Today in Technology History
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September 16
Railroad builder Charles Crocker was born exactly 180 years ago. Working through the worst weather and terrain, he set some of the most impressive records in railroad history.
Crocker was born on September 16, 1822 in Troy, New York, but his family moved to the Midwest when he was a teenager. He had little schooling, but worked at selling, farming, milling and forging. Crocker started his own business in 1845, but a few years later, when he heard news of the Gold Rush, he led a small team of friends on an arduous overland trip to California.
Crocker was a perfect match for California; he was an energetic and aggressive man, and he found great fortune and political success in the state. In the early 1860s, Crocker and several other enterprising Californians began to plan a rail line that would connect California to the rest of the country. Their project would become the Central Pacific Railroad, the western part of the monumental transcontinental railroad that crossed America.
Crocker's partners handled most of the project's executive work -- like finding new investors and working with the government -- while Crocker managed the actual construction of the railroad. He lived and toiled hard alongside the workers he oversaw, keeping with them during the terrible winters. He was tough but fair, and open-minded enough (and desperate enough) to hire a largely Chinese workforce at a time when Chinese immigrants were widely discriminated against.
Under Crocker's supervision, the Central Pacific construction crews got past the incredible obstacle of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They then laid tracks at a tremendous speed. Shortly before the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, Crocker's crews laid down ten miles of track in a single day -- a feat never matched, even with modern equipment.
Crocker remained in the railroad business for the rest of his life. He was worth about $40 million by the time of his death in 1888.
Related links:
We've written in the past about the American transcontinental railroad. Click here to read about one of the leaders of the westbound part of the railroad, the Union Pacific project. And click here to read about the completion of the transcontinental railroad.
Click here and here to learn about the contributions made by Chinese workers on the Central Pacific.
Click here to read about Crocker's success in getting beyond the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Crocker used his investment in the Central Pacific Railroad to build a huge and unusual mansion. To see pictures of his house, click here and here.
Click here to learn more about the transcontinental railroad.
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