As a steamboat manager, Daniel Drew has few equals and no superiors. His ventures on the water have all been crowned with success, a result due entirely to his judicious and liberal management His employés are chosen with the greatest care, and generally remain with him during their lives. He is very liberal in his dealings with those who serve him faithfully, but will not tolerate a single careless or incompetent man, however unimportant may be his position. The steamers owned by him are almost entirely free from accidents, and such misfortunes as have befallen them have been those against which no skill or foresight could guard. He refuses to insure his boats, holding that care and prudence are the best safeguards against accidents, and thus saves half a million dollars. When the "Dean Richmond" was run down by the "Vanderbilt," a year or two ago, he lost nearly three hundred thousand dollars. He paid every claim presented by shippers and passengers, as soon as made, without submitting one of them to the adjudication of the courts.
In 1836, Mr. Drew entered the banking business in Wall Street, and in 1840 established the widely-known firm of Drew, Robinson & Co. This house engaged largely in the financial operations of the day, and became known as one of the most uniformly successful in its dealings of any in the city. Mr. Drew remained at the head of it for thirteen years, but in 1855 withdrew to make room for his son-in-law, Mr. Kelley. This gentleman died soon after his connection with the firm, and Mr. Drew resumed his old place.
Having succeeded so well in all his ventures, Mr. Drew now determined to enter another field. Railroad stocks were very profitable, and might be made to yield him an immense return for his investments, and he decided to invest a considerable part of his fortune in them. In 1855, he endorsed the acceptances of the Erie Railroad Company for five hundred thousand dollars. This was the first decided evidence the public had received of his immense wealth, and in 1857 another was given by his endorsement of a fresh lot of Erie acceptances amounting to a million and a half of dollars.