什麼是範德比爾特

Vanderbilt, Cornelius

美國航運和鐵路巨頭。1810年購置第一艘小船，在紐約港口以擺渡爲生。1812年戰爭時期擁有幾艘木船，爲政府運輸軍需。1818年出賣所有船隻，當輪船船長。1829年在哈得遜灣開辦自己的汽輪公司。收費低廉，座位舒適，因此控制了航運業務。後來，經營東北海運。到1846年他已是一個百萬富翁。他組織了一個公司，經營從紐約市和紐奧良取道尼加拉瓜到舊金山的客貨運輸業務。因航路既迅速又便宜，他的公司獲得巨大成功。後來，競爭對手以高價購買這一航線的業務。1850年代，他的目光轉向鐵路，購入紐約－哈林鐵路公司的股票。又取得哈得遜河鐵路和紐約中央鐵路。死後，其遺產達一億美元以上，是當時美國最大的貯蓄。曾捐款一百萬美元給田納西州的中央（後改稱範德比爾特）大學。其大部遺產留給了他的兒子範德比爾特（W. H. Vanderbilt, 1821～1885），後者大規模擴展紐約中央鐵路網，併購入其他鐵路，將家族的財富增加了一倍。

1794～1877年

Vanderbilt, Cornelius

U.S. shipping and railroad magnate. Born in Port Richmond, Staten Island, N.Y., he began a passenger ferry business in New York harbor in 1810 with one boat, which he expanded to a small fleet in the War of 1812 to supply government outposts. He sold his boats to work as a steamship captain (1818-29), then started his own steamship company on the Hudson River. By cutting fares and offering luxury, he soon controlled the river traffic. He then provided transportation along the eastern seacoast. By 1846 he was a millionaire. He formed the Accessory Transit Co. to transport passengers and freight from New York to the California gold fields via Nicaragua. He again undercut his competitors, and they bought him out at a high price (1858). Turning to railroads, he acquired controlling stock in the New York and Harlem Railroad. After losing a battle for control of the Erie Railroad (1868), he bought and consolidated the Hudson River and the New York Central railroads (1869). After buying the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad (1873), he provided the first rail service between New York and Chicago. At his death, he left a fortune of over $100 million, the largest accumulated in the U.S. to that date. He gave $1 million to Central (later Vanderbilt) Univ. He left almost all the rest to his son William H. Vanderbilt (1821-1885), who greatly expanded the New York Central network, acquired other railroads, and doubled the family fortune.