History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 100

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

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B. F. BALDWIN.

Mr. Baldwin was born in Vermilion County, Ill., March 19, 1848. At the age of twenty- two years, he went to Kansas, where he was engaged in the drug business for seven years. He was subsequently Vice President and Cashier of the Winfield Bank, at Winfield, Kan. He came to Colorado on account of his health, in May, 1880, and engaged in the livery business, where he keeps one of the finest liveries in the Southwest. He was mar- ried to Miss Mary Ferguson, of Leavenworth, Kan., in 1878, and has one child, a daughter.

WILLIAM E. BARRETT.

Among the substantial business men of Rosita is the subject of this sketch. Born in Rome, N. Y., November 18, 1843, his early life was spent on a farm, where he acquired a common-school education and learned the carpenter's trade. He served two years in the late war, being then mustered out, and worked the following year for the Government. He was subsequently employed by the State of New York as foreman, working eight years on the Erie Canal. Mr. Barrett came to Colo-

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rado in 1874, and, after looking over the country, located at Rosita, where he engaged in mining and contracting and building. He is one of the public-spirited men of the county, and was specially active in obtaining the division of the county.

ELTON T. BECKWITH.

Mr. Elton T. Beckwith, of the firm of Beck- with Bros., the leading stockmen of Custer County, was born in April, 1847, in Island of Mount Desert, Me., and educated at Cambridge, Mass. He was subsequently on the sea for four years, three years of which he was First Mate of the vessel. He then embarked in the wholesale flour and grain business in Phila- delphia, in which he continued until April, 1870, being very successful. He then came to Colorado and located in Wet Mountain Valley, where he and his brother engaged extensively in the stock business, now owning nearly seven thousand head of fine grade cattle and two hundred head of horses. They also have one of the finest stock ranches in Southern Colo- rado, consisting of 2,300 acres; 1,500 acres is nearly all fine meadow land and under fence. The subject of this sketch is one of the lead- ing men of the county, and takes an active part in politics. He was married, in 1875, to Miss Elsie A. Davis, of Chicago, and has one child, a daughter, four years old.

CHARLES F. BLOSSOM.

C. F. Blossom, the leading dry goods mer- chant of Rosita, was born in Morristown, Vt., February 14, 1837. His early life was spent on a farm, where he received the educational advantages afforded by the public schools. At the age of nineteen years, he accepted a posi- tion in his uncle's store as clerk, where he re- mained until, having acquired a thorough knowledge of the business, he embarked in business on his own account, in which he con- tinued seven years. Then, on account of fail- ing health, he sought a change of climate; going first to Iowa, but finally locating at Rosita, Colo., in 1874, where he still continues the dry goods business, having been very suc- cessful. Mr. Blossom has served three years on the Town Board, and one term as School Director. He was married to Miss Esther

H. Stevens, of Baltimore, Md., in 1868, hav- ing two children, a son and daughter, aged respectively ten and seven years.

HON. CHARLES D. BRADLEY.

Charles D. Bradley was born in Albany County, N. Y., February 11, 1839. His pa- ternal ancestors were among the earliest set- tlers of this country. They emigrated from England and settled in Fairfield County, Conn. Here they lived until the latter part of the last century, when they moved to Albany County, N. Y. His mother was a Gardiner, belonging to a family from New- port, R. I. The Gardiners, at an early period of our history, settled in Newport and Gardi- ner's Island. Mr. Bradley is the youngest of twelve children, ten of whom attained ma- turity. He was raised on a farm, and, in his youth, performed all kinds of farm labor. He, however, had advantages for acquiring the rudiments of an education not usually pos- sessed by farmers' sons. His father owned quite a good library. His brothers and sisters were well educated. But, above all, his mother, who possessed rare intellectual and moral qualities, was the great instructress of her children, from the cradle until they left the parental roof. These advantages were not lost on Mr. Bradley, for, at the age of fifteen, he successfully passed an examination and was licensed to teach in the public schools; but his age then forbade. Next year, how- ever, in the fall, he went to Will County, Ill., where one of his sisters resided, taught a public school there during the winter, and re- turned home next spring, having earned enough money to pay all the expenses of his trip, with a small surplus in his pocket. This, among his comrades, was regarded as quite an achievement for a youth of sixteen. Mr. Bradley was pleased with the great West, and was then anxious to remain and pursue his fortunes there; put filial duty overcame his inclinations. He was the youngest of the family, and all the older brothers and sisters before this had left home. He would not permit his aged father and mother to live alone. Among ten sons and daughters, he thought one should remain to cheer the par- ents in their declining years. Hence, after

