. While at Port
Washington he took a lively interest in
politics, and used occasionally to write for
q Milwaukee paper. He was also lead
ing member of local debating society.
HIS friends praised his writings, and he
beoan 10 think he was meant for Journal
ist. At that time there was no newspaper
in the town and it was proposed to start
nne Stanford was to furnish most of the
capital and to have charge of the enter
prise. Having heard that there was a
press and type to be had in Milwaukee for
500. he started off with wagon to pur-
chase it and bring it home. When he
reached Milwaukee he was greatly disap-
pointed to find that the outfit had been
disposed of several daFs previously, and
there was not another press obtainable
west of New York. The syndicate had not
money enough to purchase an outfit at FIRST
hands and pay the freight upon 1t, and SO
the project was given up.
Shortly after this incident the young at
torney's office was destroyed by hire, the
flames consuming his entire library, in the
purchase of which he had invested most of
his earnings. Having been urged by
three of his brothers, who were in business
in California, to join them, he gathered to-
gether his few belongings ard started for
the Golden State, arriving in Sacramento
in July. 1852. The Stanford brothers then
had a mercantile house in Sacramento,
with branches in all the leading mining
capps. Leland was placed in charge of
the branch at Michigan Bluffs, Placer
county, where he remained four years.
N POLITICS.
In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chi
esgo Convention which nominated Abra-
ham Lincoln. Ia 1861 Stanford was noml-
mated for Governor on the Republican
ticket. He entered upon the campaign as
he vsould undertake any other business,
and before the day of election had visited
every important polling place in the State.
After a most exciting canvass ne was
elected elects by plurality of over $4,000 votes.
AlmoSt the first topic discussed in his
;nan9uraI was the Importance of Pacific