History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 77

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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GIVEN, Harrison H., florist, was born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1863, and nine years later the family moved to Golden, Colo. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to the printer's trade. Ilis primary education was received In the public schools, supplemented by a course at Jarvis Hall in 1880, Having acquired some knowledge of railroading from his father, who was superintendent of the Colorado Central R. R., he took a position with the Great Northern railway, with head- quarters at St. Paul, Minn. In 1889 he re- turned to Denver and engaged in the floral business, which he has conducted to the pres- ent time. In 1991 he married Miss Mand Charles, daughter of Hon. J Q. Charles of Denver.

GRUBER, E. Henry. See Vol. III, page 163.

distinguished hero until the close of the war. lle retains in his possession letters of recommendation from both Generals Grant and Rawlins, which he prizes very highly as valuable memorials of the war. He was in the battles of the Wilderness, was present at the surrender of General Lee, and witnessed the entire transaction. After the close of the war he went to Washington, and was present in Ford's theater when President Lincoln was assassinated, being an eye witness of that horrible tragedy. In the fall of 1865 he re- turned to Alexander and there engaged in business. He came to Denver in 1866 and en- gaged in the retail and wholesale meat trade, which he followed for fifteen years. Since that time he has been in the wholesale busi- ness exclusively. lle has been thrice married, the first time to Miss Catharine Selak at Georgetown. Colo .. Oct. 28, 1868. Mary. now the wife of W. E. Searle, was the only issue. His first wife died in 1876. Jan. 24, 1878. he married Miss Etta M. Gray, and to them two children were born. Jan. 15. 1890, ho mar- ried Mrs. Laura A. Harriman, to whom two children were born. He is a Royal Arch Ma- son and has been very successful in business.

GIBLETT. Jolin, dairyman, was born in England, in 1862, and remained there until 1882, during which time he received his educa- tion. In the year last named he crossed the At- lantie and came to Colorado. Soon there- after he began the dairy business, which he has steadily pursued with good success ever since, the produce being marketed in Denver.

GRUNDEL. A. F., was born in Sweden. Ile came to Leadville in 187S, and engaged in prospecting, burning charcoal and working in the mines. With his brother, he located a ranch in Eagle county in isSI, and they to- gether have about 250 cattle and 40 horses. Mr. Grundel is a member of the Improved Order of Red Mon.

GREEN, Michael, contractor. was, during his lifetime one of the most active men in the country. lle was a railroad contractor, a road master and superintendent of track laying. le came to Colorado with the Kansas Pacific railroad in 1870, at which time it was com- pleted to Denver. Hle invested in real estate, improved his property on Arapahoe and Law- renoe streets, and realized handsome profits out of his investments. Ile at one time owned the corner where the Jesuit church edifice is now located, at Twenty-eighth and Larimer

GUARD, James, soldier and merchant, was born in the parish of Chittlehampton, Devon- shire, England, Jan, 20, 1838. In 1857 he emi- grated to the United States, arriving in New York, April 12, that year. He went to work on a farm at Alexander, N. Y., attending school in winter, and doing chores for his board. In streets, and sold the same to Bishop Mache- 1850 he located In Cincinnati, but soon after- beur. He was a democrat in politics, a member of the Catholic church, and a liberal contributor to every good cause. Ile died ward accompanied a stockman to Louisiana. where he remained four months; thence to Parkersburg. W. Va., where he found em- March 18. IS-3.

