USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV > Part 96
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115
35-iv
546
BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.
in the San Luis valley, where he now lives, one of the reliable men of the county, publie at the age of seventy years. Mr. Pim has spirited and heartily in favor of all measures seen much of the western country, and pos- caleulated to advance the interest of the sesses a store of information concerning its people. early history and settlement that would be of great interest to the general reader, but limited space precludes the idea of our giving it here in detail.
PIERCE, Jeremiah N., was born in Monti- cello, Wayne county, Ky., May 21, 1548. In 1851 the family settled on a farm in Wayne county, lowa, Jeremiah received his educa- PICKENS, A. H., city auditor. was born in Georgetown, D. C., Nov. 7. 1864, and after attending the public schools a short time his health failed, when he was compelled to re- ceive instruction from private tutors, He was for a long time a page in the U. S. llouse of Representatives. He came to Colorado in 1883. and located in Denver with Judge J. B. Belford. He studied law with the Ilon. G. G. Symes, attended the Georgetown law school, and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Colorado in June, 1887. He was see- retary of the fire and police, board of Denver. when that institution was first created, and tion in the publie schools. In 1871, and for two years thereafter, he was employed as col- lector for Dr. A. Coyle of St. Louis, Mo. Feb. 24. 1873. he came to Colorado and located in Fremont county. where he was engaged in the cattle business until 1882, when he went to Leadville and entered the wholesale butch- ering business, in which he has continued with signal success to the present time. He also owns ranches and cattle in Routt, Grand and Summit counties. April 7, 1886, he was elected to represent the 1st ward in the Lead- ville board of aldermen, for a term of two years. In Nov., 1SS9, he was elected a men- was secretary to Mayor Wolfe Londoner. In ber of the board of commissioners of Lake the fall of IS92 he was elected a justice of the peace, which position he held until the spring city of Denver.
of 1895, when he was elected auditor of the county. Mr. Pierce is the principal in the firm
PRACKWINKLE, William, packer. was born in St. Charles county, Mo., in 1852. and remained there until twenty-one years of age. being edneated in the public schools. lle then settled in Kansas City, remaining one year. then removed to Louisville, Ky., and (n- gaged in the sewing machine trade for five years, then came to Colorado, located in Den- ver, and for the first five or six years was as- sociated with the commission house of N. B. Mccrary & Co. He next became secretary of the Colorado Packing company. In 1884 he became interested in the Gebhardt Cattle com- pany, and is now secretary of the same.
county, serving three years. April 29. 1884. he married Miss Emma K. Davis of Pueblo of Pierce, Basley & Co., wholesale butehers and dealers in live stock, one of the more prominent houses in Leadville.
PARVIN, Roland G., was born in Prince- ton. Ind., in 1868, and was edueated in a private school at Evansville, Ind. In 1880 lie eame to Colorado and located at Silver Cliff. At the end of one year he returned to Evansville and again entered a private school, where he remained until 1885, when he came to Colorado the second time, and located at Red Cliff, beginning his business career by investing in mines in that vicinity, and meet- ing with varying success. In ISSS he re- moved to Denver, and in 1801 was elected secretary and treasurer of the Union Deposit & Trust company, and still retains that posi- tion. In the spring of 1891 he married Miss Hattie Viola Dexter, daughter of James V. Dexter.
