Jay Cooke

Cooke was born at Sandusky, Ohio, the son of Eleutheros Cooke and Martha Carswell Cooke.^[1] Cooke's firm was so successful in distributing Treasury notes that he was engaged as special agent to sell $500 million in "five-twenty" bonds authorized by Congress on February 25, 1862.^[1] He bought bonds for the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad and secured an interest in the Western Land Association.^[2] Starting as a clerk at E. W. Clark & Co. in Philadelphia in 1838, Cooke became a partner there by 1842.^[1]

After departing that firm in 1858, Cooke established his own private banking house, Jay Cooke & Company, in Philadelphia on the first day of 1861.^[1] By buying advertisements via agencies and collaborating directly with editors on bond-promoting articles, Cooke gained the backing of most Northern newspapers.^[3] Acquiring land, especially in Carlton and St. Louis counties, largely through agricultural college scrip, prompted Cooke's relocation to Duluth, Minnesota.^[2] The firm's capital was overestimated when it advanced money for railway construction, leading to its suspension of operations as the Panic of 1873 approached.^[2]

Having satisfied all his debts by 1880, Cooke regained his wealth through an investment in Utah's Horn Silver Mine.^[4]