The Washington herald., 1914-02-24
HISTORY BUILDERS.
Why Commodore Vanderbilt weat
Into Railroadins.
By DIR. u. ,. EDWARDS.

/ INTO kaiIfoa0ng.
By DIR. u. ,. EDWARDS.
| ~ HE late Charles A. Clark was as
I sociated with Commodore Wander
= bilt from the day when the COM
| modore abandoned his vocation as q
| steamboat and steamship owner and man
arer SO that he might take up railroad
/ construction, ownership. and manage
ment. Mr.. Clark served with three sener'
ations OF vanderbilts. the commodore
/ his son, William II. Vanderbilt. and one
grandson. the late Cornelius ana william
| X. Vanderbilt For many years he was
vice president OF the New York Central
and Hudson River Railroad Company,
having authority over the financial de-
partment
Probably no man, excepting Chauncey
NJ. Depew, knew more Of the inneWh MIS-
tory of the Vanderbilt railroad properties
or had more intimate knowledge OF the
personal characteristics OF the three gem
erations of vanderbilts who were In
authority than Mr.. Clark. After he re-
tired from active service, wnen past
eighty years OF age. he was fond OF
telling his friends what some or the
personal characteristics of the commo-
dore and his son. William II. Vanderbilt,
were.
I once asked Mr.. Clark II he ever knew
what II was that induced Commodore
Vanderbilt to abandon his vocation as
steamboat and steamship owner and
manager and take up railroading.
THE commodore" Mr.. Clark replied.
was sixty-two years of age when he
began his career as a railroad man. He
had at that time, l presume about sl9.-
e0o, Co., and that was esteemed in the early
eos a very great fortune. Daniel Drew
Mt that time had probably just about as
much. and these two men. when acting
together could make or break the money
market
with such wealth and power as the
commodore had most men OF that day
would have been content to ease up a
little. They would have thought OF re-
tirement from active business. But Com
modore Vanderbilt was not that Kind OF
a man. Had he not changed his vocation
he would have remained an active and
aggressive steamboat and steamship
owner until he died.
Now / never knew exactly what led
the commodore to think OF the railroad
as his future vocation But l have al
ways had the suspicion that IL was a
remark made to him by John NJ. Forbes,
OF Boston. Forbes, you remember, had
the courage 10 take up the Michigan Cen
tral Railroad and complete IL just about
the time of the Mexican war. He was
also the originator OF what became the
Burlington system. which for many years
was owned by Boston capital.
Along about 1852 the commodore met
John NJ. Forbes and had a long CONVEX
sation with him. Forbes at that time
told the commodore that with the con-
struction OF adequate railroad facilities
the great west would be opened TO agri-
culture and there would be enormous
supplies of grain TO be moved from the
prairies TO the manufacturing towns and
to the seaports. 1t was this, Mr.. Forbes
said, which led him to take UP the Bur-
lington railroad plan.
Il know that the commodore had great
admiration for John NJ. Forbes, and
always suspected that what Mr.. Forbes
told him made a profound impression on
him He was already the owner or the
Harlem Railroad. He bought that origin
ally as a sort OF speculation. He realized
that the neglected and despised Hudson
River Railroad whose terminal was op-
posite Albany, would be naturally a line
over which agricultural products of the
West would be moved from the Lakes to
the seaports.
Understanding this clearly, il suddenly
occurred to the commodore that IL he
could control the half dozen railway lines
which connected Albany with Buffalo,
and then could get control Of the bridge
over the Hudson at Albany. he would
secure a railroad property which would
find ample business offered at Buffalo by
the steamers that brought grain from
the West. He was a little ahead Of his
time when he began. but his forecast was
correct, and il was inevitable that he
should afterward plan the extension OF
his system from Buffalo to Chicago by
the railroad that skirted the south shores
OF Lake Erie. and afterward secure the
control of the Michigan Central. Curl
ously enough, the Michigan Central.
which passed into the ownership Of the
and the Lake Shore, which
he secured, were at first strong competi- |
tors, and the Lake Shore was built with |
the idea of competing with the Michigan
Central
Now. l do not know positively that 1t |
was John NJ. Forbes who inspired the |
with the idea OF taking up
the railroad business, but little things |
which the commodore said. and little in !
cidents that came under my observation. !
convinced me that II was that gentleman |
who opened the eyes OF the commodore |
to the opportunities which the building |
up of the West were to offer to railroads |
that had terminals on the Atlantic Sea-
board"
Copyright Ig4J