The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-09-15

n. Y, whose father was capitalist
and a successful railroad man. He
was said to have made a large amount
of money in the Rome, WATERFOWL q
Ogdensburg railroad. This marriage
considerably strengthened the hands of
young Hartman for the battle of life.
1t was in every way a very fortunate
and happy alliance.
In Railroad Business In 1888.
For a number of years the broker
firm of f. H. Hartman & Co. did
thriving business on Wall street, spec
ulating with it's own funds and exc
cutting commissions for the Wander
bilts and other wealthy clients. 1t was
net until 1883 that E. H. Hartman
came actively into the railroad field.
At that time he had become known
as a capitalist. one of the few who had
gathered together a great fortune in
the 10 trouble years between 1870 and
1880. He was credited with having in
his strong box a fair list of stocks he
had picked up at extremely low prices
during the various panics. Along in
1888 he was elected a director of the
Illinois Central railroad. He was at
that time working in close friendship
with Stuyvesant Fish, who was elected
second vice president in the same year.
Mr.. Fish had also been a member of
the stock exchange from 1875 to 1879
and the two young men went into the
Illinois Central to work along to-
gether. In 1887 Mr.. Hartman became
vice president and Mr.. Fish was elect
ed president. Mr.. Hartman was then
about 40 years old. Whether Mr..
Hartman entered the railroad field in
accordance with an already matured
plan of his or whether his accidental
acquaintance with railroad matters
suggested to him the enormous possi-
bilities of acquiring the control of
large railroad system, it is not def
nitely known. At all events, Mr.. Har-
riman's entry into the directorate of
the Illinois Central railroad marked
the beginning of his career as a ma
nipulator Of railroad stocks and reor-
ganizer of railroad systems which in
the course of 10 or Is years made him
one of the greatest railroad kings ever
known in the United States and placed
him in control of more than $4,000
miles Of water transportation lines and
of railroad lines of an estimated length
of nearly $1,000 miles.
During the panic preceding the cleo
ton of President Mckinley, a number
of large western railroads had gone to
smash, among them the Northern Pa
cific and the Union Pacific The wreck
of the latter was particularly bad and
seemed perfectly hopeless. A Morgan
syndicate made an attempt to rescue
the road, but gave up the plan in sheer
disgust. But Hartman never lost his
confidence. He formed a mixed syndi-
cate, backed by Kuhn, Loeb & Co. of
New York, and including two MEM
bers of the Vanderbilt faction, two of
the Goulds. two of the Boston crowd
that had sunk millions in the old I'm
ion Pacific and several independent
capitalists, among them Hartman The
road was merely a line from Omaha to
Ogden, about 1900 miles long. The
syndicate paid the government $751;
100000 in cash and 1000 900 to set
tie with the holders of the old first
mortgage bonds. The road was turned
over to the syndicate at midnight on
the last day of January, 1898.
The same syndicate purchased for
$3,30O,000 a block of coal company
bonds on other railroad bonds and in
the following month group of branch
lines. called the Kansas Pacific, for
Sc 100000 That was the last dollar
ever subscribed by the syndicate for
the creation of the great Hartman
system. The members of the syndi-
cate received back every cent they
had invested within three years and all
the Observation-Disclosures of railroads
were made on the credit of the Union
Pacific and the few other lines under
it's control
IN Control of Union Pacific.
Hartman soon became the con-
trolling spirit of the Union Pacific and
by stringent economy, cutting off all
waste and improving the main line,
transformed the road into valuable
property, paying steadily increasing
dividends. He cleverly used the credit
of this road for acquiring, without
spending a single dollar, the control
of one railroad after the other. The
first railroad thus absorbed was the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation COM
pany, whose stockholders were in
duced to exchange their stock for
Union Pacific stock.
In the summer of 1899 Mr.. Harri-
man temporarily dropped his finan-
cial schemes and took a scientific ex-
ploring expedition to Alaska, which he
had fitted out at his own expense. The
following year he bought the Kansas
City, Pittsburg & Gulf railroad and
reorganized the Chicago & Alton,
which he had acquired in the early
spring of 1890. Next came the
Southern Pacific. which became part Of
the Hartman system on February l,
1901. The credit of the Union Pacific
was used to accomplish the absorp-
ton. The Union Pacific executed a
mortgage for $1O0,OOO,OO0 and sold
$40,OOO.00O of bonds at par thus pay
ing for the stock of the Southern Pa
cific.
When Hartman tried to obtain con-
troll of the Burlington railroad and
the Morgan interests snapped it away
from him, buying it for the Northern
Pacific, Hartman became determined
to obtain control of the Northern Pa
cific. This led to a bitter fight be-
tween the Hartman and the Morgan
Hill interests and caused the panic of
May 8, 1901. This was one of the few
cases in which Hartman did not sue