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HILL, Nathaniel P .. ex-t'. S. Senator. It part in the preliminary campaign, which was is difficult to relate the entire history of ex- successful, and a majority of the Second General Senator lill within the limited space at our Assembly being favorable he was duly elected disposal, but as many of the salient points in the session of 1879, taking his seat in the in his somewhat extraordinary career, so far extra session of Congress that year. While extremely active in forwarding the material welfare of Colorado through his great office, in aiding the passage of measures to that end, and in promoting like interests through the various departments, it was not until June, 1SS2. that he began to take a leading part in the great debates. On this occasion he de- livered a well-considered speech on the sub- ject of silver coinage, in reply to one made by Senator Sherman of Ohio, in which he gave a general review of the question in its var- ious bearings, embracing the history of such coinage and the relations of the metats in dif- forent countries, back through the ages, taking strong ground against the pending proposi- tion to suspend the issue of standard silver dollars under the Bland act. Dec. 15, 1864, he delivered a still more comprehensive and convincing argument upon a resolution sub- mitted by himself, against a new proposi- tion to suspend the coinage of silver doftars, which had been recommended by the presi- as they are identified with the industrial and political development of this state, have been set forth in preceding volumes, it is onty es- sential to epitomize succinctly the early begin- nings, with a brief glance at subsequent events. He was born on a farm in Orange county, N. Y., Feb. 18. 1832, and bears his fa- ther's name in full. Nathaniel P. Hill. Ten years later his father died, leaving a large es- tate, of which the son whose life we are re- viewing, at the age of fourteen. took charge. The beginning of his education was had in the Montgomery academy, which he attended in the winters until 1853, and then entered Brown university, Providence, R. I., and four years later graduated. Prior to this, however, his rapid advance in the study of chemistry, and his comprehensive knowledge of that branch. caused him to be made a member of the col- lege faculty, an unusual honor, and in 1558 he was appointed instructor in chemistry. This proved a fortunate selection not only for him- self but for the college also. In 1859 he was dent and secretary of the treasury. Again, advanced to the professorship in that science, in Feb., 1855, a third speech was made upon which chair he occupied nearly five years, a lfouse resolution for the retirement and re-

with a steady increase of reputation and sci- coinage of the trade dollars. Meantime, in Oct., 1883, he wrote a lengthy and exhaustive paper for the "North American Review," en- titled "Gold and Silver as Standards of Value." and subsequently another on the ques- tion. "Should Silver be Demonetized?" both of which were widely read, and commented upon by the principal journals of the day. In Jan., 1856, he addressed the Commercial club of Providence, R. I .. the very hot- bed of monometallism, on the same subject, producing signal effect, and for the first time converting some of its members from their error in contending for the single standard. It is by no means extravagant to declare that the broad distribution of those speeches and maga- zino articles were among the most potential influences toward bringing about the present standing of the currency agitation throughout the fand. White Senator Hitl did not at first contend for nor expect absolute free coinage of silver, the chief question being upon the expediency of repealing the Bland act, and subsequently upon suspension of coinage, his tater efforts and researches clearly indicated the importance of unlimited coinage and that entifie usefulness. In 1864 his first visit to Colorado was made under circumstances and resultant effects set forth in Volume I, pages 443 to 447. The first political office held by Prof. Ilill was that of mayor of the city of Black Hawk. iu 1871-72. In 1871 he was also elected a member of the territorial coun- cil. Ninth Legislative Assembly, representing Gilpin county. From that section sprang some of the most eminent men of after times and its most distinguished statesmen. When he came to Colorado as manager of the Boston & Colorado smelting works, though a large stockholder in the company, he was compara- tively poor, but the marvelous success of this enterprise, when thoroughly established, gave him a moderate fortune, with the certain promise of steadily increasing revenues, which has been realized. Prior to 1878 he gave little heed to politics, except to lend what assistance he could to the leaders of the republican party in the course of its for- ritorial and state campaigns. While his name was incidentally mentioned by certain friends m connection with the senatorship in 1876, it was without the hope or any prospect of his the movements then upon the legislative chess

lection. But in the spring of 1878 the politi- board must inevitably lead to that as a final result. We have witnessed the development of this question from 1876 to the present day. In all the speeches since printed in the Con- gressional "Record," scarcely one new fact has been evolved. The clearest analysis and the most extensive presentations appear in the addresses and papers just referred to. cal opportunity came in the form of the ex- piration of Senator Chaffee's term, and his positive declination of further honors. This announcement compelled the republican party to choose a successor. and Prof. Ilift, having relocated his smelting works near Denver, and being in a position to accept the nomination to the place, was made a candidate for the They contain the true history of the relations thus vacated senatorship. Ile took an active of the metals from the beginning of their em-

