The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1900-08-16
RAILROAD KING DEAD
@. P. Huntington's Sudden De-
mise In Forest Camp.
THE MULTIMILL!ONAlRE'S CAREER.
Started In Life without n Dollap
and Left Vast Interests Scattered
From Ocean to Ocean, the
Value t>f which liz Fabulous.


NEW YORK, Aug. 15.-Colis T.
Huntington, president of the Southern
Pacific Railroad company, is dead mt
Pine Knot lodge, his luxurious camp in
the Adirondacks near Racquctte lake.
He was in his seventy-ninth year. Death
resulted from heart disease.
Mr.. Huntington, with Mrs. Hunting
ton, went into the woods last Thursday
afternoon and seemed to be in excellent
health.
Apparently well on retiring at II
o'clock Monday night, he was taken sud
deny with n choking spell, which was
quite common with him and which was
not thought to be serious, but he became
worse. As soon as the seriousness of the
attack was realized a messenger was dis
patched to the neighboring camp of Gov
ernor Lounsberry for a doctor Mr.. Hunt
ington died without regaining conscious
ness, not more than ten minutes having
passed between the attack and his death.
CAREER OF MIR. HUNTINGTON.
Mr.. Huntington started in life without
a dollar and died worth so much that his
possessions could be estimated only indef-
initely as worth millions" He was init
mately connected with the business life
Of the entire country, as his belongings
were scattered from ocean to ocean. The
monumental work of his career was the
building of the Central Pacific railroad.
With all his wealth, he never ceased to
labor, and death found him still one of
the virle forces of finance.
This man, whose life story seems lik,
romance, was born at Harwinton.
Conn, Oct. %, 1921. He was of the
same family that produced Samuel Hunt
ington. signer of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, president of the Continental
congress- governor and chief justice of
Connecticut. The family also gave to the
world Bishop f. ID. Huntington and Dan
lei Huntington, the famous painter. The
father of Mr.. Huntington was farmer
and, like many another Yankee, made
little articles of novelty for sale during
the winters to help out.
When as n boy of II the future mil
lonaire quit school, his father agreed
that if he would support himself entirely
thereafter he might have for himself all
he could earn. This offer was taken up,
and the boy came to New York at once
and bought enough goods ON credit to set
up store near home.
While carrying on his little business as
youth he travelled much through the
middle states and the south. At % he
went into business with his brother at
Oneonta, Otsego county, this state. He
was married soon afterward. In Oc-
tober, 1S4S, the brothers made ship
hent Of goods to California and next
spring Coils followed. He Joined the
army of gold hunters by way of the
isthmus. He fingered on the sthmus for
three months and then proceeded to San
Francisco and from thence to Sacra-
mento. In the latter city he decided to
make n start and, in company with Mark
Hopkins, set up hardware store in a
tent.
That store made n fortune for the
partners and is today one of the insti-
tutions of the city under the firm name
of Huntington & Hopkins.
1t was in this store that the plans for
a transcontinental railroad were orgi-
mated and perfected by Mr. Huntington,
and his partners, Leland Stanford and
Charles Crocker, all united in paying the
expenses of "A preliminary survey across
the mountains. In 1856 these men or
ganized the Central Pacific Railroad