USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 67
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 67
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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
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
HON. R. S. LITTLE.
R. S. Little, the founder of the beautiful vil- lage of Littleton, was born in Grafton, N. H., May 12, 1829. In 1836, his father bought a hotel near Nashna, N. H., which he kept until his death. At the age of twelve, young Little was sent to school at Pembroke Academy, where he displayed a decided taste for mathematics. He also early showed considerable musical talent, and with his violin paid his way through college, graduating at twenty-one, at Norwich, Vt. He assisted in the survey of the first railroad from Danforth Corner to Milford. In 1851, he started West, via Rouse's Point and Ogdensburg, then staged it to Watertown, and thence to Rome, N. Y., and by rail to Buffalo, where he embarked on a boat for Detroit. After lying blockaded in ice for a time at Detroit, he took the railroad for Michigan City, making six or eight miles an hour over strap rails. From Michigan City, he went by boat to Racine, Wis., thence by stage seventy miles into the interior of the State to Janesville. In the spring of 1851, he run the levels for the first railroad survey from that place to Chicago, the line now forming a part of the Chicago & North-Western Railway. The company collapsed, owing him $500, and he shouldered his pack and footed it to Eagle, Wis., where he soon found employment on the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad, made the preliminary survey from Madi- son to tlie Wisconsin River, and had charge of the construction of the road west of Whitewater, after which he surveyed a line from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac. In 1853, he located, constructed and operated the road from Milwaukee to Colum- bus, Wis., as assistant to E. H. Brady. Septem- ber 24. 1854, he was married to a daughter of John Harwood, of Nashua, N. H., and settled in Watertown, where he did much toward the build- ing-up of the city. In 1858, he laid the track from Fond du Lac to Oshkosh. In 1860, he came to Colorado and engaged in the construction of the capital hydraulic ditch, from the site of the present village of Littleton to Denver. He
took up 160 acres of land under the claim club law, to which he afterward added a homestead of 120 acres. When the railroad lands came into market, he purchased a tract of 640 acres and engaged in ranching, gardening and dairying. Finding the climate of Colorado beneficial to asth- matics, he sent for his wife in 1862, met her in Chicago, and brought her across the Plains with an ox team, being two months on the way. On reach- ing the high altitudes of the Plains, she was at once relieved, and has suffered from no recurrence of the disease except on a subsequent visit to New England. In 1867, Mr. Little, with John G. Lil- ley and others, erected the Rough and Ready Flouring Mills, which were destroyed by fire in 1872, with a loss of about $45,000, including stock on hand. They at once set to work to erect another mill on the same site. In 1873, he was elected to the Territorial Legislature, receiving 3,000 votes, out of a total vote in the county of 3,100, being nominated by the Republicans, and indorsed by all the other parties. While a member of that body, he introduced a bill for the watering of a half-million acres of land, by the construction of a larger canal to start from the Platte River, ten miles above Littleton, making the land-owners under it the stockholders, and assessing the land thus benefited pro rata, but owing to a variety of causes, the bill failed to pass, and the canal has not been built. In 1874, the mill again burned down with a much heavier loss than before. They at once erected the present substantial stone mill, with five sets of buhrs, and a capacity for manufact- uring 200 sacks of a superior grade of flour per day, while the warehouse has a storage capacity of 20,000 bushels. In 1875, Mr. Little platted the village of Littleton, which by that time had be- come a considerable settlement. The history of Littleton is his history ; he has been the leading spirit in all public improvements, churches, schools, etc. Through his wonderful energy, and con- mendable public spirit, notwithstanding losses which would stagger, if not utterly dishearten, a man of less nerve, a beautiful village has sprung
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up within the past few years, and become the home of a contented and prosperous people.
HON. JOHN G. LILLEY.
