The record-union., 1897-02-05
COLLIS P. HUNTINGTON.
New York Estimate Of His Character
and Life Work.
The New York Tribune Gives a
Short Sketch of His Career
From Boyhood.

portrait the New York IT1bune Oh
January Both. gives the following sketch
of the life of Colis P. Huntington:
One hardly knows which to admire
most in the story of Coils +. hunting
toms life-the fertility of his resources
or the infiexible determination that
dominated all his efforts. Both elements
contributed to round out to the fullest
measure Of success his eventful career.
| That he inherited some qualities OF
greatness cannot be doubted when re-
view OF his lineage diScloseS in the same
ancestral line the names OF Sanuel
Huntington. President of the Contlnen-
| tai Congress and one of the signers OF
the Declaration of Independence, Gov
| ernor and Chief Justice of Connecticut;
of Bishop F. d. Huntington, and OF
| Daniel Huntington, the painter. his
parents were of that sterling Puritan
| stock that, spreading over New Eng
land made it a perennial fountain OF
thrift, intelligence and piety for the en-
riching of the body polite of the New
| World. They possessed but small means,
50 that the nine children. of whom Coils
| Z. was the fifth, were net reared with
luxurious tastes, but passed their child
| IOOQ III Il NOME anu W iASiN
manual labor was considered no dis
grace but formed an essential part of
| the education of even the very young
! The worth of this heritage of Puritan
blood and New England character is
emphasized over and over again in Mr..
| HuntingtOnS eventful career 1t found
expression in habit of singular self-re-
| lance, and was exhibited in marvels of
resourceful energy.
| Mr.. Huntington was born on October
-. 1921, in the little town of Harwinton,
Litchfield County, Conn. At the age
of Ii he left school and began work for
himself at the meager salary of 81
month In 1881 he came to New York
and began trading upon his slender cap
ital and the credit which the letters of
Communications from merchants of his ma
tive town enabled him to secure. For
while he travelled through the South
| similarly occupied, and all these early
business adventures were successful.
| At the age of - Mr.. Huntington en-
gagged in business with his brother Scion
| in Oneonta, OtsegO County, n. Y, but a
general merchandise store in country
town was too narrow field to satisfy
| his ambition or engage his capacity, and
when the discovery of gold in California
was announced in 1919, Mr.. Huntington
joined the throng that began to pour
| Westward over the plains and around
the Horn. and some. Mr.. Huntington
among them, by way of the Isthmus Of
| Panama He had taken with him a cash
capital of 81 200, and being detained at
the Isthmus for three months he exer-
|
good purpose that by the time he
reached the Golden Gate his store had
increased to s.. 900. No one Of that fam
GUS army of forty miners was better
equipped physically or mentally for the
| adventurous enterprise than young
Huntington He was a man of magni-
| ficent stature and strength, Injured to
| hard labor and temperate in his habits
of life. His muscles were hardened by
a life of constant activity. He used to
saw and split the wood for his household
| fires in the early morning hours before
breakfast; he could toss a barrel of
| flour up on his shoulder single handed.
| During his three months detention at
the isthmus while his shipmates were
wasting their energies in dissipation and
| their substance at the gambling table,
| ne had walked the tWenty-fOur miles
| from ocean to ocean twenty times, and
in spite Of the facilitating influences of
the climate, had increased his weight
and bodily Vigor. His mental equipment
was as complete as his physical AL
though like many Woodworking boys of
New England, his school days had been
| limited to about four months in the
year, he had studied hard and developed
an exceeding fondness for geography,
| history and mathematics. He studied
history with the map Of the country be-
fore him. and gave particular attention
to the influences which operated in the
development of nations and the opening
of avenues Of communicate and lines Of
commerce. His journeyings through the
Southern States in connection with some
of his earlier business enterprises had
given an opportunity for experimenting
| his geographical and historical study
with personal observations of that re-
giOn. its resources and commercial pos
sibilities all of which bore rich fruitage
! in later years, when his attention be-
came directed to the industrial develop
ment of the South and West.
Mr.. Huntington selected Sacramento
as the base of his operations, because he.
! had no fancy for mining ventures, but
realized that unusual opportunities for
trade in supplies would inevitably follow
the rapid extension of mining opera
tions. and he recognized in Sacramento
! the natural distributing point for that
whole region. He had a marked faculty
for trading and possessed a discrimina-
ton that was almost an unconscious in
tuition in measuring supply and demand
and in that era of wild speculation and
reckless expenditure 1t served as an I'M
erring guide to prosperity. OF still
greater value, perhaps, were the habits
of absolute probity in business which
were the heritage of his New England
lantecedents and education.
He began business in Sacramento
under his own name, but subsequently
| established the hardware house of
Huntington & Hopkins. Mr.. Hunting
tons marked ability as a trader was
supplemented by the conditions which
prevailed on the coast at that time, and
in seven years the firm had accumulat-
ed a fortune
! Mr.. Huntingtons part in the building
of the first transcontinental railroad is
one of the most interesting chapters
in the history of his life. The growing
| necessity of such an avenue of commu-
! nication was constantly before his eyes,
| and he realized more, perhaps, than
| any other person the tremendous ad-
| vantages that would accrue to the Pa
| cific States from the completion of such
an enterprise. Few. even of those who
had carefully studied the problem had
faith in the praeticabilit of carrying