The Portland daily press., 1892-12-03
Jay Gould's Life and Fortune.


Mr.. Gould was born in West Settle
ment, a backwoods village of Roxbury.
Delaware county, N. Y, May ~, 1886
He was the son of John B. Gould, farm
er, who was fairly well-to-do, and who
had been deputy sheriff in the famous
anti-rent war in the early s30's. Young
Gould was also cousin of Alfred Gould,
the inventor of the chain well pump,
and was closely connected with the
Mores, prominent Scotch family and
others well known in the country. His
mother died when he was an infant Mr..
Gould left home with only so cents in
his pocket, and studied at Hobart Acad-
envy, in neighboring town. Here he
earned an extra penny by keeping the
books of che village blacksmith, eventu-
ally enjoying brief partnership in the
business. He was fond of mathematics,
and on leaving school found employment
in making surveys for map of Ulster
county at a salary of $40 per month.
The correctness of tire work attracted
the attention of John Delafeld, who APP
piled to the legislature to authorize a
map of the state to be made, in which
Mr.. Gould would have prominent part
of the work. The work failed, owing to
the death of the promoter. Mr.. Gould
gained $4,000 or $4,000 through his pre-
vious maps and surveys. In 1855 he pub
lished his History ofDelaware County. =
Subsequently Mr.. Gould and zadock
Pratt together engaged in the lumber
business in Western New York. This
interest the millionaire-to-b sold out
just before the panic of 1857. Shortly
after the crisis Mr.. Gould bought the
bones of the Rutland and Washington
Railroad for 10 cents on dollar. For a
period he combined in himself the func-
tions of president, treasurer and general
superintendent of the company. He,
brought about a consolidation of tie
Rensselaer, and Saratoga road and soon
moved to New York city, where he en-
gagged in the brokerage business.
Investing heavily in Erie stock, Mr..
Gould soon became president of the
Erie, holding the Office until 1872. His
next move was to purchase large blocks
of stock in the Union Pacific, Wabash,
the Texas Pacific, the ST. L uis and
Northern, the Missouri Pacific and 9th
or Western lines. He also invested in
the stock of the Atlantic and Pacific
Telegraph Company, and on its CONSOLE
dalton with the Western Union he or
merged in the Western Union in 1881.
By the year 1880 Mr.. Gould was in
control of 10000 miles of railroad, or
about one-ninth of the entire mileage
of the country. A year later he dipped
into the elevated railroad system of New
York city. About this time signal
proof of Mr.. Goulds prosperity was
given in response to a report in which
his financial standing was impeached
He called several business men into his
office, and conclusively proved that he
owned stock having face value of $53,
100000, and could produce at least 500,
900, 0c0 more. About five years ago he
gained a controlling interest in the St.
Louis & San Francisco Railroad Com
pany, which has 900 miles of railroad. 1t
also became joint owner, with the Atchi-
son, Topeka & Santa Fe Company, Of the
Atlantic 6 Pacific and the western por-
ton of the Southern Pacific. These,
with the lines projected, placed at least
10000 miles more of road at his COM
mand.
No two estimates agree as to the
amount of Mr.. Gould's fortune. The
most conservative figures place it at
about $50, 600, 900, while some people in
Wall street figure that he must have got
ten together fully 100000, 900. His
known holdings of securities are about
as follows:
$22,Oo0,oo0 of Western Union Tele-
graph.
100000 of Missouri Pacific.
He is supposed to hold in the neigh
borhood of $4,000 900, probably more, of
Manhattan railway stnck.