Peak Career
After being forced out of the Erie Railroad, in his 40s Gould started to build up a system of railroads in the Midwest and West. Beginning in 1879, he gained control of four western railroads, including the Union Pacific, which completed part of the transcontinental railroad, and the Missouri Pacific Railroad. By 1880, he controlled 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of railway, about one-ninth of the length of rail in the United States at that time, and, by 1882, he had controlling interest in 15% of the country's tracks. Because the railroads were making enormous profits and had control of rate setting, his wealth increased dramatically.
When Gould withdrew from management of the Union Pacific in 1883 amidst political controversy over its debts to the federal government, he realized a large profit for himself.
Gould obtained a controlling interest in the Western Union telegraph company, and, after 1881, in the elevated railways in New York City. From 1868-1888, he was connected with many of the largest railway financial operations in the United States. During the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886, he hired strikebreakers. According to labor unionists, he said at the time, "I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half."
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