USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Men of achievement in the great Southwest Illustrated. A story of pioneer struggles during early days in Los Angeles and Southern California. With biographies, heretofore unpublished facts, anecdotes and incidents in the lives of the builders > Part 15
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From Colorado Mr. Dorsey became interested in the mines of the Great Southwest, where for the past eight years he has been one of the heaviest and most energetic operators. He has invested his own private fortune in the development
of properties, his ventures proving successful. Becoming impressed with the possibilities and undeveloped resources of this section of the country, he resolved to make his home here in order to more satisfactorily attend to his investments. Disposing of some of his Colorado interests about a year and a half ago he came to Los Angeles, and has since made his home in this city. The family residence, at 2619 Figueroa street, is one of the most beautiful in the city, famed for its handsome homes, while the grounds surrounding the resi- dence are large, and set with tropical trees, shrubs and flowers, with a lawn that might well be the envy of those living in a less favored climate. The accompanying illus- trations will demonstrate the beauties and extent of the grounds in a most striking manner.
The first California mining venture of any moment to claim his attention was the California King. The property was a low grade proposition of great magnitude. After having developed the property and placed it upon a shipping basis, he disposed of his interests for a handsome sum. The mine is today one of the best produc- ers in that section of the State. Since the consummation of that deal, Mr. Dorsey has been acquiring large hold- ings in various portions of Southern California and Arizona, and is expend- ing generous sums in developing the same. He is interested in the Rands- burg camp, and is also identified with the . Johanneshurg Gold Mines Company, located near the camp of that name. Among the most recent of his invest- ments, and one of particular promise, is that of the Sierra Grande Gold Mines Company, located in the Bagdad dis- trict, just off the main line of the Santa Fé Railroad, hut connected with it by a branch line ten miles in length, which joins the Santa Fe at Ludlow. The company owns forty-three mining claims in the center of the richly mineralized zone of that district. Ex-United States Senator John P. Jones is president of the company, while associated with it is Lionel A. Sheldon, former Governor of New Mexico, as well as mining men, hankers and business men of substantial character and undoubted business ability and financial re- sources. In Arizona among other properties of promise may be mentioned the Gold Roads Extension Company, which owns claims on the vein adjoining those now being so success- fully operated by the Gold Roads Mines and Exploration Company of this city.
Mr. Dorsey's liberal investments have contributed much to the growth and development of the entire Southwest; but however much he could do through the direct outlay of capital, it could not equal the service he has rendered Cali- fornia in bringing her resources to the attention of the mining and financial world. Mr. Dorsey has acquired his wealth by a display of business ability of the highest order. He is a man of fine personality, as well as business acumen, and dis- charges the duties of citizenship in all its capacities with the utmost honor.
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
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SENATOR STEPHEN W. DORSEY'S RESIDENCE AND GROUNDS.
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
JOHN SINGLETON.
"H E STRUCK it rich." What other calling than mining evokes such an expression in reference to its successful members? If a man accumulates fortune in mercantile pursuits, he is accounted astute; if he attains eminence in the professions, he is robed in brilliancy ; if invention yields him fame, he is a genius -it is only the mining man who is the "lucky cuss." Yet the careers of most of the mining men of California would indicate that ability had quite as much to do with successful mining as luck, and of those who have won wealth and prominence in the Great Southwest few will be found on the fools' register. John Singleton is not a mere lucky adventurer who quit some other occupation and "struck it rich" by a happy mining accident. He was, and is, a miner, first, last and all the time. When Gen. Law- ton was introduced to a shouting crowd, he said, with a touch of pathos, " I am not a hero, I am only a regular." John Singleton is only a miner. He is a profes- sional miner, one bred to the vocation; one who entered upon his life work in his youth, and who, after devoting over thirty years of in- telligent study and effort to the work, has had ample and gratifying
success. He has not merely achieved' great wealth; he has won fame as well, and he will live in our history as the ideal miner. In- deed, he is the pioneer of the typical miner of the future, for, although he did not have the tech- nical education of the mining school to com- mence with, he was compelled to acquire in the course of his prac- tical development, almost all the scientific knowl- edge which mining schools now teach, and which is indispensable to the rapid growth of the mining industry. The first generation of miners which overran the mining regions had for its historic figures the heroes of the lucky finds; the new generation will be distinguished by its scientific miners, whose keen knowl- edge of the geological formations, combined with practical business acumen, will enable them to do what John Singleton did, and find fortunes in rocks that had been prospected in vain by the unscientific for years.
