History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 109

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company
Publication date: 1889-95
Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co.
Number of Pages: 791

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manager. In Ists he was elected to the state Senate from Gilpin county for a term of four years, and at the session of ISS] was elected president of that body. When Prot. N. P. Hill became a Senator of the United States, Mr. Wolcott was appointed acting manager of the smelting company. In ISAS he was made chairman of the Colorado delegation elected to the republican national convention, which miet in Chicago, and nominated Benjamin Harrison for the presidency, and in the en- suing campaign wrought earnestly and offer- tively for his election. In Isst. in connection with Mr. S. N. Wood and others, he assisted in organizing the Merchants' National Bank of Denver, and was elected president of that Institution. When, at the beginning of ISS2.

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its business was consolidated with the First have been related. Damon and Pythias were National, he was chosen vice-president of not more fervently devoted to one another than are these brothers, Henry and Edward, more tender and beautiful in human ties and relationships than is here exemplified. that bank, which he retained until Aug., 1891, when his stock was sold and the connection a fact known of all men. There is nothing severed. In 1552 he was brought prominently forward as a candidate for governor, as stated elsewhere, since which time he has taken no further part in politics than to aid to the fullest extent of his influence the ad- vancement of his brother's election to the Senate. Retiring from the management of the Boston and Colorado Smelting works in 1887, he has since been continuously engaged in supervising the large real estate, smelt- ing and other property interests he has ac- quired in Colorado and Montana. lle was one of the organizers of the Denver club, and, with the exception of two years, has been its president since its organization in 1880. This is one of the finest institutions of its class west of New York, the owner of a mag- nificent building, richly and tastefully fur- nished and appointed. It is, moreover, by virtue of its executive management. the first snecesstul effort of the many undertaken to

WOLCOTT, Edward O., U. S. Senator, repre- senting the state of Colorado, was born in Long Meadow, Mass., March 26, 1848, son of the Rev. Samuel Wolcott of that place. ris ancestors were among the early Puritans, who left England under the reign of Charles I. The first of the family to emigrate was Henry Wolcott, progenitor of the name on this continent. He was the second son of John Wolcott of Tolland, Somersetshire. He, with one hundred and thirty-nine others of his creed, embarked March 20, 1630, in the ship Mary and John, which arrived at Nantasket May 30th following. They settled at Wind- sor, Conn., when the first independent church in that state was established. The father of our Senator was a famous theologian and preacher in the Congregational church, a establish a gentleman's club in the City of graduate of Yale college and, during our late civil war, one of the most earnest and elo- quent champions of the Union eause. In 1861 the family removed to Cleveland, Ohio, but prior to that event Edward had taken a course of instruction at Norwich (Conn.) academy. At Cleveland he was prepared for Yale, which he entered with the class of 1870, but was not graduated. Shortly after- ward he entered Harvard law school. where he was fitted for his profession. His law studies were continued in the office of C. T. and T. II. Russell in Boston. At the age of sixteen, there being an urgent call for volun- teers for the temporary defense of Washing- ton, he enlisted in a company of young men recruited for that special duty. When the need passed these troops were discharged and Mr. Wolcott returned to his studies. In 1871 he came to Colorado, whence his elder brother had preceded him in 1869; taught sehool at Black Hawk, in Gilpin county, for a short time, and then opened an office in George- town. Clear Creek county. While awaiting

Denver. Mr. Wolcott's talents lie pre-emi- nently in the direction of large financial proj- eets. He has never manifested the slightest inelination toward any of the great pro- fessions. His comprehensive mind has been thoroughly cultivated by more than twenty years of experience in the busy whirlpool of Colorado for corporate and co-operative work on a large seale. It was Mr. Arthur Helps who said that "consummate men of business are as rare almost as great poets, rarer, per- haps, than veritable saints and martyrs." While Mr. Wolcott is not, nor does he claim to be, a great leader, he is unquestionably an excellent financier, connecting his prestige and capital with many large enterprises, managing their affairs ably and well, with the usual result of well-directed skill. Had he been disposed to make a profession of poli- ties, to which he was persistently urged by friends, he might have won the highest prizes. It involved no sacrifice on his part to resign all such aspirations in favor of his brother, for outside of that interest he has clients, he contributed entertaining letters to had no desire for political distinction. His

