The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California

by Richard Rayner

Book Overview

One hundred forty years ago, four men rose from their position as middle-class merchants in Sacramento, California, to become the force behind the transcontinental railroad. In the course of doing so, they became wealthy beyond any measure--and to sustain their power, they lied, bribed, wheedled, and, when necessary, arranged for obstacles, both human and legal, to disappear. Their names were Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393059138
• ISBN13: 9780393059137
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 19 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

"The Building of the Railroad, the Creation of a State, and the Invention of Big Business"

I have lived in Northern California for forty years and knew the Big Four - Crocker, Hopkins, Huntington, and Hopkins - were instrumental in creating the transcontinental railroad and all became fabulously wealthy in the process. But like many who live here, I knew very little about the nature of their involvement and the true source of their wealth. Since Silicon Valley was not around in the latter half of the 1800s, I knew their wealth creation story had to be different than what we see today. Author Richard Rayner in his "The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California" does a masterful job in chronicling the story of "the building of the railroad, the creation of a state, and the invention of big business" and how these four became "as fabulously wealthy as anybody in American history." This is a story of about bent laws, broken rivals, the bribery of government officials (local, state, and federal), and sanctioned murder. Collis Huntington, the eventual ring-leader, Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins, and Leland Stanford all met while running successful retail and wholesale businesses in Sacramento. They were drawn into the idea of building a transcontinental railroad by Theodore Judah who was the visionary but desperately needed money. They provided the initial stake then assumed control after Judah, attempting to find capital to buy out his financial partners, died unexpectedly. Rayner's well researched story then focuses on the building of the first transcontinental railroad - "a legendary story, a central part of the American West's creation myth"...a triumph of will, guts, the American can-do spirit, murder, fraud, and corruption "over unimaginable difficulty and danger"..."a race between the Irish navies of the Union Pacific, laying track from the east, and the Chinese coolies of the Central Pacific, advancing from the west...built by men who cared only about money and were absolutely ruthless about money"...a story of lust for money that propelled the railroad over the mountains, through the deserts, across the plains. By the end of the Associates' run, "the railroads - the way they run and the power they had - were regarded as corrupt, cruel, implacable, and fiendish, in stark contrast to the gratitude and excitement with which they'd been greeted thirty years before." This is a great read for anyone living in the Golden State, for those interested in the history of the "wild west," or anyone wanting to understand the birth of big business and the eventual demand for big government to control monopolists. Now when I visit Stanford University, the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, Grace Cathedral (Crocker), or the Mark Hopkins Hotel, I will be brought back to this book and what these landmarks represent in California's history.

private interests thru public works

A compelling and concise history of the California railroad. One realizes that Private capital would never have been able to build the railroad. There was much financial slight-of-hand, and only a few got really rich, but the transcontinental railroad was only made possible due to govt grants and thusly it (like the Erie canal) was really a public works program, albeit a very corrupt program. But in spite of the corruption the program benefited the nation greatly. I found myself with an odd fondness for Mr Huntington, the most tyranical of the associates. Unlike Stanford, Huntington had no pretenses about who or what he was. He worked long hours ever night at having absolute control and he did it better than anyone else. He made things happen, he willed the railroad thru the mountains. I don't believe he was in it for the money, and I know he wasn't in it for the fame....he was simply driven to dream and in so doing he changed the nation. He was so bad, he was good. One review snobbishly slights this book because of a blunder here or there, and for overquoting. This misses the forest for the trees; If you want a great, quick, entertaining and educational read about early California this is the book for you.

Fascinating read; another good job by author

This book covers the history of the railroad to California, but with a special emphasis and focus on the wheelings and dealings of the railroad barons/masterminds who pulled it off. Sometimes through means (stock fraud, etc) that look pretty shady in retrospect. If you find this aspect of interest, this is the book. The author has written previously about charlatans and frauds who left little behind (see his delightful "Drake's Fortune" book). Here, to the extent the railroad barons were shysters, they also created a longstanding, monumental feat of engineering with vast economic benefits and consequences. In this, lies the tale.

A terrific book on the railroads and California history

This is a quick well-written and readable guide to the building of the railroads as it relates to California. It tells the story of the Big 4, aka The Associates - Hunitington, Stanford, Hopkins and Crocker - four merchants who came out of almost nowhere and ended up controlling the biggest railroad empire in America. In earlier books Rayner has written about con men and the shady sides of business and I was worried that he might approach the story from that angle. But he ends up liking them, warts and all, and his picture of the scheming Huntington is especially good. Another interesting thing that Rayner points out is how our thinking about the railroads these days is almost entirely the product of the changing ways in which they've been written about in different intellectual phases of history. He gives us a tour of the sources, from the muckraking days to more modern historians who take the "greed is good" argument. Rayner doesn't take sides especially. I also have to say that as a professor of U.S. history specializing in the period in question, I found nothing to object to within these pages; the previous reviewer's complaints have the sound of someone who was trawling for things to carp about; for example, his point regarding Throg's Neck: this is a body of water and an adjoining neighborhood in the Bronx, so there is no error here at all. If you are looking for a one-volume history of the railroads in the Golden State, this is a fresh and neat little book.

Short and enjoyable

An excellent and balanced account. While the relatively thin volume cannot cover every detail of such a gigantic undertaking, it provides a vivid account of the events that lead to the creation of CP and the personalities involved. The characters come to life, and the drama unfolds flawlessly. Whether your interest is business, or railroads, you will enjoy this book. Nitsan Ben-Horin, New York.