HUNTINGTON, COLLIS POTTER

(1821-1900), an American capitalist, b. in Harwinton, Conn. Leaving his father’s farm at sixteen, he traveled throughout the country selling clocks, then settled down in Oneonta, N. Y., as a merchant. In 1849 he went out to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, with a stock of hardware, and prospered in San Francisco. In 1860 he and Leland Stanford and Charles. Crocker formed a company which promoted the scheme for building the first trans-continental railroad, the Central Pacific R. R., which was completed in 1869. At the time of his death Mr. Huntington had seen this beginning develop into an organization of 26 subsidiary corporations, owning or controlling 9,000 miies of track and several steamship companies—the Southern Pacific R. R. Co., of which he was president.