The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-15
ROSE FROM A FARM.
Huntington Achieved Success By
Own Efforts.

Own Efforts.
Coils Potter Huntington was born
in Harrington, Conn.,, Oct. %, 1921. He
is descended from the Huntingtons of
Connecticut, who were the progenitors
of Benjamin, the jurist; Samuel, the
signer of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence; Daniel, tutor of Yale and Con-
gregational minister; Frederick Dan
iel, the Protestant Episcopal minister
and Daniel, the painter.
His father was a farmer, with a fam
lily of nine children, of whom Coils was
the fifth. He was brought up as the
average farmers son of his time, with
many more hours of manual training
than of mental. Four months each year
in the Village school, until he was A.
was the extent of his mental training
He then hired out at farm work for one
year, receiving 81 per month.
Begins as Merchant.
His instinct for larger business and
that in a larger field than was afforded
him by farm work, led him &c New
York City, where he got credit for a
small invoice of goods, with which he
began his career as a merchant. He
spent six years travelling through the
south and west selling his goods, and at
necticut clock manufacturers. This ex-
perience gave him a thorough knowl-
edge of the topography of the country.
and proved of great value in his future
railroad experiences.
When he reached his majority he had
saved a considerable sum of money.
and with il went into partnership with
his brother, as general merchant, at
Oneonta, n. Y. His store was one of
he lDVa in, l.4 8
and his business prospered, where his
rivals pTOphesied failure on account of
his reCklessness in giving credit, but
his knowledge of human nature stood
him in hand, as it did in later life in
larger transactions, and ne made very
few bad debts. a motto which, even
so early ruled his business transac-
tions, and TO which he often referred.
was Trust all in ALI or not at ALL"
aG ling that "a man win fill the niche
you put him in" ard IF you show a
man that you believe in him, he will
IN turn try to show you that you are
not mistaken"
Goes to California.
In 1S49 he drew out of the business
$1,000, and with it set out for the gold
fields of California, which had been
discovered the year before. and to
which thousands had preceded him.
de went by way of the Isthmus. Pos
Sibly no man Of the great number of
adventurous spirits who had gone 10
the new Eldorado was better equipped
by nature and training to undertake
IS haTdships. He was of Herculean
strength and stature. and in perfect
health. 1t had been his habit every
year to saw. split and pile up twenty
cords of wood, doing the work before
breakfast. His muscles were like iron,
and il was every day practice in the
store for him to pick up a barrel of
flour by the chime and place it on his
shoulders. Not a drop of liquor or a
cigar had touched his lips. He was en-
ergetic, IetermiLe ID. enterprising and
thoroughly self-reliant.
Walks Across Isthmus.
DELAYED on the Isthmus many days.
young Huntington gave himself neither
to idleness nor dissipation. He walked
across the Isthmus during his stay
twenty times. making the twentyfour
miles journey in morning and even
ing walk resting during the heat of tho
day. He traded in such commodities
as had a market among the emigrants
and natives, and when he finally took
passage for San Francisco, his 81 200
had grown during the three months
detention TO 5000.
Starts Store in Tent.
In the fail OF 1879 Mr.. Huntington
commenced business in Sacramento in
rent. with such articles as were in
demand by the miners. The large use
OF shovels. picks and other hardware
led to determining his line of business.
With the increase of trade and the
necessity of carrying a larger stock
of goods in order to take advantage
% cheaper freights by sailing around
the Horn, Mr.. Huntington became as
sociated with Mark Hopkins, which
association continued for twenty-fOur
years, until the death of Mr. Hopkins
This partnership was a model in that
it was not marred by a single misun-
derstanding or unkind word between
the partners. and with a credit to an
apparently unlimited extent, the losses
were a minimum. which fact should be
recorded as an evidence of the COM
mercial integrity of the early Califor-
mans, net generally found in a new
and shifting population made up SC
largely OF the adventurous.
Conceives a Railroad.
Mr.. Huntington as early as 1879 was
an advocate of a speedy projection and
completion of a railway across the
Sierra Nevada mountains. This pro-
ject was SO gigantic that he was, with
other early advocates, called Pacific
railrOad-crazy." IS a business propo-
sition it staggered the wisest financiers
of the community, but Huntington
went steadily onward, and in 1861 the