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The Vale of Obscurity, the Lavant, and Other Poems
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Charles Crocker was an American railroad executive who founded the Central Pacific Railroad, which constructed the westernmost portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and took control with partners of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Background
Charles Crocker was born in Troy, New York on September 16, 1822. He was the son of Isaac Crocker, a merchant of Troy, New York, and Eliza Wright, daughter of a Massachusetts farmer, both of whom traced their lineage in this country back to the early seventeenth century.
Education
Charles Crocker had few educational advantages and at an early age began to aid his father in the support of the family.
Career
In 1836 the family moved to Marshall County, Indiana, and soon afterward Crocker began to earn his own living, working first as a farm-hand, then in a sawmill, and then as an apprentice in an iron forge.
In 1845 he discovered a bed of iron ore in Marshall County and established a forge under the name of Charles Crocker & Company. When gold was discovered in California this business was sold, and Crocker led a band of young men, including his two younger brothers, Clark and Henry, by the overland route to the Pacific Coast, arriving there in 1850.
In 1852 he gave up mining and opened a store in Sacramento, California.
By 1854 he was one of the wealthiest and most prominent men in Sacramento and in 1855 was elected to the City Council.
In 1860 he was elected to the state legislature and soon afterward became associated with Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, and Mark Hopkins in the building of the Central Pacific Railroad across the Sierra Nevada Mountains to connect with the Union Pacific Railroad then being constructed westward from Omaha, Nebraska.
Crocker had charge of the actual work of construction, leaving the problems of financing and general policy to his associates.
He lived in the construction camps, faring no better than his men, and seldom left them except on pressing business. He was constantly moving up and down in the line guiding the operations of the army of contractors and their workers.
The work on the Central Pacific was begun on February 22, 1863 and completed on May 10, 1869. During this period Crocker had charge of the construction, and he was president of the Contract and Finance Company until 1869.
It was through his efforts that the road was completed seven years ahead of the time allowed by the United States government.
In 1871 he was elected president of the Southern Pacific Railroad of California, the construction of which he personally supervised.
In 1884 he effected the consolidation of the Central and Southern Pacific roads and later took an active interest in the construction of the California and Oregon road between San Francisco and Portland. In addition to his railroad interests Crocker was concerned in real estate, in banking and in industrial properties throughout the state of California. He was also much interested in the development of various irrigation projects.
After the success of the Central Pacific Railroad became certain, he built in San Francisco a mansion said to have cost $1, 500, 000 with the furnishings. This was long one of the show places of the city, but was destroyed in the fire of 1906.
Later a home was also established in New York City. In 1886 he was seriously injured when thrown from his carriage while driving in New York City and never really recovered his health.
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Personality
Despite his success Crocker always remained a plain man with simple tastes and was domestic by choice.
He was a man of tremendous energy whose strongest point lay in the supervision of large groups, a man of extraordinary physique and he had a constitution of iron without nerves.
Interests
In addition to his railroad interests Crocker was concerned in real estate, in banking and in industrial properties throughout the state of California. He was also much interested in the development of various irrigation projects.
Connections
In 1852 in October he returned to Indiana for a short time and married Mary A. Denting.