Benjamin Holladay (October 14, 1819 â€" July 8, 1887) was an American
transportation businessman responsible for creating the Overland Stage
to California during the height of the 1849 California Gold Rush. Ben
Holladay created a stagecoach empire and he is known in history as the
"Stagecoach King". A native of Kentucky, he also was hired as a
private courier to General Alexander Doniphan of Missouri. Doniphan
refused point-blank to carry out orders to kill the Mormons during the
1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Through Holladay's friendship with
Brigham Young, Holladay established a profitable freighting contract
to Salt Lake City.[citation needed] His transportation empire later
included steamships and railroads in Oregon.Holladay was born October
14, 1819, in Nicholas County, Kentucky. His father, William Holladay
(born in what is now Spotsylvania County, Virginia) was a
third-generation American, descended from John "The Ranger" Holladay.
William migrated to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he was a guide for
wagon trains through the Cumberland Gap. Benjamin's mother was
Margaret "Peggy" Hughes. Benjamin Holladay learned the freight
business at an early age and left home in his late teens for a road
trip to Santa Fe in what was then Mexico.He then settled in Weston,
Missouri, where he worked as a store clerk before serving as courier
during the 1838 Mormon War for the state militia. After working at the
store for a few years he opened a tavern and hotel in 1840, as well as
starting what would become the McCormick Distilling Company, which
claims to be the oldest distillery still operating in the same
location. Business boomed with his supplies for General Stephen Watts
Kearney during the Mexicanâ€"American War.Holladay moved to California
in 1852 where he was to operate 2,670 miles (4,300 km) of stage lines.
Holladay acquired the Pony Express in 1862 after it failed to garner a
postal contract for its owners, Russell, Majors and Waddell. In 1861
he won a postal contract for mail service to Salt Lake City, Utah, and
established the Overland Stage Route along the Overland Trail to avoid
confrontations with American Indians on the northern Oregon Trail and
Pony Express routes. He added significant infrastructure along the
trail, including Rattlesnake Station. Traveling to New York from San
Francisco in July, 1862 Holladay was almost killed when the SS Golden
Gate sank off Manzanillo. Ben Holladay Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter