Pacific Improvement Company

Pacific Improvement Company
Company typeHolding company
IndustryRailroad, Land development
PredecessorWestern Development Company
FoundedNovember 4, 1878[1]
FounderLeland Stanford
DefunctFebruary 27, 1919
FateAcquired
Headquarters
San Francisco
,
USA[1]
Area served
Western United States, Monterey Peninsula
Productsrailroads, hotels, land
OwnerSouthern Pacific Railroad

The Pacific Improvement Company (PIC) was a large holding company in California and an affiliate of the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was formed in 1878, by the Big Four, who were influential businessmen, philanthropists and railroad tycoons who funded the Central Pacific Railroad, (C.P.R.R.). These men were: Leland Stanford (1824–1893), Collis Potter Huntington (1821–1900), Mark Hopkins (1813–1878), and Charles Crocker (1822–1888). They owned the company, each with 25% interest.[2]: 586  Archived records date from 1869 to 1931.[3]

The company has been identified with many endeavors, including building the Hotel Del Monte in 1880, a large resort hotel in Monterey, California.[4] By the 1880s, the Pacific Improvement Company was one of the largest corporations in the Western United States. The company controlled dozens of subsidiary companies, which conducted shipping, mining, publishing, land development, resort hotels, electric streetcars, and water system. Although it was criticized as a holding company to extract profits, the PIC had an important impact on the history of California.[5]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Incorporated was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Tutorow, Norman E. (2004). The Governor: The Life and Legacy of Leland Stanford, a California Colossus, Volume 2. Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company. ISBN 0870623265.
  3. ^ "Guide to the Pacific Improvement Company Records, 1869-1931". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hathaway was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Orsi, Richard J. (February 6, 2007). Sunset Limited, The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930. Univ of California Press. p. 115. ISBN 9780520251649. Retrieved 2022-02-09. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)