Huntington and Hopkins

The "Big Four: of the Central Pacific Railroad were all easterners who had gone to Sacramento during the Gold Rush days.  They grew wealthy, not by panning for gold, but by selling supplies to miners.  They were ruthless and tightfisted, with visions of turning the dream of a railroad into a reality.

The main man in the railroad vision was Collis Porter Huntington, a Connecticut born Yankee, son of a village tinker and a talent with the ax, and a hot temper.  He left home in 1839, hiring out as a farm hand for a year before he moved back to New York with a mere $84 in his pocket.  There he opened a store with his brother until the news of the Gold Rush called him west.  With a supply of groceries and whiskey he boarded a ship for Panama and on to California.

After one day with the pick and shovel, he opened a tent in Sacramento selling supplies to miners.  In 1855 he and a partner opened Huntington and Hopkins Hardware, becoming one of the more prosperous in California. 

Mark Hopkins was the oldest of the "Big Four", born in Hudson, New York, in 1813.  The Hopkins family moved to Michigan when Mark was 12, but he returned to New York four years later and became a store clerk before becoming a partner in the law firm of Hopkins and Hughes.  Hopkins sold his part of the business in 1849 and left for California.  There he opened a grocery store in Placerville in 1850. 

Mark was a hard-bargainer and when he was introduced to Collis Huntington, they had a lot in common.  Huntington said of Hopkins, "I never thought anything finished until Hopkins looked at it, which was praise enough." 

In 1856-1857, Huntington and Hopkins met two other men from upstate New York - Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker...

Next time...The Remaining Two of the Big Four
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Today in Pioneer History: "On April 19, 1976, A Wichita, Kansas commission votes not to rehire policeman Wyatt Earp after he beats up a candidate for county sheriff.  A Wichita commission decided that Wyatt’s violent behavior was unacceptable and did not rehire him as a police officer. As the town newspaper conceded, 'It is but justice to Earp to say he has made an excellent officer,' but the young lawman had to learn to control his passions and play the political game."