The Washington herald., 1914-05-21
HISTORY BUILDERS.
When Chauncey Depew and the Hud
son River Railroad Were Young.

Written expressly for The Herald)
~ DIR. u. J. EDWARDs.
7 suppose" said Chauncey n. Depev
to me q day after the celebration Of his
eishtieth birthday. that there never waa
case in the history Of American rail-
way construction which quite paralielsd
the promotion of the project to build Q
railroad along the banks Of the Hudson
River from New York City to Albany"
Mr., Depew made this remark In re-
sponse to this question from me:
Why did you not, when making your
birthday speech to the members Of the
Montauk Club. Of Brooklyn. on the night
Of your eiehtieth birthday celebration. re-
fer In some detail to your early recollec-
tions Of the construction Of the Hudson
River Railroadr'
All that Mr.. Depew said to his hosts
on that occasion was that he remem-
bered the celebration at Peekskill Of the
opening of the Hudson River Railroad
from New York to Peekskill. which was
forty miles distant He was then lad
of thirteen. Forty years later. or there
abouts, he became president Of this rail-
road company and served In that capa-
city for thirteen years.
Not until REACHED manhood" said
Mr.. Depew. did I learn the extraordi-
nary story associated with the organixa-
ton Of the Hudson Rive: Railroad Com
pany. To me II Is especially instructive
because II tells of the courage of capital
when railroad investment was suggested
to II and the frequent entire loss Of cap
ital invested In these undertakings.
II believe that that has been the his
tory of almost every railroad undertake
ing In the United States. Perhaps not so
IN every ease, but in very many instances
the original capital was lost. That is
something which the public at this time
seems to have little knowledge of. There
was an engineer of the name of Jarvis
do not recall his rirst name. He went
UP and down the banks of the Hudson.
and having fortified himself with facts
he called upon many men of wealth of
New York City to persuade them to un-
dertake the building OF a railroad upon
the banks of the Hudson. This was. 1
think. during the latter part OF the Pres
idential administration of John Tyler.
Jarvis met with continual rebuff Al
most all Of the wealthy men told him that
as commercial proposition II was alb
solutely impracticable. The railroad
would have to compete with the packet
boat and steamboat navigation Of the
Hudson and with the canal boats which
came through the Hudson by way of the
Erie Canal
AT last Jarvis called upon a man of
the name Of Boardman- He was one of
the few millionaires of New York City Of
that time. He was a hard-headed Scots
man. Jarvis demonstrated to him that
as a railroad could be built on the banks
OF the Hudson It would cost comparative
ly little to construct It, II would be
practically a water-level railroad. He
also persuaded Mr.. Boardman that II
could connect at Albany with the sail-
roads that were built from that city to
He demonstrated that II would
find abundant transportation In the pro-
ducts offered by the farmers Of the Hud-
son Valley for the New York City mar
ket.
Well. Jarvis at last persuaded the rich
Scotsman. and he induced a few other
men Of capital to Join with him. The road
was started. Boardman put every dollar
he had into II, / believe. But II was not
until fifteen yars later, when Commodore
bought the road and COW
cred IL with the New York Central, that
there was perfect demonstration Of the
soundness of the view
which was taken by Jarvis.
TT is my recollection that those who at
first ventured their capital in this work
lost a great deal of II. and yet oppor-
tunity lurked In il. which. having been
developed by Commodore Vanderbilt.
made 1t one Of the great railways of the
United States
Copyright r3lt. By Z. J. Edwards. An rights n,
seCedJ
Tomorrow DR.. Edwards will tell of
The Progress Which Brought Loss in
Its Train