History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 110

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

USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV > Part 110

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millions, and Mr. Weston kept a London tax- London the Guston mine, the ultimate success idermist in his department mounting these of which brought the Red Mountain district heads as above mentioned, and seventy-six of into such favor there and resulted in an im- them were put up in prominent places in eastern cities. He also wrote his first book, viz .: "A Guide to the Kansas Pacific Railway." a work of 208 pages, 10,000 copies of which were published and sold. In 1875 he was sent to his native city, London, as general

mense amount of British funds being invested near Ouray and in the state generally. In 1882 he wrote a pamphlet on the San Juan mines, which was widely circulated and ex- tensively quoted in most subsequent writings and newspaper articles on the San Juan re- European agent of that road, and while there, gion. Ile has also been a regular contributor learning by letter from a chum of his (who to the daily and scientific press of the state. was on a sporting trip at Del Norte) of the In April, 1883, Mr. Weston was married at marvelous gold and silver ores of the San St. Mark's church, St. Ifeliers, in the Island Juan region near by, he, in Oct., 1876, resigned of Jersey, England, to Emily Eliza Sterling, his appointment and obtained admission to youngest daughter of Thomas Sterling Begbie, the Royal school of mines, of London.

lle Esq., ship builder and ship owner, of London, studied there for six months at lectures in and they lived in Ouray until ISSS, when the museum and three months of the time in they moved to Denver, as it was a more cen- the metallurgical laboratory, assaying ores of tral, and therefore more advantageous, loca- gold, silver and lead, and obtained his certifi- rate as assayer from Dr. Percy, then head of the school. In Feb .. 1877, he again sailed from London, a month later arrived in Del Norte, and from thence struck out for the Snef- fels district, 120 miles distant, packing his as- say outfit on burros, via Stony Pass, Silverton,

tion from which to follow his profession as a mining engineer. Ife has been an ardent sportsman all his life and is well known as a tine horseman, a dead shot and a scientific fly fisherman. Commencing April 10, 1875, he wrote a long series of articles to the Eng- lish "Field," over the nom de plume of "Will Red Mountain, and so on into Imogene basin. of the West," the series being headed "Field Sports of Kansas and Colorado." The arti- cles treated of grouse and quail shooting, bison hunting, antelope hunting on horseback with greyhounds, coursing, etc. In Dec., 1877, he wrote another series to the same paper entitled "Silver San Juan." which treated principally of duck shooting and fly fishing, and the above letters have been the means of bringing hundreds of British sports- men to Colorado.

There he formed a partnership with George Barber, also an Englishman, and a good miner, and staked six claims, Weston selling his inule, saddle and bridle to furnish enough bacon, flour and powder and fuse for the first winter's work. For the next four years the two lived in their cabin at 11,200 feet above sea level and drove tunnels over a hundred feet in length on each of their claims, a total of 850 feet of solid roek work, and did their own blacksmithing, cooking, etc. Weston also put up a small drum mutlle furnace in his cabin and tested his own ores, as well as those of his mining neighbors, at the same

WATKINS, Leonard A., merchant, was horn in the great manufacturing city of Birmingham, England, Oct. 2, 1831. He re- time keeping up a steady series of letters to ceived a liberal middle class education, and the "Engineering and Mining Journal" of New at fourteen years of age entered his father's tannery and there received a thorough educa- tion in the hide and leather business, in which York, of which paper he was special corre- spondent for years. There were no mountain roads in those days and in winter no trails, his ancestors for three generations had been but being an expert snowshoer. he

was

engaged. Having mastered the details in all

able to make weekly trips to Onray all its various branches, from tanning and manu- through the severest winters, thus keeping up facturing to buying and selling, when still correspondence with the outside world. In quite young, and being of a roaming disposi- Feb., 1881, Governor Frederick W. Pitkin ap- tion, he emigrated to America in 1852, and

ETBOTTLING WORKS

BOULDER CITY BREWERY

DOFFICE

ICE HOUSE

BOULDER CITY BREWERY, FRANK WEISENHORN, PROPRIETOR.

