page_title: William Henry Aspinwall
section_title: Howland & Aspinwall
hierarchical_section_title: William Henry Aspinwall / Career / Howland & Aspinwall
caption_attribution_description: English: Regulations and schedule of the Panama Railroad, 1861. From "Illustrated History of the Panama Railroad" by Fessenden Nott Otis, Harper &amp; Brothers, New York, 1861 (The Cooper Collections)
context_page_description: William Henry Aspinwall was a prominent American businessman who was a partner in the merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall and was a co-founder of both the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and Panama Canal Railway companies which revolutionized the migration of goods and people to the Western coast of the United States.
  Aspinwall was descended from, and related to, many prominent American families including the Roosevelts, Howlands, and Aspinwalls, that were heavily involved in the merchant trade business and politics, wielding vast power and ensuring wealth for generations.
context_section_description: In 1832, he became a partner in Howland & Aspinwall, along with his cousin William Edgar Howland, the son of founder Gardiner Howland.  After assuming the presidency in 1835, he expanded trade to South America, China, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the East and West Indies.  Howland & Aspinwall owned some of the most famous clipper ships ever built.  In 1845, while the firm owned the Ann McKim which was regarded as the fastest ship afloat, it built the Rainbow, which was even faster.  The Rainbow was the high-tech racehorse of its day, and is considered to be the first of the extreme clippers.  Instead of the bluff bow that was customary on ships up until that time, the Rainbow had a sharp bow, prompting on-lookers to joke that maybe she would sail better backwards.  The next year, Howland & Aspinwall had the Sea Witch built, which set a speed record from China to New York which still stands. 
  Clipper ships sacrificed cargo capacity for speed, but in some markets, the fast service allowed their owners to charge premium rates (Tea from China tasted better if it was fresh, so the cargo on the first ship of the season to arrive in New York was worth more).  Also faster speed meant that the vessel could complete more voyages in a given time period, which also helped make up for the diminished cargo capacity.  The firm and its profits made Aspinwall very wealthy, reportedly one of the richest men on the East Coast in the nineteenth century.
caption: Panama Railroad schedule
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