The San Francisco call., 1908-03-15

) the years Immediately after
the civil war; one of the found
.ers of the republican party; only sur
.vivor of the coterie that incorporated
ethe Central Pacific railroad, and, as
Legislator, the man upon whose efforts
thung the feasibility of the first trans
%continental railway; intimate of Amer
~ica's greatest figures and predominant
%in many moves of tremendous import,
eCornelius Cole is ending his days in
&Los Angeles, where for quarter OF
.century, he has lived in practical re-
tirement
7 1t was in his law office in Sacra-
>mento over the hardware store of Col
Ills p Huntington and Mark Hopkins, at
: 81 X street that in 1861, there met
.little group of men whose names were
>destined to become the most prominent
.in the annals of transportation. To
tlisten to the arguments of the engineer
%Theodore T. Judah, who had conceived
: what was then the mightiest scheme
>and had been rebuffed by the leading
tmen of San Franchises, Huntington,
4Hopkins f. B. Croeker, Charles
~Crocker. Leland Stanford, j. D. Lord,
flames Bailey. E. II. Miller and Cole
himself gathered, and, enthused. re-
mained far into the night -te~discuss it,
Before they separated they had taken
tthe first steps toward the organiza-
! tion of the company that was to belt
<the continent with steel.
E. B. Crocker was a lawyer; his
7 Ibrother a dealer in dry goods Hunt
&ington and Hopkins dealt principally in
&the tools needed by miners. Leland
$Stanford was employed by his brothers
Yin their grocery store, and not until
Ilater was taken into partnership
That was in 1881. A few years later,
%when a member of the special congress
<sional committee of 13 that paved the
&Way for the building of the road, and,
Ias the only Pacific coast member, and
Sof all the 13 the one who had a per-
4sonal knowledge of the country AFFECT
ted. arbiter on all important points, Cole
Ssold his Is shares of original stock,
THAT now would be worth millions, to
1Stanford for less than $4,000 AS
&law maker it would be .unseemly for
>him TO be interested in a project he
yoffcially furthered, was his STANDPOINT.
1.-THE only links that bind him to the
4corporation are the receipts he stu
4sessments paid in gold dust
: Eleven years after the meeting IN
! his office Huntington boasted that he
= had defeated Cole in his candidacy
= for the United States senate, even
though it had cost him 100000. 1t
I was this fight that fully developed the
= political system that operates today.
In it was first used the method, re-
) Gently charged to Senator Guggenheim,
= of supporting legislative candidates on
: the condition that they aid, when
J elected, desired ends.
. On the call for the first convention
: of the new republican party, issued
: in 1856, the year the new founded or
! ganization nominated General Ere
mont for president in opposition to
James Buchanan, Coles name appears.
= For years he was one of the most
= stalwart supporters of the party
: Born in Seneca county, New York, in
1892, Cornelius Cole finished his edu-
= cation at the Western University, at
= Middletown, Connecticut, being gradu-
] ated in the class of 1S47. For two
4years he studied law in the office of
\ William H Seward later the most
= prominent figure in Lincoln's war
y cabinet.
! With the tidings Of the discovery of
= gold the young attorney left for the
= west. He was among the vanguard,
7 reaching Suffers fork on the morning
u OF July "a. 1S4e, months before the
i real rush began. With six companions,
y he had left the bands prairie schoon
: ers at Fort Laramie and completed the
"a journey on horseback.
u For year he worked in the mines
y and then moved to San Francisco,
r. where he established a law office. In
y tho fres that swept the rising city
u May and June %, 1851. he lost all
u he possessed. After two years in the
y bay city he moved to Sacramento.
7 There he made his home for a dec
y ade. From 1858 to 1851 he served as
y district attorney.
o, Cornelius Cole was one Of the pioneer