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HISTORY OF COLORADO.

after spending a year in visiting the different mained until ill health compelled him to re- large cities he established himself in St. nounce railroad work. He then engaged in the mercantile business at New Lexington, Louis. He commenced in his own business at the lowest rung of the ladder and in 1870 Ohio, and coal mining at Roseville which he bought out his partner and took in his continued until ISSO. When twenty-two brother, Fred Watkins, establishing the firm years of age he engaged as freight and pas- of L. A. Watkins & Bro. The head of the senger agent for the C. & M. V. Ry. and the firm was a well-known member of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce for ten years. Being a sufferer from asthma he came to Denver and here found so great relief he de- cided to remain. A man of tireless energy, of large experience and thoroughly devoted to business, he soon re-entered the trade in which he had been trained, opened a house at his present location and began dealing in leather, hides, wool, furs, butchers' and wool- growers' supplies of all kinds, in which busi- ness he is still engaged. His traffic in these lines is the largest in Colorado, the natural result of his qualifications and his popularity with the people. Ilis store at the corner of Fifteenth and Wazee streets being the central resort and general headquarters of cattle and sheep owners, he soon began to take a deep T. & O. Ry. at Junction City, Ohio, at the same time representing the Adams Express company at that point. At the expiration of two years he was promoted to the position of freight and passenger agent of the C. & M. V. Ry. at Lancaster and two years later secured the appointment of general agent of the Z. & O., C. & M. V. and C. & E. Rys. and Star I'nion Line at Zanesville, Ohio. In 1887 he was compelled to come to Colorado on account of failing health. He located in Pueblo, where in 1889 he embarked in the real estate and banking business. He con- tinned that in connection with his duties as assessor of Pueblo county, to which office he was elected in 1850, until Jan., 1895, when he was appointed to the office of state superin- tendent of insurance for Colorado under the

interest in the improvement of breeds, by the administration of Gov. Melntire.

importation of fine stock. From 1878 to 1880 he was president of the Rocky Mountain Woolgrowers' association and one of the most useful of its members. In 1876 he was elected alderman from the 3rd ward. re- elected in 1877 and again in 1882-83. He was an active member of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, and besides taking a lively interest in its movements for the welfare of the city, became a large con- tributor to its mercantile library. The Wat- kins cabinet of rare old books, curiosities of ancient literature, is one of the most interest- ing features of that now great institution. In the course of his later travels in Old Mex- ico he purchased for the library and museum a number of rare and curious old paintings and relies of the okler civilization in that country, which have attracted the attention of thousands of visitors. In ISSS Mr. Watkins built a large and fine business house on his property at Wazce and Fifteenth streets and filled it with various stocks associated with the trade. He is a stanch supporter of Colo- rado manufactures, and his success may be largely attributed to the fact that he has al- ways made it a point to buy for cash.

WIGHT, Frederick Dearborn, was born in Windsor, Me., June 18. 1537, fifth Son of Joseph Wight, who was born in Monmouth. Me., March 9, 1787, the seventh son of Timothy Wight, who was born in Wrentham, Mass., Nov. 10, 1741, and was the fifth son of Jonathan Wight, born in the same place, Jan. 6, 1700. The latter was the fifth child and only son of Jonathan. Sr., who was born at Dedham, Mass. July 2. 1662, the youngest of a family of five sons of Henry Wight. who was the elder of the two broth- ers, who came with their father Thomas and mother Elsie from the Isle of Wight about 1630 and was named first on the list. He. with eleven others, was given authority to found Dedham, Mass. "The twelve having been duly certified by the magistrates, and having subscribed unto the covenant on ye 1sth of ye 5th month, 163%." became free- holders among the original settlers of Ded- ham. Nov. 14, 1619, Ralph Wheelock, Thomas Wight and others founded the town of Med- field, Mass,, from a portion of Dedham, Henry retaining theold Dedham homestead. Thomas and his sons were among the first con- tributors to the founding of Harvard college; the first to assist in levying a tax for and contributing to the first free school in Ded- ham. They hell office many years in the town, and Heury was a magistrate under the general court. He was also the first munici- pal officer of Dedham, and died in that office Feb. 27. 1680. This was the great-great-grand- father of the subject of our sketch. Henry Wight married Jane Goodenow of Sudbury, Mass .: Jonathan ist married Elizabeth Haws of Wrentham: Jonathan 2nd married Jemima Whiting of Wrentham: Timothy, son of the latter, married Sarah Fisher of the same

WALPOLE, N. S., state superintendent of insurance, was born in Roseville, Ohio, May 3. 1858, and it was at that place his earlier education was received. At an age when the thoughts of most boys were far from anything savoring of business, young Walpole was at- tending a business college at night with the idea of perfecting himself in telegraphy and railroad affairs, Following his carlier inten- tions, he. at the age of eighteen, engaged In the railroad business as freight and ticket agent of the C. & M. V. railway, being sta- Coned at Willlamsport. Ohio, where he re- place: Joseph, son of Timothy and father of

