Fifty years in Wall Street
fire destroyed his law library and other property, whereupon he went to
California and became associated in business with his three brothers,
who had preceded him in seeking fortune on the Pacific Slope. His first
business venture was in Michigan Bluffs, but in 1856 he removed to San
Francisco to engage in business enterprises on a large scale. His
business at one time, it seems, was in oil, and, later, in various
manufacturing and agricultural ventures. He was elected Governor of
California in 1861. He insisted upon being inaugurated as provided by
the State constitution, at the Capitol building, though the locality was
under water by reason of floods. He became President of the Central
Pacific Railroad and superintended its construction over the mountains,
building 530 miles of it in 293 days. He was elected as a Republican to
the United States Senate in 1884, and his term does not expire till
1891. He is still the President of the Central Pacific Railroad and of
several of its associated lines, while he is a director in others. He
owns a princely domain in California, known as Palo Alto ranch,
comprising six thousand acres, which he has devoted to the site of an
Industrial University for both sexes, as a memorial of his only son, who
died some years ago. He has richly endowed this great educational
institution, setting aside for it about ten million dollars. Here both
sexes will be fitted to fill a useful part in the battle of life; they
will be instructed in mechanical arts and agricultural as well as in
other branches of education, which will start the student fairly in
life. He found, as President of the Central Pacific Railroad Company,
that many bright young men of collegiate education were not specially
fitted for any particular work in the great school of life, and those
who are familiar with great cities know that thousands of men have
really wasted their years in obtaining a collegiate education which
never enabled them to earn more than barely enough to live upon. They
become, in many cases, ill-paid book-keepers, entry clerks, salesmen,
car conductors, postmen, and sometimes find themselves obliged to turn
their hands to hard manual labor, or else starve. Senator Stanford’s
beneficent plan, then, of giving the young such a practical education
that they can face the world with confidence and with a reasonable
certainty of remunerative employment, or with the requisite knowledge to
guide them in enterprises of their own, is worthy of the highest
commendation, and his example is likewise worthy of the emulation of
gentlemen with millions to spare in all parts of the country. If Samuel
J. Tilden had endowed a university of this kind he would have been a far
greater benefactor in many respects than he has undoubtedly shown
himself in his will. Governor Stanford’s great ranch, which is to become
a seat of learning, is situated about 32 miles from San Francisco, and
promises to be the educational Mecca of the Pacific Slope. His fortune,
notwithstanding this princely donation, is still enormous, amounting to
twenty-five or thirty million dollars.
DARIUS O. MILLS.
One of the most notable figures daily seen on Wall Street is a man about
five feet nine inches in height, with handsome, florid features and a
firm jaw, indicative of great decision of character. He is now about
fifty eight years of age, and is as industrious and energetic as when he
began his eventful career. It is Darius O. Mills. He is one of the most
astute and one of the boldest financiers in this country. He has the
courage of a Richelieu, joined to that famous statesman’s caution and
conservatism when the march of events requires it. Of the California
magnates he is one of the most notable. In New York he has taken the
highest rank, socially and financially, of them all. As I have
intimated, he is bold, and yet, on occasion, he wisely acts upon the
maxim that discretion is the better part of valor. He was born in a
small town on the Hudson River, in this State. Before the California
gold excitement broke out he and his brother were in the hotel business.
He has always been dependent on his own exertions; he has fought his way
to opulence, such as a prince might envy, by his own keen intelligence
and undaunted enterprise. He began in humble circumstances. To-day he is
worth twenty millions. He is a permanent resident in the metropolis, and
is regarded as one of New York’s best and most influential citizens.
He laid the foundation of his vast wealth in California. On the breaking
out of the gold fever he and his brother left their native town for the
fields of adventure, where men of shrewd foresight and determined
courage achieved a success stranger than the wonders of a Persian tale.
The brothers did not trust to luck. They chartered a sailing vessel,
loaded it with commodities likely to be in demand among the miners, and
then sailed for the Golden Gate _via_ Cape Horn. After a narrow escape
from shipwreck they arrived at San Francisco and at once opening a
store, they sold their merchandise to the eager miners at fabulous
prices. D. O. Mills rapidly accumulated wealth, and when Wm. C. Ralston
organized the Bank of California, he became its President. During the
time that Mr. Mills gave his attention to the Bank of California it was
the most successful institution of a similar character in this country,
but when he decided to remove to New York his connection with the great
bank was severed. Disaster came under Ralston’s administration. Mr.
