Washoe County Library System

One hundred and forty years ago, four men rose from their position as middle-class merchants to become robber barons and, in the end, civilization-creating philanthropists. Their names were Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, and they were known as "The Big Four," or "The Associates." Their moneymaker was the building of the transcontinental railroad, but what stands out in their story is how smarts, rapacity, and...