Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made Part 12

He is extremely generous to his friends, and gives liberally to charitable objects. He never puts his name to a subscription paper, but his donations are none the less liberal for that. His old acquaintances--especially those of his boyhood--find him a tender friend, and many of them owe to his bounty the comforts which surround their age.[A]

He is the father of thirteen children--nine daughters and four sons--nearly all of whom are still living. A few years ago, at the celebration of his golden wedding, over one hundred and forty of his descendants and relatives a.s.sembled to congratulate him. He lost a promising son during the war, and his wife died two years ago. Not long since he married a second time. He is still one of the handsomest and most imposing men in New York, and will doubtless live to see his children's grandchildren.

[Footnote A: In July, 1870, Mr. Vanderbilt chanced to hear that the Rev.

Dr. Deems, of New York, was in want of a church. Admiring the energy with which the reverend gentleman had built up his congregation in the short s.p.a.ce of three years, Mr. Vanderbilt quietly made up his mind that he should not want in vain. Accordingly he bought the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church, and made the Doctor a present of it, keeping him in ignorance of his intention until he placed the t.i.tle deeds in his hand.]

CHAPTER X.

DANIEL DREW.

The name of DANIEL DREW has so long been familiar in the financial circles of the country, that it is surprising that the history of his life is not more generally known.

He was born at Carmel, in Putnam County, New York, on the 29th of July, 1797. His father was a small farmer, with limited means, and had to work hard to provide his family with food and clothing. Young Daniel was brought up to work on the farm, and at such times as he could be spared from this work, was sent to the country school in the neighborhood, where he acquired but a meager stock of learning. When he was fifteen years old, his father died, leaving his family in an almost helpless condition. Young Daniel remained on the farm three years longer, and in 1815, being then eighteen years old, stared out to try and earn a living for himself.

He came to New York in search of employment, but the country, just then, was in too depressed a condition to afford him a chance in any regular business. After looking around for awhile, he at length became a cattle drover. He spent five years in driving cattle from Putnam County to New York for sale, but failed to make any money at the business.

In 1820, he removed to New York, and established his headquarters at the famous Bull's Head Tavern, in the Bowery, which was the great resort of the butchers and drovers doing business in the city. He kept this tavern a part of the time, and found it quite a profitable investment.

He soon formed a partnership with two other drovers, and commenced buying cattle in the adjoining counties and bringing them to New York for sale.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOUNDING A GREAT FORTUNE]

These ventures were so successful that the operations of the firm were extended into Pennsylvania, and finally into Ohio and the other States of the great West. Mr. Drew and his partners brought over the mountains the first drove of cattle that ever came from the West into New York city. The cattle, two thousand in number, were collected into droves of one hundred each, and were driven by experienced and careful men. The journey occupied two months, and the total cost of the purchase and trip was twenty-four dollars per head. The profit on the venture was very large.

Mr. Drew continued in this business for fourteen years, slowly and carefully laying the foundations of that immense fortune which has made him so conspicuous, an example to others who have entered upon the life-struggle since then.

In 1834, an event occurred which changed the whole tenor of his career.

In that year, the steamer "General Jackson," owned by Jacob Vanderbilt (a brother of the famous Commodore), and plying between New York and Peekskill, blew up at Gra.s.sy Point. A friend of Mr. Drew at once put a boat called the "Water Witch" in her place, and Mr. Drew, to oblige his friend, advanced one thousand dollars toward the enterprise. Commodore Vanderbilt was not willing that any rival should contest the river trade with him, and built a steamer called the "Cinderella," with which he ran a sharp opposition to Mr. Drew. The contest was so sharp that fares and freights were lowered to a ridiculous figure, and both parties lost heavily. At the end of the season, the owner of the "Water Witch" found himself ten thousand dollars in debt, and sold his boat to Drew, Kelly & Richards for twenty thousand dollars.

