Chapter 9

CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.

Staten Island seventy-six years ago--The establishment of the Staten Island ferry--Birth of Cornelius Vanderbilt--His boyhood--Defective education--A famous rider--His early reputation for firmness--Superintends the removal of a ship's cargo at the age of twelve--How he pawned a horse--Becomes a boatman--How he bought his boat--A disastrous voyage--His life as a boatman--His economy and industry--Earns three thousand dollars--The alarm at Fort Richmond--Vanderbilt's perilous voyage for aid for the forts--His marriage--His first contract--How he supplied the harbor defenses--Builds his first schooner--His winter voyages--Becomes a steamboat captain--His foresight--Leases the hotel at New Brunswick--The dangers of navigating the New York waters--The steamboat war--How Captain Vanderbilt eluded the sheriff--Becomes manager of the steamboat line--Declines an increase of salary--Only wants to carry his point--Refuses to buy Mr. Gibbons's interest in the steamboat company, and builds his own boat--Narrow escape from ruin--Final triumph--Systematic management of his vessels--How he ruined the "Collins Line"--The "North Star"--Becomes a railroad director--How he foiled a plan to ruin him--dishonest legislature--Vanderbilt's triumph--His gift to the Government--His office in New York--Vanderbilt in business hours--Personal characteristics--Love for horses--His family.