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his trip to Illinois, he continuously made his home with his father and mother, until they were carried to their last resting-place in the family burying-ground. During that period, he worked on the farm, studied and taught school. This duty having been performed, he entered the law office of Jenkins & Cooper, in the city of Albany, as a studeut at law. In the spring of 1867, he was examined by the Supreme Court of the State, and admitted to the bar. At this time, his oldest brother, Hon. Joseph P. Bradley, of Newark, N. J. then enjoying one of the largest and most lu- crative practices of any lawyer of the country, at present one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, very generously offered him a partnership in his business. This Mr. Bradley, while highly ap- preciating, declined to accept, preferring to go West and rely on his own resources for success. Accordingly, in July, 1867, he moved to Colorado, remaining a few months in Denver. He was employed as attorney for a New York mining company, but, the company not having much to do, and the times being dull in Colorado, he joined the throng going to Cheyenne that year, and began the practice of law there some time in the month of September. He continued here with suc- cess for two years. During this time, Chey- enne was in Dakota Territory. In the fall of 1868, Mr. Bradley was elected to the Legis- lature. He served at Yankton, the capital of that Territory, in that body, during the ses- sion of 1868-69, resigning, however, the posi- tion of Assessor of Internal Revenue, to which place he had been appointed without request, to take his seat in the Legislature. At the close of the session, he visited friends in Southeastern Iowa, where he was induced to go into a land and cattle speculation. This consumed two years of his time, and all his money. Mr. Bradley at once concluded he had better return to the practice of law, and for that purpose went to the city of St. Louis. Here he remained engaged in his profession until he was appointed United States Attorney for the Territory of Colorado. Upon receiv- ing this appointment, he returned to Denver. He held the latter office until Colorado became a State, in the admission of which he took

an active part. With the Governor and Chief Justice, he prepared rules and regulations, un- der the enabling act, for the election of a con- vention to form a State Constitution. During the early settlement of Silver Cliff, Mr. Bradley removed to that town, where he soon acquired an extensive law practice. The Legislature of 1880-81, having created three additional judicial districts, and devolved on the Gov- ernor the appointment of Judges therefor, Mr. Bradley received the appontment for the Sixth District, embracing the counties of Custer, Fremont, Saguache, Rio Grande, Conejos and Costilla. He now holds that office and dis- charges its responsible duties to the satisfac- tion of the people of the district. Mr. Brad- ley married in 1872. His wife's maiden name was Mary Hastings Rush. She was born in Pennsylvania, but was raised in Ten- nessee. One child, Joseph Markly, born in St. Louis County, Mo., in December, 1874, is the fruit of this union. Mr. Bradley is now only in the prime of life. He is studious and temperate, and, if his life is spared, his great- est achievements are undoubtedly yet to be ac- complished.

HON. HENRY H. BUCKWALTER.

Mr. Buckwalter, Mayor of Silver Cliff, was born near Philadelphia, Chester Co., Penn., July 7, 1842. During his boyhood days, he was busily employed on the farm, but he had opportunities of securing a liberal education. He attended the schools at Reading, and pur- sued a part of the collegiate course at Free- land, Montgomery Co., in his native State. After leaving college, he started out in the world to fight its battles, depending upon his own energies and exertions for a livelihood. In 1863, he was employed as a clerk in the navy yard at Philadelphia. In 1865, he lo- cated at Sioux City, Iowa, where he formed the acquaintance of Mr. T. J. Stone, who was just starting a private bank, and was employed to assist in the clerical duties of the institu- tion. The bank was soon changed to the First National Bank at Sioux City, with Mr. Buck- walter as Teller. This situation he filled for ten years faithfully and honestly. In the meantime, he married Miss May E. Jandt, an accomplished lady, now well and favorably

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known in social circles at Silver Cliff. He first came to Colorado in November, 1878, and, becoming favorably impressed with the grand outlook Colorado then presented, after going back to Sioux City, he immediately returned to the State and settled at Silver Cliff, where he has invested to some extent in real estate, but more especially in mining interests. He was a delegate to the Republican State Con- vention held at Leadville in 1880. And, when Custer County was offered- the position of State Auditor on the ticket, by the other delegations, Mr. Buckwalter was indorsed by the delegates of his county, but, as he lacked twelve days of being in the State two years, the nomination was given to Joseph Davis, who now fills the position of State Auditor. Mr. Buckwalter was nominated for Mayor by a Republican convention, and, owing to ille- 'gal voting at the primaries, the blame of which never has been attached to Mr. Buck- walter, and as this fraud was openly charged by the Chairman and one of the Tellers, there was a split in the party, and he owes his elec- tion to his own personal popularity more than to any faction. His business experience has been of sufficient scope to make him a good executive officer, which he has proven himself to be.

