- Frederick Stark Pearson
Frederick Stark Pearson (July 3, 1861,
Lowell, Massachusetts – May 7, 1915) was an Americanelectrical engineer andentrepreneur .Dr. Frederick Stark Pearson graduated from
Tufts University in 1883 and went on to develop the electric transportation system in Boston and, with electric powered streetcars of major importance, in 1894 he was appointed the head engineer for Metropolitan Street Railways inNew York City . Pearson built a reputation as an innovative electrical engineer in the United States and he was soon contracted by governments and businesses as a consulting engineer for power generating stations throughoutNorth America . A man with great business skills and a foresight, with ready financial backers he undertook major projects in North andSouth America .While in Canada, he developed a relationship with a bright and aggressive young lawyer/stockbroker in
Montreal, Quebec by the name of James Dunn. Pearson encouraged Dunn to take up residency inLondon , at the time the most important financial market in the world.With Dunn's brokerage house underwriting his ventures share offerings, sufficient capital was raised to allow Pearson to create a massive business empire that included the São Paulo Tramway, Light and Power Company in
Brazil , the Mexican North Western Railway, the Mexican Tramway Company, and the Mexican Light and Power Company inMexico , and the British American Nickel Company in Canada.Unstable governments in Mexico along with rampant bribery and corruption of public officials caused Pearson considerable grief. The government of president
Venustiano Carranza nationalized his Mexican Tramway Company and in the end, he lost virtually everything he had invested in Mexico. During this time, he was behind the 1911 construction of theMedina Dam on theMedina River in what is nowMico, Texas and built an irrigation district encompassing more than 34,000 acres (138 km²). The town ofPearson, Texas was named in his honor.In 1912 he organized a syndicate in
Hale County, Texas near Plainview for drilling irrigation wells to irrigate about 60,000 acres (243 km²). During the course of his work in Texas, Pearson founded the town of Natalia, naming it after his daughter, Natalie Pearson Nicholson.In 1913, he negotiated a deal with the Spanish government for a hydro project on the
Ebro River and formed theBarcelona Traction , Light and Power Company to carry out the construction that was completed in 1915. However,World War I limited his activity.He and his wife, Mabel Ward Pearson, lost their lives on May 7, 1915, while travelling to England on business and to visit his daughter Natalie who was then living there. They were in the "
RMS Lusitania " passenger liner when it was sunk off the southern coast ofIreland by the German submarine,Unterseeboot 20 .External links
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7645 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.