the press of the territory and some of the candidacy for the governorship was not of prominent Eastern journals. For a few weeks he also edited the Georgetown "Miner." Mr. Woleott acquired little promi- nenee as a lawyer until 1876, when he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney for the 1st judicial district, comprising the counties of Gilpin, Clear Creek, Jefferson and Boulder. Thenceforward his rise at the bar. and in the politieal affairs of the state as a member of the republican party, to which he was strongly attached, was almost phenom- enally rapid. It was at this time that the better capabilities of the man became strik- ingly manifest to the publie. Some time he- fore the expiration of his term he had ae-

his own seeking, but to serve others. His election to the state Senate was inspired by the same motive. Ile was a superior pre- siding officer, a serviceable legislator, univer- sally esteemed and respected, and undoubt- edly would have been a superior chief magis- trate. Ile has a very large cirele of attached friends, all the requisite qualifications for leadership, including genius for political eom- binations. He is methodical and orderly in all things. One of the more noticeable and admirable traits of his character is his help- fulness to worthy young men who only need a fair start to make rapid and commendable headway. Numerous instances of this naturo complished the unprecedented feat of elear-

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ing the dockets of the district of all criminal peared before the convention and electrified causes that could be disposed of, and in a it by one of his most brilliant forensic efforts. manner to compel the adiniration of courts, The main object was distinctly kept in view lawyers and juries. It was then that he first throughout the proceedings, and in the ulti- established his reputation for eloquence and force in both civil and criminal causes. Some

mating canvass events operated together with such exact precision of arrangement that a of the speeelies then made were among the majority of legislators favorable to his aspir- most effective he has ever delivered. It was ation was chosen. The General Assembly was largely republican in both branches. A caneus of that party was held Jan. 2, 1889, for the purpose of nominating a Senator. But one ballot was taken. When the Assembly met in joint convention, he was elected by a very large majority for the term of six years, beginning March 4, 1890. In personal ap- pearance, manner and bearing, Senator Wol- cott is one of the most fascinating of men. Young, fresh, vigorous, with an extremely attractive face, broadly informed, an ardent lover of literature and art, polished and re- fined, a royal entertainer, he has won as the beginning of his celebrity as a speaker. the initial epoch as well of his political career. Having executed his mission as dis- trict attorney to the entire satisfaction of all save the class npon whom he had closed the doors of the state penitentiary, he re- signed and in 1878 was nominated and elected to the high office of state Senator, and at onee became the leading figure in the Senate of the General Assembly. Ilere, again, his re- nown as an orator, no less than as a law giver, became widely recognized through a number of masterly addresses upon the more important measures before that body. When, great admiration in the higher society of the in June, 1879, Colonel L. C. Ellsworth was ap- pointed receiver of the Denver & Rio Grande railway, under the circumstances set forth in Vol. 11 of our general history, Mr. Wolcott was made its attorney, which induced him to abandon his practice in Georgetown and to locate in Denver, where, in addition to railway business, a large general practice came to him. In Jan., 1884, when the Rio Grande company was reorganized and re- habilitated under the administration of Presi- dent Moffat, he was by the directorate elected general counsel, a position which he still retains. His first active engagement in state polities, where his force as a speaker and director of combinations was eminently dis- played, was in the legislative session of 1879,

national capital by these qualities, as by his brilliancy in oratory. A true analysis of his character will discover that he is a devoted friend and an implacable enemy, bokl, fear- less, impetuous to rashness when aroused, candid and outspoken in either case, employ- ing no subterfuges, going direct to the point. acknowledging his faults and follies frankly, without the slightest effort to hide them, proceeding in all things upon a line of action that, whether right or wrong. he conceives to be the right course to pursue, and calmly accepting the consequences. In surveying the list of prominent men in Colorado, it is impossible to find a just comparison or parallel. In most of his ruling character- isties he is so unlike other men of our day when he exerted great influence upon the as to be wholly exceptional, a figure stand- ing by itself, an extraordinary exemplifica- tion of traits that exort a wonderful influence upon all with whom he may be associated. In dash and impulsive daring, when great odds are to be overcome, he may be likened to Sheridan and Custer. In popular oratory he is unexcelled. His delivery is so rapid. fervent and sweeping as to compel the ap- plause of his auditors; so charming in rhetori- eal linish, so facinating, as to enforce admira- tion, even among his stoutest opponents. As a lawyer his practice is very large and luera- tive. The record thus far has been almost meteoric, filled with swiftly consummated aims that have led to fortune and eminent reputation. Only forty-seven at this writing. possessed of a strong physique, in perfect health, occupying a rank which only a few men of his years have reached, his better as- pirations awakened by the dignitles con- ferred, his faculties ripening with experience, we may distinctly prediet for him a com- manding future upon the predicate of events just recounted. In 1595 he was re-elected to the Senate for six years.