COL. HENRY W. COMSTOCK.

The subject of this sketch, Col. Henry W. Comstock, the founder and editor of the Min- ing Gazette, was born in Columbus, Ohio, Feb- ruary 22, 1832, and was engaged in business both in that State and in Wisconsin many years. He came to Silver Cliff early in 1879, and has been prominently identified with the mining interests of Custer County, being firmly convinced from the first of the vast wealth of the immense amount of low-grade ores to be found there, he has devoted his energy and talents to the solution of the great problem of successfully treating them. His letters to the Despatch, of Columbus, Ohio, of which he was the Colorado correspondent until his connection with the Mining Gazette, have been such as to attract capital and in- dustry to this locality from all parts of the great State of Ohio. In November of 1880, he founded the Mining Gazette, which, from a small beginning, has, in the short space of

eight months, come to be regarded as one of the leading mining journals of the country, and has a national reputation. It is devoted to the mining interests, and especially those of Custer County, and it aims to furnish only reliable and trustworthy mining news, hav- ing no connection or complicity with stock- jobbing schemes. Upon this basis it has achieved its success, thus showing that honesty is not only right of itself, but also the "best policy."

WILLIAM E. COX.

William E. Cox was born in Delaware County, Ohio, in December, 1839. Mr. Cox received a good common-school education, and served through the war, after which he re- turned to Ohio and engaged in the stock bus- iness in Delaware County, in which he con- tinued until 1878. He then came to Colorado and located at Silver Cliff, and engaged in mining. Mr. Cox erected the first building on Main street in Silver Cliff. He was mar- ried, in July, 1866, to Miss E. B. Cooke.

CAPT. HIRAM S. CURRIE.

Capt. Currie was born June 21, 1840, at Quebec, Canada. He removed to Vermont with his parents at an early age, where he re- ceived a good common-school education. He learned the miller's trade, and, at the age of twenty-one years, enlisted in the First Ver- mont Volunteer Infantry as private, being sub- sequently promoted to Captain. In 1864, he went West to Chicago and engaged in hand- ling grain for two years. He then spent sev- eral years handling stock in Kansas, Texas and New Mexico, subsequently engaging in the milling business at Fort Scott for five years. He came to Colorado in February, 1875, and engaged in contracting and grad- ing on the Canon City Railroad. He came to Custer County in March, 1879, where he has since been engaged in mining and con- tracting. He was married to Miss Mary Betts, of Belleville, Ill., in July, 1875.

S. S. DAVIDSON.

S. S. Davidson, machinist, was born in Steuben County, N. Y., December 12, 1830. He received a thorough academic education in the State of Ohio, where he emigrated with

Thomas Starr

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his parents while one and a half years of age. His father being a thorough machinist, young Davidson was educated to the trade, and, at the age of twenty-one years, went to Iowa, where he followed the millwright business for several years. He then returned to Michigan, and, with the Montana excitement, started West in 1863. He located in Denver, Colo., where he built the Davis flouring-mills, sub- sequently going to Black Hawk, where he had charge of the Black Hawk Foundry for six years. He then engaged in the lumber business with Nelson Hallock, at Dudley and California Gulch. He sold out in 1875, and went to Denver and formed the Colorado Iron Works Company, and erected the same, holding the position of Superintendent for the company for four years. He sold out his interest in 1879, and came to Silver Cliff and engaged in the hardware business with Tompkins & Co. The following year, he formed a new partnership with Alling & Co.

SAMUEL P. DALE.

Samuel P. Dale, attorney at law and mem- ber of the Silver Cliff bar, was born on a farm in Lawrence County, Ind., February 3, 1842. He graduated from the Hanover College, In- diana, in 1865, and then learned the· mason and plasterer's trade. He removed to Illinois in January, 1866, and located in Cass County, where he read law and worked at his trade. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in the spring of 1868, and practiced law five years in that State. He was married, June 14, 1870, to Miss Jennie Norbury, of Beardstown. He came to Colorado in May, 1873, and began the practice of law with Judge Blackburn, in Denver. He removed to Canon City in 1875. The year of 1879, he lived and practiced law at Rosita. He came to Silver Cliff in Decem- ber, 1880, where he is still in the active prac- tice of the law, being one of the most success- ful and honored member of the bar. He still continues a member of the law firm of Black- burn & Dale.