Mr. Lilley was born in Northamptonshire, England, June 12, 1833. In 1853, he visited America, stopping at Portland, Me., and going thence to New Brunswick and home to England via Ireland. In 1854, he came again and located as a butcher in La Crosse, Wis. In 1856, he again returned to England, and married Miss Louisa Hiller, of Burtonhead, opposite Liverpool. From this union he has eight children. In 1860, he left La Crosse and came to Colorado, engaging in the Gold Dirt Lead near Central. In 1862, he settled on his present farm, near the present village of Littleton, entering 120 acres under the elaim club law. He now owns 360 acres of fine, fertile land, second to none in the Platte Valley, Mr. Lilley has dealt largely in cattle, beginning in 1865, in company with W. D. Coberley, buying sheep, cattle and horses in Southern Colorado and driving them to Denver. In this business they were very successful. In 1867, he, with R. S. Little and others, built the Rough and Ready Mills, which have been twice destroyed by fire. Mr. Little was elected to the Territorial Legisla- ture on the Republican ticket in 1871, and served as a member of the Committee on Stock and Agriculture and Chairman of the Enrolling Com- mittee. He took an important part in all legisla- tion pertaining to the pastoral and agricultural interests of the State. While dealing extensively in stoek, they experienced many difficulties with the Indians during the Indian troubles of 1868. On one occasion, they had a herd of 180 four and five year old steers on the Big Sandy. These were stolen and but about thirty ever recovered, while one of the herders was killed. Mr. Lilley also took an active part during the Indian war of 1864, was chosen Captain of a company of volun- teers that was raised in and about Littleton, and met with many exciting adventures. Mr. Lilley is one of the best representatives of the intelli-
gent agricultural population of Colorado, which is certainly not exeelled, if equaled, in point of intelligence, enterprise and general information by that of any other State in the Union.
EDWARD B. LIGHT.
Edward B. Light, President of the Denver Manufacturing Company, was born on a farm near Fairport, Monroe Co., N. Y., August 2, 1842. His father was a blacksmith and carriage-maker by trade. At the age of two years, he was taken by his parents into the village of Fairport, where his father resumed work at his trade. He is one of a family of nine children, of which four brothers and two sisters are living. In 1852, he removed with his parents to Michigan, who settled upon a farmi. Five years later. his father died, and he went from home to earn his own livelihood. He spent four years, alternately working and attending school, which was three miles distant. His uncle and aunt, with whom he lived, kindly assisted and en- couraged him in his efforts to obtain an education. In the fall of 1858, he went to Lansing, Mich., and accepted a clerkship in a store. At the end of three years he had $600, which he had saved from his earnings. as a nucleus for beginning business, but on the breaking-out of the war, in 1861, he entered the army in the Eighth Michigan Infantry, and soon afterward was promoted to Sergeant. He was then detailed as recruiting officer, until Sep- tember, when he joined his regiment and embarked on a steamer for Hilton Head, S. C. During the voyage, they encountered a terrible gale, scattering the fleet, and foundering several vessels. They ar- rived at Hilton Head, without further loss, on November 5, and were ordered to hold themselves ready for action. After careful soundings, the naval forces determined upon bombarding the forts, Fort Beauregard being situated on the south side of the bay, and Fort Walker on the north side. On the 8th, ten or twelve gun-boats formed in a circle, and began the battle. After seven hours of the most brilliant naval fighting witnessed during the war, they captured the forts. After landing
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the troops, Sergeant Light was placed in charge of the First Union Guard, in South Carolina. In February, 1862, he was again sent North as re- cruiting officer. In May, the Government, believing they had sufficient troops in the field to subdue the rebellion, issued a general order for all recruiting officers to join their commands. Sergeant Light joined his command at James Island, in time to participate in the attack on Charleston, which oc- curred June 16, 1862. In that battle, he was severely wounded in the left thigh, and was sent to the General Hospital, at New York Harbor, for treatment. At the end of three months, having sufficiently recovered for