Page:The Pacific Monthly volume 17.djvu/752

 and to the keen analytic German, Holladay, according to his published memories, was "illiterate, coarse, pretentious, boastful, false and cunning," and his reputed wealth fic- titious, he being "in financial extremities."

The two opposite natures did not readily harmonize, and it was consequently agreed that further discussion should be postponed until Villard had made an examination of the properties. Accordingly Villard, accom- panied by Richard Koehler, a German civil engineer, who was to aid him in investigat- ing the two roads, proceeded to Oregon, be- ing met at Roseburg by Holladay. An ar- rangement satisfactory to Villard was soon consummated, he accepting for his clients a lower rate of" interest for the future, and new securities for that in arrears.

Villard then made a flying trip to Ger- many. where his report was approved by the protective committee. On his return to America he was met with advice from Koeh- ler, who had remained at Portland as finan- cial agent for the committee, that Holladay had failed to observe the agreement, that the first interest due under it had been defaulted and that Holladay alleged financial inability to carry it out.

This resulted in the Germans, acting through Villard, buying out Holladay, who, for a comparatively small consideration, sur- rendered control (if his several transporta- tion interests. This included the Oregon Steamship Line as well as the two railroad lines, the Oregon and California and the Oregon Central. With this there passed from the center of the stage one of the most interesting characters identified with the de- velopment of the West.

One may look in vain for his story in the numerous histories and biographies covering the Pacific Coast. Perchance a new Park- man or Bancroft may arise to do him jus- tice. From his obituary notice in the Port' land Oregonian of July 11, 1887, may be learned the following facts:

Born at Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky, De- cember, 1819, his youth was spent in driving cattle from Kentucky to Richmond, Va. Re- moving, at about the age of fifteen, to West- ern Missouri, he became interested in fur- nishing cattle and horses to the United States Government through the quartermaster's of- fice at Leavenworth, Kan.

In 1850 he became imbued with the West-

ern fever. Purchasing a stock of merchan- dise, he hauled it overland to Salt Lake City. where he entered the mercantile business with marked success. Selling out to advantage, he moved in 1852 to San Francisco, where he became interested in many undertakings, from furnishing the Pacific Mail Company's steamers with fresh meat to stage lines and banking, all of which, by good judgment and energy, were made to increase his capital.

Through loans made to the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell, the owners of the Over- land Stage and Pony Express, he was obliged, on their failure, to take over their business. Holladay's Overland Stage be- came a household word, the only dependence of the Pacific Coast for its Eastern mail. When the construction of the Pacific Rail- road was begun, Holladay, with his usual acumen, sold out. clearing up, according to general report, a million and a half from the transaction.

He then entered the steamship business on the Pacific Coast, for years being a very large factor in it from San Francisco to Central America on the south, to the Puget Sound country on the mirth. In 1868 he became interested in railroads in Oregon.

What with steamships, railroads, mining on a large scale, together with farming propositions in Westchester County. New York, which included the construction of a house alleged to have cost over a million dol- lars, he was a busy man. Unable to give interests (he personal attention necessary, he became badly involved financially, so much so that in TS7li he "went broke." never again to occupy the prominent place he had. filled SO long, and to "cross the range" in the City of Portland, July 8, 1887.

Upon assuming control, in 1876, the bond- holders elected Villard as president of the Oregon and California and Oregon steam ship Companies, leaving Holladay the nom- inal head of the Oregon Central. The new administration, while less spectacular than that of Holladay, was more businesslike. Politics were eschewed, construction resumed and an earnest effort made with consider- able success to build up the population of the territory tributary to the lines. The Oregon Central was leased in 1879 to a new company, the Western Oregon, which latter had been formed to build the extension of the line from St. Joe, Ore., to Corvallis.