HUNTINGTON, Collis Potter, American capitalist: b. Harwinton, Conn., 22 Oct. 1821; d. Pine Knot Camp, near Lake Raquette, N. Y., 13 Aug. 1900. He worked on his father's farm, until his 14th year. In his 16th year he pro cured credit in New York for $3,000 worth of clocks and traded them through the South and West. He then, together with one of his brothers, set up as a general merchant at One onta, N. Y., where heprospered immediately. He shipped goods to California in 1848; fol lowed them in person in 1849 by way of the Isthmus where he was detained for three months on account of the overcrowded conditions. During this time he used his small capital to such good purpose that he increased it from $1,200 to some $5,000. He then took ship to California and began to make his fortune in the hardware business, soon becoming associ ated with Mark Hopkins (q.v.). In 1860 he matured a plan for a transcontinental railroad in conjunction with Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins. The Central Pa cific was finished in 1869. This was the crown ing achievement of his life and at his death the railroad system known as the Southern Pacific, of whose managing board he was presi dent, comprised 26 corporations, with more than 9,000 miles of tracks and 5,000 miles of steamship Another achievement was the upbuilding of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail road and the accompanying marvelous develop ment of Newport News, Va. He was one
of the largest landholders in the country and his fortune was estimated at $35,000,000. He built a granite church, to the memory of his mother, in his native town; gave C. W. Peale's portrait of Washington to the New York Metropolitan Museum; a library and reading-room to West chester, N. Y.; materially aided in building and equipping Hampton (Va.) Normal Agricultural Institute; and gave $50,000 for the endowment of Tuskegee (Ala.) Normal and Industrial In stitute. He was one of the foremost art col lectors of his time, leaving a magnificent col lection of paintings, valued at $3,000,000 to the New York Metropolitan Museum, the bequest to become operative after the death of his wife and adopted son. Consult Anon., 'C. P. Hunt. ington' (in Review of Reviews, Vol. XXII, p. 325, New York 1900).