A native of Sunny Tennessee, John Singleton began life in 1847. Here he attended the common schools and received
JOHN SINGLETON.
his early education, later supplementing it at Eastern insti- tutions of learning. Upon the completion of his education, and having reached man's estate, he accepted a position in the cotton brokerage office of a wealthy uncle in Texas. Here he remained some time, gaining an invaluable general knowl- edge of business methods, all of which was to prove useful to him in later life. In the fall of '69 the Union Pacific Railroad was completed, and that and the following year marked one of the greatest mining excitements of the period - the White Pine rush into Nevada. Young Singleton became infused with the fever and joined the throng seeking fortunes in the far West. He did not stop in Nevada, however, but came directly through to Cali- fornia, the State of his adoption, where he be- came at once actively in- terested in quartz min- ing, and laid the founda- tion for the practical experience to which he owes so much of his subsequent success. It is not the purpose to fol- low his career through the dozen or more camps that claimed his attention previous to his locating the famous bo- nanza of the Randsburg district, but we may say briefly that his experi- ence was that of hun- dreds of other Western mining men who have, in the course of their experience, made and lost a score of fortunes, and braved the dangers of the frontier troubles of that time. The Amer- ican mining man of moderate resources is a born plunger, and it is through his fearless in- vestment that the mm- eral wealth of the coun- try has been exploited and opened up; and, in- cidentally, that many in- dividual instances are re- corded where prominent mining men have found themselves once more at the foot of the ladder. But hope and perseverance are virtues with which the miner has been liberally endowed, and temporary reverses are but mile- stones in his checkered career. So with Mr. Singleton. He had made and lost considerable sums without attaining that measure of wealth to create in him the spirit of conservatism dominating other fields of enterprise; but his time had been most profitably improved under the tutelage of the greatest of masters -experience -- and he was amply equipped for the exercise of sound knowledge in all subsequent demands upon his judgment. Those
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
demands came upon his entry to the Randsburg district.
In company with C. A. Burcham and F. M. Mooers, he located the world-renowned Yellow Aster mine on the 22d day of April, 1895. They commenced work upon the property at once, although under great difficulties, as all the water used had to be hauled over twelve miles to the camp. Mr. Singleton demonstrated the value of his practical experience by locating over 265 acres of quartz claims and about 100 acres of placer claims. The story of the famous Yellow Aster, the mine which has produced millions in a period of
Labor disturbances in the summer of 1903 seriously retarded, for a time, the great mine's production, but with a steady hand the affairs of the company were guided over the threat- ening times, and the Yellow Aster is now, and has for many months been, worked to its utmost capacity.
Mr. Singleton has made his home in Los Angeles for the past few years, and has one of the most beautiful homes in this city. "Singleton Court" is one of the show places of the city. The grounds are extensive and beautifully cared for, and are filled with many rare specimens of tropical and
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" SINGLETON COURT."
less than eight years, is told elsewhere in this magazine. A wealth of illustrations will speak better than words for the money that has been expended in improving the property.