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Mr. F. D. Wight, married Mary Merrill of politics, but has not been a candidate for Lewiston, Me. Joseph Wight was a sol- office except on one occasion in 18SS, when his friends in the republican party brought himt forward for the office of governor. dier in the war of 1812; Timothy in the war of the revolution, and the older Wights took part in the Indian wars of King Philip. The WILSON, Adair, lawyer and legislator, was born in Saline county, Mo., Nov. 16, 1841, and educated in Masonic college at Lexington, whence he was graduated in 1858. His father, William Adair Wilson, was a native of Vir- ginia, a lawyer by profession. He subsequently became a resident of Missouri, where he died in 1865. The mother was a daughter of Col. Benjamin Reeves of Kentucky. At the age of eighteen Adair began the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1860. In the spring of 1861 he came to Colorado, but re- maining only a short time, proceeded in the same year to California and continued his studies in San Francisco until 1863, then settled, temporarily, in Virginia City, Nev., where, instead of practicing, he became one of the editors of the Daily "Union." Inelined to follow up new mining excitements, that were numerous at that time, he proceeded to Austin and there became editor of the Reese River "Reveille." A few months later he re- turned to San Francisco. In 1866 he left the coast and returned to his native plale, prac- ticed law there and also took an active part in politics. Being a facile writer and an elo- quent speaker, he made rapid progress toward renown. In the fall of 1872 he came to Colo- rado and settled in South Pueblo, practiced law there for a year, and then changed his residence to Del Norte, in Rio Grande county. In 1875 he was elected to the council of the 11th and last territorial legislature, and in its organization was elected president. Though an active democratic politician, his force has been felt rather as a powerful and extremely attractive speaker than as a place seeker. I'mdoubtedly Mr. Wilson is one of the most effective orators of his party, but he is even more thoroughly admired for his legal ability, his honesty, and courteous manners to all with whom he comes in contact. In 1876 he was a delegate from Colorado to the national democratic convention. In 1880. at the state convention of his party, held in Leadville, he was unanimously nominated for governor, but declined the honor. In 1886 he was elected to the state Senate from the 21st senatorial dis- triet, comprising the counties of Rio Grande, Saguache, Hinsdale, Ouray, San Miguel, San Juan, Dolores and La Plata. subject of this review received a fair educa- tion in the common schools; worked on a farm, saved money and attended the Maine liberal institute at Litehfiehl three terins. afterward taught country schools and clerked in stores until he attained man's estate, when he entered the employ of a large Boston house as commercial traveler in Canada. While there the civil war broke out. Unable and unwilling to abandon his business, but desirous of assisting the Union eanse, he hired a substitute in the provinces, brought him over, enlisted and sent him to the front. One of his brothers enlisted and was slain at Petersburg. About the same time F. D., who had in 1863 married Sarah A. Millikin of Lew- iston, Me., lost his wife by death. Suffer- ing under this double affliction, although har- ing a representative in the field, in July, 1864, he enlisted and served to the close of the war. being commissioned 1st lieutenant and com- mander of company A, 1st battalion, Me. sharpshooters. Ile took part in many of the later battles in Virginia and was a witness of Lee's surrender. Soon after the war he re- sumed his connection with the Boston house and traveled over the United States and C'an- ada until 1873. In the latter year, having ac- quired considerable means from his savings, he located the Travesia ranch in Colfax county, N. M., and stocked it with sheep. Meanwhile (1872) be had married at Law- moor, lowa. Miss Mary A. Briggs, also a na- tive of Maine. In 1874 he moved his family to Trinidad, where they have since resided. Shortly afterward. in company with George R. Swallow, he established the First National Bank of that place. Mr. Wight being the principal stockholder was elected president. which office he retained until 1882 when his ranch interests elaiming his undivided atten- tion, he disposed of his bank stock. While at its head, having much surplus capital, he was enabled to do much toward aiding many worthy enterprises and individuals, He was one of the organizers and principal stock- holders in the Trinidad Gas & Coke company. and also became a large stockholder in the City Water company. He now manages the two systems of arc and incandescent lights. having built the works at large expense and wholly with his own capital, but subsequently WEST, George, soldier and journalist, was born on a farm in the town of Claremont, N. 11 .. Nov. 6. 1826. He had no opportunity for schooling, except a few months each year, until he was fourteen years of age, when, in 1840. he entered as an apprentice to the print- ing business in the National "Eagle" office, a weekly paper published in his native town and still issued there. During this period he attended a local seminary for a few months. This and the limited advantages incorporated as the Trinidad Electric Light. Heat & Power company. He owns and has graded and improved to some extent a 10-acre addition, three-fourths of a mile from the center of the town. The Travesia ranch, which he still owns, comprises 2,500 acres of patented lands, covering water rights and controlling an extensive grazing range which he has stocked with 24,000 sheep and 10,000 cattle. lle has taken an earnest interest in

