Читать книгу History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 2 - Группа авторов - Страница 14

Collis Potter Huntington, the great railroad magnate of the west, was born in Harwinton, Litchfield county, Connecticut, October 22, 1821, was educated in a local school, and secured his freedom from his father when fourteen years of age by promising to support himself. Engaging in mercantile business, he spent ten years in traveling through the south and west, and then settled with an elder brother in Oneonta, Otsego county. New York. In October, 1848, the brothers made a shipment of goods to California, which Collis followed in March. After spending three months in trading on the isthmus, he began business in a tent in Sacramento, dealing in the various articles required in mining life. He afterward opened a large hardware store in the city, became associated in business with Mark Hopkins, and in 1860 matured a scheme for a transcontinental railroad, for this purpose being associated with Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mr. Hopkins, in the first survey across the Sierra Nevada mountains. Five men organized the Central Pacific Railroad Company, of which Mr. Stanford was elected president, Mr. Huntington vice president-and Mr. Hopkins treasurer.

After congress had agreed to aid the enterprise by an issue of bonds, Mr. Huntington and his associates carried on the construction of the railroad out of their private means until the bonds became available by the completion of a stipulated mileage. In addition to this undertaking, Mr. Huntington planned and perfected the whole California railroad system, which extends over eight thousand and nine hundred miles of steel track and built an Atlantic system, which, by the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, forms a continuous line four thousand miles long, from San Francisco to Newport News, thus incidentally developing nearly seventeen thousand miles of steam water lines, including the route to China and Japan. Naturally he holds high official positions in these great thoroughfares.

Mr. Huntington continues to live, during the winter, in New York, where he manages the affairs of his railroads and other great enterprises. He is largely interested in over seven of the great steamship lines of the country, is one of the founders and directors of the Metropolitan Trust Company, of New York, and has a place on the directory of the Western Union Telegraph Company. He does not go much into general society, but keeps a hospitable house of his own on Murry Hill. He spends about seven months of every year at his charming country-seat at Throgg's Neck on Long Island Sound, whence he can reach his business and return every day. In person he is tall, of a vigorous build, with grayish-blue eyes, an aquiline nose, and a firm, solid jaw, which feature in him resembles that of General Grant. His favorite indoor relaxations are reading and whist, of which game he is an excellent player. He has formed a large and well selected library, and has a familiar and constant acquaintance with the best books in it. He is a lover of poetry and a student of history, particularly of modern history, and has known admirably how to use his scant leisure. He has also gathered a large and very valuable collection of paintings, and is pretty certain to be seen at any notable sale of pictures, not only in New York but in other eastern cities, bidding judiciously but unhesitatingly, paying a large price for a good work of art. He was, until recently, not only a skillful but also a very daring horseman, and while he was building the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, parts of which run through an extremely difficult country, he was noted for his horsemanship, even among the people of that region of horsemen.

Friends and business acquaintances know him as the possessor of a shrewd wit. He is an admirable story-teller, and knows how to settle a dispute with an opposite illustration almost as well as the late Mr. Lincoln. His years and labors have not told heavily upon him, and have not robbed him either of his physical activity or of his gay humor, which make him a pleasant companion and friend. He has always had the capacity to bind friends to him by strong ties, and to get the best and most zealous service out of those he employs, who know him as one who exacts the strict fulfillment of duty, but who also generously rewards faithful service. In business he is careful and laborious, but an excellent administrator. He has the capacity to do a great deal of work in the hours he gives to it, and he has always been wise enough to redeem some part of his daily life from business cares and devote it to his family and to his library, where most of his evenings are spent. "Neither cast down nor elated," might very well be his motto; for neither has his great and fortunate career spoiled him nor changed the simple habits of his life, nor have the vicissitudes of fortune been able to disturb his equanimity.

His country residence, at Throgg's Neck, is a refuge and great source of pleasure to him. From the broad veranda of the house a neatly kept lawn slopes away under the branches of noble trees down to the water of the Sound, and here, on a clear day or pleasant evening, Mr. Huntington, a gentleman of commanding stature, dressed in black and wearing a black skull-cap, may often be seen strolling up and down in conversation with, friends, or watching the steamboats and sailing vessels as they pass, rarely otherwise than in a genial humor, and always ready with his jovial story and generous laugh. His beautiful estate, consisting of thirty acres, was purchased from F. C. Havemeyer. This gentleman had expended a great deal on its embellishments; and Mr. Huntington, securing the best talent and sparing neither time nor money, has continued to adorn and improve the house and lands until at present — with its system of water, its gas-works, its private wharf, at which large vessels are occasionally moored, its stables, conservatories, farm buildings, pastures, shady walks, gardens and flowers — it is a model residence and a place well fitted to divert the fancy, restore the strength and rest the heart of one so earnest and unsparing of himself in work.