Charles Elliott Perkins (November 24, 1840 – November 8, 1907) was an American businessman and president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad."Charles E. Perkins, Dead." New York Times. November 9, 1907. He was so well respected that historian Richard Overton wrote, "From the time that Charles Elliott Perkins became vice president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy ... until he resigned as president in 1901, he was the Burlington."Quoted in Donovan, p. 276 (emphasis in original).
Biography
Early life and career He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 24, 1840,Gue, p. 212.Donovan, p. 273. to James Handasyd and Sarah Hart (Elliott) Perkins.Derby and White, p. 425. His ancestor was Pierre de Morlaix, bailiff at Malvern Chase (the large forest which was the favorite hunting ground of Edward I of England). His ancestor Edmund Perkins emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, some time before 1677. His father, James Handasyd Perkins, was a noted Unitarian minister in Cincinnati. Charles was the oldest of five boys. He drowned (it may have been suicide) when Perkins was a child.
Charles Perkins was educated in the Cincinnati public schools, graduating from high school at the age of 16. He also received a portion of his education from Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts.
When he was 16 years old, he moved to Burlington, Iowa, where he won a job as a clerk in a fruit store.Donovan, p. 272. When he was 19 he took a job as a clerk for the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad (B&MR). He was promoted to paymaster a year later, and then at age 20 was made Assistant Treasurer of the railroad in 1860.Emerson et al., p. 121.At least one source says he was not made Assistant Treasurer until the age of 22, in 1862. See: "Charles E. Perkins, Dead," New York Times, November 9, 1907. His rapid rise in the company's ranks was not surprising: His uncle was John Murray Forbes, the railroad's president.O'Malley and Treib, p. 84. He was named Acting Superintendent and then Superintendent of the line in 1865. At that time, the railroad extended a mere , from Burlington to Ottumwa, Iowa.
He helped incorporate the Burlington and Missouri River's Nebraska division, and was named its director as well as director of the line's Iowa division. Perkins was appointed vice president of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad in 1872. He was also named president of the B&MR's Nebraska division (a position he held until 1875). On January 1, 1873, the railroad merged with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q), but he continued to hold the position of president of the Nebraska division. This proved a difficult economic time for the railroad. The Panic of 1873 set off the Long Depression, a prolonged period of deflation and little economic growth which did not end until after the Panic of 1893.Glasner, p. 148. During the first several years of the Long Depression, the CB&Q neither acquired nor built any new track, although the parent railroad did absorb its Iowa division.Klein, 1986, p. 186.
Railroad vice presidency Perkins was named to the board of directors of the CB&Q in 1875. In March 1876 he was named the company's vice president,Klein, 2006, p. 391. but continued to hold the vice presidency and superintendency of the company's business operations west of the Missouri River. At this time, the CB&Q was part of the "Iowa Pool," a group of three railroads (the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad ("the Rock"); Omaha and Northwestern Railroad (O&N); and the CB&Q) with major freight facilities in Omaha, Nebraska. At any given time, a single railroad might not have enough freight cars in Omaha to accommodate shippers. So they pooled their resources, and agreed to split the income from freight charges. The Iowa Pool was locked in a struggle with the Union Pacific Railroad. Profits depended on how much freight was handled, and which side could charge more.Klein, 1986, p. 185. The Iowa Pool, which had more trains and track, could offer shippers a faster way across the Midwest (and charged higher prices accordingly). The CB&Q was the dominant system in the Pool. CB&Q president James Frederick Joy clashed with Perkins over the CB&Q's operations. Perkins wanted "his" railroad, the B&MR's Nebraska division, to carry traffic offered by the Union Pacific. But Joy would not allow it, wishing to force the Union Pacific to move freight via the Iowa Pool. Moreover, Joy owned a controlling interest in other small railroads which could also route traffic away from the Iowa Pool, and these lines were demanding that Joy stop inhibiting them. Forbes ousted Joy in 1875 and appointed Robert Harris as the CB&Q's new president—a move which led to Perkins' elevation to the road's vice presidency.
