The Washington herald., 1914-05-23
HISTORY BUNDERS
The Man Who Inlueseed copno-
dose Vanderbilt
wris.sn expressly for me Herald,


written expressly for The Herald)
By DR. =. ,. EDWARDS.
Shortly after the announcement Of the
death Of William A. H. Loveland. Of
Colorado. in 1854. was told BY the late
Charles C. Clark. vice ppesident for many
years Of the New York Central Railroad.
Of an interesting incident in the early
career Of Mr.. LoveIand which was asso-
ciafed with the first railroad proposition
contemplated by Commodore Vanderbilt.
ION my way to Southern California two
or three years ago. stopped, over for a
day or two In Denver" said Mr.. Clark
There I met william H. Loveland and
had . very interesting chat with him. I
was especially pleased to meet Mr.. Love-
land because ! had often thought that
II was In part due to him that Commo-
dore Vanderbilt was tempted to turn
from steamboat and steamship ownership
and management to the business of rail-
road ownership and manasement
II never knew how Commodore VAN
derbilt became acquainted with Mr..
Loveland. He had heard that Loveland.
who had been one Of the pioneers Of
travel across and beyond the Rocky
Mountains. served in the Mexican War.
having had charge Of some of Gen.
Scott's wagon trains After the war. and
about the time Of the discovery of gold
in California. Mr.. Loveland went over
land to the Coast.
He did not stay there long. The idea
occurred to him that there should be
some rapid method Of transportation
across Central America 50 that II would
be possible to reach California in much
less time than was consumed by the voy-
age through the Strait Of Magellan He
went to Central America and became sat
isfied that there was q fine opportunity
for rapid transportation offered by the
utilization of the great lake Of Mica
ragua. The commodore never told me
the details of his association with Mr..
Loveland when he contemplated railroad
construction from the NicaraSuan lake
to the Pacific Coast. but / have some
times surmised that Loveland suggested
the proper route to the commodore. At
all events. he had Travelled through that
country and was familiar with 1t.
The commodore did for q time oper-
ate a steamship and transfer line to Cal
ifornia by way of lake Nicaragua but
he abandoned his plan for building a
railroad there and that caused the nego-
tiations he was carrying on with Mr..
thought Of railroad contraction at that
time began greatly to interest the COM
modore, and within q few years he made
his first venture through his purchase of
the Harlem River Road. followed as that
was by the purchase of the Hudson River
Railroad. and then the New York Central
Railroad lines.
II often wondered what would have
been Mr.. Loveiand's career II he and the
A,,sf
railroad across Nicaragua He undoubt-
edIy would have stayed there and per-
haps later might have been brought into
closer relations with the commodore in
the management Of the New York Gen.
tral.
Instead Of that. his adventurous
spirit took him up into Colorado and he
became one of the great pioneers. first
of Colorado Territory and then Of the
State. think he was the first man to
drive q team of mules across the State
to Pixies Peak. know that It was due
to his ,lfiuence and mis- ability that the
charter was obtained for what in the old
days was known as the Colorado Central
Railroad Company.
Now here Is the interesting thought
that has often come to me when Mr..
Loveland's name was mentioned: First.
that It may have been due to a sugges-
ton Of his that Commodore Vanderbilt
began to think of venturing into the
railroad business. and. next. that had he
and the commodore Joined hands in con-
structing q railroad from Lake Mica
ragua to the Pacific Coast in all proba-
bflity the Territory and then the State
of Colorado would have lost the very
great service Mr.. Loveland performed in
the early development of that great COM
munity."
Copyright 1914, BY Dr.. L. J. Edwards An nights
rppredl