Harriman, Edward H.

Harriman, Edward H. (Henry) (1848–1909) financier, railroad executive; born in Hempstead, N.Y. Starting as an office boy on Wall Street, by 1869 he became a member of the Stock Exchange. His marriage to Mary Averell (1879), daughter of a railroad president, led to his life-long career running railroads. By 1883 he was director of the Illinois Central, becoming vice-president in 1887. In 1895 he took the lead in reorganizing the Union Pacific and by 1903 was its president. He was investigated by the Interstate Commerce Commission (1906–07) for speculating with the resources of the Union Pacific. These charges, along with his ruthless approach to all of his business operations—which included banks, insurance companies, and a steamship line—gained him the reputation of one of the worst of the "robber barons." In 1899 he took 25 prominent scientists to Alaska; the results of that expedition are published in 14 volumes called the Harriman Alaska Series (1902–14).