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Show The Will and the Way Cornelius Vanderbllt began to "turn up things" when be was . He waa born at gt&pleton, 8. I.. In 174, a descendant de-scendant of anceatora poor In the extreme ex-treme who had migrated to America from Holland. But at 1. despite acute hardships, he had saved up l8 and with it he bought a sail boat In this he 4 carried farm products from 8taten . Island to New York. Three years later he enlarged his activities ac-tivities by carrying supplies to fortlfl-catlons fortlfl-catlons in New York harbor and ad-jncent ad-jncent waters. On the lookout continually con-tinually for an opportunity to "broaden "broad-en out" his chance came at 2 when he recognized the superiority of steam orer sailing vessels. With this conviction convic-tion in mind he sold out and took a Job at 11000 a year as captain on a steam ferry then plying between New York and New Brunswick. Shortly afterwards Fulton and Liv- Ingston acquired the sole right lo navigate New York waters with steam craft, but Vanderbllt believed their franchise unconstitutional. He fought them persistently In the courts until it was repealed and himself became a steamboat owner. When the government was paying a large subsidy for transporting European Euro-pean mnlla. he astounded his competitors competi-tors by offering to carry the mall free of charge. In two years he built up an enormous freight and passenger traffic, and when Vanderbllt died In 1886, at the age of 81, he was said to be worth 8200.000.000. |