duty, he was ordered on special duty in the Quartermaster's Department, where he remained until his term of service expired ; after which he was placed in charge of the Commissary Department, and occupied that position until June, 1866. In 1867, he embarked in the manufacture of carriage whips, at Westfield, Mass., continuing the same until the spring of 1874, when failing health compelled him to seek a more congenial climate. In 1868, he married Caroline Underhill, daugh- ter of William Underhill, of New York City. When he left Massachusetts, he was President of the Edward B. Light Whip Company, and also of the Novelty Steam-Heating Company. He beran both of these enterprises with limited capital, and, by his well-directed energy, each had grown into a large and remunerative business. Removing to Denver, his health was so improved at the end of one year's residence, that he con- cluded to make this city his future home. With renewed vigor of mind and body, he could not long entertain the thought of living in idle- ness, and, with the accustomed energy and tact which he displayed in the organization and suc- cessful establishment of two companies in Massa- chusetts, with which he is still connected, he began the manufacture of leather whips, in a small way, occupying three rooms in the basement of his residence, with one man to assist him. In July, 1876, in order to meet the demand for his goods, he built a small factory and employed five men,
and, at the same time, began experimenting in tanning hides in West Denver, in a small building on the site of his present commodious factory. Soon afterward, he added to his business the manufacture of collars. January 1, 1877, found him with what he believed to be the nucleus of a large and profitable business ; and, in order to secure the better co-operation of his employes, he organized what is now known as the Denver Manu- facturing Company, having then a capital stock of $25,000. He retained a controlling interest, and each employe became a stockholder, as he was able to buy. Soon afterward, the Company built a two-story brick factory adjoining the tannery, in West Denver, and concentrated their business at that place. In a few months, finding their room inadequate for their business, they opened a salesroom on the corner of Larimer and Fourteenth streets. During that year, they doubled the capacity of both their tannery and factory. In November, 1878, they removed to more commodious quarters, and began the manu- facture of harness and saddles. In the spring of 1879, having added saddlery hardware to their business, they removed to their present store- room on Holladay strect, seeking more room for their rapidly growing business. Their capital stock was increased to $50,000. Although but a few months had elapsed, their quarters were found insufficient to accommodate their enormous business, and, in January, 1880, they increased their capital stock to $100,000, and doubled the capacity of their workshop, tannery, saddle-trec and collar factory, and employ about one hundred hands. Their annual sales amount to over $200,- 000. Their store and factory occupy a floor-space of about 25,000 square feet. Until Mr. Light demonstrated the fact, with satisfactory results, it was generally believed that tanning and manu- facturing good leather could not be profitably carried on in Colorado, owing to alkali in the water, and other causes, among them the badly branded hides, which rendered one-half of the leather worthless for making harness and saddles.
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Mr. Light's perseverance in experimenting has proved that that branch of industry can only be made profitable by manufacturing a large variety of leather goods. The success of this enterprise, which is due largely to Mr. Light's sterling business principles and incessant work, and to the organization of a co-operative company whose members are composed of the employes of the company, with able officers upon reasonable salaries to transact its business, is of deep interest to the commonwealth, and proves the idea of co-operation to be beneficial to industry, in pre- venting strikes and elevating the workmen. Although Mr. Light has no taste for public life or official positions, his sense of duty, when elected to the City Council from the Third Ward in 1877, would not permit him to decline. Mr. Light has reason to feel proud of his success in spite of obstacles which would stagger men of less energy, experience and adaptability. Men like him are what Colorado, so full of natural resources, and so productive of certain wealth, most necds, and, of such, she cannot have too many.