JAMES A. GOOCH.

J. A. Gooch, the present Postmaster of Rosita, was born on a farm near Belvidere, Ill., the 10th of August, 1842. He acquired an academic education, and, in 1855, moved

to Rock County, Wis., where he engaged in farming. In 1858, he started West, going as far as Omaha, where he engaged himself to the American Fur Company, going up the Missouri River for the season. He returned in April, 1859, and started for Pike's Peak, going as far as Julesburg, but changed his mind and went up North Platte, returning to Illinois in the fall, where he spent the winter. He came to Kansas in 1860, and, in June, 1861, he enlisted in the Second Kansas U. S. Volunteers, being mustered out in May, 1865. He then took a trip to Wyoming Terri- tory, returning to Missouri River in the fall of 1866, where he engaged in the mercantile business. He came to Colorado in 1873 and located at Rosita, where he has served several years on the Town Board; was appointed Post- master in 1878, which office he still holds. During this time, he has been engaged in mercantile business and mining. He was married to Miss N. A. Templ.,, in January, 1880.

HON. PETER R. HAMMA.

Hon. Peter R. Hamma was born in Cairo, Greene Co., N. Y., January 20, 1839; lived on a farm and attended district school until the age of fifteen years. He then started West, going first to Indiana. From there he went to Topeka, Kan., where he remained one year; thence to Nebraska, where he lived ten years, during which time he was elected the first Sheriff of Johnson County. In 1869, he re- moved to Cheyenne, W. T., where he remained ten years, during which time he filled success- ively the following offices, viz .: City Marshal for the term of one year, President of the City Council for four years, served six years on the School Board, and two terms in the Territo- rial Legislature. Mr. Hamma refers with just pride to his six years' service as member of the School Board, where, by untiring efforts, he succeeded in organizing and maintaining one of the best schools in the West. He re- moved from Cheyenne to Silver Cliff, Colo., in 1879, where he has managed successfully several different branches of business, being Superintendent of the Silver Cliff & Rosita Stage and Canon City & Silver Cliff Forward- ing and Commission Companies; also pro- prietor of the largest wholesale liquor house

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in the county. Mr. Hamma was married in Nebraska, in 1860, to Miss Naomi Slaughter, and has three children, the eldest, a daughter, being teacher in the Cheyenne High School.

GEORGE J. HANLEY.

Mr Hanley, a member of the present Board of County Commissioners of Custer County, was born in Goldsboro, N. C., in September, 1841. At the age of eighteen years, he crossed the plains to Salt Lake, Utah. In 1861, he returned to his native State and en- listed in the Confederate army, in which he served until the closing of the war. The years from 1865 to 1870 were spent in Cali- fornia and Nevada mines, and in the mer- cantile business. He came to Colorado in 1871 and located at Colorado Springs, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until September, 1878, when he removed to Silver Cliff and engaged in the mercantile business at that place. He was elected County Commissioner in the fall of 1879. He was married, in Manitou, to Miss Delia Harkness, in 1874.

EDWARD A. HILBURN.

The subject of this sketch, a native of Geor- gia, was born at Atlanta the 4th of September, 1842. He moved with his parents, at an early age, to Texas, where his early life was spent on a farm and acquiring an education. He served, during the late war, in the Confederate army, after which he engaged in the stock business, in which he continued until the spring of 1873, when he came to Colorado and engaged in mining in Custer County, be- ing very successful. Mr. Hilburn has located many valuable mining claims. He was one of the discoverers of the Plata Verde Mine, and sold his interest for the sum of $25,000. He was married to Miss Adaline A. Ellis in 1867.

HON. RICHARD IRWIN.

The life of the prospector is a peculiar one. It baffles the biographer; it beggars descrip- tion. In its commonest aspects, it presents phases to which ordinary experience is a stranger. Romance mingles with its realities. Hope alternates with despondency, though hope predominates and illumines its darkest passages. To him, the unattained is never