PARLIN, J. T., farmer and stock grower was born in Norridgewock, Me., in 1832. He attended school partly in his own state. and finished his education in Boston. Mass. He went to California in 1855, and after spending five or six years in that state, set- PERCHARD, James, clerk of the court of appeals. was bom on the Island of Jersey, Dec. 29, 1851, remaining at the place of his nativity until nineteen years of age, during which time his education was received in private schools. Upon reaching his nineteenth year tled in Nevada, where he remained about four years, and then returned to Maine. After about three months at his old home, he went back to California and worked on the Central Pacific railroad until ISGS. He lived about three years on a ranch in the Sierra valley. he went to sea and followed it for two years, Ile came to Colorado in 1874 and engaged in after which he returned home for a short visit of three months, then removed to Chi- cago. Ill., where for two years he was en- gaged in the pickling business. In 1875 he came to Colorado and located in Georgetown, where he first engaged in min- ing and then in merchandising for four years with fair success. in the meantime serving a term of three years as deputy sheriff of Clear Preek county. Removing to Denver he first clerked in the office of the auditor of state
the stock business near Denver. Three years subsequent to that time he located in Gunni- son county, on his present farm, which em- braces eight hundred acres of land. In con- nection with his farming interests he con- duets a dairy, and also raises cattle and horses, lle has been postmaster at Parlin since 1879; was a county commissioner by ap- pointment for one year, and in 1877 was elected to that office. He has been a justice of the peace since 1877; is a Mason and a char- and subsequently re-entered the merchandise ter member of Gunnison lodge No. 32. He is trade. continuing until 1889, when he took a
547
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
short trip to Aspen, and upon his return to to Denver in Oct., 1861, with his mother, Mrs. Denver was appointed deputy clerk of the M. A. Perry, and an elder brother, and has supreme court, which he retained until 1890, since made it his home. His father, William when, upon the creation of the court of ap- peals, he was appointed clerk and has con- tinued in that position up to the present time.
PALMER, Levi, farmer, was born in Ohio in 1840. He moved to Wisconsin from his native state in 1855, and remained there until he came to Colorado. May 12. 1860. After he became a citizen of this state. he went to Gilpin county and spent two months in min- ing. and then to the Blue river, where he lived until the fall of 1862, when he made a trip to the Missouri river for freight. Ile returned to Denver in December, the same year, and occupied the Peter Magnes ranch until the fall of 1863. engaged in farming. At that early date, he sold his crop of grain in Denver for eight cents per pound. Disposing of what he had raised on the farm, he re- snmed the freighting business and continued it until 1866. In the meantime, and especially in 1864. the Indians on the plains were troublesome, and at one time became so dan- gerous in their raids, that Mr. Palmer suf- fered losses with others, but managed to ecape without personal injury. In the spring of 1867 he went into the stock business and located on Dry creek, in Douglas county. where he remained until 1870, when he pur- chased a portion of the farm he now occupies and combined farming with stock raising. Ile discontinued the stock branch in 1890,
PARKER, O. S., insurance manager, was born in Stukely, Canada, Province of Quebec, near Lake Memphremagog, Feb. 11, 1855. In INGS, with his parents, two brothers and two sisters, he removed to Grinnell, Iowa. and there, after a course in the public schools, at- tended Iowa college. In 1875, while in the freshman class, his health failed from over- stady and he was compelled to abandon the hope he had formed of graduating with high honors. Changing his residence to Odebolt, and has since been following exclusively agri- in the same state, he engaged in the subscrip- cultural pursuits. His land is well cultivated and the place has undergone so many vamna- ble improvements that it is classed among the best and most productive traets of land in that district.
PELLENZ, J. P., mechanic, was born in New Orleans, La., in 1846. He left home in 1865, and after traveling through portions of the South, and residing a short time in the city of St. Louis, he located in Chicago, where he remained until 1880. At this date he came to Colorado. Ile worked at his trade in Denver for T. P. Hughes, and then went into business on his own account in 1882. Since that time, he has continued in business as a practical plumber, gas fitter, sewerage and ventilator constructor. He has done work on some of the best buiklings in that city and is regarded as one of the most pro- ficient in the trade. In 1873 he married Miss Augusta Braggren. Five children have been born to them, four of whom are now living.
PERRY, William Russell, was born in Lawrence, Kan .. Jan. 31. 1859, the year in which the discovery of goldt in the Rocky Mountains by Jackson, Gregory, Russell and others inaugurated the movement that built the state of Colorado. While he lay in his eradie, the pioneers were laying the founda- tions of a great commonwealth. He came
Perry, was attorney for the once celebrated western firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell. lle died in this eity in 1861. Wil- liam R. was educated in Montreal, Can- ada, and in St. Louis, Mo. At the age of twenty-three he was employed as traveling reporter for Bradstreet's commercial agency in Colorado and Wyoming. continuing five years. Sept. 7, 1887, he married Miss Minnie B. Ilall, daughter of Charles L. Hall. Jan. 11 of the same year he was appointed clerk of the county and probate courts, under Hon. Geo. W. Miller, and served two terms. Tak- ing a lively interest in local politics, and in the conventions of his party, he ran for the office of county clerk and recorder on the demo- vratie ticket in 1880, but was not successful. Soon after the expiration of his service in the county court he went to Europe and re- mained until 1893. when he again became a resident of Denver.
tion book business, chiefly as general agent for Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota and Nebraska. Being very successful he pursued this calling for five years, Ang. 7. 1881, he married Miss Jennie Ilulett of Calhoun county, Iowa. In March, 1852. he came to Colorado, settled in Denver, and, in connection with Mr. George 11. Harvey, the firm of Harvey & Parker was formed in the wholesale cigar and tea trade. lle is now state agent for Colorado of the Massachusetts Benefit Life association.