Mills had continued to be a stockholder, and when a financial hurricane
struck the bank, he was quick to go to the rescue. He contributed
largely to provide for the bank’s losses and to reorganize it with new
capital, which placed it again among the foremost financial institutions
of the United States. The credit of this Herculean achievement was due
more to him perhaps than to any other man. His social position is
deservedly high. His son married the daughter of a member of the
historic Livingston family, one of the oldest and most illustrious in
this country. His daughter married the successor to the editorial chair
of Greeley, Whitelaw Reid, whose able management of the _Tribune_ has
established a world-wide fame for that gentleman. These marriages of his
children strengthened his already strong position socially, which he
soon won despite the fact that he was a newcomer. Mr. Mills is
distinguished for a princely liberality. He believes in distributing his
property generously while living. He has built, therefore, one of the
finest residences in this city for his son; he bought for his daughter,
Mrs. Reid, at a cost of four hundred thousand dollars, the Villard
palace on Madison Avenue. His other acts of generosity are numberless.
He himself lives in fine style. He paid the highest price ever paid per
foot for a residence in New York when he bought from D. P. Morgan, for
one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, that gentleman’s
residence directly opposite St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
This mansion occupies two lots on a Columbia College leasehold. After
purchasing it Mr. Mills gave a _carte blanche_ order to a noted
decorator of New York, and during a trip to California the work of
decoration was done. On his return he at once took possession of a
mansion of which a Shah of Persia might be proud. He was delighted with
all that had been wondrously wrought by the beautifying touch of
splendid art; with the richly carved wood work, the gorgeously
picturesque ceilings, the inlaid walls and floors, and the _tout
ensemble_ of Oriental magnificence. His contentment was complete, but a
surprise awaited him. It was the decorator’s bill for four hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. This, it is said, slightly disturbed his
serenity. It caused him to look with a critic’s eye on the splendid
decorations which constituted a study in the fine arts at such high
rates of tuition. As with the eagle eye of a connoisseur, he perceived
that the bill was altogether too high. He succeeded in getting, however,
only a slight reduction. Moral: Don’t give carte blanche orders to
decorators any more than you would hire a cab without first making a
bargain.
Mr. Mills came to New York to take up his residence some years ago, with
a fortune of many millions of dollars. He is particularly worthy of a
place in this book, as from the time of making his home here he has been
prominently identified with Wall Street. Soon after taking up his
residence here he became acquainted with William H. Vanderbilt, at whose
suggestion he invested very heavily in Lake Shore. He made by this
operation no less than $2,700,000. This large sum he devoted to the
construction of a palatial building on Broad Street, which bears his
name, and is probably the finest and most complete structure for office
purposes in the world. It has a frontage of 175 feet on Broad street, 30
feet on Wall Street, and 150 feet on Exchange place, and is nine stories
high. Thirteen buildings were torn down to secure its site. It was begun
in May, 1880, and was practically finished in one year, the men working
night and day. It is built largely of Philadelphia brick, with
Belleville brown stone trimmings. It is otherwise ornamented with terra
cotta, and Corinthian and Renaissance capitols, and red Kentucky marble
pillars. On the first three floors the wainscoting is of Italian marble,
and there is marble tiling throughout the building; the woodwork on the
first two floors is mahogany, and on the upper floors it is reeded and
panelled cherry. There are 400 offices, and the tenant population is
1,200. For weeks at a time the total daily average number of persons
carried on six elevators has been no less than fifteen thousand. The
working force necessary to look after this magnificent structure numbers
60 person. The net annual rental is about $200,000, the highest
individual rent paid being $20,000.
Mr. Mills’ exceptional skill as a financier has won him a high
reputation in New York, and his counsel on vexed and abstruse questions
has often been quoted by powerful corporations. He is a director in
several railroads, including the Erie, and it is understood is
interested in mining enterprises. In the battle of life he has achieved
signal success. His career is a fitting lesson to future generations.
CHARLES CROCKER.
Charles Crocker is now about 65 years of age, and lives in New York
city. He was born in Ohio in humble circumstances, and early in life
followed for a time the occupation of blacksmith. He used to get up at
four o’clock in the morning and work hard all day. It was a hard life,
and he engaged, after a time, in other occupations, gradually, in the
meantime, by thrift and industry, amassing a sufficient sum to enable
him to go to California, in the height of the mining fever, and
establish a general store in Sacramento. He met with considerable
success in trade, and when the project was formed to build the Central
Pacific Railroad, he lent his aid to the enterprise, and has ever since
been identified with that corporation. He is now its Secretary and
Vice-President, and is also interested in associate roads.
MARK HOPKINS.
Mark Hopkins died some years ago, worth fifteen million dollars. He was
from Massachusetts, and went to California on the breaking out of the
mining furore, and settled in Sacramento, where he soon engaged in the
hardware business with C. P. Huntington, with whom he also embarked in
the ambitious enterprise of building the Central Pacific Railroad. He
won a large fortune in his railroad operations. His widow has a