The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-15
HUNTINGToN's CAREER IN BRIEF.
President and Director of Many Com
panies and Owner of Much Land.

Coils Potter Huntington was born in
Harwinton. Conn. Oct. %. 1871. He was
educated in a local school, secured his
freedom from his father when fourteen
years old by promising to support himself.
and, engaging in mercantile business spent
ten years in travelling through the South
and West. subsequently settling in oneon-
Ia, n. Y. In March. 1Si9, he started 10
California He spent three months trading
on the ishthum. and then completed his
journey, opening general store in tent
in Sacramento. Later he opened a hard
ware store in the same city; became as
sociated with Mark Hopkins in business,
and in 1850 matured plan for continental
railroad, with Hopkins. Leland Stanford
and Charles Crocker as his coadjutors.
They paid the expenses of survey across
the Sierra Nevada, and with a fifth partner
organized a company, of which Mr.. STAN
ford was president and Mr.. Huntington
vice president. Congress agreed to pur-
chase the bonds. and the work was rapidly
pushed. Following the Union Pacific, Mr.
Huntington planned and perfected the
California system of railways, built At
| lantic system, which, by the Southern
Pacific and Chesapeake & Ohio. forms
continuous line, 4,ooo miles long, from Cali
| fornia to Newport News, Va, and de-
veloped an aggregate of 5000 miles of
steam water lines, including the route TO
| China and Japan.
| Mr. Huntington at the time OF his death
was president and director of the Southern
| Pacific Company; president and director of
| the Pacific Mail Steamship Company; presi-
| dent and director of the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company, of California; director
| of the California Pacific Railroad Com
pany; director of the Galveston. Harrisburg
| & San Antonio Railroad Company: pres-
dent and director of the Guatemala Central
| Railroad Company, and director also in the
| following: The Gulf, Western Texas e.
Pacific Railway Company. the Louisiana
Western Railway Company, the Mexican
| International Railroad Company, Morgans
| Louisiana & Texas Railroad and Steam
| ship Company, the Newport News Light and
Water Company, the New York. Texas &
Mexican Railroad Company. the Old Dom
| inion Steamship Company, the Old Domin-
| ion Land Company, Oregon & California
| Railroad Company, the Western Union
| Telegraph Company. the Detroit Gas Com
pany, the Fuente Coal Company, and the
metropolitan Trust Company. of New York.
| In addition TO his other vast interests,
Mr.. Huntington enjoyed the reputation of
| being one Of the largest, if not the largest.
| single land owner in the country OF his
| real estate holdings, the property owned
| by him in cities was only small part He
| also held title to large farming tracts as
| well as to vast undeveloped areas in Cali
| fornia, Kentucky and West Virginia, and
| in Mexico and Guatemala. Compared
| financially with some of his other enter
| prises, MIR. Huntngtons operations in New
| York city real estate seem insignificant, yet
considered by themselves they were of con-
| siderable magnitude. Some of the holdings
i were acquired several years ago and at the
| time of his death he owned vacant property
| on Manhattan island worth several hundred
thousand dollars. Beside he owned several
large tracks in the Bronx.
Perhaps the largest real estate deal in
| which Mr.. Huntington ever engaged in
| New York was the purchase of the north
east corner of Fifth avenue and Seventy
second street. plot fronting l27 feet on
| the avenue and 300 feet on the street John
N. Golding, the broker who conducted these
negotiations for Mr.. Huntington. said the
prices for which the various lots were sold
|
single parcel of reality in New York owned
by Mr.. Huntington was of course his
residence at the southeast corner of Fifth
avenue and Forty-seventh street, occupy
ing plot of lOOx25O. This property. includ-
ing the ground house and furnishing is
said to represent an invested amount of
s2,5O0,0OO. Mr.. Huntington's other holdings
in Manhattan include his former residence
| at the southeast corner of Park avenue
and Thirty eighth street, the present city
house of John ID. Rockefeller. on West
Fifty-fourth street, and plot of twenty
lots occupying the block fronting on Riv-
erside drive, between One hundred and
eleventh and and-twelfth
streets. Besides his country residence at
Throgg's Neck. mansion on a tract of
about seventy acres, he also owned three
other tracts nearby containing I'm all 1l3
acres and the Belden Point property of six
acres on City island His home I'm San
Francisco was a fine mansion on California
street, formerly known as the Coloton
house. The value of Pine Knot Lodge
where his death occurred, together with
| the surrounding tract, has been valued at
S35O,O0O
Mr.. Huntington was twice married, and
both marriages were childless. His first
wife died in the eighties. The second wife
is still living. Two children were adopted
by Mr.. Huntington, a boy and girl.
Archer NJ. Huntington. the adopted son,
is between thirty and forty years old. He
is a scholar and student. The daughter is
the Princess Won Hatzfeldt. She was mar
ried TO Prince Francis of that name in
1889. Her husband has an extensive reputa-
ton as spenthrift, and several times re-
ports of separation have been current. The
Princess Clara is now nearly forty years
old. She was to have sailed from Europe
Aug. 15 TO visit her adopted parents Prin-
cess Clara was born Clara Elizabeth Prem
tice, the daughter of poor California
grocer. She was adopted by Mr.. Hunting
ton in 1862. when her father was drowned
She grew to be beautiful woman, and her
suitors were counted by the score.
IN POVERTY HILL DISTRICT.