Although the CB&Q eventually purchased another minor railroad to enhance its position vis-á-vis the other small Nebraska railroads, Perkins came to believe that Jay Gould (majority stockholder in the Union Pacific) was using the lure of B&MR traffic to cause dissension within the Iowa Pool.Klein, 1986, p. 187. In 1876, Perkins began lobbying Congress for legislation which would require railroads to charge shippers only for the actual miles traveled (a rule that would prevent the Union Pacific from charging higher rates, and thus drive it out of business). In 1876, Gould proposed that the Iowa Pool and Union Pacific jointly and perpetually lease the B&MR (depriving Perkins of his control over the road). Perkins and Forbes rejected the proposal, but Harris met with Gould and was so favorably impressed with the idea that he called for a meeting that would include Gould, Forbes, and Perkins.Klein, 1986, p. 188. Meanwhile, Gould purchased enough stock on the Rock and O&N roads that he won a seat on their board of directors. Harris won over a majority of the CB&Q's board of directors, and Perkins did all he could to sabotage further negotiations. By June 1877, negotiations for the "Quintuple Contract" collapsed.
While Perkins was vice president of the B&MR, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 occurred. Realizing public opinion was against the railroad and that support for the strike was widespread among workers, he shut down the railroad's operations on July 24 and demanded that the system's property be protected by "constitutional authorities".Bergman, p. 92-93. Within two days, public opinion turned against the strikers, and the strike began to collapse when conductors returned to work that day.
The fallout of the dispute with the Union Pacific led to a number of changes in the CB&Q. The CB&Q and B&MR became more closely allied, at the expense of the Iowa Pool.Klein, 1986, p. 189. The Burlington was absorbed into the CB&Q in 1880.Ingham, p. 399. Perkins and Forbes then worked together to take over the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad and the Burlington and Southwestern Railway the same year. The Union Pacific was unable to reach an agreement with the Rock and O&N for more favorable freight charges. Instead, the Union Pacific reached an informal agreement with the CB&Q by which the Union Pacific would build a new rail line north of the Platte River, allowing it to control freight in the northern part of the state. The B&MR would control freight in the southern half. Perkins demanded that the board choose between himself and Harris. In May 1878, Forbes ousted Harris and installed himself as president of the railroad.
Railroad presidency The Nebraska division merged with the CB&Q in 1881. That year, John Murray Forbes stepped down as president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and Perkins succeeded him. Because the railroad's biggest financial backers were located in Boston, Massachusetts, he moved to that city.
Perkins was considered an "intelligent, forceful" railroad executive. He pushed for dual routes through market territories to keep his competitors out, created a highly regarded management team, and required that his railroad meet the highest engineering standards.Klein, 1997, p. 178. During Perkins' tenure as president of the railroad, he bought up numerous other rail systems in order to expand his line's reach. These included the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, Omaha and Republican Valley Railway, Grand Island and Wyoming Central Railroad, Big Horn Southern Railroad, and Chicago, Burlington and Northern Railroad. In 1886, he expanded the line's reach to St. Paul, Minnesota.Solomon, p. 51. In 1879, James Jerome Hill and others formed the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway (StPM&M).Albro, p. 190. Perkins began seeking a way to add a line from Chicago to Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1882.Hidy, Hidy, and Scott, p. 53. In 1883, Perkins took a secret trip over the StPM&M and reported to the CB&Q's board of directors that it appeared to be a well-engineered line which ran through excellent markets. Henry Davis Minot followed up with another investigation in 1884. In addition to seeking a lease of the StPM&M lines, Perkins also sought to build a line to St. Paul. The Minnesota legislature awarded the Chicago, Burlington and Northern Railroad (CB&N) a charter to build this line around the same time as Minot's study. But negotiations between the CB&Q's Boston investors and Hill dragged on. Hill was anxious for an agreement because the Milwaukee Road had already extended as far west as Fargo, North Dakota, and the Chicago and North Western Railroad was pushing west as well. The parties reached agreement on August 3, 1885, agreeing to buy large portions of stock in each other's company and placing Minot on the StPM&M's board of directors. Although publicly Hill denied existence of an alliance, Perkins authorized the CB&N to buy stock in StPM&m's depot subsidiary, leased StPM&M track between St. Paul and Minneapolis, and won the right to use the StPM&M's Minneapolis depot.Hidy, Hidy, and Scott, p. 53-54. The deal between the CB&N and StPM&M did not prove as profitable as expected, however, and Perkins was forced to absorb the former into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy.Hidy, Hidy, and Scott, p. 54. In 1889, Perkins led the system in constructing tracks across Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming so that it could link up with the Northern Pacific Railway near Billings, Montana.Ingham, p. 400.
Great strike of 1888