election of Hon. Nathaniel P. Hill to the Senate of the United States. The next was as a member of the republican state conven- tion, and in the preliminary canvass which led up to it in 1882, when his brother, Henry R. Wolcott, was brought forward as a can- didate for the governorship of Colorado. This campaign has been epitomized in Chapter HI, Volume III. From the inception to its close he wrought unremittingly for his brother's nomination, but in vain. But for the peculiar combinations of the period he would have been successful. We need not dwell upon the incidents which marked this canvass as an important and exciting political epoch, since they have been appropriately recorded in the volume already mentioned. In 1886 Mr. Wolcott resolved to be a can- didate for the United States Senate at the next ensuing election. There was no conceal- ment, no attempt to disguise his desires and purposes. They were boldly announced and as boldly executed. It was made the purpose also of the governing element of the republi- can party. To that end delegates to the state convention were selected and elected and the state ticket nominated. Mr. Wolcott ap-

WARD, Jasper D., lawyer and jurist, was

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born on a farm, the paternal homestead, Feb. plications he withdrew, and that year stumped

1, 1829, in Java, then Genessee county (now

Wyoming), N. Y. During his childhood (1835)

the family removed to Chicago, which was merely an Indian encampment without pres- tige or hope of renown, but shortly afterward returned to New York. He was first edu-

cated in the common schools and at Aurora and Springville academies and finally at Alle- gheny college in Meadville, Pa. To meet the cost of this course he taught school between

terms. He remained at this institution two

years, then began the study of law at Aurora,

N. Y., in the office of Albert Sawin, which previously had been the office of Millard Fill-

more, then president of the United States.

mitted to the bar. In the fall of that year he wood to Buffalo, where, in 1852, he was ad- Subsequently he moved with Sawin & Lock-

went to Chicago, then a city of less than 50,-

000 inhabitants, and there began the regular

practice of his profession. In 1854 he was

elected to the board of aldermen and for two

years sat in the municipal council with Dr.

John Evans, afterward governor of Colorado. In IS5S he was again elected to the board of

aldermen, having in the meantime been ap-

pointed assistant city attorney, In 1860 he

Gregory mines and those of Buckskin Joe in came to the Rocky Mountains, visited the

Park county, being one of the locators of the Phillips lode, which gave the place its prestige in that and subsequent years; and also at- tended the miners' meeting which organized the district. Early in the fall of 1860 he re- turned to Chicago and at once entered the campaign for Lincoln and Ilamlin. He made many speches in different parts of the state and his heart and soul being thoroughly inter- ested in that most memorable of all presiden- tial contests of this republic, his addresses were extremely effective. It was here that he attained something of his celebrity as a stump orator. As the canvass progressed,

and he was more and more awakened to the vast importance of the issues then pending, which foreshadowed the mightiest civil war in history, he became inspired with the deep- est powers of eloquence and expounded the

gospel of republicanism and of the Union to

In Aug., 1861, he enlisted in the army and soon after was promoted to 1st lieutenant and stationed in Missouri. then one of the more turbulent hotbeds of rebellion. In the spring of 1862 he resigned, returned to Chicago, and, in the fall was elected to the state Senate of Illinois, where he served two terms each of

four years. Here he manifested his old zeal for the Union cause, forwarding it by every means in his power, advancing legislation to that end, encouraging the enlistment of vot- unteers, forwarding sanitary supplies, deliv-

ering numberless addresses, inspiring and

the state with Richard Oglesby in the first candidacy of the latter for the governorship. In this exciting canvass his power to move the hearts of audiences, both in war meetings and

political assemblies, gave him great fame all over the Northwest. He was called for by

many committees to come and help them in

their work, and whenever practicable he promptly responded, exerting himself to the utmost in every direction. So great was the

family, and then only for a few hours at a demand that he rarely visited his home and

time. In 1866 he made a great speech to 5.000 soldiers, boldly advocating the enfran- chisement of the negroes, far in advance of