The discovery of the Yellow Aster marked an epoch in the history of mining in Southern California. While mines had been opened in various districts in the southern portion of the State, up to the discovery of the Yellow Aster no bonanza could be boasted of. The immense sums of money that have beer expended on the property came from the mine itself, which has, under the judicious management of Mr. Singleton and his partners, become one of the great mines of the State.
semi-tropical trees, shrubs and plants. Mr. Singleton is not a plunger. He is the possessor of vast interests, admitting and demanding the utmost conservatism, and he has risen to the occasion. He is reinforced by his wide experience in mining, and the history of his mining assets is a history of growth under the influence of sagacious and successful man- agement. John Singleton is courteous and unassuming in manner, and impresses one as a man of modest and intrinsic worth. His deeds reflect the big-hearted generosity which is the heritage of the West, and much is owed to his liberality and enterprise that never reaches the public ear.
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
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H. M. RUSSELL.
A MONG the little colony of men in this city who have been instrumental in developing the mines of not only this, but adjoining States, with their own private capital, and interesting that of others, few have accomplished more or worked in a broader field than the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this article. Through his efforts the firm of Douglas, Lacey & Co., the well-known bankers and brokers of New York City, has become interested in the great Southwest, and is now, under the direction of Maj. Russell, actively engaged in the development and operation of a number of mining companies and oil companies whose field of operation extends from Alaska to the Republic of Mexico.
The careers of the mining men of Los Angeles furnish some of the country's most interesting bits of personal
history. That of Maj. H. M. Russell is no exception to the general rule. From the time he attained his ma- jority he has been living in the adventurous atmosphere of a mining camp, and be- ing constantly associated with mining men it is not surprising that we find his life has been devoted to the following of this most al- luring of all pursuits. He owes his nativity to the Empire State, having been born fifty-seven years ago in Jamestown, N. Y. At the age of twenty he left home and headed his bark of fortune toward Colorado, in which State he arrived in 1855, when Denver was little more than a frontier town and miles from a rail- road. In the latter '60's Boulder and Gilpin counties were the scenes of intense mining excitement, and at- tracted thither by reports of the remarkable discoveries, young Russell soon became familiar with the topograph- ical and geological forma- tion of a large portion of those and adjoining dis- tricts.
MAJ. H. M. RUSSELL.
In 1878, when reports of the famous Leadville strikes reached his ears, Mr. Russell was early on the ground. He remained in that camp for some time, going from there to the Gunnison country with a number of associates. He relates many amusing experiences in the various camps of the State, and, as well, many that were severe tests of the nerve of the man. In entering the Gunnison country in the winter of '79 he found it necessary to tunnel a distance of 400 feet through the snow in order to cross a slide that had rendered the trail impassable. These and many more narratives equally as venturesome are among the rem-
iniscences he has of Colorado in the early days.
A feature of his experience in which he takes a praise- worthy pride, and one that was destined to be of inestimable value to him in later years, was the apprenticeship he served, working on his own properties with pick and shovel, for it is to the practical lessons learned in this manner that he largely attributes his great success in the management and development of properties. It is from this practical schooling gained from the thousand-foot level to the surface, that Maj. Russell is indebted for. his knowledge of mining and metal- lurgy. For a number of years Mr. Russell mined and pros- pected throughout Nevada and various parts of New Mexico and Arizona, before becoming interested in the Sister Republic to the south. In 1887, in company with bus- iness associates of Los An- geles, he purchased what was known as the Aurora claim in Alamo Camp, Lower California. The prospect, for the develop- ment work at that time con- sisted of a twenty-eight- foot shaft, is located about seventy miles inland from Ensenada, and in a rich, mineralized zone. Devel- opment disclosed a ledge of free gold, which made aver- age assays that demon- strated its richness. He at once organized the Aurora Gold Mining Company, and active development work was at once begun. A pol- icy of expansion was in- augurated, and the com- pany secured sixty-two mines and claims in the sur- rounding territory. Maj. Russell was not slow to recognize the fact that the claims immediately sur- rounding the Aurora were desirable assets, and later developments proved the correctness of his theories that they carried exception- ally high values. Among the properties he acquired at that time was the Ster- ling group of mines, which had been producers, but owing to bad management and inadequate facilities for prosecuting the work upon the lower levels, the mines had lost prestige and the Major secured them at a reasonable figure.
