Mark Hopkins, Jr.

Mark Hopkins ( born September 1, 1813 in Henderson, New York, † March 29, 1878 in Yuma, Arizona) was an American railway magnate.

Mark Hopkins, an accountant in New York City, traveled to the days of the gold rush in 1849 on the ship Pacific around Cape Horn to Sacramento, but had no luck at prospecting and instead opened a shop. In 1856 he teamed up with Collis P. Huntington.

In Huntington & Hopkins Hardware Store was established and the Republican Party of California in March 1856. At Hopkins narrower circle also included Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker and Edwin. 1860 Huntington learned of Theodore Judah, that under Abraham Lincoln, an agreement would be reached on a new railway line, and decided to benefit from it. He gave the information to further Hopkins, who was willing to invest $ 1,500 in the new company. Thus, the basis for its profits with the Central Pacific Railroad was created and in 1861 he was treasurer of the society. In this role, he held, as already previously, rather in the background. The visions of his partner, who wanted to expand the railway network further and have lost the main line out of sight, he was skeptical. He defended himself about against the purchase of the Western Pacific Railroad, pleaded for the Crocker, the envisioned a rail network throughout California. There was a falling out, which ended with the yielding of Hopkins' and the purchase of the railway in 1867.

Despite his wealth Mark Hopkins remained reticent and modest. He lived in a small rented house in San Francisco until his wife forced him to build a representative home. The completion of this house he did not live, however. He died in his sleep in a railway carriage. His widow Mary took a liking to the interior decorator Edward Francis Searles of Herter Brothers, who was advising the fitment issues, these married a few years later and eventually bequeathed him the work compiled by Hopkins assets.