Background
Thomas Fletcher Oakes was born on July 15, 1843, in Boston, Massachussets, the son of Francis Garaux and Caroline Comfort (Paige) Oakes, and a descendant of Nathaniel Oak who emigrated to Massachusetts, probably from Wales, about 1660.
Thomas Fletcher Oakes was born on July 15, 1843, in Boston, Massachussets, the son of Francis Garaux and Caroline Comfort (Paige) Oakes, and a descendant of Nathaniel Oak who emigrated to Massachusetts, probably from Wales, about 1660.
Thomas was educated in the public schools and under private tutors.
When Thomas Oakes was twenty years of age he began work with a firm of contractors engaged in the construction of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, the eastern division of the Union Pacific. From this company he entered the service of the railroad itself in 1865 as purchasing agent and assistant treasurer. For the following six years he was general freight agent. He was then elected vice-president and after serving in this capacity for seven years he was appointed general superintendent.
During this period James F. Joy of Detroit, with the aid of Boston capitalists, was endeavoring to build up a transcontinental system out of the Michigan Central, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf, and other shorter lines, but after the panic of 1873 the system disintegrated and the western lines were shifted from one group to another. Oakes had attracted the attention of the Boston owners by his ability, and in 1879 he was asked to become general superintendent of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf and the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad companies, which with their branches made up about six hundred miles. He had occupied this position only a year.
In May 1880 he was asked by Henry Villard to take the managership of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, which had been organized shortly before. Villard was at this time obtaining control of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and with this company he practically monopolized both the north and south shores of the Columbia River as well as the navigation of the stream itself. When Villard became president of the Northern Pacific in June 1881, Oakes was elected director and vice-president, in which position he remained until his election as president in 1888.
As vice-president Oakes was in charge of the operating and construction departments, and also of the traffic and land departments, acting as executive officer to the president. When he assumed these duties the eastern division of the Northern Pacific had pushed west as far as Dickinson, Dakota Territory, while the western division stopped at Sprague, Washington Territory. The gap remaining to be built to connect these termini was about a thousand miles and embraced the most difficult portions of the work on the main line, including the crossing of the mountains and the building of two long tunnels. Yet in a little over two years he not only completed this work but built an additional thousand miles. He also reorganized the system of operation and increased its effectiveness.
The panic of 1893 affected the Northern Pacific very severely, and in that year Oakes resigned the presidency and was appointed general receiver, in which capacity he acted from 1893 to 1895.
After his retirement from this work he resided in Concord, Massachussets, but for several years maintained a connection with the banking firm of Taylor, Cutting & Company at 7 Wall Street, New York. He died at Seattle, Washington, where he had spent the last years of his life.
Thomas Oakes was married to Abby Rogers Haskell of Gloucester, Massachusetts. They had five children.