POWERS, Michael J., dairyman, has been in the dairy business in Arapahoe county con- timmously since 15 2, during which year he came to Colorado. He has lived in various places about the suburbs of Denver and in each has made substantial improvements. Ile began operations near the Union Pacific shops and then located at the Fair grounds, where he remained five years. In 1500 he purchased property on lligh street, East Denver, where he has since lived and where his business is conducted. Ile married Catherine MeNulty and has one child, Mary Catherine, born in Colorado in April. 1802.
ROUTT, John L., ex-governor, was born in Caldwell county, Ky .. April 25, 1826. Com- meneing with the final chapter of our terri- Torial history. and at intervals extending through the tour volumes of this work, fre-
549
BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.
quent mention appears of this distinguished gentleman in connection with the political and industrial chronicles of the state, to which the reader is referred for details. His father died during his infancy, when the widowed mother removed with the family to Illinois in the year 1835 and settled in Hancock county, near the village of Carthage. Ilis early education was limited to the common schools of that day, but being of an inquiring mind and an inces- sant reader, he kept pace with and surpassed many of the boys of his age who received an upon at length in our general history. Declin- academie or university education. In 1840 he ing to be a candidate for re-election he re- removed to Bloomington, Ill., where he pur- sued the occupations of a machinist, carpen- ter and architeet until he was about twenty- four years of age. After filling several minor positions of public trust he was, in 1860. elected sheriff of MeLean county, which posi- tion he resigned in 1862 to enter the I'nion army. Rapidly recruiting a company of young men he was commissioned captain and it as- signed to the 91th Ill. volunteer infantry as company E (the color company). This regi- ment served in Missouri and Arkansas in the year 1862 and part of 1863 in the command of General Herron and took part in a number of hotly contested engagements. In the spring of 1863 he was detailed as quartermaster of the expedition organized near Rolla, Mo., to march upon Little Rock, Ark. By virtue of his energy, fine organizing powers and su- perior efficiency he was retained for some
tired at the end of his term and gave his per- sonal attention to mining certain properties owned by him near Leadville (see Vol. II, page 442). Thenceforward to 1890, with the exception of serving as chairman of the state central committee and participating in the proceedings of conventions of his party. he took no further active part in politics. In the fall of the year named the better element of the republican organization determined upon having a change of administration as a rem- edy for certain grievous evils which had brought the state into disrepute, and especially a more satisfactory conduct of the finances, nominated and triumphantly elected him gov- ernor, despite the fact that the party had been divided and torn by widespread and fierce dis- sensions. lle was inaugurated early in Jan .. 1891, and assumed charge of affairs when the lower House of the General Assembly was in time in that position. In the latter part of a state of revolt and confusion unparalleled in
May. 1863, the command in which he was serving was ordered to join General Grant's army before Vicksburg, where it remained nn- til the capitulation of that city, after which it went to Port lhudson, Miss. In the fall of that year the command went to Brownsville, Texas, with the 1sth army corps. Meanwhile Captain Routt was appointed a regular Q. M. and as- signed to duty as chief Q. M. of the "Army of the Frontier" on the Rio Grande, with the rank of colonel. After the defeat of General Banks' Red river expedition in 1864 Col. Rontt was ordered to New Orleans and thence to Baton Rouge, where he remained in charge of the ont- fitting depot until finally mustered ont of the service, Sept. 20. 1865. Returning to Bloom- ington. Ill .. after three years of ardnous and honorable duty in the army, he was elected treasurer of his county, and at the expiration of his term was re-elected. When he first assumed the duties of the office the county finances were in great disorder, but he sue- cerded in reinstating the normal credit, and at the close of his term left them in excellent condition. In the autumn of 1869 he was tendered and accepted the chief clerkship to The second assistant postmaster-general at Washington. While in that office (1870) he was appointed United States marshal for the southern district of Illinois, and in that year took the census of the district, comprising sev enty-two counties. In the fall of 1872 he was appointed by President Grant second assistant
