Hidden Treasures | Page 9

at the end of twenty years Mr. Dodge was accounted a wealthy man. Looking about for investments, his keen perception espied a vast fortune in lumber, and then followed those vast accumulations of timber lands, by buying thousands of acres in West Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Canada.
He also became greatly interested in coal lands, and as he must find a conveyance to bring his coal to market, he was naturally drawn into railroad schemes. His ability and enterprise soon placed him on the board of directors for such roads as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, and New Jersey Central, being at one time President of the Houston and Texas.
He helped found several of the most noted Insurance Companies in the country, and was a director until his death, of the Greenwich Saving Bank, City Bank, The American Exchange National Bank, the United States Trust Company, the Bowery Fire Insurance Company, and the Mutual Life Insurance Company. He was President of the Chamber of Commerce, and owned a very large number of saw-mills, besides carrying on the regular business of the firm. What will those people, who would do this or that if they only had time, say to all this work done by one man who then found time to serve on the board of management of religious organizations innumerable?
He was a great temperance advocate, giving thousands of dollars annually toward the support of various societies. There were others who had wealth, and gave possibly as much to the betterment of mankind as did Dodge, but we cannot now recall any man of great wealth who would deny himself as much personally, beside giving, as he did. In fact he seemed to be crowded to death with work, yet he never refused to aid all who were worthy applicants. For years he gave away annually over $200,000, yet it was found at his death, February, 1883, that his wealth amounted to something like $5,000,000, a large share of which was also given to charitable purposes.

JAY GOULD.
We have written the lives of journalists, of eminent statesmen, but we are now going to write the life of one of the most powerful men in America. A man who has far greater influence over his fellow-men than many a king or emperor, and a man who has played a most prominent part in the development of our Republic.
Such a man is Jay Gould to-day who has risen to this dizzy height, from a penniless boy on his father's farm, which he left at the age of only fourteen to seek his fortune. He asked his father's permission first, which was readily given, he thinking it would cure the boy of his restlessness, and when young Gould left, his father fully expected to see him again within a few days, but even the father was mistaken in calculating the stick-to-it-iveness of the son. He at last found employment in a store where he remained two years when his health compelled outdoor work. He therefore obtained employment carrying chains for some surveyors at $10 a month. These men were making surveys from which an Albany publishing firm expected to issue maps for an atlas they were getting out. Not only did Gould carry the chains but he improved every opportunity for picking up points in surveying. We see one characteristic of the man plainly showing itself at this early age, for when the firm failed, Gould had the maps published himself, and then personally sold enough of them to clear $1,000. With this start he went to Pennsylvania, and was employed in a tannery. As one sees, nearly every successful man owes that success largely to the cultivation of pleasing manners, so it was with Gould. So apparent was his ability, and so well did he please his employer, that the man set Gould up in business at Gouldsborough, where he cleared $6,000 within the next two years. Gould was not satisfied with this moderate success, fine as it seemed to be; he only regarded these enterprises as stepping-stones to something higher. He next enters the metropolis where he buys and sells hides in a small office at No. 49 Gold street.
About this time Gould met a young lady at the Everett House, where he lived, whose acquaintance was destined to have a marked influence over his subsequent career. This bright, handsome girl attracted his attention so unmistakably that Miss Miller noticed it. A little flirtation took place which ripened into a mutual affection, and they were married without waiting for the parents' approval, probably Gould knew better, as the young lady, at the time was far above his station in life as society would say, hence acted in this matter as he would in any business transaction he entered.
Of course, this aroused Mr.