born Sept. 3, 1814, Richmond County, Va., U.S.
died March 29, 1878, Yuma, Arizona Territory
U.S. businessman who helped build the Central Pacific (later the Southern Pacific) Railroad and for whom San Francisco's Mark Hopkins Hotel atop Nob Hill was named.
He was brought up in North Carolina. After an unprofitable attempt to mine gold in California in 1851, he began selling groceries and established one of the most prosperous mercantile houses in the state. With three other merchants he planned a transcontinental railroad, and in 1861 they organized the Central Pacific Railroad . In 1869 the main line was completed, meeting the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah.