E. H. Harriman

(February 25, 1848 – September 9, 1909)

Edward Henry Harriman was born on February 25, 1848, in Hempstead, Nassau County, New York. He was the son of Orlando Harriman and Cornelia Neilson Harriman. Both parents came from families with social standing but limited financial success, and the household lived with a strong sense of pride coupled with persistent economic insecurity. Orlando Harriman was educated and intellectually inclined, and at various points in his life worked in business and served as a Presbyterian deacon, but he never achieved lasting financial stability. Cornelia Harriman was protective of her children and deeply conscious of social position. These circumstances shaped Harriman from an early age, instilling ambition, discipline, and an intense drive to escape the vulnerability he associated with poverty.

Young E. H. Harriman

Harriman’s childhood was marked by physical smallness, high energy, and a combative temperament. He attended public schools in New Jersey and New York and later Trinity School in Manhattan, commuting long distances each day. He showed little interest in formal schooling unless a subject engaged him directly, preferring physical activity and competition. By his early teens, Harriman had resolved to leave school and enter the working world. In 1862, at the age of fourteen, he began work on Wall Street as an office boy and messenger for brokerage firms, including the firm of DeWitt C. Hays, a respected member of the New York Stock Exchange.

Harriman entered finance during a period of extreme volatility. The Civil War and its aftermath transformed Wall Street into a fast-paced, speculative environment shaped by new technologies such as the telegraph and expanding railroad networks. As a messenger and later a clerk, Harriman learned the mechanics of securities trading, the psychology of speculation, and the importance of speed, accuracy, and trust. He proved reliable and observant, absorbing lessons from the daily crises, panics, and market battles that defined the era. By his early twenties, he had risen to managing clerk, earning responsibility well beyond his years.

On August 13, 1870, at the age of twenty-two, Harriman purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. He financed the purchase largely through loans from family members, particularly his uncle Oliver Harriman. With limited capital but extensive knowledge and connections, Harriman began operating as a broker. His early years were cautious and methodical. Rather than engaging in reckless speculation, he focused on learning control, leverage, and the long-term value of ownership. This approach distinguished him from many contemporaries and laid the groundwork for his later success.

During the 1870s and early 1880s, Harriman built his fortune gradually through brokerage work and selective investments. He developed a growing interest in railroads, recognizing their central role in the national economy and their vulnerability to mismanagement. In 1879, he married Mary Williamson Averell, daughter of William J. Averell, president of the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad. The marriage strengthened Harriman’s ties to the railroad industry and expanded his access to influential networks. The couple had six children and maintained a closely knit family life.

In 1881, Harriman purchased his first railroad outright, a thirty-four-mile line in upstate New York. Though modest in scale, the acquisition marked a turning point. Harriman was no longer merely an investor but an owner and operator. His focus shifted toward restructuring, efficiency, and long-term stability. Over the next decade, he continued acquiring railroad interests, refining his philosophy that railroads should be managed as permanent industrial systems rather than speculative instruments.

Original vintage magazine ad for the Union Pacific Railroad. With extensive informative text, as well as a photo of railroad exec E.H. Harriman.

The financial panics of the 1890s created opportunities that Harriman was uniquely prepared to seize. Many major railroads collapsed under debt and poor administration. In 1897, working with Kuhn, Loeb and Company, Harriman took control of the bankrupt Union Pacific Railroad. He immediately undertook a comprehensive reorganization, reinvesting profits into infrastructure, equipment, and personnel. In 1898, he personally inspected the railroad, traveling by daylight from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. He examined track, rolling stock, stations, and facilities mile by mile, insisting that deficiencies be corrected. Within a short period, Union Pacific was transformed into a profitable and reliable system.

Harriman expanded this model across the western rail network, gaining control or influence over the Southern Pacific, Oregon Short Line, and other connecting lines. His consolidation created an integrated transportation system that reduced duplication and improved freight movement across vast regions of the country. While these efforts stabilized rail operations, they also attracted increasing public and governmental scrutiny as concerns over corporate concentration intensified.

In 1899, following years of relentless work and declining health, Harriman undertook what became known as the Harriman Alaska Expedition. Originally conceived as a recuperative voyage, the trip evolved into a major scientific undertaking. Harriman organized the expedition in a matter of months, recruiting leading scientists, naturalists, and artists and refitting the steamer George W. Elder. The expedition sailed from Seattle on May 31, 1899, exploring the Alaskan coastline and documenting its geography, wildlife, and natural resources. Harriman took an active role throughout the journey, participating in exploration and hunting while supporting the scientific mission. Features discovered during the expedition were later named Harriman Fjord and Harriman Glacier. After the voyage, Harriman financed the analysis and publication of the expedition’s findings, contributing significantly to American scientific knowledge of Alaska.

Arden ~ The Harriman Estate

As his wealth increased, Harriman established Arden, his country estate in the Ramapo Highlands of Orange County, New York. Arden served as both a retreat and a working estate, reflecting Harriman’s interest in land management, forestry, and order. He entertained business leaders, politicians, and intellectuals there, and it became a center of family life. In his later years, as illness increasingly confined him, Arden became his primary residence.

Bust of Edward H. Harriman by Auguste Rodin

By the early twentieth century, Harriman was one of the most powerful figures in American transportation and finance. His railroad empire played a central role in shaping federal regulatory policy during the Progressive Era. Despite ongoing legal challenges and antitrust scrutiny, he remained deeply involved in management and strategic planning.

Edward Henry Harriman died at Arden on September 9, 1909, at the age of sixty-one. He was buried in the Harriman family plot at Saint John’s Episcopal Church Cemetery in Arden, Orange County, New York.