GOULD, JAY (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892).
Jay Gould, railroad magnate, son of John Burr and Mary (More) Gould, was born at Roxbury, New York, on May 27, 1836. He worked for a blacksmith, clerked in a country store, attended an academy, and learned the rudiments of surveying. Early in life he married Helen Day Miller, and they had six children. In 1856 Gould published History of Delaware County and Border Wars of New York
. Gould began speculating in small railways in 1859 and soon amassed a fortune. By 1874 he was a director of the Union Pacific Railroad; in 1878 he bought control of the Kansas Pacific Railroad; in 1879 he bought control of the Denver Pacific, the Central Pacific, and the Missouri Pacific lines. With the construction of railroads west across Texas, Gould had much railroad investment in the state. In 1881 he was feted in Texas in the year that he and C. P. Huntington were racing to cross West Texas with their Texas and Pacific and Southern Pacific lines. By agreement they decided to use joint tracks for the two lines between Sierra Blanca and El Paso and made amicable arrangements for other construction in Texas. By 1890 Gould owned the Missouri Pacific, the Texas and Pacific, the St. Louis Southwestern, and the International–Great Northern, one-half of the mileage in the Southwest. He died in New York City on December 2, 1892.
The first railroads in El Paso arrived in May, 1881 . The company that brought railroads to El Paso was the Southern Pacific . Before the arrival of railroads, El Paso was a mostly adobe town with a small population. The arrival of railroads in El Paso was very significant as it allowed more import and export between America and Mexico. Between 1880 and 1883, Galveston, San Antonio, Harrisburg, and Texas Pacific built railroads to El Paso. The layout of the city had the railroad stations spaced far apart. A person coming from San Antonio would get off by the Rio Grande and have to use a carriage to bring them and their stuff to another station. The Southern pacific had built the 2nd transcontinental railroad, El Paso about the halfway point.
Gould and Huntington were important names in the railroad business, and starting to fight over territory in Texas and New Mexico. The Gould-Huntington agreement in 1881 made it so the Texas and Pacific were to build no farther than Sierra Blanca, 92 miles east of El Paso. Railroads were being built west through Texas because of discovery of gold in White Oaks, New Mexico. Another reason was to create a secondary transcontinental railroad. There was also coal deposits nearby, being useful as a fuel for the trains. The first wood bridge for trains constructed in El Paso was washed away in 1884. Buffalo soldiers sent by the US helped keep El Paso more safe.
Tip-Top Millionaires.
Following is a list of the prominent millionaires of the United
States: William H. Vanderbilt, $200,000,000; Senator Sharon, $15,000,000 ; Senator Jones, $20,000,000 ; Jay Gould, 75,000,000;
Jay Gould’s Timeline of Newspaper articles
October 28, 1882 below
Nov 18, 1882 below
Dec 2, 1882 below
March 10, 1883 below
May 5, 1883 Gould plans to retire below
May 5, 1883 below
Oct 20, 1883 Gould’s Reason for Delay injunction suit PDF
Sept 22, 1883 below Holding Out for Greed?
Sept 29, 1883 below
Sept 13, 1884 below taken from the Lincoln Leader
Fine timber is also found on the foot hills of the Capitan, the Jicarilla, the Galina’s, and
the While Mountains. The coal of the finest quality, “cokes well, and is found mainly in the immedi
ate vicinity of White Oaks. Its great value and extent is best at tested by the fact that Gould and
Huntington, the owners of the El Paso and White Oaks R. R. project, last year acquired, after expert
investigation, 2,000 acres of this coal land, at an actual outlay of over $30,000, and the deeds are
on record. read it here
December 04, 1886 below
April 14, 1888 True History of White Oaks Railroad PDF
March 29, 1890 Gould visits El Paso PDF
April 19, 1890 Gould Receivership for Rail Road Applied PDF
December 2, 1892 Jay Gould dies
Dec 3, 1892 below
December 12, 1895 El Paso Northern Quietly reorganized
February 06, 1896 The White Oaks El Paso Road
November 25, 1897 President Eddy assumes charge of R.R.
October 14, 1897 El Paso Quotes the Railroad Situation