Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made | Page 5

the Erie Road--Is made Treasurer--His interest in the road--His operations in Wall Street--His farm in Putnam County--Joins the Methodist Church--His liberality--Builds a church in New York--Founds the Drew Theological Seminary--Estimate of his wealth--His family--Personal appearance.
CHAPTER XI.
JAMES B. EADS.
Birth--Childhood--Fondness for machinery--Early mechanical skill--Constructs a steam engine at the age of nine years--His work-shop--Death of his father--Works his way to St. Louis--Sells apples on the streets--Finds employment and a friend--Efforts to improve--Becomes a clerk on a Mississippi steamer--Undertakes the recovery of wrecked steamboats--Success of his undertaking--Offers to remove the obstacles to the navigation of the Mississippi--Failure of his health--Retires from business--Breaking out of the war--Summoned to Washington--His plan for the defense of the western rivers--Associated with Captain Rodgers in the purchase of gunboats--His first contract with the Government--Undertakes to build seven ironclads in sixty-five days--Magnitude of the undertaking--His promptness--Builds other gunboats during the war--The gunboat fleet at Forts Henry and Donelson the private property of Mr. Eads--Excellence of the vessels built by him--A model contractor--Residence in St. Louis.
CHAPTER XII.
CYRUS W. FIELD.
Birth--Parentage--Early education--Goes to New York in search of employment--Obtains a clerkship in a city house, and in a few years becomes a partner--A rich man at thirty-four--Retires from business--Travels in South America--Meets Mr. Gisborne--Plan of the Newfoundland Telegraph Company--Mr. Field declines to embark in it--Conceives the idea of a telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean--Correspondence with Lieut. Maury and Prof. Morse--The scheme pronounced practicable--Mr. Field secures the co-operation of four New York capitalists--Organization of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company--Building of the line from New York to St. John's--A herculean task--The Governmental ocean surveys of the United States and England--Efforts to secure aid in England--Liberal action of the Government--Organization of the Atlantic Telegraph Company--A hard-won success in America--Passage of the bill by Congress--The first attempt to lay the cable--The expedition of 1857--The telegraph fleet--Scenes on board--Loss of the cable--Failure of the expedition--Difficulties remedied--The new "paying-out" machinery--The expedition of 1858--The second attempt to lay the cable--Dangerous storm--Failures--Loss of the cable--The third attempt--The cable laid successfully--Messages across the Atlantic--Celebrations in England and the United States--The signals cease--The cable a failure--Discouraging state of affairs--Courage of Mr. Field--Generous offer of the British Government--Fresh soundings--Investigations of the Telegraph Board--Efforts of Mr. Field to raise new capital--Purchase of the Great Eastern--The fourth attempt to lay the cable--Expedition of 1865--Voyage of the Great Eastern--Loss of the cable--Efforts to recover it unsuccessful--What the expedition demonstrated--Efforts to raise more capital--They are pronounced illegal--The new company--The fifth attempt to lay the cable--Voyage of the Great Eastern--The cable laid at last--Fishing up and splicing the cable of 1865--The final triumph--Credit due to Mr. Field.
III. INVENTORS.
CHAPTER XIII.
ROBERT FULTON.
Trinity churchyard--The Livingston vault--An interesting place--Fulton's tomb--Birth of Robert Fulton--Boyhood--Early mechanical skill--Robert astonishes his tutor--Robert's fireworks--"Nothing is impossible"--"Quicksilver Bob"--The fishing excursion--The first paddle-wheel boat--Fulton's success as an artist--His gift to his mother--His removal to England--Intimacy with Benjamin West--Goes to Devonshire--Acquaintance with the Duke of Bridgewater--His interest in canal navigation--His first inventions--Goes to Paris--Residence with Mr. Barlow--Studies in engineering--Invents the diving boat--The infernal machine--His patriotic reply to the British ministry--His marriage--Returns to America--The General Government declines to purchase his torpedo--Brief history of the first experiments in steam navigation--Fulton's connection with Livingston--The trial boat on the Seine--Determines to build a boat on the Hudson--Fulton and Livingston are given the sole right to navigate the waters of New York by steam--Popular ridicule--Disbelief of scientific men--Launch of the "Clermont"--The trial trip--The first voyage up the Hudson--Fulton's triumph--Scenes along the river--Efforts to sink the steamer--Establishment of steam navigation on the Hudson River--The first New York ferry-boats--The floating docks--Boats for the West--New York threatened by the British fleet in 1814--Fulton's plan for a steam frigate--The "Fulton the First"--The steamboat war--Illness of Fulton--His death and burial--His last will--True character of his invention.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHARLES GOODYEAR.
Discovery of India-rubber--Mode of collecting it--Preparation and use by the natives--Its introduction into the United States--Mr. E.M. Chaffee's process--The India-rubber fever--Brief success of the India-rubber companies--Their sudden failure--Visit of Mr. Goodyear to New York--He invents an improvement in the life preserver--Early history of Charles Goodyear--His failure as a merchant--Offers his invention to the Roxbury Company--The agent's disclosures--Mr. Goodyear finds his mission--His first efforts--A failure--Discouraging state of his affairs--Renews his efforts--Experiments in India-rubber--Coldness of his friends--His courage and perseverance--Goes to New York--Accidental discovery of the aqua fortis process--Partial success--Ruined--Life on Staten Island--Removes to Boston--Delusive prosperity--The mail bag contract--His friends urge him to abandon his efforts--He refuses--On the verge of success--Discovers the usefulness of sulphur--The inventor's hope--The revelation--Discovers the secret of vulcanization--Down in the depths--Kept back by poverty--A beggar--A test of his honesty--Starvation at hand--The timely loan--Removal to New York--Difficulties in the way--Death of his youngest child--Finds friends in New York--His experiments in vulcanization--Final success--His heart in his work--Fails to secure patents in Europe--His losses from dishonest rivals--Declaration of the Commissioner of Patents--Death of Mr. Goodyear--Congress refuses to extend his patent--His true