Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Issued to and Signed by E.H. Harriman - 1901 dated Autographed Stock Certificate

Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an influential American financier and railroad executive. At nearly 50 years old, Harriman became a director of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1897. By May 1898, he was the chairman of the executive committee, effectively becoming the primary decision-maker for the Union Pacific system. In 1903, he assumed the presidency of the company. Harriman also served as the president of the Southern Pacific Railroad from 1901 to 1909, and he envisioned a unified Union Pacific-Southern Pacific railroad—a vision realized when the two railroads merged on September 11, 1996, following approval from the Surface Transportation Board.

Harriman is referenced in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as the powerful railroad baron whose agents pursue the title characters. In the movie's second train robbery, a railroad employee cites his loyalty to Harriman as his reason for refusing to cooperate with the robbers, while one of the gang's associates describes Harriman's hiring of renowned outlaw hunters to track down the gang leaders. In another 1969 film, The Wild Bunch, a character named Pat Harrigan serves as a stand-in for Harriman.