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ployment as money down to the present. llis ties, where he engaged in mining for a time. efforts in behalf of the Postal Telegraph bill. Soon tiring of that laborions, and to him un- remunerative pursuit, he settled in Denver, forming a law partnership with Hon. Hliram P. Bennet. Continuing practice until the spring of 1866, he was in April of that year appointed chief justice of the territorial supreme court, as the result of a joint memo- rial adopted by the legislature addressed to President Andrew Johnson, asking him to appoint a citizen of Colorado to that position, and recommending Mr. Ilallett because of his understanding of mining and other local ques- tions, his eminence as a lawyer. and his identification with the higher interests of the which he persistently advocated, though not successful. still remain as an influence that may yet lead to adoption. One of the good effects has been experienced in many parts of the country through the rapid advances made by the Postal Telegraph company. which is gradually, but surely, undermining one of the monopolies of our time, the con- sequent steady reduction of telegraph tariffs. and the wider extension of facilities to the common people. Soon after his retirement from the Senate (SST, he purchased four- fifths of the capital stock of the Denver Daily "Republican," which since has become people. This memorial, passed February S, was the leading newspaper between Chicago and San Francisco, both in the extent of its cir- enlation and in the influence it exerts. In July, 1:87, he became interested in th > oil fields at Florence, Fremont county, forming what then was known as the Colorado "oil Trust." At a later date it was incorporated as the I'nited Oil company, N. P. Hill. president, the largest corporation now operating in that field. In Jan., 1891, he was appointed by President Harrison a member of the Interna- tional American Monetary commission, the ob jeet of which was to secure a uniform coin- age by all the nations of the American conti- nent. Ile is still general manager of the Bos- ton and Colorado Smelting company, the first successful establishment founded in Colorado. and the only one of its class. I believe. on the American continent, annually producing mil- lions of refined gold and silver, from the prec- fous ores of Colorado and neighboring states. A brief résumé of his work in the Senate has been given. White opinions differ as to the policy pursued by his newspaper, the one 1- changeable fact remains that it has accom- plished vast benefit through incessant de- mands for various reforms in state and local governments, especially in the line of finan- cial administration. The expansion of the oil industry has been largely produced by the company he represents, through methods which have almost wholly excluded the im- portation of illuminating oils from Pennsyl- vania. thus affording home producers a steady market. As a financier, organizer and manager, he has few superiors, and it is chiefly to these marked characteristics that his great success is due.

HALLETT. Moses, judge of the U. S. dis- triet conrt, was born in Galena, IL., July 10. 1834. He was first educated at Rock River seminary, and subsequently in Beloit college. Wis. At the age of twenty he began the study of law in the office of E. S. Williams. Chicago. After a thorough course of reading and instruction he passed the examination, was admitted to the bar, and immediately commenced practicing. In the spring of 1860 he came to Colorado and passed up to the gold mines of Gilpin and Clear Creek coun-

approved by the governor, and. being for- warded to Washington, produced the desired effeet. In April he was commissioned, and entered upon his duties. Ile represented the counties of Arapahoe and Douglas in the third territorial legislature, and also in the fourth session of 1865. He remained on the territorial bench from April, 1866. to the ad- mission of the state in 1576. when President Grant appointed him judge of the United States district court for the district of Colo- rado. Ile is, and from the first has been, noted as an industrious and intelligent stu- dent of the law, penetrating the depths of every proposition submitted to him for de- termination. He never was a fluent or elo- quent advocate, but always a wise and safe counselor, rigidly honest, forceful and fre- quently profonnd: had he never been elevated to the bench he still would have been an eminent lawyer. With a strong judicial mind. he brought to his office the great ad- vantage of a thorough training in his pro- fession. Long years of experience upon the bench sometimes begets a certain dismelina- tion to reconsider expressed views, but no judicial officer is less governed by pride of opinion than JJudge Hallett. lle is firm. without question, but the position is taken only after deliberation; he wishes to be right above all things, and no one can exhibit a greater readiness than he to retrace his steps when convinced of his error, a magnificent quality in any man, but in a judge a virtue beyond estimate. The effect of his own training, discipline and kindly disposition is manifest in his court: business is dispatched. but there is no evidence of haste: dignity in its true sense is always apparent, and casts its pleasant influence upon all who enter the temple. The respect of the bar and the con- tidence of the entire mass of the community are his, while his standing in the supreme court of the I'nited States is that of one of the purest and best officers in the service.

HARTSELL, Samuel, stock grower, was born in Bucks county, Pa., Nov. 22. 1536, and resided in Allegheny City until 1854, when he began driving cattle from there to New York, continuing until 1857. He then re- moved to Kansas and there worked for Rus-

