The Iola register., 1900-08-17
Became Interested in Rail-
ways and Built Many
Rode on his own Line From
Virginia to Portland Ore
gOn in his car


last night. Mr.. Huntington was ap-
parently well when he retired at II
O'Clock. He was taken suddenly with
choking spell which was quite COM
mon with him, and 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
Governor Lounsberry for a doctor,
who arrived in half an hour. Mr..
Huntington died without regaining
consciousness.
Coils =. Huntington was large
man physically. He was as large
man as Grover Cleveland, but he never
could be considered fat. His chest
was at least fifty-fve inches around
and his neck showed where he got the
power TO stand all the trouble and
abuse with which fate honored him.
He wore a white beard except for little
dark splashes here and there. His
eyes were blue.
HUNTINGTON A. MONEY MAKER ONLY.
OF course Coils p. Huntington had
one distinctive characteristic. and that
was to make money. For this he
sacrificed everything else. An esti-
mate of his wealth could not be less
than 100 million dollars and come
anywhere near the mark. He began
his money making career when boy
and had not stopped when death over
took him, an old man of rs.
Huntington was an out and out
Yankee, though he made his dollars
and fame as financier on the Pacific
coast. He was born in the little town
of Harwinton, in Connecticut, and
with Yankee shrewdness and an in
herited disposition to dicker, went
into business for himself when he was
Is years old He had married and
was jogging along comfortably as a
country merchant up in Otsego coun-
ty, N. Y, when the gold excitement
broke out in California in 40 He
was smitten with the fever, and ship
ping a stock of goods by way of the
Isthmus, followed soon afterwards.
The power that he originally pos
sessed as a merchant in tent in Sac
ramento, of making all else sub
servient to money getting, expanded
with the growth of years. During the
last fifteen years Coils p. Huntington
was engaged in no less than ten sepa-
rate enterprises in which millions OF
capital were involved, These en-
braced the building and operation OF
nearly 5000 miles of railroad, the
control and direction of steamship
lines, besides the conduct of his hard
ware and metal trades. He paid little
attention to details in his business.
Everything was left to subordinates
"Trust a man all in all or not at all, y
was his motto in dealing with em.
ployees.
THE GREAT RAILROAD HE BUILT.
The history of the construction O
the Southern Pacific railroad from
San Francisco eastward through Lo:
Angeles, Arizona, New Mexico anC
Texas is full of interest. Huntington
and his associates did not stop unit
they had continuous line of tracl
! from Portland, Oregon, to New
Orleans, 5000 miles in length. In
,, Vulnerable branches were built from
! time to time, aud other lines in Texas
! in Old Mexico, and in Guatemala wer,
constructed until at the end of 1896 ;
total had been reached of over 300
miles of track, and twenty-six cor
porations had been merged in on
great parent organization known a
the Southern Pacific Co.
, While these huge enterprises wer
being carried through in the West
- Mr.. Huntington was evolving vas
scheme in the East independently O
his associates. The state of Virgini
. had been trying to finish the Chesa
, peake & Ohio road, and several set
o of contractors had been ruined in tn
attempt. Huntington completed
and then went on building westwar
through West Virginia, Kentucky
A Tennessee, and Mississippi, until q
last he had the unique satisfaction {
. riding in his private car over his ow
tracks from the gateway of the Oh
Dominion on the Atlantic to the Golt
g en- Gate on the Pacific.
e He was the only man in Americ
who accomplished that remarkab