postmaster-general. Ile accepted. resigned the marshalship and served until appointed governor of Colorado Territory in Feb., 1875, under circumstances related in Vol. II. page 273. A review of his administration will be found in Vol. III, page 18. When the state was ushered into the Union in 1876 he was elected its first governor, and upon him fell the responsibility of molding and fortifying the new form of government. How success- fully this emergency was met has been dwelt
our history, disturbed by faction fighting, mob violence, armed force and murder being among the exciting events. The House of Representatives was almost hopelessly rent asunder, operating , in two distinct sections. To increase the disorder the election of a I'mited States Senator, always a subject of much hot contention, was interjected. Never- theless, the governor, by his strength and pacific measures. succeeded in calming the tempest, in reducing chaos to order and sub- segmently converted it into an active and harmonious working force. So much of Gov- ernor Routt's connection with our govern- mental affairs have been set forth in the pre- ceding volumes it is needless to repeat it in this review. No other man has thrice filled the executive chair of Colorado, and but one (Governor Pitkin) who has served more than a single term. Surely, it will be universally conceded, none have been more devoted than he to the higher welfare of the commonwealth. This is shown by the record. Although his great popularity has made him universally snecessful in politics. still the better element of his character and of his public duties is most strikingly manifest in the watchful con- sideration he has uniformly given to the finan- rial trusts reposed in him. He is also equally, perhaps even more, devoted to the preserva- tion of the legacy in public lands transmitted to the state by Congress in the Enabling aet for the use of the schools and for public im-
549
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
provements. The careful protection of these was also licensed to trade with the Cheyenne heritages from speculative spoliation is one and Arapahoe Indians. This was carried on of his more admirable achievements. Having been intimately associated with the three great wealth producing industries of the state-min- ing, agriculture and stock raising-and taking an abiding interest also in everything that per- tais to the general advancement, his third terin was even more effective for good than its predecessors. Although he started in life with only a public school education, and al- though lacking the technical knowledge of the modern college graduate, still by his own efforts and energy, his thorough knowledge of human nature and by his constant reading and a careful study of the various questions with which he has been confronted, he has acquired an education which is far more useful and practical than any which would be indicated by a college diploma. His great fund of sound common sense, his patriotism and his spotless integrity impel him to discharge every duty with serupulous fidelity to the people who, by their acts, have borne testimony to their con- fidence in him. Although advanced in years he is still sturdy and robust. Having been a hard and earnest worker all his life, honored with many public positions, he has risen to wealth and exalted rank by virtue of the qualities, of which the foregoing is a hasty synopsis. in the firm name of Lee & Reynol Is. The busi- ness expanded rapidly until they had seven trading posts in the Territory and the Texas Panhandle. This continued with largely prof- itable results until the fall of iss1. In 1879 the firm had acquired 100,000 dry and 45,000 dressed buffalo hides, and as they could not readily be sold there Mr. Reynolds, with others established two wholesale houses for their disposal, one in New York and the other in Chicago. Three years later they were all sold, that period marking the total extinction of the buffaloes. They engaged extensively in the cattle trade, and in that connection purchased also 165,000 acres of land on the Canadian river. In 1881 the firm dissolved when Mr. Reynoldsorganized the Reynolds Land and Cat- the company, which he isstill operating. In 1879 he became interested in Colorado mines. In association with the Thatcher Bros, of Pueblo he purchased the Belle of the West and other mines near Lake City and the now famous Virginius on Mount Sneffels near Ouray, which since has been developed into one of the great mines of the state. In 1884, at the solicitation of friends in New York, he bought interests with them in the Durant, Smuggler and other mines at Aspen, and assumed personal man- agement of those properties, conducting the REYNOLDS, Albert E., mine owner and operator, was born in the town of Newfane. Niagara county, N. Y., Feb. 13, 1840, educated in the district schools, in Fort Edward Insti- tute and at Madison university, that state. His paternal grandfather was a captain in the war of 