Erastus Corning - Railroads

Railroads

Erastus Corning's most lasting contribution to history may have been his dealings with railroads. As an iron dealer, he very quickly saw the potential that railroads had as an economic engine as both a consumer and distributor of his products, and took an interest from the very start. When the Utica and Schenectady Railroad was chartered in 1833, Corning got himself a seat on the board and became a major investor, and was soon president of the road. Corning ran the Utica & Schenectady for twenty years. The railroad eventually boasted 78 miles (126 km) of track, from Schenectady in the east (where the road interchanged with the smaller Mohawk and Hudson Railroad of which Corning was also a shareholder) to Utica in the west. In 1851, the road's name was changed to the Mohawk Valley Railroad.

Corning was not satisfied with just his railroad, banking, insurance, land speculation, and iron works interests, however. He remained active in politics, and was a member of the New York State Senate from 1842 to 1845, sitting in the 65th, 66th, 67th and 68th New York State Legislatures. His foray into state politics convinced him that the current system of railroads stretching across upstate New York was inefficient and could be made far more profitable by combining them. He began planning what would eventually become the largest corporation in America at the time, the New York Central.

As president of the Utica & Schenectady, Corning organized in 1851 a convention of the owners and presidents of the other eight operating railroads, which combined roughly connected the cities of Albany and Buffalo, New York. The convention agreed on a framework for consolidation of the eight roads (as well as two "paper" roads, which had not yet been built but were planned), and Corning took the convention's application to the state Legislature. Corning became the main lobbyist for the proposal in the legislature, and despite being a Democrat made a personal appeal to Thurlow Weed, leader of the Whigs, who controlled state government at the time.

Corning had a lot riding on the legislature's decision. He had organized the convention and largely dictated the terms of the merger to the other companies. Once the legislature passed the Consolidation Act on April 2, 1853, Corning found himself in possession of the majority of shares in the new company, and so at the first meeting of the New York Central's shareholders in 1853, Corning got himself elected president of the company. He remained in that role for twelve years, during which time the New York Central made connections and struck deals that gave the road access to Cleveland, Boston, New York City, and Chicago, and made it one of the country's most important railroads.

Corning amassed a significant fortune, and used it to invest in land schemes as far west as Wisconsin and Iowa. He bought large shares in the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and the Michigan Central Railroad, and was the largest shareholder in and president of the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal Company, which constructed the canal and locks on the St. Mary's River at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, connecting Lake Superior with Lake Huron. For this the company received 750,000 acres (3035 km²) of land in the west; Corning himself took 100,000 acres (400 km²) of this.