The Earle family : Ralph Earle and his descendants

Gen.] GENEALOGY. 167
part of the route. The tariff' amounted to two dollars and forty-five
cents for one hundred pounds, from Boston to St. Louis. The
through bill-of-lading system now in general use is but the develop-
ment of this original arrangement.
In 1858 he was called into the employ of the Michigan Central
Railroad Company where he remained sixteen years,—the first half
of the period as general freight agent and general agent at Chicago,
and the last half as general superintendent and general manager.
During this period he became one of the incorporators, and for
several years a director of the Pullman Palace Car Company ; and
was largely instrumental in securing the first Pullman sleeping-car
service eastward, from Chicago to Rochester, New York.
i
"The friends of Mr. Sargent," says the History of Chicago,
("count among the many prominent efforts of his life none greater
than the organization of the Union Stock Yards of this city, the success
of which was mainly due to his initial labor."
he first indicated the most suitable place for the
It appears that
yards. He was
chairman of the committee which purchased the land—320 acres for
$100,000— "it is now worth a score of millions"—a director of The
[Union Stock Yards and Transit Company, and a " prime mover in
the management of the Stock Yards until a few years ago, when he
gave way to younger men."
i "After leaving the Michigan Central Mr. Sargent was offered the
general management of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in 1877- ^ e
at first declined, but, later in the year, was prevailed upon to accept
the position, which he held until 1881, when he tendered his resigna-
1
tion."
The Fargo and Southern Railroad, between Fargo, Dakota, and
Ortonville, Minnesota, a distance of 120 miles, had been begun, but
only thirty-five miles of it graded, when, in 1883, he became inter-
ested in the company and was elected as its president. He prose-
cuted the work with such energy that in less than ten months the
entire line was finished and ready for operation. This road has
been of great benefit to Fargo. The Argus, a newspaper of that
city, says: "The people of North Dakota know Mr. Sargent well.
The people of Fargo have a right to claim him one of her greatest
benefactors. * * * The Fargo & Southern owes its great success
to his taking hold and engineering its financial operations and secur-
ing its completion."
In February, 1861, he was appointed a trustee of Farwell Hall, in
Chicago ; in April of the same year, a member of the first war