"The Big Four" was the name popularly given to the famous and influential businessmen, and railroad tycoons — also called robber barons — who funded the Central Pacific Railroad (C.P.R.R.), which formed the western portion through the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

and the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

of the

First Transcontinental Railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

in the United States, built from the mid-continent at the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

to the Pacific Ocean during the middle and late 1860s. Composed of

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Watervliet, New York. He served as the eighth governor of Calif ...

(1824–1893), Collis Potter Huntington (1821–1900), Mark Hopkins Jr. (1813–1878), and Charles Crocker (1822–1888), the four themselves, however, personally preferred to be known as "The Associates." They enriched themselves using tax money and land grants, while heavily influencing the state legislature from within the Republican Party (Stanford was governor of California when the first of the Pacific Railroad Acts was passed.), and through monopolizing tactics. Contemporary critics claimed they were the greatest swindlers in U.S. history.

Membership

(1824–1893) – C.P.R.R. President,

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

founder. * Collis Potter Huntington (1821–1900) – C.P.R.R. Vice President, for whom the city of

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell County, West Virginia, Cabell and Wayne County, West Virginia, Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The County seat, seat of Cabell County, the city is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, O ...

was named. He is also the uncle of Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927), founder of the famous Huntington Library with its art galleries and gardens in San Marino, California. * Mark Hopkins Jr. (1813–1878) – C.P.R.R. Treasurer * Charles Crocker (1822–1888) – Construction Supervisor, President of Charles Crocker & Co., a C.P.R.R. subsidiary, later founder of the larger, more extensive

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

, another transcontinental link to the east, built later in 1883. Collectively, the four established the Sacramento Library Association for the

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital city, capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals *List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population *List of national capitals by area *List of ...

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

in 1857, which later established the present Sacramento Public Library. David Hewes, an enterprising businessman, was called the "maker of San Francisco" for his work in clearing land for development. He was invited to be a part of the "Big Four" but declined due to the

financial risk Financial risk is any of various types of risk associated with financing, including financial transactions that include company loans in risk of default. Often it is understood to include only downside risk, meaning the potential for financi ...

s. Over his lifetime he gained and lost several fortunes. In their time, the four men were sometimes referred to as nabobs or "nobs," a reference to their wealth and influence. When the four built mansions in the same neighborhood of San Francisco, the area quickly became known as Nob Hill, a name it carries today.

In popular culture

In Henry T. Williams' ''The Pacific tourist – Williams' illustrated trans-continental guide of travel, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean'' published in 1878, the Big Four was replaced by the Five Associates or Representative Men of the Central Pacific Railroad, with Charles Crocker's older brother Judge Edwin B. Crocker (1818–1875), who served as the CPRR attorney from 1865 to 1869, added. Ambrose Bierce lampooned the "Big Four" in his work ''"Black Beetles in Amber"'', a collection of satirical verses attacking various prominent Californians. In "The Birth of the Rail", "road agents" (bandits) Happy Hunty (Huntington), Cowboy Charley (Crocker), and Leland The Kid (Stanford), joined by minor devil Sootymug (Hopkins), give up robbing stage coaches for the much greater loot of railroad operation.

References

External links

"The Story of the Central Pacific. The Rise of the Big Four: Huntington, Stanford, Crocker, and Hopkins"
By W.F. Bailey in '' The Pacific Monthly'', January 1908. {{The Big Four American railway entrepreneurs *Big Four Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area First transcontinental railroad People from Sacramento County, California Rail transportation in California History of transportation in California History of rail transportation in the United States History of the American West * Quartets