The Washington herald., 1915-01-22
HISTORY BUILDERS
The Man Who Made One Road Out
of Seven.
Written Expressly for The Washington Herald.J
By DIR. L. J. EDWARDS.

BY DH. L. j. EDWARDS.
Commodore Vanderbilt will. I sup
pose, always be credited with having
conceived the idea of unifying the vari-
Gus railroad corporations which operated
lines between Albany and Buffalo, but
that was done long before the commO-
dore thought of embarking in the rail-
road business"
This remark was made to me by the
late commodore Van Santvoord, who in
the last forty years of his life bore the
same relation to transportation by wa
ter from interior New York via the Erie
Canal and the Hudson River to the har-
Dor OF New York which Commodore Van
derbilt bore to the railway system across
the State. Commodore Van SantvoOrd
was a warm friend of Commodore Van
derbilt, but his relation with William H.
Vanderbilt, who succeeded his father in
control of the Vanderbilt system, was
even closer than the one which he estab-
lished with the commodore.
Whatever tribute belongs to the mind
which conceived the plan of unifying the
various railroads which stretch in a con-
tinuous line from Albany to Buffalo be-
longs to Dean Richmond" continued
Commodore Van SantvoOrd, Il some
times think that RichmOnd's mind was
one characterized by greater QualifiCa-
tions for railroad success than was even
the commodore's. He did not live long
enough to show all that he could do. The
commodore really originated nothing.
He took his hints from others, and IL
was perfectly natural that he should
have realized that railroad UnifcatiOn
betw en- Chicago and New York would
RESULT in great traffic, SO great that il
ha IN 20 n
transportation.
Richmond was a good deal like Dam
iel Drew. He had some associations
with Drew, and although the two men
were rough, brusquc and autOcratic with
almost everybody else they were as mild
as lambs when they were together. Rich
mond was about as poor a boy as ever
emigrated from Vermont to New York
State, but he had a wonderful capacity
for business. Will still a very young
man he developed the salt business which
did so much to stimulate the growth Of
Syracuse, n. Y. He had the genius to
see that Buffalo was going to be great
city and he went there, still engaged in
, numerical business.
Il remember very well when we had
to change cars six or seven times to go
from Albany to Buffalo. There were, l
think seven independent railroad COmpa-
MES whose lines met at various places,
and IT took sometimes nearly twcnty-fOur
hours to ride by train from Albany to
Buffalo. Dean Richmond was the man
who realized that il these avriOus rail-
road corporations could be unified there
would be one continuous line between
Albany and Buffalo under one manage
ment, which would make 10 possible TO
increase business. although not neces-
sarily TO increase charges. He put the
thing through, and do not believe there
was another man in the State Of New
York that could have done it. At that
time Commodore Vanderbilt was buSily
engaged in steamboat and ocean steam
ship business. and il had not occurred to
him to 20 into the railroad business.
What the commodore did was to take
the Hudson River Railroad out of its
dilapidated condition and secure its uni
fication with the single railroad system
which Dean Richmond had built up. and
the commodore's great strategy was the
securing of control of the railroad bridge
at Albany, which was the ligament that
connected the line which Richmond had
perfected with the Hudson River Rail-
road.
Il suppose when the present generation
passes away there will be no one left
who knows such a man as Dean Rich
mond lived, but tradition will always
preserve the Vanderbilt name"
Copyright. 1915, by E J. Edwards. An rights re-
ssryedJ
Tomorrow DR.. Edwards will tell Of "A
Railroad Prediction of the Last Cen
fury"