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offered at country schools comprised the sum self for the vocation of teacher, which pur- of his early education. When about seven- teen he went to Boston, Mass., and continued at the printer's trade in various capacities, as compositor, pressman. reporter, etc. While in the latter city he took profound interest in military matters and joined a company of Mass. volunteer militia. For several years he was captain of H company, Ist M. V. M. In March. 1850, he started for the Pike's Peak gold region, crossing the Missouri river at St. Joseph, April 1. with ox teams, his party consisting of tifteen men, known as the Bos- ton company. Before reaching Fort Kear- ney they met many stampeders coming back from the mines. Eight of his party, dis- couraged by the unfavorable reports, decided to return to the states, but West, with six others, determined to persevere, and on June 12 reached the present site of Goklen, and there the Boston company built the first house in that now beautiful town. In the fall of that year Mr. West began publishing the Western "Mountaineer." on material rented from Thomas Gibson. In the spring of 1860 he went East and brought out a plant of his own. continuing the "Mountaineer" until the fall of 1861. when he sohl it to Matt Riddle- barger, and engaged in freighting on the plains. May 13, 1862, he entered the army as captain of II company, 2nd Colo. volunteers, served throughout the civil war. in Kansas and Missouri, and was mustered out at Fort Riley, Kan., June 15, 1865. Sept. 20, 1863, he married Miss Eliza M., daughter of Judge J. P. Boyd, another pioneer of Goklen. In the winter of 1863-64 Mrs. West joined her husband at the front. and all through the cam- paign of 1564-65, in Missouri, rendered great service to the sick and wounded soldiers in hospital and field. After the close of the war he returned to Colorado and immediately be- came city editor of the Rocky Mountain "News." continuing in that capacity until the fall of 1866, when he purchased a plant, and, Nov. 21. that year, began publishing the Colorado "Transcript," at Golden, which has ever since remained in his ownership, making his by far the longest period of continuous journalistie service in Colorado. Always an active partisan, he has never sought or ac- cepted a political office. In 1587 he was ap- pointed adjutant-general of the Colorado National Guard, by Governor Adams, and conducted its affairs with tine ability for two years.

WELCH, Charles Clark, business man, was born in Pamela. four miles from Watertown, Jefferson county. N. Y., Inne 14, 1830, son of Charles Welch. Jr. He is of Scotch, English and French extraction. His father was a well-to-do farmer, and was the first white male child born north of the Black river in the state of New York. The subject of this sketch spent his early boyhood on a farm, and attended the public schools, At the age of fifteen he entered an academy to prepare him-

suit he subsequently entered and followed ad- vantageously until 1850, when he started for California by way of the Isthmus, leaving New York in March, and after a voyage of 70 days arrived in San Francisco. He then began placer mining at Auburn, in Placer county, and followed the same in that vicin- ity, in the Sierra Nevada mountains and in other parts of California with fair success for the succeeding two years. He was a stockholder and part owner of one of the first quartz mills near Nevada, Cal. In June, 1852. he sailed for Australia via the Sand- wich Islands, visiting the different islands of the group, and after a voyage of 70 days arrived in Sidney. After remaining one year in successful mining operations and gaining some valuable experience, he left Melbourne. sailing by way of Cape Horn, and arrived in New York at the end of a 90 days' voyage. In Dec .. 1855, he located in Chicago, and embarked in a general real estate and broker- age business. The favorable condition of Inisiness and the stimulated state of real estate securities afforded him a profitable tield for his operations, which business he continued to follow for the succeeding five years. In the spring of 1860 he left Chicago for Colorado, and arrived in Denver the latter part of March, traveling across the plains by way of Fort Kearney, on the first tri-weekly coach established on that line. Shortly after- ward he located in Gilpin county and began placer mining in that district, chiefly in Ne- vada and Russell gulches, where he employed a large number of men, and subsequently ex- tended his operations to quartz mining, build- ing and operating quartz and saw mills in Gilpin, Boulder and Clear Creek counties. Ile was superintendent of various mining companies and is still interested in goldl and silver properties in Gilpin, Clear Creek, Park and Summit counties, Colo. In 1870 he be- came one of the leaders in originating meas- ures for the extension of Colorado's railway system from Golden to Denver, and held the position of auditor of the road until its com- pletion to Goklen in 1870. He then became a director and for a time vice-president of the road. In May, 1872, a construction company was formed, of which Mr. Welch was one of the trustees, to complete the Colorado Central railroad from Gollen to Julesburg. After building the road from Golden to Longmont, and grading nearly the entire length, 220 miles, work was suspended. but subsequently resumed and the road completed. In the fall of IST he contracted with the Pueblo & Salt Lake R. R. mnow part of the Santa Fe sys- tem) to grade, tie and bridge their road from Pueblo to West Las Animas, a distance of S5 miles, and took his pay for the entire con- traet in Pueblo county bonds and first mort- gage bonds of the railroad company. He cut two hundred and fifty thousand ties for this road, on and near the present site of Lead-

