Person
Henry Meiggs
American-born promoter/entrepreneur and railroad builder
Henry Meiggs (July 7, 1811 - September 30, 1877), is a promoter/entrepreneur and railroad builder.
He was born in Catskill, New York.
He comes to New York City in 1835 and begins a lumber business, but is ruined by the Panic of 1837.
He restarts his business, this time in Brooklyn, but again meets with failure.
Finding success in sending lumber to the Pacific Coast, he finally relocates to San Francisco after the discovery of gold by taking a cargo of lumber there in the Albany, a cargo which he sells for twenty times its cost.