In 1868 he came to Colorado on a visit, strik- any action by Congress to that end.

political campaign. ing the territory in the midst of an exciting

Though here for rest and recuperation, which he could not get at home,

the leaders of the republican party induced

him to make one speech at the old Denver theater, which stood at the corner of Lawrence and Sixteenth streets. The house was packed with interested people. When called on for

his speech he advanced to the footlights-ker-

osene lamps-his hands shoved deep into his pockets and began in a languid, hesitating way, the theme of his discourse: "The war and the principles of the republican party."

some one in sympathy with the Confederate which was loudly and coarsely resented by At length he gave utterance to a statement

cause who stood back in the densely crowded pit. In an instant both hands left the shelter of his trousers and were lifted on high, then came the answer in such a burst of splendid

oratory as had never been heard within those

walls. The audience became wild with the same spirit which inspired him, lifted off their feet by the tremendous sweep of words that burnt into their souls, and made themselves hoarse with cheering. Said a listener: "I

time, before, during and after the great strug- have heard many eloquent speakers in iny

gle for the supremacy of the Union and its constitution, but never such a flood of oratory as fell from this man's lips." It is doubtful if in all the great round of campaigning he had

tens of thousands who flocked to hear him. done he ever made a more brilliant and mov-

ing address. lle was in his prime, strong,

robust and vigorous, in the fullest power of a splendid manhood, the compeer of Yates, Logan, Oglesby, Lyman Trumbull and all the great men of the West. In 1872 he was elected to Congress from Chicago, and James G. Blaine. then speaker, appointed him a member of the judiciary committee of which General Ben Butler was chairman; also of the committee on District of Columbia, public

When the bill to enable the people of Colorado grounds and buildings, mines and mining.

to form a state government was brought for- ward by Mr. Jerome B. Chaffee, MIr. Ward became a champion of that measure in the

cheering all movements for the good of the cause. In 1864 he became a candidate for Congress, but owing to certain political com- House, and helped the hosts on the floor until

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HISTORY OF COLORADO.

its final passage, as related in our second vol- opening of the Mississippi he resigned his po- ume. The people of Colorado owe him much gratitude for his fidelity to their interests on that occasion. He was chairman of the sub- committee which did the work of thoroughly investigating the condition of affairs in Ar- kansas during the reconstruction period in the political outbreak known as the "Brooks- Baxter war." In 1874 he was renominated for Congress by acclamation, but in the en- suing election was counted out by eight votes in favor of Carter Harrison, who controlled the election machinery of Chicago. Shortly after the expiration of his term he was ap- pointed by President Grant U. S. district at- torney for the northern district of Ilinois. an office that he held for a little more than one year and then resigned to resume the practice of law. As we have seen, he pos- sessed the qualities that command the earnest attention of men. Hle was equally effective as a lawyer and advocate before courts and juries. Notwithstanding the extent of his engagement in political affairs he acquired a very large practice. While fully cognizant of the value of preparation in advance, he has never delivered a set speech, that is to say. one written out and memorized. in Sept.,

sition and entered Williston seminary and af- terwards Princeton college and the Columbia school of mines. He next passed ten years as assistant in the I'nited States assay office in New York City, and while there acted as ed- itor, or assistant editor, of several scientific journals and publications, He came to Colo- rado in 1879 as manager of the Evening Star mine at Leadville: also general manager of the Ward Consolidated and Farwell Consol- idated and the Terrible mining companies; also the Adams Prospecting company and the Sterling company, of Gunnison county. In 1883 he removed to Denver, retaining his min- ing interests. In ISS9 he was appointed by Governor Cooper commissioner from Colorado to the Paris exposition and was there made vice-president of jury 49. The year 1890 was passed at Oxford university, England, where he was engaged in preparing a "Life of Cato of l'tica." Returning to the I'nited States. he was appointed chief of the mining depart- ment of Colorado at the Chicago World's Fair: prior to this Princeton conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Science. le is one of the oldest members of the Denver Cham- ber of Commerce; was the first president of the Denver Art league and an early member of the Colorado Scientific society, being also them, all now living. In July. 1877, he came a member of the Oxford Scientific society and of the Society of mining engineers. Mr. Ward has also been appointed a commissioner to represent Colorado at the exposition to be held in Paris, France, in 1900, A. D.

