JAY GOULD JAMES FISK THE ORIGINAL ROBBER BARONS
JAY GOULD & JAMES FISK: THE ORIGINAL ROBBER BARONS By: Preston C. Peryer Mr. Cumming’s APUSH class Per. 6
Jason “Jay” Gould Was Jay Gould’s operation illegal or was he using the system to his advantage? � � He was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has been referred to as one of the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, whose success at business made him one of the richest men of his era. He was hated and reviled, but some modern historians like Walter R. Borneman and Maury Klein, have attempted to discount his negative portrayal. As a young boy, Gould decided he wanted nothing to do with farming, which was what his father did, and so his father dropped him off at a nearby school with 50 cents and a sack of clothes. Gould devoted himself to private study, emphasizing surveying and mathematics. In 1854, Gould surveyed and created maps of the Ulster County, New York area.
Gould’s Early Careers � � In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with Zadock Pratt to create a tanning business in Pennsylvania in what would become Gouldsboro. Eventually, he bought out Pratt, who retired. In 1856, Gould entered another partnership with Charles Mortimer Leupp, a son-inlaw of Gideon Lee, and one of the leading leather merchants in the United States at the time. Leupp and Gould was a successful partnership until the Panic of 1857. Leupp lost all his money, while Gould took advantage of the opportunity of the depreciation of property value and bought up former partnership properties for himself Eventually, Gould took physical possession, but was later forced to sell his shares in the company to Lee's brother.
James Fisk � � � � An American stockbroker and corporate executive Fisk was born in the hamlet of Pownal, Vermont, in Bennington County in 1835. After a brief period in school, he ran away in 1850 and joined Van Amberg's Mammoth Circus & Menagerie. Later, he became a hotel waiter, and finally adopted the business of his father, a peddler. He then became a salesman for Jordan Marsh, a Boston dry goods firm. A failure as a salesman, he was sent to Washington, D. C. , in 1861 to sell textiles to the government. In 1864 Fisk became a stockbroker in New York City, and was employed by Daniel Drew as a buyer. He aided Drew in the Erie War against Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of the Erie Railroad. This resulted in Fisk and Jay Gould becoming members of the Erie directorate, and subsequently, a well-planned raid netted Fisk and Gould control of the railroad.
Gould’s Railroad Monopolies � � � In 1859 Gould began speculative investing by buying stock in small railways. Gould purchased stock for 10 cents on the dollar, which left him in control of the company. Through the Civil War era, he did more speculation on railroad stocks in New York City. In 1863 he was appointed manager of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad. The Erie Railroad encountered financial troubles in the 1850 s, despite receiving loans from financiers Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew. Jay Gould, Drew and James Fisk engaged in stock manipulations known as the Erie War, with the result that in the summer of 1868, Drew and Vanderbilt lost control of the Erie, while Gould became its president.
Gould and Fisk corner the Gold Market � � � In August 1869, Gould and Fisk began to buy gold in an attempt to corner the market, hoping that the increase in the price of gold would increase the price of wheat that western farmers would sell, causing a great amount of shipping of bread eastward, increasing freight business for the Erie railroad. During this time, Gould used contacts with President Ulysses S. Grant's brother-inlaw, Abel Corbin, to try to influence the president and his Secretary General Horace Porter. These speculations in gold culminated in the panic of Black Friday, on September 24, 1869, when the premium over face value on a gold Double Eagle fell from 62 percent to 35 percent. Gould made a small profit from this operation, but lost it to subsequent lawsuits. The gold corner established Gould's reputation in the press as an all-powerful figure who could drive the market up and down at will.
The Robber Baron’s other Ventures � � � Gould and Fisk became involved with Tammany Hall, the New York City political ring. They made Boss Tweed a director of the Erie Railroad, and Tweed, in return, arranged favorable legislation for them. Gould started to build up a system of railroads in the Midwest and West. He took control of the Union Pacific in 1873 when its stock was depressed by the Panic of 1873 and built a viable railroad that depended on shipments by local farmers and ranchers. Gould immersed himself in every operational and financial detail of the UP system. By 1879, Gould gained control of three more important western railroads, including the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He obtained a controlling interest in the Western Union telegraph company, and, after 1881, in the elevated railways in New York City.
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