Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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In the same year another honor was conferred upon him, that of the presidency of the Central Pacific Railroad, then recently incorporated for the purpose of building a railroad East across the Rockies. While men generally regarded Leland Stanford and his three associates in this enterprise as harebrained enthusiasts, while jealous rivals scoffed and hindered and capital hung timidly back, the four projectors of the road went quietly to work to do, risked their private fortunes in the venture, and persevered with indomitable energy until they achieved complete success. In May, 1869, Leland Stanford drove the last spike in the line of railroad connecting the Pacihc and Atlantic oceans,-an act which, together with the close of the Civil War, has assured the per- manent solidarity of the Union. One year previous to this event, on the 14th of May, 1868, a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Stanford,--a boy whose brief life, stimulating the philanthropy of his parents, was destined to influence so profoundly for good the lives of thousands of others. These and the succeeding years, down to the time of his election as United States Senator in 1885, were busy ones for the great rail- road president. All sorts of business projects claimed his attention, and all sorts of charitable plans, of which the world at large knew nothing, proved that the heart of the multimillionaire, instead of becoming hardened in the race after wealth, was still large and gen- erous as it had always been. O11 March 13, 1884, came the crushing blow of young Leland's sudde11 death in Italy. The grief of the parents was all but inconsolable, yet how signihcant is the fact that within the shadow of this great sorrow were laid the foundations of the Leland Stanford junior University. The children of California shall be my children, said Leland Stanford, and by a single act of matchless philanthropy not only perpetuated but immortalized the name which Providence had decreed should not be perpetuated by children of his own. On the ISI of October, 1891, the University threw open its doors to a hastening throng of eager students. Within less than two years from that time, in the stillness of the midnight hour,-on the night of june 20, 1893,-the news was flashed around the world that Leland Stanford, millionaire, captain of industry, statesman and philanthro- pist, was dead. O mighty soul that trampled sorrow down, Triumphant Where the fallen are thickliest strewed, Received this greater than a laurel crown, Man's deathless gratitude. , W. M- R- II