1854, he married Miss Emma J. Raworth. of Chicago. Four daughters have been born to to Colorado, located at Leadville soon after the great discoveries of mineral there and on- gaged in mining. In 1SS1. when the new judicial district for that section was created by the legislature, Governor Pitkin appointed him judge of that cont. it was one of the more important in the state because of the frequency of mining litigation. Ile served until the following January, declining an election. From that time to the present ho has praetieed law. In ISSO he removed to Denver, forming a partnership with Mr. Oscar Reuter, which still continues. He owns sov- eral large tracts of excellent farming land in Arapahoe county and several residence blocks in the city. In ISST, the first year of Mayor Win. Scott Lee's administration, he was cor- poration counsel for the city. llis portrait appears at page 278, Volume It.

WESTON. William, mining engineer, is the ehlest son (by his second wife) of the late Henry Weston, Est,, a magistrato for the county of Surrey, England, and for thirty years a private banker in the Borough. London the establishment being known as "The Bor- ongh Bank." Mr. Weston, Sr., in the latter years of his life, lost the greater part of his large capital in unfortunate investments, and at the early age of fourteen his son, Willian. was sent out into the world to play leap-frog with its cares and troubles. He was tirst sent to Toronto, Canada, where he lived for some fifteen years, part of the time as assist- ant cashier of the "Globe" newspaper, then as proofreader, commercial editor and finally city editor of the "Leader," both Toronto dailies. Then for three years he held an ap-

WARD, William Shaw, D. Sc., was born May 25. 1844. at Madras, India, his parents being AAmericans. They removed to Geneseo. Livingston county, N. Y., where he received pointment in the Canadian civil service, and. his early education in the Geneseo academy. resigning that through love of out-door life, for tive years shot wild fowl fished and trapped on the northern lakes of Canada, becoming well known as one of the crack shots of that country. He was an officer of artillery vol- unteers during the Fenian troubles in Can- ada and served six months in the regular school of artillery established by the English government for the instruction of volunteer officers, and obtained and holds a first-class certificate as an instructor of artillery, signed At the breaking ont of the war he enlisted in the United States navy, being appointed mas- ter's mate on the gunboat Indianola, then in course of construction at Cincinnati, Ohio. After an active campaign in which the In- dianola, after running the Vicksburg bal- teries, was sunk in a ram fight below that city, he was taken prisoner and exchanged at City Point, and again joined the Mississippi squadron as an officer on the gunboat Choe- taw. After the fall of Vicksburg and the by John R. Anderson, colonel in the royal ar-

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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

tillery, then commandant of the school. In pointed him state commissioner of mines, An appropriation to pay the commissioner then passed the House, but was defeated in the Senate, and the House retaliated by re- 1870, attracted by an advertisement of the land department of the Kansas Pacific rail- road and the promises of sport on the frontier, he came West and first obtained a position in pealing the law creating the office. But the the land department of that road. From honor was conferred nevertheless. In the same year a New York company purchased Mr. Weston's claims for $50,000, giving him a start, and he then identified himself with made Ouray what it is to-day. Ife was one of three who put in an electric light plant to light the town; was the largest subscriber to the building of the Beaumont hotel and brought great sums of foreign capital into the It was he who first sold in this he drifted into the passenger de- partment, rising rapidly to the position of general traveling agent of the line. One of his most effective methods of advertising all the prospects and enterprises which have Colorado in the East is remembered by many, as a large circular shieldl, with the stuffed head of a bisou handsomely mounted in the center, and lettering round the outside of the shield, calling attention to the advantages of Colorado. Bison then roamed the plains in Ouray district.

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History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 109

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company Publication date: 1889-95 Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co. Number of Pages: 791

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company
Publication date: 1889-95
Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co.
Number of Pages: 791