OPPORTUNITIES EXPLOITED

Cornelius Vanderbilt did not become a rags to riches story by chance of fate. The majority of his wealth was gained by strategy, determination and hard work. To use an old phase he did not let opportunities pass him by. Probably his fist recorded example of this is when, at 16 he realized that he did not want to spend he life, as his father did, tolling the fields day in and day out for little gain. He came to his mother and asked for 100 dollars to buy a periauger-a little two masted flat bottomed vessel- so he could begin taking passages from Staten Island to New York City. Although he was a man by their stander his labor-and any profits from that were considered his fathers until he was 21. So he made a deal that if he would plow and plant a field in Port Richmond the he could have the money and go. The land had never been planted because it was so rocky and hard. Not a stranger to farming Vanderbilt knew how much work this would be, but told his friends that anyone that help him with planting the field would be allow to sail with him and might get a chance in managing the sailing vassal. Years later in a reminiscent mood, Vanderbilt declared, I didnt feel as much real satisfaction when I made two million in that Harlem corner as I did on that bright May morning sixty years before when I stepped into my own periauger, hoisted my own sail, and put my hand on my own tiller

Rivalries

A pond returning from his voyage to Europe with his family on the North Star Vanderbilt returned to Accessory Transit Company to find that not even 10 day after he had sailed Charles Morgan and Cornelius K. Garrison-the men in charge of managing the company in his absence- had replaced him. Morgan, eastern agent of the firm, had seized control of the company and manipulated the stock on the Exchange while Garrison, director of the San Francisco agency, became power politically by being elected Mayor 6 months later. Of course, when his clerk relates all this to he is furious. One letter he writes to both Morgan and Garrison. Gentlemen: You have undertaken to cheat me. I wont sue you, for the law is too slow Ill ruin you. Yours truly, Cornelius Vanderbilt After this emotional outburst, Vanderbilt cooling planned a way to have his vengeance. One of the first things he did was offer steamship routes from New York to California for as low as $30, where previous prices had been $150. With Morgan & Garrison failing at heavy competition, Vanderbilt was soon able to regain control of his company. Victory was his but not for long. In 1853 the Democrats were in power and, William Walker, a graduate from the University of Nashville, who rose quickly within the party, owed Morgan & Garrison. The three of them propose that a new charter would be granted to Morgan

& Garrison and the new company would receive the property of the old. Many more power plays were made for control of the Accessory Transit Company, so much so that it was popularly dubbed The War of the Commodores. Ultimately, Vanderbilt won the War against Morgan and Garrison by fighting publicly in the courts and newspapers, till Vanderbilt, through extreme price slashing, did exactly as he promised, ruined them through bankruptcy.