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ville, and floated them down the Arkansas

spring of 1878, then went to Leadville and river, through the celebrated Grand Canon to established a business house on his own ac- West Las Animas, a distance of about two count. In 1881 he returned to Denver and hundred and fifty miles. He completed his re-engaged with the Denver & Rio Grande contract in Feb., 1876. In July, 1877, he was railroad as clerk in the freight department. In 1884 he was made chief clerk and held that position until Oct., ISST. then was appointed freight agent in the freight department. Feb. 20, 1890, he was appointed assistant general agent, and in June, 1893, general freight agent, which he still retains. placed in charge of the construction of the Colorado Central railroad from Longmont via Ft. Collins to Cheyenne, a distance of seventy-six miles, and completed the same the first of November. Ile was vice-president during its construction. He was president of the Denver & Santa Fe railroad during its construction, and for some years after, and is still a director of the company. In 1877 he became extensively engaged in coal mining on Coal creek. Boulder county, opening the Welch coal mine. The mine is now owned by the Louisville Coal Mining company, of which Mr. Welch is one of the principal stockholders. In ISTS he was one of the or- ganizers of the Handy Ditch company, and was made its president. He irrigates from this ditch about two thousand acres of his own land. In Jan., 1880, he was elected president of the Cambria Fire Brick com- pany of Golden, Colo. In 1872 he was elected to the territorial legislature from Jefferson county, and filled that position creditably and honorably during his term of office. He was married May 22, 1878, to R. Jeanette, daugh- ter of 11. S. Darrow of Michigan. He has two children, one son. Charles C., Jr., and one daughter, Jeanette L. V. He is a member of the Masonie fraternity, having taken the thirty-second degree. In 1885 he, in con- nection with others, organized the Golden Ditch and Flume company, and was made its president. This is one of the most ex- pensive ditches for its capacity in the state, and irrigates a large traet of land lying be- tween Golden and Denver. He was presi- dent and one of the principal promoters of the Denver, Lakewood & Golden railroad. and in 1885 was made its vice-president. Mr. Welch owned a large tract of improved land on which he raised, one season, over thirty thousand bushels of wheat. Ile gave the ground on which the first building of the State school of mines at Golden was erected. lle took great interest in and worked for the passage of the bill to establish this school, believing it to be of greater importance to the state than any other institution that could be established. The improvement of this school has been a sonree of great satisfaction to him.

WAITE, Davis Hanson, ex-governor of Colorado, was born at Jamestown, N. Y., April 9, 1825. Here he remained until twenty- one years of age. attending the common schools and the Jamestown academy, and . teaching, after he was eighteen years of age, in the district schools during the winter months. The elder Waite intended that he should take a collegiate course at Dartmouth college, but owing to ill health the plan failed. Mr. Waite entered the law office of his father and elder brother, but soon after attaining his majority he was called to Rus- sel. Warren county, Pa., to act. temporarily, as a clerk in a store kept by his cousin, who was at the time sick. llis cousin died, and his death resulted in a complete change in Mr. Waite's purposes. While residing at Rus- sel he was quite active politically, and in 1848 was among the few in Pennsylvania who supported Van Buren and Adams upon the free soil ticket. In 1850 he moved to Fon du Lac. Wis., and for about a year was engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1851 he removed to Princeton (now in Green Lake countyi, in the same state, and continued to follow mercantile pursuits for eight years. In 1856 he shipped a cargo of wheat in bags from Princeton to New York, and while ab- sent from home on this trip was nominated and elected to the state legislature for East district, Marquette county, upon the Fremont ticket. In 1859 he moved to St. Louis, Mo .. and later to Houston, in the same state, where he taught a high school. Political ex- citement at the presidential election reached high-water mark in Missouri, and Mr. Waite, with a wife and two small children, thought it prudent to leave the state, and he left none too soon, as the next week the people were hunting for Yankee school masters with shot guns. Ile went East, stopping in 1861 and part of 1862 at Warren. Pa., where he became a clerk in the recorder's office, and in the winter of 1861-62 was principal of the Union school in Warren. During the rebel invasion of the state he volunteered as a soldier for three months, and went with a company

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History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 110

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