Evening journal., 1911-10-27
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The $l25 That Could Have
Become Sl5,OOO,OOO
BY Holland.

Il suppose that but for case OF
misplaced judgment OF lack of conf
dence, Erastus Corning would have
died possessed of at least fifteen mil
lion dollars more than his estate in-
ventoried at" said the late Commodore
Alfred Van Santvoord to me at a time
when we we're discussing Erastus Cor
ning's work I'm the development, before
Commodore Vanderbilt-s day, of what
became the New York Central railroad
system. Erastus Corning, who died IL
1872, was for many years one of the
great railroad owners and operators
of the country; while Commodore Van
Santyoord. who died in 1901, made a
fortune of millions by operating the
largest feet of steamboats, plying in
American waters.
After Mr. Corning, who was a citi-
zen and banker of Albany ~ Y, had
developed the railroad which is how
known as the New York Central across
New York state in connection with one
or. two other capitalists, he began 10
turn his attention to railways in the
West" continued Commodore Van
Santvoord He became associated
with a little group of capitalists who
bought In 1876, a controlling interest
in an unfinished railroad across lower
Michigan which afterward became the
Michigan Central
'Mr. Corning and his associates first
planned Milwaukee as the terminal tor
their railroad. They were going to es-
tablish a railroad ferry across Lake
Michigan. Milwaukee at that time was
regarded as the most promising conf
munity west Of the great lakes. No
body had any idea in 1916 of the future
OF Chicago. But after making a trip
from Michigan across the lake to Mil
waukee and after learning what the
winter climate in that vicinity was,
Mr.. Corning and his associates decided
that It would be the better part TO
build their railroad around the soutn-
ern end Of Lake Michigan and thence
up to Milwaukee SO, he told me, they
went to the struggling little village Of
Chicago. At the southern end OF the
/ town was a vast expanse of fiat lands
and just beyond, about a mile west Of
the lake front, beside which the viii
! lage then clustered, was a lot of prai-
rie land which nobody wanted
"Well one day, Mr. Corning and his
associates were called upon by very
energetic man who, they thought, was
a land speculator He expatiated upon
the future OF Chicago. He told them
that they could buy land by the acre
then for a price which It would sell for
| by the foot In the course Of a few
years
'"Why,' said the man, I can take
you out a little way on the prairie and
show you land which you can buy for
a dollar and a quarter an acre. I'll take
IL back again in ten years If it doesn t
sell for dollar and quarter foot
"Mr. Corning and his friends listen
ed to the man with a good deal of in-
/ terest and some amusement and after
he had gone away Mr.. Corning said:
That fellow has bees in his bonnet.
don't want to buy prairies out here
We are here for the purpose OF extend.
ing our railroad from Michigan by
land around the southern end Of the
lake, and for no other purpose.
However, this land agent was per
sistent He came with a carriage ant
insisted that Mr.. Corning and his com
panions should ride out and see the
prairie They went, not with any in.
tention of buying land, but just fol
the ride. And when they returned Mr.
Corning said to the man that h'
wouldn't give him ten cents for al
the land they had seen.
"That was in 1886. Twenty years
later Mr. Corning told me that if h
had taken a hundred and twenty-five
dollars and with II bought a hundred
acres OF that prairie land and kept /
until the day he was talking to me h'
could have sold it for fifteen million
..Nrr IoInn
Erastus Corning was little humili
ated when he realized that for hun
dred and twenty-five dollars, investe'
in 1886. he could have realized hfteel
million dollars in 1866.
Copyright, 1911, by r J. Edwards. Al
rights reserved)
Tomorrow Mr.. Edward will tell o
"a War Governors Sacrifice for tn
Public Good"