river.

He began his ambitious plans by making himself the master of the
Harlem property, and in so doing got his first experience in
railroad stock manipulation and at the same time picked up a
moderate fortune. It was comparatively easy to buy the control of
the Harlem Railroad. The Company had never paid a dividend, and,
in 1863, when the Commodore quietly began his work, the stock was
selling below thirty dollars a share. Before the close of this
year he had manipulated the stock until it had reached
ninety-two, and by a corner, in August of that year, he raised it
to 179. On this deal Vanderbilt reaped a nice little fortune--but
evidently not enough to enable him to carry through the ambitious
plans which were in the back of his head, for in 1864 we find him
manipulating another corner and this time running the price of
the stock up to 285. In this wise the Commodore not only added
millions to his already growing fortune but also made himself a
power in the financial world. Financiers began to fear him, and
he found it comparatively easy later to buy up the control of the
Hudson River Railroad, which he did by paying about 100 for the
stock. Then he began speculating again, sent Hudson River up to
180, and incidentally reaped another fortune for himself.

By this time Vanderbilt had achieved a great reputation as a man
who created values, earned dividends, and invented wealth as if
by magic; other railroad managers now began to lay their
properties at his feet and ask him to do with them what he had
done with the Harlem and the Hudson River. For under the
Commodore's magic touch the Harlem Railroad for the first time in
its long history began to pay dividends at a high rate, and in