Who was the notorious corrupt railroad owner?

Jay Gould, original name Jason Gould, (born May 27, 1836, Roxbury, New York, U.S.—died December 2, 1892, New York, New York), American railroad executive, financier, and speculator, an important railroad developer who was one of the most unscrupulous “robber barons” of 19th-century American capitalism.



People Also Ask

Crédit Mobilier Scandal, in U.S. history, illegal manipulation of contracts by a construction and finance company associated with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad (1865–69); the incident established Crédit Mobilier of America as a symbol of post-Civil War corruption.

MORE DETAILS

Common knowledge has it that the transcontinental railroad was very much a product of its times – another Gilded Age monument to corruption, embezzlement, and the unjust enrichment of capitalists.

MORE DETAILS

The Legend of John Henry is just that, a “legend,” and through the legend, John Henry became a symbol. He symbolized the many African Americans whose sweat and hard work built and maintained the rails across West Virginia. He was a symbol for the black workers who gave their lives in these dangerous occupations.

MORE DETAILS

On September 4, 1872, the Sun broke the story. The newspaper reported that Crédit Mobilier had received $72 million in contracts for building a railroad worth only $53 million. After the revelations, the Union Pacific and other investors were left nearly bankrupt.

MORE DETAILS

The Transcontinental Railroad's Dark Costs: Exploited Labor, Stolen Lands. Chinese immigrant workers and Indigenous tribes paid a particularly high price.

MORE DETAILS

For others, however, the Transcontinental Railroad undermined the sovereignty of Native nations and threatened to destroy Indigenous communities and their cultures as the railroad expanded into territories inhabited by Native Americans.

MORE DETAILS

The southern routes were objectionable to northern politicians and the northern routes were objectionable to the southern politicians, but the surveys could not, of course, resolve these sectional issues.

MORE DETAILS