1812 and on the maternal side James Van Horn was a prominent citizen of Niagara county, owning several woolen and touring mills. His mother's youngest brother, Burt Van Horn, was a member of Congress from that district throughout the late civil war. Al- bert, in May, 1865, with $so as his entire capi- tal. moved westward in search of fortune, and finally located in Junction City, Kan., where for a few months he was employed as a clerk in a general store. Then with a younger brother he purchased a stock of goods on credit and the two established a store in Richmond, Mo. A year later they closed out and A. E. returned to his former employer in Junction City. Soon afterward he was sent to old Fort Lyon, Colo., to take charge of a trader's store, arriving in Nov., 1867. Here he remained until the ensuing spring when he bought the remainder of the stock on hand. and securing the appointment of post-trader from the war department, moved up to the present or now Fort Lyon, and, with a few litigation which then grew out of the "side- line and apex" cases to a successful issue. These mines subsequently paidover $5,000,000 in dividends to the stockholders. Remaining in charge until the termination of the legal contests in 1858 he resigned and began the great Rovenne tunnel to develop the Virginius. This tunnel, completed in 1802, is 7,500 feet long and intersects the mine at a depth of 2.300 feet. Its cost, including the up-raise to the ok workings with water and electric power, was $500,000. lle had just perfected plans for the Revenue mill to reduce the ores when the memorable collapse of the silver market occurred (1593). hence construction of the mill was suspended for one year. At the close of 1594 the mill was completed and began running. lle is interested in valuable mines in Tin Cup district, Pitkincounty, in Marshall Basin and at Summitville, Rio Grande county, and is largely interested in the New York, Commodore and Pittsburg combination at Vreede which has been very profitable. lle assisted in building the Utah & Pleasant Val- ley R. R. from Provo to Pleasant Valley coal fiells, afterward merged into the Rio Grande Western R. R. Next to D. Il. Moffat, Mr. Rey- nolls is the largest mine operator in Colorado, a sagacions manager and a very successful business man. April 26, 1954, he married Miss
boards and a condemned government tent. Dora Earl at Columbus, Wis. One child. a erected the first habitation on that noted mili- daughter. is the only issue. They reside on tary site. He furnished, by contract. all the capitol hill. Denver.
lime used in buikling Fort Lyon. In the fall of 1869 he went to Camp Supply. 1. Tor .. secured the post tradership there and page 179.
ROSS-LEWEN, George E. See Vol. 111.
550
BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.
REED. Hubbard W., mining engineer, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y .. Dec. 30, 1849, and was graduated from Dartmouth college in 1870. In July of that year he joined an engineering corps engaged in surveying a line for the Northern Pacific railroad and was thus en- gaged until 1874. As chief of a party under Gen. Rosser, chief engineer of that division, Mr. Reed directed the first surveys across Da- kota and up the Yellowstone river in Montana. Ile came to Colorado in 1875, arriving in Den- ver July 10; went to Pueblo and thence on horseback with a small party to the San Juan country. Until the summer of 1576 he mined and prospected in the counties now covered by Quray, San Juan, and La Plata. In the year last mentioned he settled in the town of Ouray and has since been engaged in mining in all of the so-called San Juan counties, but chiefly in Onray. In the spring of 1880 the Caroline
Mining company purchased the noted Virginius mine and appointed Mr. Reed superintendent. This is probably the most extensively devel- oped and best equipped property in south- western Colorado. All of this work has been done under his direction. The mine has a superior hoisting and pumping plant and mill for concentrating its low grade ores. This was one of the first mines to be lighted by electricity, the system being introduced in the fall of 1885. It has the largest electric pumps in nse in the United States. To further de- velop the Virginius and other mines the Rev- enue tunnel, 7,800 feet long, was driven to in- terseet the Virginius vein at a depth of 2,300 feet below the surface. This is the most stupendons enterprise of its class in the state with one exception, the Atlantie & Pacific tut- nel above Georgetown. Mr. Reed is also superintendent of the Monarch Mining com- pany in Ouray county and of the Hector in San Miguel, both among the regular produeers of gold and silver ores. Mr. Reed's connec- tion with mining affairs in the region named has given him great prestige because of his long and intimate experience and his superi- ority as an engineer and manager.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.