11-24-2021, 06:08 PM
The Great Persuader by David Lavender
This book made my head spin with a mountain of information that I couldn't quite parse. This is the story of Colis B. Huntington, one of the big four San Francisco Railroad Barons. It's an in depth look at his rise from shovel salesman to railroad magnate.
There is a lot of technical information in the book about how the railroads were financed that I didn't quite get. There were bonds and stocks and land swaps and it came fast and furious. I'm still not sure exactly how it was done. I think if I read the book again I would get a better understanding of the financing but that won't happen. It also didn't help there were a bunch of competing railroad lines with similar names that were all kind of jockeying for the same areas so that confused me
Another big confusion is Colis Huntington is not responsible for the Huntington Museum in Southern Cal. That was built by Henry Huntington, Colis's nephew.
This book made my head spin with a mountain of information that I couldn't quite parse. This is the story of Colis B. Huntington, one of the big four San Francisco Railroad Barons. It's an in depth look at his rise from shovel salesman to railroad magnate.
There is a lot of technical information in the book about how the railroads were financed that I didn't quite get. There were bonds and stocks and land swaps and it came fast and furious. I'm still not sure exactly how it was done. I think if I read the book again I would get a better understanding of the financing but that won't happen. It also didn't help there were a bunch of competing railroad lines with similar names that were all kind of jockeying for the same areas so that confused me
Another big confusion is Colis Huntington is not responsible for the Huntington Museum in Southern Cal. That was built by Henry Huntington, Colis's nephew.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm