Jason jay gould biography railroad

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Last revised: August 21, 2024

By: Adam Burns

Perhaps more than any other, Jay Gould defined why the general public so despised tycoons as he attempted almost every scheme in the book to achieve a profit.

For instance, at one point he tried to corner the gold market and later only defeated the powerful Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of the Erie Railroad by bribing the New York state legislature.

However, for all of Gould's flaws he actually was quite successful at operating railroads when not attempting to "steal" money.

Background

At one point he operated or controlled more than 10,000 miles of railroad, usually turning the operations successful by merging together smaller lines to serve direct connections to larger markets and cities.  

Gould's ruthless nature is somewhat surprising considering the man's relatively quiet and unassuming nature.  It is said adversarie