unattainable; to-morrow is sure to bring what yesterday was to bring, but did not. Every cloud has a lining of silver and a fringe of gold. Hardships spur him onward, and dan- ger but heightens his zeal and gives variety to his life. With his patient burro, he pene- trates the most hidden recesses of the mount. ains, and the sound of his pick resounds where naught but its echo is heard in return. He is the forerunner of civilization, the ad- vance guard of progress. At the head of the few hardy pioneers who, for years, have occu- pied the very outposts, the skirmish line of the advancing army of civilization, is Richard Irwin, the subject of this sketch, known throughout Colorado and the West as "Dick Irwin, the noted prospector." His face is a familiar one in every miner's camp in the State. Born in Montreal, Canada, September 30, 1841, he attended school until he was six- teen years of age, after which he was em- ployed for six months in a commission house. In April, 1858, he left Canada and set out on his career of exploration and adventure. Ar- riving in Utah during the fall of that year, he left Fort Bridger for Camp Floyd the fol- lowing winter, where he rode express for the Quartermaster at the camp till July, 1859. From this time until July, 1860, he remained with the Indian traders on the Sweetwater, and riding a pony express for the Overland Express Company. Coming from Fort Lara- mie to Denver in July, 1860, in company with a couple of Mexicans on horseback, and accom- panied with three pack animals, he started, in August, into the mines of Gilpin County, wintering in Leavenworth Gulch, in Russell District, and, the next spring, started out prospecting on Snake River and the head of the Platte, opposite Georgetown. During the next three years, he prospected along the western slope, from Middle Park to Buckskin Joe, working at Georgia Gulch, Delaware Flats, Gold Run, Buffalo Flats and Tarryall; also at Empire, and again in Leavenworth Gulch, in Gilpin County. In 1864, he went in- to the vicinity of Fort Garland with Gov. Gil- pin's party of prospectors, to prospect the coun- try in San Luis Park known as the Gilpin Grant. The years 1865 and 1866 were spent in min- ing about Georgetown, where he was inter-

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ested in the Baker, Chihuahua, and other prominent mines. He spent the winter of 1867 in the East, mainly in Philadelphia, and, the next summer, prospected in New Mexico and the Ute Reservation. He discovered the copper mines on the Ojo Caliente, and those near Fort Garland, now owned by the First National Bank of Denver. In the spring and fall of 1870, he prospected in the Wet Mount- ain Valley, discovering several mines about Rosita, and, in January, 1871, went to Utah, and prospected and mined at Camp Floyd, Mount Nebo, American Fork Canon and Little Cottonwood, owning an interest in the Pio- neer and other mines, returning in April to the East. In August, 1872, he went, with J. Pringle and W. J. Robinson, prospecting in the Ute Reservation, west and north of Wash- ington Gulch, returning via Breckenridge and Hoosier Pass about the 1st of November, 1872. While there, they made the first dis- covery of anthracite coal in the State, on An- thracite Creek, Gunnison County, and also discovered ore in Ruby District and on Rock Creek. On his return from the reservation, he went to the Wet Mountain Valley and lo- cated the Hardscrabble District, and re-located several of his old discoveries. In June, 1875, he went to the Black Hills, returning in Au- gust, and again went to the Hills in the fol- lowing November. While there, and without his knowledge, Mr. Irwin was elected a mem- ber of the first State Legislature, and served with credit. He was married, on the 16th of January, 1876, to Miss Louisa Virgina Virden, of Fremont County, Colo. The town of Irwin, or Ruby Camp, is named in honor of Mr. Irwin. He is now engaged in mining there and at Rosita. Such, in brief, is a sketch of one of the most noted pioneers in the West. Mr. Irwin is personally popular, and possesses no small influence among the miners of the State. A gentleman of kindly feeling and social disposition, he is withal a man of pluck and nerve, endurance and per- severance. The history of Custer County in this volume is from his pen.

HENRY C. JAMES, M. D.

Dr. James was born in Wales, December 25, 1840, and emigrated to Pennsylvania in

1847. He received a thorough academic edu- cation, and, at the age of twenty years, com- menced the study of medicine under a compe- tent M. D., subsequently taking two courses of lectures at Jefferson Medical College; he graduated in the spring of 1870. He then practiced medicine four years, and came to Colorado in 1874. He was married, to Miss Agnes L. Murray, daughter of Hugh Murray, of Wilkesbarre, Penn., November 10, 1870. He spent the year of 1875 in Denver; 1876, 1877 and 1878 were spent in San Juan County. Dr. James was a delegate in the State Convention of 1878, from Ouray County. In the fall of 1878, he removed to Silver Cliff, and engaged in the practice of medicine. He has been speculating, more or less, in mining; he owns the Empress Josephine. Dr. James is physi- cian and surgeon for the Bull-Domingo and Silver Cliff Mining Companies; is a careful and thorough physician, and his prominence in the profession and merits as a practitioner, were recognized in his recent appointment, by Gov. Pitkin, as a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 100

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080