Early life and career He was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 24, 1840, to James Handasyd and Sarah Hart (Elliott) Perkins. His ancestor was Pierre de Morlaix, bailiff at
Malvern Chase (the large forest which was the favorite hunting ground of
Edward I of England). When he was 19 he took a job as a clerk for the
Burlington and Missouri River Railroad (B&MR). His rapid rise in the company's ranks was not surprising: His uncle was
John Murray Forbes, the railroad's president. During the first several years of the Long Depression, the CB&Q neither acquired nor built any new track, although the parent railroad did absorb its Iowa division.
Railroad vice presidency Perkins was named to the board of directors of the CB&Q in 1875. but continued to hold the vice presidency and superintendency of the company's business operations west of the
Missouri River. The Iowa Pool, which had more trains and track, could offer shippers a faster way across the
Midwest (and charged higher prices accordingly). In 1876, Perkins began lobbying Congress for legislation which would require railroads to charge shippers only for the actual miles traveled (a rule that would prevent the Union Pacific from charging higher rates, and thus drive it out of business). Meanwhile, Gould purchased enough stock on the Rock and O&N roads that he won a seat on their board of directors. Within two days, public opinion turned against the strikers, and the strike began to collapse when
conductors returned to work that day. The Burlington was absorbed into the CB&Q in 1880. Perkins and Forbes then worked together to take over the
Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad and the
Burlington and Southwestern Railway the same year. During Perkins' tenure as president of the railroad, he bought up numerous other rail systems in order to expand his line's reach. These included the
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad,
Omaha and Republican Valley Railway,
Grand Island and Wyoming Central Railroad,
Big Horn Southern Railroad, and
Chicago, Burlington and Northern Railroad. In 1879,
James Jerome Hill and others formed the
Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway (StPM&M). Perkins began seeking a way to add a line from
Chicago to
Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1882. In 1883, Perkins took a secret trip over the StPM&M and reported to the CB&Q's board of directors that it appeared to be a well-engineered line which ran through excellent markets. The deal between the CB&N and StPM&M did not prove as profitable as expected, however, and Perkins was forced to absorb the former into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. In 1889, Perkins led the system in constructing tracks across Nebraska,
South Dakota, and
Wyoming so that it could link up with the
Northern Pacific Railway near
Billings, Montana.
Great strike of 1888 As president of the system, he led the CB&Q through the
Burlington Railroad Strike of 1888. Perkins was notably opposed to labor unions. In May 1886, he fired all known members of the
Knights of Labor working for roads under his control. Now, Perkins also sought to eliminate unionization of workers on the CB&Q. The union struck on February 27, 1888, and 97 percent of the locomotive engineers and brakemen walked out (even though the union represented only 65 percent of the workers). Perkins hired
strikebreakers to replace the workers who had walked off the job. seeking an
injunction that would require the other railroads to load freight onto the CB&Q. The federal court issued the injunction on March 13, The strike was essentially over by the end of March 1888, but it lingered in some areas for another 10 months. The two unions ended their strike unilaterally in January 1889. rejecting the idea of a
social compact between management and labor. He now saw labor and management locked in a power struggle rather than cooperating toward a common goal. Nor did Harris attempt to build on his relationships with rail manufacturers to get them to ship rails via his system. But by 1883, members of the board of directors were pushing Perkins to start fostering industrial development along its tracks as a means of boosting freight. Harriman then began to buy up Northern Pacific's stock, forcing Hill and Morgan to try to retain their majority stockholder status in the road by purchasing more stock as well. The couple had seven children: Sons Robert, Charles and Samuel, and daughters Alice, Edith, Margaret, and Mary. Although he died and was buried in Boston, Massachusetts, there is a large memorial in
Aspen Grove Cemetery in
Burlington. The large marble obelisk-style stone is the largest in the cemetery, and sits near a bluff overlooking the main line of the original CB&Q railroad.
Other business interests Perkins was a director of other railroads as well, including the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad and the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad (both of which later merged with the Burlington line). He was also a member of the board of directors of the
American Bell Telephone Company, whose headquarters were in Boston. ==Legacy==