A fascinating part of US railroad history is the conflict between Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. The story is told in Chapters of Erie and Other Essays by Charles and Henry Adams. The book is in the public domain and available here: http://archive.org/stream/chaptersoferie00adamrich#page/n0/mode/2up
In a nutshell, Drew, Gould and Fisk were directors of the New York And Erie Railroad along with Henry Workman who acted on behalf of Cornelius Vanderbilt, owner of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. Drew, Gould and Fisk declined to have the Erie form a pool with the NYC&HRR. When the two roads began a rate war Vanderbilt reduced the price of shipping live cattle from Chicago to New York from $125 a head to $1 a head. Gould and Fisk brought all the cattle in Chicago they could and shipped then on the NYC&HRR. They made a handsome profit. Vanderbilt decided to buy a majority of Erie stock and kick then off the Board of Directors. After giving orders to his men in the street to do so he became involved in other things. $7 million dollars later he looked into his stock purchases to learn that he did not have a majority of shares despite his expenditures and the ones he did have were brand new and signed by Jim Fisk. He got a warrant from Judge Bernard (who he retained for such things) and went after Drew, Fisk and Gould. They escaped to New Jersey with their printing press and a chest containing the money. They then bribed the New York State Legislature to make their watered stock legal. When all was over Vanderbilt said he had made the mistake of kicking a skunk.
There are other fascinating shenanigans of Drew, Gould and Fisk. Anyone interested in railroad history will enjoy essays in this book.
I love stuff like that, thanks!!
I was looking for a DjView file to test my new DjView reader, and this fit the bill perfectly.
Enjoy your reading. I think the story of Jay Gould's gold corner is also interesting.
A nice work by two great minds of the 19th century, although some folks here have dismissed Charles Francis Adams as a worthwhile commentator..
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
The titans of commerce in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries weren't called 'Robber Barons' just for the fun of it.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
You should read about the building of the UP and Central Pacific railrods.. The things that they did would have landed them in jail for 999 years today.
schlimmA nice work by two great minds of the 19th century, although some folks here have dismissed Charles Francis Adams as a worthwhile commentator..
Each to his own taste, Schlimm. The fact of the matter is that Charles Francis Adams did exert an influence on the laws that came to be passed and on the public perception of railroads in his day. While it is true that he is not universally admired on this forum I am willing to trust my fellow posters to draw their own conclusions.
BaltACDThe titans of commerce in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries weren't called 'Robber Barons' just for the fun of it.
In another revisionist history, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould, Maury Klein argues that Gould was really a nice guy who was misunderstood. I'm not sure that the people of Gould's own time didn't understand him only too well. I suspect that as President of the Erie he would stuff his pockets with cash when he went home at night but I can't get too upset that he ripped off that old fraud Cornelius Vanderbilt.
gsrrmanYou should read about the building of the UP and Central Pacific railrods.
I think Sunset Limited by Richard Orsi is a good account of the Central Pacific. Also, Richard A. White's Railroaded is good although I don't share White's conclusions. I've also read Stephen Ambrose but I think much of what he writes is fanciful.
Klein has good credentials, but most of his works are revisionist apologias, for example, concluding that the "Robber barons" got a bum rap.
schlimmKlein has good credentials, but most of his works are revisionist apologias,
I've read Klein's biographies of Jay Gould and E. H. Harriman and I agree with you, Schlimm. In the end he argues Gould is no more than a somewhat misguided guy who only wants to grow flowers. I thought that was pretty ridiculous.
From what I've read about Jay Gould he was a "Jeckyll and Hyde" type of person. At home a loving caring family man who did a good job raising his kids and was very generous to them. At work however, watch out!
Maybe he was Robert Louis Stevenson's inspiration for the novel. Stevenson was in the country at that time, I believe.
It's easy to blame mistakes on those of the past, even change the mistake and those who made them. The story of the American Revolution, and thus the evolving of the business structures from then to now, is simply that they did not know what they were doing, whether it was right, wrong or legal or illegal. So they did what they did and if the competitors, the clients, the civil leaders, or the generals citizens, complained or sued, it was a mistake to be amended or just to be continued unless otherwise stated. It was all part of the great social experiment. Yeah, some were scoundrels, some were princes, some we don't know about because they never got caught. No, I don't defend each and every Robber Baron and Industrialist, nor do I condemn them. They created our economy by managing the Industrial Revolution, building businesses and communities and making money. That's a better record than those who destroy our economy by dismantling our industrial machine, vacating our communities, and employing overseas labor.
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
henry6It's easy to blame mistakes on those of the past
One point that Maury Klein makes is that Jay Gould's reputation is based on two parts of his life.
The first is the Erie War when he went toe to toe of Cornelius Vanderbilt and won. He was young and, compared to Vanderbilt, inexperienced with much less money behind him. And he won.
The second is the Gold Corner which led to Black Friday on September 24, 1869. There the people who were hurt were speculators who had sold gold short. They too are not a particularly sympathetic group.
But to the newspapers of his days he was Mephistopheles and an arch robber baron.
Firelock76At home [Jay Gould was] a loving caring family man who did a good job raising his kids and was very generous to them.
That is true. But he left his son George to control his empire. I don't know if George actually lacked his father's ability but he did lack his father's work ethic. George was very interested in his social life. He made poor decisions and ultimately lost the Missouri Pacific and its associated railroads.
Cornelius Vanderbilt left his son William Henry in charge of his empire. William Henry was, in fact, a better railroad man than his father. He doubled the worth of his companies. He also knew that none of his own children had what it took to run the enterprise and he saw to it that men were recruited who could. Ultimately, of course, the New York Central went bankrupt but that was despite the Vanderbilt heritage of providing excellent managers.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.