Editing Jay Gould (section)

==Early career==
[[File:Young Jay Gould and Hamilton Burhans.jpg|thumb|Jay Gould (''right'') in 1855]]

Gould's school principal was credited with getting him a job as a bookkeeper for a blacksmith.<ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/12/03/104101825.pdf |title=Gould's Eventful Life |newspaper=The New York Times |page=3 |date=December 3, 1892 |access-date=December 3, 2021}}</ref> A year later, the blacksmith offered Gould a half-interest in the blacksmith shop, which he sold to his father during the early part of 1854. Gould devoted himself to private study, emphasizing surveying and mathematics. In 1854, he surveyed and created maps of the [[Ulster County, New York]], area. In 1856, he published ''History of Delaware County, and Border Wars of New York,'' which he had spent several years writing.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gould|first=Jay|title=History of Delaware County|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofdelawar00goul|publisher=Keeny & Gould|date=1856|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?}}</ref> While engaged in surveying, he started a side activity financing operators making [[wood ash]], which is used with [[tannin]] in [[tanning (leather)|leather making]].<ref name=":0" /> 

[[File:Gouldsboro, PA Keystone Marker.jpg|thumb|right|[[Keystone Marker]] for [[Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania]], named after Gould]]

In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with [[Zadock Pratt]]<ref name="query.nytimes.com"/> to create a tanning business in Pennsylvania, in an area that was later named [[Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania|Gouldsboro]]. He eventually bought out Pratt, who retired. In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with Charles Mortimer Leupp, a son-in-law of [[Gideon Lee]] and one of the leading leather merchants in the United States. The partnership was successful, until the [[Panic of 1857]]. Leupp lost all his money in that financial crisis, but Gould took advantage of the depreciation in property value and bought up former partnership properties.<ref name="query.nytimes.com"/>

Gould also started an ice harvesting industry on the large Gouldsboro Lake. In the winter, ice was harvested and stored in large ice houses on the lakeside. He had a railroad line installed next to the lake and he supplied New York City with ice during the summer months.

The Gouldsboro Tannery became a disputed property after Leupp's death. Leupp's brother-in-law, David W. Lee, was also a partner in Leupp and Gould, and he took armed control of the tannery. He believed that Gould had cheated the Leupp and Lee families during the collapse of the business. Gould eventually took physical possession, but he was later forced to sell his shares in the company to Lee's brother.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1886/01/21/106179072.pdf |title=David Williamson Lee's Career |newspaper=The New York Times |page=5 |date=January 21, 1886 |access-date=December 3, 2021}}</ref>