Charles Crocker

Charles Crocker (September 16, 1822 – August 14, 1888) was an American railroad executive and founding patriarch of the Crocker business dynasty. He was a member of the "Big Four" who famously oversaw construction of the Central Pacific Railroad and purchased control of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Early years

Charles Crocker (1822–88) was born in Troy,

New York, into a modest family. At an early age,

Crocker began to work in order to support his

family, leaving school after eighth grade. In 1836,

Crocker moved with his family to a northern Indiana farm, and at the age of 17, he began to earn a

meager living, first as a farmhand, then working

in a sawmill, and later as an apprentice at an iron

foundry. In 1845, he discovered an iron deposit

nearby and established a forge known as Charles

Crocker Company. Following the California gold

rush, Crocker sold the company and set out west

with a small band of men, including two of his

brothers. The journey took Crocker nearly six

months, and they arrived in Placerville in 1850.

He later gave up mining, opened a store in Sacramento, and, in 1855, was elected to the city council. Crocker quickly became one of the wealthiest

and most prominent men in the city.

In 1860, he was elected to the state legislature

as a Republican, and soon after became one of

four initial investors, along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Collis P. Huntington, all

Sacramento merchants, who formed the Central

Pacific Railroad. The men later became known as

the Big Four, amassing a vast transportation and

land empire. Prior to the start of construction,

Founding a railroad

thumb|left|Pacific Railroad Bond, City and County of San Francisco, 1865

thumb|The [[Truckee River at Verdi, Nevada. When the Central Pacific Railroad reached the site in 1868, Charles Crocker pulled a slip of paper from a hat and read the name of Giuseppe Verdi; so, the town was named after the Italian opera composer.]]

thumb|Charles Crocker's [[Second Empire style|Second Empire-Italian Villa style mansion (1877), formerly at the N.W. corner of California & Taylor, on Nob Hill, San Francisco, now the site of Grace Cathedral.]]

In 1861, after hearing an 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 constructed 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 Central Pacific subsidiary founded expressly for the purpose of building the railroad.

Crocker bought train plows to plow the tracks of snow through the mountains, but they derailed due to ice on the tracks. He had more than of snow sheds built to cover the tracks in the Sierra Nevada mountains, to prevent the tracks from getting covered with snow in the winter. This project cost over $2 million.

In 1864, Charles asked his older brother Edwin to serve as legal counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad.

While the Central Pacific was still under construction in 1868, Crocker and his three associates acquired control of the Southern Pacific Railroad. It built the westernmost portion of the second transcontinental railroad. Deming, New Mexico, is named after his wife, Mary Ann Deming Crocker. A silver spike was driven here in 1881 to commemorate the meeting of the Southern Pacific with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads, completing the construction of the second transcontinental railroad in the United States.

On September 5, 1876, at the Lang Southern Pacific Station, a California Historic Landmark, Crocker hammered a golden spike into a railroad tie, the ceremonial spike was driven to celebrate the completion of San Joaquin Valley rail line. The completion of the line connected the City of Los Angeles with San Francisco and First transcontinental railroad line.

Banking

Crocker was briefly the controlling shareholder of Wells Fargo in 1869 and served as president. After he sold down, he was replaced by John J. Valentine, Sr. Crocker also acquired controlling interest for his son William in Woolworth National Bank, which was renamed Crocker-Anglo Bank.

In 1963, Crocker-Anglo Bank merged with Los Angeles' Citizens National Bank, to become Crocker-Citizens Bank and later, Crocker National Bank. The San Francisco-based bank no longer exists, as it was acquired by Wells Fargo in 1986.thumb|Nob Hill [[Spite fence]]

Nob Hill and the 40 foot tall spite fence

Crocker built a mansion on Nob Hill, San Francisco. When his attempts to buy Nicholas Yung's adjacent property were rebuffed, he built a 40-foot spite fence around three sides of the neighbor's property. Legal challenges to the fence were unavailing. The feud lasted many years, and the fence was only removed after the death of Mrs. Yung, and the sale of the property by Yung's heirs to Crocker's family. Spite fences were thereafter made illegal in San Francisco. The mansion was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Though the disaster rendered the infamous dispute and its resolution moot, Crocker's family donated the entire block of land to charity, in support of the Episcopal Diocese of California. In 1910, in the same plot where the fence stood, the cornerstone was laid for Grace Cathedral.

Personal life

thumb|right|Painting of Crocker's daughter, Harriet, by [[Giovanni Boldini, 1887]]

In 1852, Crocker was married to Mary Ann Deming. Mary was the daughter of John Jay Deming and Emily (née Reed) Deming. Together, they had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood:

Charles Frederick Crocker (1854–1897), who married Jennie Ella Easton (1858–1887).
George Crocker (1856–1909), who married Emma Hanchett (1855–1904).
Harriet Valentine Crocker (1859–1935), who married Charles Beatty Alexander (1849–1927).
William Henry Crocker (1861–1937), who married Ethel Sperry (1861–1934).

Crocker was seriously injured in a New York City carriage accident in 1886, never fully recovered, and died two years later on August 14, 1888. The massive granite structure was designed by the New York architect A. Page Brown, who later designed the San Francisco Ferry Building. Crocker's estate has been valued at between $300 million and $400 million at the time of his death in 1888.

During his lifetime Charles Crocker amassed a considerable collection of works of art.

thumb|Crocker's tomb in [[Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)|Mountain View Cemetery]]

Honors

Mount Crocker is named in his honor. It is located in California's Sierra Nevada mountains.