B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 1866–1883 (d. 1889). March births March 16 – Andrew Smith Hallidie, who developed the first practical cable car system for San Francisco, California (d. 1900). May births May 21 – Francis William Webb, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway (d. 1906). May 27 - Jay Gould, American financier who, with Jim Fisk, took control of the Erie Railroad (d. 1892). September births September 17 - William Jackson Palmer, builder of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (d. 1909). Deaths January deaths January 7 – John Molson, established the Champlain and Saint Lawrence Railroad, the first railway into Canada (b. 1763). References Pennsylvania Railroad Historical and Technical Society (June 2004), PRR Chronology, 1836 (PDF). Retrieved March 5, 2005. White, John H, Jr. (Spring 1986), America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders, Railroad History, 154, p. 9–15.