Summarizing his life, Henry Clews wrote: "Of all the great operators of Wall Street ... Daniel Drew furnishes the most remarkable instance of immense and long-continued success, followed by utter failure and hopeless bankruptcy".

While running the tavern, he formed a partnership with two other drovers, buying cattle from neighboring counties and bringing them to New York for sale.

Competing with Cornelius Vanderbilt against the Hudson River Steamboat Association, he ran numerous profitable lines outside of New York City.

[6] Vanderbilt, unaware of the increase in outstanding shares, kept buying Erie stock and sustained heavy losses, eventually conceding control of the railroad to the trio.

[11] Despite having been established as a forgery, many details and inaccurate quotes from The Book of Daniel Drew are still mistakenly regarded as factual.

The film The Toast of New York starred Edward Arnold, Cary Grant, Frances Farmer, and Jack Oakie.

At the zenith of his career as a financier, his personal fortune was estimated at $13 million and he was respectfully called "Uncle Daniel" on Wall Street.

If he has now received such a blow as will result in his being driven from the Street altogether, no one will be sorry for him", and "he holds the honest people of the world to be a pack of fools".

[14] The term came from his time in the livestock business, when he would have his cattle lick salt and drink water before selling them, to increase their weight.