The record-union., 1891-01-11

NO o<tiN- W iidhS CIttitUs upon u ptSittlSS
career at the age of twelve years.
Whether from accident or choice, his first
business yenture:was in mercantile pur-
suits. his first Introduction into this
realm of activity was at the very bottom
round OF the ladder upon which he has
climbed to such distinguished eminence.
The position of errand boy in the village
| grocery and store of Phineas w. Noble
constituted his incipient introduction
| into that world of trade and commerce in
| which he eventually became q master.
| 1t was in its truest sense an apprentice
| ship. 1t began with the A B c of sweep
ing up the store, lighting, the fires and
| running errands. But what was more
| important, it was an introduction, at a
| very plastic age of life, into mercantile
and commercial atmosphere. The village
| store, with its mercantile spirit, was the
world of commerce in miniature. 1t en-
| compassed all the essential elements of
trade, barter and commerce, and COM
| priSed within the range of its business
activity the ultimate and fundamental
principles which, when once mastered,
need only to be expanded to fit the
| broader theater of the worlds exchange.
| WHAT the deck, the masts and the broad
eXpanse OF ocean were to midshipman
Nelson, that country store was to the ap-
| premiership of the errand boy Hunting
| ton.
At the age of fifteen he went to New
| York and purchased ON his own account
out OF his small savings few goods,
watch findings, jewelry, silver goods, etc,
| but principally watch findings. These
| goods he sold for a little time in the
vicinity of his home. But inherent
| energy and a true spirit of enterprise are
| the great emancipators from the thrall-
| dom OF endeavor in the service of others.
| While still fifteen he went south, selling
watch findings and watches. Even at
this early age his capacity for higher VEN
| lures manifested itself. The faculties of
negotiation were added to the skill of
| merchandising. He purchased at heavy
discount clock notes from a man who had
| employed 100 people travelling through
out the South. He, was signally success
| full in collecting these notes, and pur-
sued that business, travelling throughout
the Southern States from the age of fifteen
to twenty-one. In this way he became
acquainted with the Southern States.
In fact, in short time he knew the whole
United States as well as or better than
any man of his age in the country. He
had thoroughly mastered the geographical
relations of trade between the different
| portions of America, and thus was his
attention early called to the general sub
| Ject of transportation and its importance
| to commerce.
| This very unusual employment at re-
markably early age was at once an intro
| ductlon TO many phases of human charac-
| ter, as well as great diversity of trans
action. 1t embraced the features of travel,
and their consequent enlargement Of the
mind afforded opportunities for observa-
| tion relative to many communities, and
revealed the nature of their various en-
| tefprlSeS, showing here fossilized con-
seryatlsm and there the awakening spirit
| OF enterprise, enabled comparisons to be
made as to the deficiency of products in
one part of the country and their super
| abundance in others, and was a contact
| with commerce and exchange at point
broadly suggestive of the great office per-
| formed by transportation in the produce
ton, distribution and consumption of the
| objects of human desire.
| Notwithstanding these trips abroad, a
mercantile business had been established
at home, in which a brother had become
interested, and shortly after the discon-
tinuance OF his Southern trips the an
| nouncement of the gold discoveries in
California attracted the attention of the
whole country. The new Ell Dorado was
a most enticing field to young men of
energy and enterprise, and leaving the
business which had partially been created
! by their joint effort in the hands of his
brother, early in; the spring of 1849 Mr..
Huntington took passage for California
| by way of Panama.
Upon arriving here and looking over
the field, the geography of the country
| was first studied. Mr.. Huntinpton,s edu-
cation in this branch of knowledge had
been essentially a commercial one; that is
to say, he understood geography in it's
commercial aspect.
| Practically, the entire business activity
of that day was in the mines. The first
! great mining enterprises had the country
now comprising the counties of Ell Do
RADIO, Yuba and Placer for their field of
operations. Mr.. Huntington, already a
student OF transportation as a factor in
business, saw at a glance that Sacramento
was the best point from which to sell to
| the traders.
In due time the house of Huntington &
Hopkins had been established and was
being conducted; on the most approved
business principles. 1t was rapidly ac-
quiring wealth and prominence. 1t came
to be recognized as sound, both financially
and morally. Perhaps no house in the
State had higher mark of commercial
credit in the reports of commercial
agencies. The house itself dealt princi-
pally in hardware, but Mr.. Huntington's s
! spirit of personal speculation was ire
pressible. He dealt in all kinds of mer-
chandise, outside of the lines carried by
the house. He purchased and sold nearly
| every species of imperishable goods
which men would want. He engaged in
the brokerage business for other houses.
With that forecast that belongs to genius
in any occupation, it was his practice, in
| accordance with the custom of the time,
to purchase large lots of goods in antici-
| patton OF their scarcity, owing to the in
adequate means of communication be-
| tween the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards.
The period of scarcity which his busi-
ness acumen foresaw resulted in sharp
| advances on the articles stored by him
and consequent high speculative profit.
| The commercial conditions were highly
favorable to phenomenal fluctuations of
prices, and Mr.. Huntingtons speculative
ventures in in the year 1854 yielded him a
| profit OF SS00,000. AS illustrative of the
speculative methods of the time it may
| be incidentally remarked that of. this
| large profit 100000 was credited to the
| single article of powder, the house of
| Huntington d Hopkins in that year for a
short time being the only source of sup
ply. Notwithstanding the flush condi-
OF the business done by the house of
which Mr.. Huntington was the head was
done on credit. Supplies were sold to
the miners in the distant mountains The
miners transactions with the house were
| carried on book accounts. 1t is recorded
as singular fact, and one highly compli-
mentary to the commercial honesty of
| the time, that none of its accounts were
lost; that while mining operations and
| enterprises We're characterized by great vi
cissitudes of fortune, sooner or later these
| accounts were nevertheless all collected
The experience of the house of Hunting
ton IL Hopkins, however, in this regard,
was not common to all houses. A very
| large part of its success in the way of
closing its books by payments of bal
ances must be attributed to the superior
finesse of its conductors.
| By the period of 1855 the agricultural
capabilities of California were in q great
measure recognized. The American oc-
cupation of the territory had continued
long enough to make the peculiarities of