0 E. LEHOW.
O. E. Lehow, one of the prominent miners and cattle-men of Colorado, was born in Northumber- land, Penn. His father, a farmer in that section, died when young Lehow was sixteen years old, and from that time he was compelled to provide for himself. When eighteen, Mr. Lehow learned the carpenter's trade, afterward working in Philadel- phia and New York. In 1850, he went to Charles- ton, S. C., and started a sash-factory, and in the spring of 1857, he removed to Belleview, Neb., and was engaged in contracting and building until the fall of 1858,. when he came across the Plains to Colorado, there being at that time but one cabin in what is now West Denver. He engaged in placer mining on the banks of the Platte till spring, and then went into the mountains. He discovered, that summer, the Spanish Bar placer claims, selling them for $4,000, and receiving his pay in cattle and horses. In the fall, he started a
cattle-ranche on Cherry Creek, and the following summer located Lehow's ranche at Platte Cañon. In the spring of 1860, his brother, C. L. Lehow, arrived in Denver, and the two brothers carried on this ranche until 1870. During this time, he started a ranche in the San Luis Valley of about sixteen hundred acres, fenced, and placed thereon 1,000 head of cattle. This property he still holds. In September, 1878, Mr. Lehow engaged in mining at Silver Cliff, when there were but two buildings in the town. He has resided in Denver for the past eight years.
JULIUS C. LEWIS.
This gentleman was born November 5, 1834, at Mount Vernon, Ohio. After receiving a good common-school education, he went to California, where he remained six years. Going to James- town, Tuolumne Co., he was engaged in placer mining, from which place he went to Flint, Mich., where he clerked in a wholesale store for one year. In the spring of 1861, he started a wholesale and retail grocery business in Bagley, Mich., in con- junction with a Mr. Decker. Three years after the business was started, in the fall of 1863, they were burned out. This broke up the old firm, but he immediately went into a new firm, Lewis & Fray, continuing the same business. He was ap- pointed by the Merchant's Union Express Com- pany as their agent, which position he held until 1871, when he was compelled to leave Bagley on account of failing health. In March, 1872, he came to Denver, and on the 29th of the same month, engaged in the lumber business, in which he still continues, occupying the same old stand. The present partnership of Lewis, Wheeler & Co., was formed in 1874.
GEORGE P. LARE.
Mr. Lare was born in Jay County, Ind., June 15, 1844. He received a good common-school education, at the same time and out of school hours acquiring the trade of carriage-maker. Thus provided with a good trade and a practical business
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education, Mr. Lare eame to Denver in the sum- mer of 1863, six years before the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad, and at a time when the country, distracted by civil war, had little time or power to develop its Western Empire. The journey from Indiana in those days was a very different undertaking from what it would be at the present time. During the following winter, Mr. Lare followed his trade, and in the summer of 1864, made two trips to the Missouri River, and returned, thus crossing the Plains five times with a prairie wagon and ox team. He continued to work at his trade until the fall of 1866, when he opened a wagon and blacksmith shop, in which business he continued until the spring of 1875. Previously, however, to opening this establishment, or in the fall of 1865, he married Miss Bradbury, of Den- ver. Mr. Lare sold out in 1875, and sinee that time has been engaged in selling agricultural implements, a business which, as the resources of the State became better known and more widely developed, is destined to increase in amount and importance.
O. E. LE FEVER.
O. E. Le Fever, of Denver, one of the promi- nent young attorneys of the State, is a gentleman whose very appearance indicates ability and energy. He is a man of high character and social standing, his appearance, with his easy address, giving him more than ordinary advantages. These he inherits, as they are the same advantages which have so largely aided in placing his uncle " Ben Le Fever" among the leading statesmen of Ohio. He was born in Montgomery County, near Dayton, Ohio, August 6, 1848, and hence is now in the prime of life. He made ample preparation for his profession, hav- ing taken the course in the Dayton high schools, and a preparatory course in Antioch College, after which he entered the Michigan University, and graduated in the Class of 1870, with the degree of Ph. B. He then followed teaching for the next two years, and at the same time read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1872. Beginning practice in the office of Hauck & McMahon, of Dayton,
Ohio, he continued until July, 1873, when hecame to Denver, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession. Like most enterprising men who come to Colorado, he has engaged, to some extent, in mining, and now has interests in quite a number of mines. He was married to Miss Eva French, of Troy, Ohio, in June, 1871.
JOHN P. LOWER.
