Jay Gould (1836–1892) businessman and financier

Born in Delaware County, New York, Gould had a tumultuous childhood but showed promise in school. He taught himself surveying and wrote A History of Delaware County while still in his teens. But the lure of business would dominate his life. After leaving upstate New York, he worked in the leather tanning business in eastern Pennsylvania before finally moving to New York City, where he had been speculating in the futures market for leather hides.

In the Panic of 1857, Gould lost most of the money he had made speculating. He soon joined forces with Daniel DREW and James “Jubilee Jim” FISK and began speculating in the stock market. He established a sizable position in the stock of the ERIE RAILROAD and became a director of the company. During his tenure at the railroad, he was suspected of looting its books for his own use and was summoned to testify before a congressional committee investigating the railroad’s management. Then in 1869 he engaged in his most famous market operation when he staged the “gold corner,” in an attempt to drive up the price of gold in the market. Using borrowed money, he attempted to purchase most of the gold circulating in the New York market, forcing its price up and ruining his enemies in the process. The plan depended upon the reluctance of the U.S. Treasury to intervene. By selling its own supply of gold, the price would be forced down. Rumor abounded that Gould had made an unwitting ally of President Ulysses S. Grant by convincing him that intervention was not necessary. Eventually the Treasury did intervene, and the price of gold fell. Gould was already out of the market, having made his fortune.

Jay Gould (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

The “gold corner” made Gould one of the most vilified men in the country. The fallout from the operation caused a stock market panic in 1869, dubbed “Black Friday,” and dozens of investors and brokers were ruined in the process. The incident prompted hundreds of unfavorable newspaper accounts and books dedicated to exposing Gould and the Erie. Subsequently, Gould was forced out of the Erie Railroad but not before dueling with Cornelius VANDERBILT for control of the company and absconding across the Hudson River with a horde of cash and the company’s books. His lieutenant at the time was Jim Fisk. He reentered the railroad business by assuming a large position in the stock of the Union Pacific and was granted a board seat in 1874. This marked something of a turnabout in his career. After assuming control of the company, he merged it with the Kansas Pacific in 1880 and strengthened the RAILROADS considerably. By the early 1880s, he controlled nearly 10,000 miles of railroad track in the country, including the Union Pacific and the Missouri Pacific.

Later in life, Gould began to diversify his interests. Becoming interested in communications as well as railroads, he purchased the New York World, one of the best-known New York newspapers, along with WESTERN UNION and the Manhattan Elevated Railway Co. He died of tuberculosis in 1892. Although he had a diversified career, Gould is best remembered as being one the country’s most notorious ROBBER BARONS, due to his early reputation at the Erie Railroad, the gold corner, and association with Jim Fisk. His family became one of New York’s most prominent and wealthy for 50 years after his death.

Jay Gould (1836–1892) businessman and financier

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