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Thomas Clark Durant | |
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| Born | February 6, 1820 |
| Died | October 5, 1885 (aged 65) |
| Resting place | Green-Wood Cemetery |
| Education | Albany Medical College (1840) |
| Occupation(s) | Physician, businessman, investor |
| Known for | Crédit Mobilier scandal and vice president for railroads, Union Pacific Railroad |
| Spouse | Hannah Heloise Trimble |
| Children | William West Durant Héloïse Durant Rose |
Thomas Clark Durant (February 6, 1820 – October 5, 1885) was an American physician, businessman, and financier. He was vice-president of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) in 1869 when it met with the Central Pacific railroad at Promontory Summit in Utah Territory. He created the financial structure that led to the Crédit Mobilier scandal. He was interested in hotels in the Adirondacks and once owned the yacht Idler.[1]
He successfully built railroads in the Midwest, and, after an 1862 act of Congress created the Union Pacific Railroad, John A. Dix was elected president and Durant vice president of the company. Durant assumed the burden of management and money raising—and, with much money at his disposal, he helped secure the 1864 passage of a bill that increased the railroad's land grants and privileges. He organized, and at first controlled, the Crédit Mobilier of America, but in 1867 he lost control of the company to brothers Oliver and Oakes Ames. Durant continued on the directorate of the Union Pacific, however, and furiously pushed construction of the railroad until it met the Central Pacific RR on May 10, 1869. The Ames group then procured his discharge.[2]