Collis Potter Huntington

Collis Potter Huntington (October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) is one of the Big Four of western railroading. (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who invests in Theodore Judah's idea to build the Central Pacific Railroad as part of the first U.S. transcontinental railroad.

Huntington next helps lead and develop other major interstate lines such as the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O), which he is recruited to help complete.

The C&O, completed in 1873, fulfills a long-held dream of Virginians of a rail link from the James River at Richmond to the Ohio River Valley.

The new railroad facilities adjacent to the river there result in expansion of the former small town of Guyandotte, West Virginia into part of a new city, which is named Huntington in his honor.

Next, turning attention to the eastern end of the line at Richmond, he is responsible for the C&O's Peninsula Extension in 1881–82, which opens a pathway for West Virginia bituminous coal to reach new coal piers on the harbor of Hampton Roads for export shipping.

He also is credited with the development of Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, as well as the incorporation of Newport News, Virginia as a new independent city.

After his death, both his nephew Henry E. Huntington and his stepson Archer M. Huntington continue his work at Newport News, and all three are considered founding fathers in the community, with local features named in honor of each.

Much of the railroad and industrial development Collis P. Huntington envisioned and led are still important activities in the early twenty-first century.

The Southern Pacific is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad, and the C&O has become part of CSX Transportation, each major U.S. railroad systems.

West Virginia coal still rides the rails to be loaded aboard colliers at Hampton Roads, where nearby, Huntington Ingalls Industries operates the massive shipyard.

Huntington, from his base in Washington, is a lobbyist for the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific in the 1870s and 1880s.

The Big Four have built a powerful political machine, that he has a large role in running.

He is generous in providing bribes to politicians and Congressmen.

Revelation of his misdeeds in 1883 make him one of the most hated railroad men in the country. 

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