This is the first property that Maj. Russell interested the firm of Douglas, Lacey & Co. in, and the success which has attended their connection with this property, operated under the direction of Maj. Russell, has prompted them to act upon his advice in numerous other deals which have proven mutually profitable to all the stockholders. For the past year the Aurora Gold Mining and Milling Company
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
has been paying regular dividends of 12 per cent. The first dividend paid, shortly after the reorganization of the company in January, 1901, amounted to 40 per cent. of the investment, thus demonstrating Maj. Russell's success as a manager. Among the stockholders in the company are some of the best known financiers of the East, some of whom are identified with the United States Steel Corporation, and are men whose business experience is especially ripe.
The success which attended the operation of the Aurora stimulated the Major to organize the Viznaga Mining Com- pany under the auspices of Douglas, Lacey & Co. The property is situated in the same locality as the Aurora, and had been owned and operated by him for some time previous to the change in organization. - It has a large acreage, and under the process of exploitation and development now in force, is being rapidly placed in excellent condition. Following the incorporation of the Viznaga mine, Douglas, Lacey & Co. became interested through Maj. Russell in the oil industry of this section, and have now been operating in the local fields for over two years. The Union Consoli- dated Oil Company was formed and commenced active development work with a capitalization of $5,000,cco. It acquired a tract of oil land in Sespe Cañon where were bored a number of wells. A large number of men were employed in the local fields, and the company soon became one of the most active shippers from the district, the monthly produc- tion approximating about 6000 barrels. The condition of the oil market, at the time the Union Consolidat e d e 11- tered the field as a shipper, was such that it became im- perative to secure a better market than was then'to be found, and, characteristic of the Major in all his operations, he did not wait for an opportunity, but made one in forming a company for the purpose of erecting a refinery that would handle the output of its wells. The work carried on by this plant has attained such a magni- tude and is so far-reaching in its effect upon the market of this city, and Southern California as well, that special space will be devoted to the interests of the Union Consolidated Oil and Refining Company in another portion of this maga- zine; the accompanying illustrations will show better than words can tell the extent of the plant.
One of the most recent flotations made by Maj. Russell through Douglas, Lacey & Co. is that of the Haslemere Mining and Milling Company. The possibilities of this property, which is located in the Keys Mining District, in Kern county, are so stupendous as to excite the interest of mining men all over the country. The property consists of sixteen full claims extending over two miles along the course of the vein, and two groups of mill sites on the river, one
of four and the other of five claims. Work is being prose- cuted with characteristic vigor, and a mill of 150 tons capacity is now in course of erection upon the property. An aerial tramway one and three-quarters of a mile in length will convey the ore to the mill, which is located but a short distance below the dam and power house of the Huntington electric company. Power for the operation of the tram, drills, lights and mine will be furnished directly from this plant, and it is proposed to equip the mine in the most modern manner to the end that it will be the most complete electrically equipped mine in the United States. With such unlimited power to be obtained, the owners are in a position to gratify their desires in this direction at a minimum cost. A feature that will prove entirely new in the stamp mill is special machinery now being prepared by the Llewellyn Iron Works Company of this city. The company is incorporated for $5,000,000. Its location is excellent. There are immense quantities of low grade ore in the mine, the transportation is solved, the milling facilities are unexcelled, and all condi- tions seem to be favorable for the development here of one of the greatest low grade mines in the Southwest.
RESIDENCE OF MAJ. H. M. RUSSELL.
The territory in which the firm carretes is by no means limited to this sec- tion of the coun- .y. It maintains branch offices in twenty-eight dif- f rent cities, and represents a large clientage abroad. The testimony of the ablest engi- rcers and mining e perts is taken 1 fore a property is purchased, and the success of the operations in the Great Southwest 1 ider the manage- 1' cnt of Maj. Rus- : 11 has given the t.rm a reputation one of the incet energetic and successful com- paries in the coun- try. The latest promotion from its office. and one in which Maj. Russell officiates as manager, is the or- ganization of the Alaskan Oil and Mines E ~~ loration Company, with a capital of $10,000,000. The company pro- poses to develop oil, coal and other minerals in Alaska, and for the past year has had an engineer on the ground locating desirable lands. It has acquired over 20,000 acres of oil land, and has already shipped an oil rig to the property from a local seaport town. If one may judge by the measure of success which has attended its previous operations in this section, much may be expected from this, its latest incorpora- tion.