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sell, Majors and Waddell in the cattle trade the supreme court, was born in Poughkeep- until 1860, when he came to Colorado and sie, N. Y., May 20, 1850. At the age of eleven he entered the State street high school at Albany, N. Y., where he completed a pre- paratory course in 1864 and at once entered Williston seminary at East Hampton, Mass., whence he graduated with honors in 1867. For three years afterward he lived with his parents at the homestead near Poughkeepsie, but, ambitious to enter the legal profession, in 1870 he commenced the study of law in his native city. In July of the same year he came to Colorado, first visiting Denver, where he remained only a short time, then removed to Huerfano county, where he be- came identified with its interests and pros- perity. In 1874 he was nominated for county judge by the Huerfano county republicans, and while the democrats were largely in the ascendancy he was elected by more than 300 majority, and for three years served accept- ably in that position. In Oct., 1878, he was united in marriage to Miss Julia Palmer, and three children have been the fruit of this union. He established his home in Alamosa. In March, 1SS1, upon the formation of the 6th judicial district, he was tendered the office of district judge by Governor Pitkin, but declined it to accept the district attorney- ship of the new district. In the fall of the same year the republican convention of the 6th judicial district nominated him by acela- mation for the office of district attorney and he was elected by something over 1,000 ma- jority. ffe was an energetic, able and care- ful prosecutor. In 1882 he was nominated for judge of the district court and elected by 1,200 majority. He was an able and im- partial jurist, his decisions meeting with but few reversals in the supreme court. i Nov., 1SSS, he was elected to the supreme beneb for a full term of nine years, and in Jan., 1892, became chief justice. settled in the South Park as a miner in the Tarryall district, Two months later, dissat- istied with mining, be began herding stock for Warren and Bowers, continuing until the spring, when he engaged in the cattle busi- ness on his own account, which he has car- ried on to the present time. In the spring of 1863 he located at the forks of the South Platte river, where he still resides, the place being known as "Hartsell station" on the Colo- rado Midland railroad. The ranch comprises about 9,000 acres of patented land, 5,000 be- ing under irrigation. He owns also the Hart- sell Hot Springs, valued for their medicinal properties. In 1862 a war party of 600 Sioux and Arapahoe Indians, after a battle with the Utes at Granite, on returning stopped at his ranch and stole everything movable from his house except a red-hot cook stove, which they were generous enough to leave. They whipped his berder with ramrods from their gun barrels because he endeavored to pre- vent them from robbing the house. In 1868 Mr. Hartsell himself, while out gathering berries, was captured by a band of Sioux Indians, who had killed the son of Tom Rob- bins and another man named Everhart near the present Colorado Springs, but in a short time they released him. Later they overtook six Utes, whom they murdered and also took sixteen of their horses. Mr. Hartsell was the only white man who escaped their vengeance while on this expedition. He lived in the South Park during the reign of terror caused by the Mexican Espinosas, whose bloody careers have been related in our first and second volumes. in 1877 he married Mrs. Mayol, widow of Frank Mayol, and three children, all girls, born of this union, are still living. His ranch is situated eight miles along the Little Platte and six miles on the Fairplay branch. He controls all the land between those rivers for the distances named. Near the railway depot he has stock- vards for loading cattle, and a hotel in con- nection with the Hot Springs. There is a school house, wagon and blacksmith shops and a saw mill on his premises. He claims to have the best grade of short-horn cattle in the state and was the first to bring a pedi- gree bull of that breed into the state of Colo- rado. In 1869 he brought from Bloomington, fll .. twenty-two well-bred mares and two half-blood Norman stallions, the first of Nor- man stock in Park county. Three Hartsell brothers came from Switzerland in 1723 and settled in Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pa., about 15 miles from Quakertown. They purchased their lands from William Pen. One of these brothers was the great uncle of the subject of this sketch. He has a cousin. John Hartsell, now living in Penn- sylvania, on a part of the land originally bought of William Penn.

HAYT, Charles D., present chief justice of

HENRY, Theodore C., president of the Hen- ry Investment company, was born near Clif- ton Springs, N. Y., June 21, 1841. He received his earlier education in the public schools of that place, and later at the Canandaigua academy; was principal of the high school at Clifton Springs when he was nineteen, and when not occupied actively upon his father's farm adjoining that village, was en- gaged in teaching. In the fall of 1865 Mr. ffenry went to central Alabama and engaged extensively in cotton raising. In common with all others, as the result of an extraor- dinary falling off in prices of cotton and the disturbed commercial and political conditions, l:is ventures resulted disastrously. With a pittance of his fortune saved from the wreck. he removed to the interior of Kansas and engaged in the real estate business, purchas- ing nearly a section of land upon which a large portion of the town of Abilene is now built. Six years from that date he was not only one of the most extensive land owners in the state, but began extensive farming

RANCH OF BENJAMIN QUICK, ON WEST PLUM CR. DOUGLAS COUNTY.