Finding that Mr. Drew was not frightened off by his opposition, Commodore Vanderbilt urged him to withdraw from his attempt, telling him he knew nothing of the management of steamboats. Mr. Drew refused to be intimidated; however, and continued his efforts. Since then, there have been fifty attempts to run him off the river, but all alike have failed of success.

In 1836, the "Water Witch" was replaced by a fine steamer called the "Westchester," which was subsequently run as a day boat to Hartford, Connecticut. The "Westchester" was run against the Hudson River Line, from New York to Albany. The Hudson River Line at that time owned the "De Witt Clinton," the "North America," and others--the finest steamboats then afloat--and it seemed at first foolhardiness for any one to attempt to oppose so popular a company. Mr. Drew and his partners bought the "Bright Emerald," for which they gave twenty-six thousand dollars, and ran her as a night boat between New York and Albany, reducing the fare from three dollars to one dollar. During the season, they bought the "Rochester" for fifty thousand dollars, and also bought out the Hudson River Line, after which they restored the fare to three dollars.

Several years later, Isaac Newton, who was largely interested in the towing business of the Hudson, built two splendid pa.s.senger steamers called the "North America" and the "South America." In 1840, Mr. Drew formed a partnership with Mr. Newton, and the celebrated "People's Line"

was organized, which purchased all the pa.s.senger steamers owned by Drew and Newton. Mr. Drew was the largest stockholder in this company, which, to-day, after a lapse of nearly thirty years, still owns the most magnificent and popular steamers in the world. Soon after its organization, the company built the "Isaac Newton," the first of those floating palaces for which the Hudson is famed. Since then, it has built the "New World," the "St. John," the "Dean Richmond," and the "Drew,"

the last two of which cost over seven' hundred thousand dollars each.

Repeated efforts have been made to drive this line from the river, but it has been conducted so judiciously and energetically, that, for nearly thirty years, it has held the first place in the public favor.

In 1847, George Law and Daniel Drew formed a partnership, and established a line of steamers between New York and Stonington, for the purpose of connecting with the railroad from the latter place to Boston.

The "Oregon" and the "Knickerbocker" were placed on the route, and the enterprise proved a success. Mr. Drew and Commodore Vanderbilt secured a sufficient amount of stock in the railroad to give them a controlling interest in it, and by the year 1850 the Stonington Steamboat Line was firmly established.

When the Hudson River Railroad was opened, in 1852, it was confidently expected that the steamboat trade on the river would be destroyed, and the friends and enemies of Mr. Drew alike declared that he might as well lay up his boats, as he would find it impossible to compete with the faster time of the railroad. He was not dismayed, however, for he was satisfied that the land route could not afford to carry freight and pa.s.sengers as cheap as they could be transported by water. He knew that it would only be necessary to reduce his pa.s.senger and freight rates below those of the railroad, to continue in the enjoyment of his immense business, and his faith in the steady expansion of the trade of the city induced him to believe that the time was close at hand when railroad and steamers would all have as much as they could do to accommodate it. His views were well founded, and his hopes have been more than realized. The river trade has steadily increased, while the Hudson River Railroad is taxed to its utmost capacity to accommodate its immense traffic.

In 1849, Mr. Drew, in connection with other parties, bought out the Champlain Transportation Company. This corporation had a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and ran a line of five steamers from White Hall to the Canada end of the lake. The new proprietors ran the line seven years, and in 1856 sold out to the Saratoga and White Hall Railroad Company.

As a steamboat manager, Daniel Drew has few equals and no superiors. His ventures on the water have all been crowned with success, a result due entirely to his judicious and liberal management His employes are chosen with the greatest care, and generally remain with him during their lives. He is very liberal in his dealings with those who serve him faithfully, but will not tolerate a single careless or incompetent man, however unimportant may be his position. The steamers owned by him are almost entirely free from accidents, and such misfortunes as have befallen them have been those against which no skill or foresight could guard. He refuses to insure his boats, holding that care and prudence are the best safeguards against accidents, and thus saves half a million dollars. When the "Dean Richmond" was run down by the "Vanderbilt," a year or two ago, he lost nearly three hundred thousand dollars. He paid every claim presented by shippers and pa.s.sengers, as soon as made, without submitting one of them to the adjudication of the courts.

