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Charles Crocker
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Charles Crocker (16 September 1822 – 14 August 1888) was an American railroad executive.
ker was born in Troy, New York to a modest family, and moved to an Iowa farm at age 14. He soon became independent, working on several farms, a sawmill, and at an iron forge. In 1845 he founded a small, independent iron forge of his own.
Running a railroad
In 1861, after hearing a very intriguing presentation by Theodore Judah, he was one of the four principal investors along with Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington and Leland Stanford (also known as the big four) who formed the Central Pacific Railroad, which became the western portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in North America.
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Charles Crocker (16 September 1822 – 14 August 1888) was an American railroad executive.
Biography
Early years
Crocker was born in Troy, New York to a modest family, and moved to an Iowa farm at age 14. He soon became independent, working on several farms, a sawmill, and at an iron forge. In 1845 he founded a small, independent iron forge of his own.
Running a railroad
In 1861, after hearing a very intriguing presentation by Theodore Judah, he was one of the four principal investors along with Mark Hopkins, Collis Huntington and Leland Stanford (also known as the big four) who formed the Central Pacific Railroad, which became the western portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in North America. His position with the company was that of construction supervisor and president of Charles Crocker & Co., a CP subsidiary founded expressly for the purpose of building the railroad. Charles Crocker also bought train plows to plow the tracks. This ,however, did not work because they would derail a lot from the ice on the tracks. Which led him into building over 40 miles of snow sheds to cover the tracks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to help stop the tracks from getting covered in snow in the winter. This project cost over $2,000,000 dollars.
Deming, New Mexico is named after Mary Ann Deming Crocker, wife of Charles Crocker. A golden spike was driven here in 1881 to commemorate the meeting of the Southern Pacific with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads, completing the construction of the second transcontinental railroad in the United States.
Banking
Charles Crocker also acquired controlling interest in Woolworth National Bank for his son William, which became Crocker-Anglo Bank. In 1963, Crocker-Anglo Bank later merged with Los Angeles' Citizens National Bank, to become Crocker-Citizens Bank and later, Crocker Bank. The San Francisco, California based bank no longer exists. It was acquired by Wells Fargo Bank in 1986.
Personal life
In 1886 he was seriously injured in a New York City carriage accident. He never fully recovered, and died two years later. Crocker is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. Crocker's estate has been valued at between 20 and 40 million dollars, none of which was used to advance philanthropic causes. He "gave nothing to charity, ...nothing to public institutions of any kind."
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