The Portland daily press., 1900-11-08
A YANKEE McNTE cRIsTo.
worth Mfiiions IN Caiffor mia, and LEFT
that state Fugitive Dcbtor-Made a
New Fortuns In Chile and Peru.

publics OF Latin America Woulu pe Ooin
plete without reference to the career OF
Henry Meiggs. His operations In Chile
and Peru form the most spectacular story
Of finance which South America has ever
furnished, and beyond q doubt, had he
been granted but few more years OF
life, he would have died one Of the rich
est, If not the richest, men in the world.
10 him the amount OF money involved In
transaction cut no figure, and be dealt
millions with less worry than ordinary
operators handle thousands.
Henry Meiggs learned the lesson OF
finance in a school where large figures
were common. AS young man he
passed through the years when Califor-
mia was the worlds Eidorado and gold
was more plentiful In some sections than
was the water with which to wash 1t.
He rose to the crest OF the golden wave.
and his fortune was estimated then at
several millions. The time OF reaction
caught him loaded with properties upon
which he could not quickly realize ready
coin, and with many others he sank
befo.e the 1ood, not only losing his
property, but buried under an avalanche
OF debt.
In October, 1864, Meiggs left San Fran
cisco not only a ruined man, but fugi-
tive debtor.
| For several years his whereabouts were
unknown, and then word came up from
the South Pacific of the gigantic opera
tions then being engineered by q daring
speculator named Meiggs. Investigation
showed this to be none other than Henry
Meiggs, the man who had fed from debt
in California. Then Meiggs's creditors
began to hear frcm him, and one by one
the California debts were wiped out.
| Even o washerwoman to whom he owed
q few dollars was sought out by his
agents, who were Instructed not only to
pay the long-standing laundry bill, but
20 add enough gold to place the poor
woman forever beyond want. One lot
of debts Meiggs declined to pay until by
a readjustment the full amount OF the
claims might be passed to the original
creditors These were claims which had
besn purchased for q song by speculators
when the first rumor OF Melggs south
American success reached the Cali1ornla
coast 10 the clamorous brokers he
turned deaf ear, but declared himself
ready at any time to NEST the full obli-
cations with interestdf he could pay the
sum claimed into the hands or his
original creditors. For time the
brokers held out, but as Melggs was
safe from attack they finally were
obliged to yield. and the money for
thousands of Meiggs debts was thus
force by him into the possession OF Its
rightful owners.
Meanwhile the South American fortune
had grown. Meiggs cleared full mil
lion from q contract for the building OF
Chile's first railway between the port OF
Valparaiso and Santiago de Chile.
Next came the construction OF Peru's
original railway line between Mollendo
and Arequipa, which doubled Meiggs 8
fortune Every contract was made direct
ly with the government OF the republic
wherein the road was to be built.
scheme after scheme, each more gigantic
than the other, was successfully carried
out. Meiggs at one time offered to build
a breakwater at the mouth OF Valparaiso 8
harbor II the Chilean government would
give him a ninety y-nine year lease OF Its
sheltered side. Forty millions would this
venture have cost, but the principal har-
hor OF Chile would have been rendered
safe for all time. The Chileans feared
Meiggs's rapid strides to wealth, and de-
manded large price for the rental Of the
sheltered side of the breakwAter, even
should the work be done without cost to
the republic. Consequently, the project
failed, and today the wind-swept bay is
without protection.
In 1870 the financial world was amazed
by the magnitude of contract entered
into between. .Meiggs and the Peruvian
government. This called for the con-
struction OF a complete Peruvian railway
system, even to a line crossing the sum
NIT of the Andes. Meiggs was to deliver
the lines ready for operation AMI receive
, the sum OF one hundred and twenty-five
millions in gold, payable In INSTALL
menfa as the work DrOQrosSed,
AZ first the money came promptly,
then Peru was forced to borrow to meet
the Meiggs contract, and finally when
european loans could not be hected,
Peruvian government until he practically
owned the republic. Even the assassina-
tion of his friend, Col. BALTIC, then Presi-
dent OF Peru, failed to interfere with
the railway plans.
Finally Peru could do no more, and
Meiggs' own fortune was tied up in the
building of the railways. SO for lack
of money the work was stopped. Nego-
tiations for further loan from Europe,
with Meiggs's assistance, were almost
Iconsummated when In 1877 death cut on
the most remarkable career OF any Yam
the loan negotiations failed, and then
followed Peru's unfortunate war with
Chile. Until 1884 the Meiggs railway
operations slumbered. In that year VIII en-
peace came to the two republics the firm
OF W. II. Grace g. Co took up the
Meiggs contract, and the work has sinc 9
been pushed intermittently.
In spite Of his success, Meiggs never
revisited the state OF California. His
trials there seemed to have created In
him an diversion sfor the place. Even o
resolution passed by the California Leg
islature asking him to return, failed to
influence him to visit the state.
One OF the peculiarities which charac-
terized this brilliant operator was that
he always worked alone. There never
was a partner In his dealings, and he
never sought advice. He looked into the
future through no mind save his own,
and when once his course was shaped he
neve changed 1t.
"His personality was most attractive,
his manner never changing no matter
what the provocation. His lightest speech
inspired confidence, and to this fact is
due in q great measure the success he
achieved in the manipulation of his
gigantic speculation. Neither OF the
American continents will ever show an
other career exactly paralleling that of