In 1836, Mr. Drew entered the banking business in Wall Street, and in 1840 established the widely-known firm of Drew, Robinson & Co. This house engaged largely in the financial operations of the day, and became known as one of the most uniformly successful in its dealings of any in the city. Mr. Drew remained at the head of it for thirteen years, but in 1855 withdrew to make room for his son-in-law, Mr. Kelley. This gentleman died soon after his connection with the firm, and Mr. Drew resumed his old place.

Having succeeded so well in all his ventures, Mr. Drew now determined to enter another field. Railroad stocks were very profitable, and might be made to yield him an immense return for his investments, and he decided to invest a considerable part of his fortune in them. In 1855, he endorsed the acceptances of the Erie Railroad Company for five hundred thousand dollars. This was the first decided evidence the public had received of his immense wealth, and in 1857 another was given by his endors.e.m.e.nt of a fresh lot of Erie acceptances amounting to a million and a half of dollars. This last indors.e.m.e.nt was made in the midst of the great financial panic of 1857, and occasioned no little comment. Men could admire, though they could not understand, the sublime confidence which enabled Mr. Drew to risk a million and a half of dollars in the midst of such a terrible crisis. Some one asked him if he could sleep quietly at night with such large interests at stake. "Sir," he replied, calmly, "I have never lost a night's rest on account of business in my life."

In 1857, Mr. Drew was elected a director of the Erie Railroad Company, a position he held until recently. He was subsequently elected treasurer of the company, and is one of the princ.i.p.al holders of Erie stock. He is also one of the princ.i.p.al creditors of the company. The recent proceedings in the New York courts to prevent the Erie Road from issuing the new stock necessary to complete its broad-gauge connections with the West, are too fresh in the mind of the reader to need a recital of them here. It was proposed to issue ten millions of dollars worth of new stock, and Mr. Drew was to guarantee the bonds. After a tedious and costly suit, in which the New York Central Road endeavored to prevent the issue of the stock, in the hope of keeping the Erie Road from forming through connections with the West, the New York Legislature legalized the new issue, and a compromise was effected between Mr. Drew, in behalf of the Erie Road, and Commodore Vanderbilt, who represented the New York Central.

Mr. Drew still continues his operations in Wall Street, where he is known as one of the boldest and most extensive, as well as one of the most successful, of all the operators in railroad stocks. Though losing heavily at times, he has nevertheless been one of fortune's favorites.

His efforts have not been confined to the Erie Road. He owns stock in other roads, and, together with Commodore Vanderbilt, took up the floating debt of over half a million of dollars which weighed down the Harlem Road, and placed it in its present prosperous condition.

He owns a fine grazing farm on the Harlem Railroad, about fifty miles from New York. It is situated in Carmel, in Putnam County; is nearly one thousand acres in extent, and includes the old farm on which he was born. He has made it one of the finest and most profitable in the State, and, it is said, values it above all his other possessions. He has improved and beautified it upon an extensive scale, and near the old grave-yard, where his parents lie sleeping, he has built one of the most beautiful churches in the land.