The success achieved by Maj. H. M. Russell has been the result of his ability to recognize and grasp opportunities, and, we might have added, his effective use of them. He has established a reputation for management which insures his promotions immediate recognition, and this explains the confidence reposed in him in every instance where he has placed a property on the market.
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
CHARLES AUSTIN BURCHAM.
C HARLES AUSTIN BURCHAM is a native son of the Golden West, having been born November 6, 1859, in Vallejo, within a few miles of San Francisco, then, as now, the metropolis of the Pacific Coast. His boyhood days were passed as were those of most of the lads of his day ; he pursued his studies in the common schools of his native city, later supplementing them with a course at the Pacific Business College, San Francisco. He was reared in the adventurous atmosphere of San Francisco in the 'zo's, and upon the com- pletion of his education his attention was directed to the for- tunes being made and lost in speculating in Nevada mining stocks-this was in the palmy days of the Comstock lode, when millionaires were quickly made. Young Burcham displayed remarkable business ability and a rare conservatism even at that age, and after having operated on 'Change for a short time, found himself with his first " stake." But what was more to the point, the ex- periences of the sea- son taught him the wonderful possibilities of mining as an in- vestment and a con- servative business proposition.
In 1880, at that time but 21 years of age, young Burcham, in company with his father and an older brother, visited Soutlı- ern California and purchased a 5CC0- acre stock ranch in San Bernardino county, and located some twenty-five miles from the town of that name. For six years the father and two sons conduct- ed the ranch, in that time having made many improvements in the property, and having established it upon a pay-
CHARLES AUSTIN BURCHAM.
ing basis. In 1887 Mr. Burcham made his second "raise" by disposing of extensive water interests which he had developed on his property to Maj. Bonebrake, who purchased the water for the infant town of Hesperia. For the ensuing four years Mr. Burcham's time was devoted entirely to improving his ranch and creating a market for its products in San Bernardino and other Southern California towns. But in the year 1900 he became impressed with the
opportunities for practical miners in the vast mineral district embraced in San Bernardino county, and known simply as "the desert." From spending his entire time in the raising and selling of live stock, Mr. Burcham soon became inter- ested in that inanimate stock that was to carry his success beyond the possibilities of his former calling. Accordingly in the spring of '93 he commenced making regular and syste- matie prospecting trips to " the desert." Devoid of experi- ence and knowledge touching geology and mineralogy, his early tours were necessarily hopeless; but observation soon acquainted him with the formation and physical condition of the country, which knowledge was sup- plemented from time to time, as opportu- nity afforded, by sci- entific research. Right here was the differ- ence between Mr. Burcham and the average prospe ctor. He read and studied, and so equipped him- self to recognize in -. dications that would pass unnoticed by the superficial and igno- rant genius, among whom he was so marked an exception.
April 21, 1895, found Mr. Burcham at Summit, a little town on the edge of the desert. He had prospected all the spring without meet- ing with the success his labors had mer- ited, and as his stock of provisions had been exhausted he was about to return to San Bernardino. He had an excellent outfit and team, how- ever, and that night met two prospectors, John Singleton and F. M. Mooers, who had an ample grubstake, but no means of mov- ing it. The three thereupon entered into a partnership, and the following morning struck out for the Randsburg district. The success that attended their efforts is found in Southern California .: greatest bonanza, the famous Yellow Aster property. It is not the province of this sketch to review the development of the Yellow Aster mine. Its history is fully related elsewhere. Suffice to say that under the direction of the owners, devel- opment work was prosecuted intelligently, and the mine placed upon the list of California dividend payers within a
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
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