Background
George Ward Holdrege was born on March 26, 1847 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of Henry and Mary Russell (Grinnell) Holdrege.
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George Ward Holdrege
Edit ProfileEducation
Holdrege was reared at Irvington-on-Hudson and attended Suffield Academy preparatory to entering Harvard College in 1865. At Harvard he roomed with R. Clifford Watson, a nephew of John Murray Forbes. He distinguished himself in college by attaining the captaincy of the Harvard crew in his second year. Owing to financial reverses in the family, he was forced to leave college before he had completed his course, but he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1894, as of 1869.
Career
Through the acquaintance with Forbes Holdrege secured a position with the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. He arrived at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, on September 17, 1869. The company's rails had not yet reached the Missouri, but the company was already developing its roadbed into Nebraska. At that time, the state had only the single Union Pacific line across its vast expanse. Starting as assistant paymaster, Holdrege spent his first months on the Burlington's new construction in Nebraska. He was then transferred east of the Missouri for experience as trainman, conductor, and master of transportation until his return to Plattsmouth in 1873, as assistant in charge of construction. During the succeeding eight years times were hard and the Burlington was able to expand its construction to only 1000 miles west of the Missouri.
In 1880 the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was consolidated with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. In November of the following year Holdrege became the assistant superintendent of "Lines West" of Missouri and his influence soon dominated the company's policies in this area. Use of the Union Pacific for through traffic to the West was abandoned, and construction in the Republican Valley and on to Denver was completed in May 1882. The road was rushed through, and 221 miles of track were laid in 129 days. The Burlington construction soon netted the area south of the Platte to beyond the Kansas border. To the north the road penetrated through the sand hills to the Black Hills, into Wyoming, and finally to Billings, Montana, and a connection with the Northern Pacific. Holdrege saw the first Burlington construction west of the Missouri and he completed 4, 713 miles for the company in that region.
From 1886 until his retirement he was general manager of the "Lines West. " Perhaps his greatest disappointment came in the lean nineties when the Union Pacific passed through foreclosure and reorganization. Holdrege went East seeking financial support to consolidate it with the Burlington, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Much of Holdrege's construction was carried forward in unoccupied and undeveloped regions. Some of the terrain was forbidding, but Holdrege had great confidence in the future of the western country. He studied the possibilities in the land, minerals, and waters, and the advantages of contracting distances. The lines to Denver and the Black Hills were hypothecated upon the mining development in those regions. He organized the Colorado Carbon Company and promoted the Alice gold mine near Idaho Springs. He envisaged the linking of the productive plains with both the Gulf to the south and outlets to the northwest extending to the Pacific, Alaska, and the Orient. He studied and selected a route for the Valdez Railroad and laid out a proposed inland railroad route to Alaska. Most of all Holdrege devoted himself to the development of the region in which he had located the network of "Lines West of the Missouri. "
He worked unceasingly to improve agriculture. He promoted experiments in dry farming, he studied and encouraged irrigation, and in 1913 he organized a Tri-county Irrigation Company. He encouraged county and state fairs and agricultural demonstration trains. He constantly supported the agricultural work at the University of Nebraska and was an active promoter of the act creating the College of Agriculture of 1909.
As an original stockholder of the Lincoln Land Company, a subsidiary colonizing agency of the Burlington Railroad, he had an important part in laying out new communities and bringing in suitable settlers to develop the area. When Charles E. Perkins sold his Burlington interests to James J. Hill in 1901, Holdrege had to adapt his policies to a new associate, but he remained the active administrator of "Lines West" until he retired in December 1920. He continued to reside in Omaha, where he had made his home since 1882, until his death, from heart disease, at the age of seventy-nine.
Achievements
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Holdrege had been identified for half of the century with the greatest development of west of Missouri. Railroad history probably has no other figure who devoted more thought and effort to the comprehensive development of the communities served than Holdrege did. He was also a prominent figure in the development of agriculture. Long publicly recognized as a central figure in legislative debates in Nebraska, Holdrege was awarded a "service medal" by the Lincoln Kiwanis Club in 1925. Holdrege, Nebraska, was named in his honor in 1883.
Connections
Holdrege married, in 1872, Emily Cabot Atkinson, who died the following year leaving an infant son, Henry Atkinson Holdrege. In April 1878 he was married to Frances Rogers Kimball, the daughter of Thomas L. Kimball. They three daughters.
References
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Born
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Died
September 14, 1926 (aged 79) -
Nationality
American