In 1811, Mr. Drew became a member of the Methodist Church, but for twenty-five years this connection was merely nominal. During all the years of his drover's life he kept himself free from the sins of intemperance and swearing. Once while riding out in a buggy with a friend, to look at some cattle, a thunder-storm came on, and his horse was killed in the shafts by lightning. This narrow escape from death made a deep impression on his mind, and in 1841 he united with the Mulberry Street Methodist Church, of which he became an active member and a trustee. The elegant marble structure now standing at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second Street attests his liberality to this congregation. He is a trustee in the Wesleyan University, and has largely endowed that inst.i.tution; and within the past few years has contributed several hundred thousand dollars for the endowment of the Drew Theological Seminary, which has been established at Madison, New Jersey, for the education of candidates for the Methodist ministry. He gives largely in aid of missionary work, and is one of the most liberal men in his denomination. It is said that he gives away at least one hundred thousand dollars annually in private charities, besides the large donations with which the public are familiar. He selects his own charities, and refuses promptly to aid those which do not commend themselves to him.

His property is estimated at twenty millions of dollars, and he is said to earn at least half a million of dollars every year. He has two children, a son and a daughter, the latter of whom is the wife of a clergyman of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Drew is about five feet ten inches high, and slenderly made. He is very active and vigorous for his age, and looks a much younger man than he is. His expression is firm, but withal pleasant. His features are regular, but dark and deeply marked, while his black hair is still unstreaked with gray. He is courteous and friendly in his intercourse, and is very much liked by his acquaintances.

CHAPTER XI.

JAMES B. EADS.

James B. Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in the year 1820. His father was a man of moderate means, and was able to give him a fair English education. From his earliest childhood he evinced a remarkable fondness for all sorts of machinery and mechanical arrangements. This fondness became at length a pa.s.sion, and excited the surprise of his friends, who could not imagine why a mere child should be so much interested in such things. His greatest delight was to go to the machine shops in his neighborhood, in which he had many friends, and watch the workings of the various inventions employed therein.

When he was nine years old his father removed to Louisville, Kentucky.

During the voyage down the Ohio, young Eads pa.s.sed the most of his time in watching the engines of the steamer. The engineer was so much pleased to see his interest in the machinery that he explained the whole system of the steam-engine to him. The boy listened eagerly, and every word remained fixed in his mind. Two years later, with no further instruction on the subject, he constructed a miniature engine, which was worked by steam. This, for a boy of eleven years, was no insignificant triumph of genius. His father, anxious to encourage such unmistakable talent, now fitted up a small workshop for him, in which he constructed models of saw mills, fire engines, steamboats, and electrotyping machines. When he was only twelve years old he was able to take to pieces and reset the family clock and a patent lever watch, using no tool for this purpose but his pocket-knife.

At the age of thirteen his pleasant employment was brought to a sudden end. His father lost all his property by the failure of some commercial transactions, and the family was brought to the verge of ruin. It now became necessary for young Eads to labor for his own support, and for that of his mother and sisters. Boy as he was, he faced the crisis bravely. Having in vain sought employment in Louisville, he resolved to go to St. Louis. He worked his pa.s.sage there on a river steamer, and landed in that city so poor that he had neither shoes to his feet nor a coat to his back. He found it as difficult to procure work here as it had been in Louisville, and was at length compelled to resort to peddling apples on the street in order to secure a living. He did this for some time, never relaxing his efforts to obtain more desirable employment.

After many attempts he succeeded in getting a situation in a mercantile house, at a fair salary. One of his employers was a man of wealth and culture, and was possessed of one of the finest private libraries in the West. Learning the extraordinary mechanical talent possessed by his young clerk, this gentleman placed his library at his disposal. The offer was promptly and gratefully accepted, and young Eads devoted almost all his leisure time to the study of mechanics, machinery, and civil engineering. He remained with this house for several years, and then obtained a clerkship on one of the Mississippi River steamers, where he pa.s.sed several years more. During this time he became intimately acquainted with the great river and its tributaries, and acquired an extensive knowledge of all subjects appertaining to western navigation, which proved of great service to him in his after life.

In 1842, being then twenty-two years old, and having saved a moderate sum of money, he formed a copartnership with Messrs. Case & Nelson, boat builders, of St. Louis, for the purpose of recovering steamboats and their cargoes which had been sunk or wrecked in the Mississippi.