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operations, and in 1975 became the largest farmer in the state, raising in a single year nearly 10,000 acres of wheat. He was widely known as the "Wheat King" of Kansas. llis farming operations included other erops. Hle was also the owner of large cattle and sheep ranches, and added fruit growing. lle was active in public affairs, not only in his own section, but outside of it, extending into poli. ties in the state capital. He was president of the State Fair association from its re- organization in 180 until after he removed to Colorado; was a member of the state Non- ate, of the board of Centennial exposition commissioners, regent of the Stato Agricul- tural college, the leading candidate for gov- ernor against John P. St. John, and was noted not only for his great farming, wheat growing and stock ranch operations, but for his large real estate holdings; dealt very ex- tensively in real estate, loans, banking, etc., and conducted the largest business of any individual in that state. He came to Denver in 1883 with a capital of nearly half a million dollars and almost unlimited eredit, and established the Colorado Loan & Trust company; became directly interested also in the Denver Cirele railway and its large landed estate in South Denver; bought the Denver Daily "Tribune," which was after- ward consolidated with the "Republican." and in all things was a man of great energy and always engaged in transactions of great

stranded, but as before when misfortunes overtook him, he began anew. Hard times rendered progress exceedingly slow, and all business ventures precarious. He has not yet recovered his lost fortune or prestige, but with returning prosperity of the country and his vigor and strength unimpaired, it is safe to prophesy that he will eventually regain all that has been lost.

HEAD, Lafayette. Nec history of Conejos county. this volume.

HOWARD, Charles S., merchant and manu- facturer, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 7, 1844. In 1855 the family moved to Dubuque, lowa, where, in 1862. when only eighteen years of age, he enlisted as a private in com- pany I, 21st lowa infantry, and served there- with until the final collapse of the civil war. In the spring of 1866 he went to Chicago and there engaged in the lumber trade with Palmer, Enller & Co., continuing ten years, during which he acquired the proficiency which characterized his fine success achieved in after life. In Dec., 1876, he severed his connection with that firm, and Jan. 1. 1877, came to Denver. Soon afterward the firm of Hallack & Howard was established and has continued to this date. One has little need to search the records for information respect- ing the issue of this partnership. Its stand- ing and progress are as well known through- out the West as the fame of Denver and Colorado, for its traffic in lumber, its manu- magnitude. An extensive office in the Tabor block was opened in 1883 and the company capitalized at $300,000. During its existence he loaned on real estate in Colorado over a million dollars and negotiated, besides, the sale of stocks and bonds of Colorado com- panies to the amount of three millions of dollars. Down to 1886 were added private investments by the stockholders of the enter- prises inaugurated by Mr. Henry's company in this state, nearly two million dollars. Most of these investments were made in irrigat- ing canal and land enterprises. The great irrigating systems of the San Luis valley, the Grand valley, the I'neompahgre valley, the Lower Platte valley and the Arkansas valley owo their inception and construction to Mr. Henry's efforts, besides many other less pre- tentious irrigating enterprises in other parts of the state. lle organized the Fruita Town factures and its building contracts have been co-extensive with their growth from 1876 to the present time. He was a close and careful financier, a shrewd and farsighted business man, endowed with sagacity to penetrate the future, fitting his plans and contracts to con- ditions that were well studied and every con- tingeney provided for. lle was systematic and thorough, but always judiciously con- servative. During his residence in Denver two striking epochs have given it extraor- dinary development, the first, the outgrowth of a great mining excitement which extended from about the beginning of Ist9 to the close of 1852, and the second from 1586 to Sept., In the two intervals, one of three years and the other of four, a marvelous amount of building of all kinds was done. much of it by Hallaek & Howard, either by direct contracts of through supplies furnished company in the Grand valley, where the ex- by them to other contractors. In both fields perlment of fruit growing on a large scale of enterprise the demands upon them were at times well nigh overwhelming. The owners of the most extensive planing mills in the city, in that valley was entered upon: laid out the town of Henry, now the flourishing town of Monte Vista, in the San Luis valley; also and probably the largest dealers in building the towns of Atwood, Mosca and others. Ilis materials, they managed to keep abreast of companies have improved and placed under their orders and obligations of that nature. In addition to their business in Denver, branch yards were located at various points in the state. Their transactions extended cast to the Missouri river and Chicago, north to Ore- gon and south to Texas, their lumber being gathered and centered here from each of the cultivation 150,000 acres of land in Colorado. Inst as the great work was about aceom- plished. and most of it within two years from the time he came to the state, tedious. expensive and unfortunate litigation ensued which in the end left him almost financially

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History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 77

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