Born Edward Henry Harriman in 1848 of an ordained deacon father in the Presbyterian Church and well-connected socialite mother, Young Edward attended private school in New Jersey and New York, but dropped out at age 14 to take a job as a Wall Street errand boy. He moved up rapidly to become a managing clerk and, ultimately, became a stockbroker with a seat on the New York stock exchange. Harriman began investing his own money in railway stocks, and even married into a railroad family. In 1881, he bought his first railroad company outright in upstate New York and his name soon became synonymous with railroad. Volume 1 of this two-volume biography includes Harriman s boyhood, early life and the founding of the first Boys Club on the East Side of New York. Also covered in detail is his entrance in the railroad industry, and its reorganization and expansion across America. Information on his pioneering expedition to Alaska is included as well.