Accidents of this kind were then very common in those waters, and the business bade fair to be very profitable. The enterprise succeeded better than had been expected, and the operations of the wrecking company extended from Galena, Illinois, to the Balize, and into many of the tributaries of the great river. The parties interested in the scheme realized a handsome profit on their investments. Mr. Eads was the practical man of the concern, and worked hard to establish it upon a successful footing. In 1845 he sold out his interest in the company, and established a gla.s.s manufactory in St. Louis. This was the first enterprise of the kind ever attempted west of the Mississippi. Two years later, in 1847, he organized a new company for the purpose of recovering boats and cargoes lost in the Mississippi and its tributaries. This company started with a capital of fifteen hundred dollars. It was slow work at first, but a steady improvement was made every year, and in 1857, just ten years from the date of their organization, the property of the firm was valued at more than half a million of dollars. During the winter of 1856-'57, Mr. Eads laid before Congress a formal proposition to remove the obstructions from the western rivers and keep them open for a term of years, upon payment of a reasonable sum by the General Government. Had this proposition been accepted, the benefits thereby secured to all who were engaged in the navigation of those rivers would have been very great. A bill was reported in Congress authorizing the acceptance of Mr. Eads' offer, but was defeated through the influence of the Senators from Mississippi (Jefferson Davis) and Louisiana (J.P. Benjamin).

In 1857, Mr. Eads was compelled, on account of ill-health, to retire from business. He had earned a handsome fortune by his industry and enterprise, and could well afford to rest for a short time, preparatory, as it afterward proved, to the most important part of his whole career.

When the secession troubles began to agitate the country, toward the close of the year 1860, Mr. Eads cast the weight of his private and public influence on the side of the Union. He felt that the war, if it should come, would be a very serious affair for the West, as the prosperity of that section depends largely upon the absolute freedom of the navigation of the Mississippi. The Confederates well understood this, and prepared from the first to close the great river until their independence should be acknowledged by the General Government. Dr.

Boynton, in his "History of the United States Navy During the Rebellion," thus describes the condition of affairs in the West, a proper understanding of which will show the reader the importance of the services subsequently rendered by Mr. Eads:

The main features of the rebel plan of war in the West were to seize and hold Missouri, and, as a consequence, Kansas and Nebraska, and thus threaten or invade the free States of the North-west from that point; to hold Kentucky and Tennessee, and, if possible, to cross the Ohio, and make the Northern States the theater of the war; or, in case they should be unable to invade the North, to maintain their battle line unbroken along the Ohio and through Missouri; to keep the great rivers closed, and thus holding back the North, and being secure within their own territory, at length compel the recognition of their independence. They certainly presented to the North a most formidable front, a line of defenses which was indeed impregnable to any means of a.s.sault which the Government at first possessed. No army could be moved into Tennessee by land alone, because the line of communication with a Northern base could not be held secure, and a defeat far from the Ohio would be the destruction of an army, and open the road for an invasion of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and the destruction of their cities.

It was quite evident that no impression could be made upon the power of the rebellion in the West, until a firm foothold could be gained in Kentucky and Tennessee, and until the Mississippi could be wrested from the conspirators' control. It was clear that the whole seaboard might be regained, even to Florida, and yet the rebellion remain as dangerous as ever, if the rebels could hold the Mississippi River and the valley up to or near the Ohio.

France was looking with eager eyes toward Texas, in the hope of securing and extending her Mexican usurpation. England was ready to give all the a.s.sistance in her power to any step which would weaken the North; and had the rebels been pressed back from the seaports and the Northern Atlantic slope, they would have had it in their power, if still holding the Mississippi, the South-west, including Tennessee, and the great natural fortresses of the mountains, to have so connected themselves with Mexico and France as to have caused the most serious embarra.s.sment. It became absolutely necessary to the success of the Government that the rebels'

northern line of defenses should be broken through, and that the Mississippi should be opened to its mouth.