W.H. (William Hyman) Holabird was born in Shelburne, Vermont on September, 29, 1845. In 1858, Holabird emigrated with his family to Macon, Missouri, and later, Atchison, Kansas. In Kansas, Holabird worked for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad as an office clerk and passenger agent distributing newspapers. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Holabird returned to Vermont and enlisted in the 18th Vermont Infantry Regiment and subsequently participated in the Battle of Gettysburg; Holabird also served in the U.S. Navy as a fireman aboard the first USS Monadock (an ironclad monitor ) as well as Acting Assistant Paymaster. After the war, Holabird found employment with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, where he served as a confidential agent to AT&SF president, Allen Manvil, and supervised the railway's survey of the Tejon Pass (Tehachapi Mountains, Calif.). After Manvil's death, Holabird worked for the Southern Pacific Company and served for many years as the field agent of E.H. Harriman (1848-1909), president of the Southern Pacific Railroad. As Harriman's agent, Holabird traveled extensively throughout California-in 1909, for instance, Holabird surveyed for the Southern Pacific the extensive land holdings of Miller and Lux, a large San Francisco-based ranching firm-as well as the Philippines, Japan, Manchuria, and Siberia. Holabird concluded his professional life by serving as receiver and general manager of the California Development Company (CDC) from 1909-1916; closely tied to the Southern Pacific, the CDC was engaged in diverting water from the Colorado River for the purposes of irrigating the deserts of Imperial County, California. Under Holabird's direction, the CDC turned profits and returned to solvency. Holabird died due to multiple cerebral hemorrhages in Sierra Madre, California on March 1, 1921.
From the description of Papers of W. H. Holabird, 1889-1973 (bulk 1889-1919) (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 663151021
