Description
This collection contains 40 items primarily related to the work of Southern Pacific Railroad agent and California Development
Company
receiver W.H. Holabird (1845-1921), as well as some personal and ephemeral items. Business correspondence and documents chiefly
date from 1909 to 1918
and include reports for the Southern Pacific Railroad on the properties of Miller and Lux (1909) and the economic resources
in Siberia, Manchuria, and the Philippines.
Background
Railroad agent and California Development Company receiver W.H. (William Hyman) Holabird (1845-1921) was born in Shelburne,
Vermont, on September, 29, 1845. In 1858, Holabird emigrated with his family to Macon, Missouri, and later, Atchison, Kansas.
In Kansas, Holabird worked for the
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad as an office clerk and passenger agent distributing newspapers. After the outbreak of the
Civil War, Holabird returned to Vermont and enlisted in the 18th Vermont Infantry
Regiment and subsequently participated in the Battle of Gettysburg; Holabird also served in the U.S. Navy as a fireman aboard
the first USS Monadock (an ironclad monitor ) as well as Acting Assistant
Paymaster. After the war, Holabird found employment with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, where he served as a
confidential agent to AT&SF president, Allen Manvil, and supervised the railway’s survey of the Tejon Pass (Tehachapi Mountains,
Calif.).
Restrictions
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to
quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such
activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is
one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.