Mr. Lower was born in Philadelphia January 2, 1833. He received a liberal education in the pub- lic schools, after which he served an apprenticeship to the drug business. In 1851, he entered the firm of J. C. Grubb & Co., dealers in all kinds of fire-arms. He held the position of chief clerk, and afterward traveled for the firm, until 1876, when he came to Deuver and entered the gun busi- ness, in company with C. Gove, and continued the same about two years, when he dissolved partner- ship, and, having purchased a stock of goods, began the gun business in his own name, in which he is still engaged. He was married in May, 1858.
LOUIS LATHAM.
Louis Latham was born in Hilliards, Franklin Co., Ohio, January 26, 1838. He was educated in the public schools, and upon attaining the age of manhood engaged in the hotel business with his father in Columbus, Ohio, having accompanied him to that city several years previously. He devoted himself energetically to business until the fall of 1861, when he entered the army for three years' service, passing through many battles and hardships of war. He then returned to his native town and purchased a steam saw-mill, which for the three following years he operated with profita- ble results, and then turned his attention to contracting for building railroad bridges in that vicinity, which he continued until the spring of 1870. Removing to Kansas, he pre-empted a homestead, to the improvement of which he gave his entire attention until 1878. Coming thence to Denver in search of a more congenial climate, he embarked in the produce and commission bus-
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iness in company with Samuel A. Drumb, since which time, by their energy and business integrity, they have merited and received a liberal patronage. Mr. Latham was married in Ohio, in May, 1858, to the daughter of Jonathan Fickle.
THOMAS LINTON.
Mr. Linton was born in Northampton, England. July 13, 1828, where he received a good common- school education. In the summer of 1855, he came to America and located at Cleveland, Ohio, where he began working at his trade of shoemaking. In 1857, he removed to Bunker Hill, Ill., continuing in the same business there until the spring of 1868, when he went to Cheyenne, W. T., remaining until the fall of 1869. Removing to Colorado, he first located at Evans, remaining there for a short time, after whiel he removed to Denver, where he has since been engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes. In the spring of 1877, Mr. Linton was elected Alderman from the Second Ward, and wasre-elected in 1878. He was selected President of this board upon the organization of the City Coun- eil in 1879. In the fall of 1879, he was elected Coroner of Arapahoe County. Mr. Linton is a tried and true Freemason, is Tiler of No. 5 and No. 7, F. & A. M., and holds the position corre- sponding to this office, in every other Masonic organ- ization in this city. Mr. Linton is one of the most enterprising and prompt business men in the city.
DR. E. S. W. LAWRENCE.
Dr. Lawrence is one of the enterprising dentists of this city, and, by close attention to his profes- sion and industry, has made a reputation of which he may justly feel proud. He was born in Adams County, Ohio, July 1, 1836, and received a high- school education. He followed teaching most of the time up to 1862, in the mean time giving at- tention to the study of dentistry. In the spring of 1862, he entered a dentist office at Winehester, Ohio, where he began the practical study of his profession, and in 1864 began the practice of den- tistry, continuing until 1871, when he started west-
ward, and located in Manhattan, Kan., where for about four years he continued to practice his pro- fession. For the benefit of his health, he removed to Denver in the fall of 1875, leaving a large and remunerative practice, and has permanently settled upon the active practice of his profession. Dr. Lawrence is a quiet and unassuming man, but is always found at his office during office hours, and is one of the best operators in the State. In 1872, he married Miss Eliza J. Fowler, of Manhattan, Kan.
DAVID H. MOFFAT, JR.
The visitor from the Eastern States to Colorado is struck with one peculiarity, in the comparative youth of the men who hold the prominent posi- tions, and control the leading financial and busi- ness concerns of the country. He hears of men who came here from 1858 to 1860, and have left their impress indelibly fixed upon this new and plastic country ; who have originated and carried to a successful issne enterprises of the greatest mag- nitude; who have accumulated millions and ob- tained a national reputation, and he very naturally expects to find men with silvered hair and fur- rowed brows, "bent beneath the weight of years." but instead, finds young men, almost boys, with brow unwrinkled and eye undimmed, who look as if care were a thing unknown. Although they were fifty-niners, they came as boys, and the twenty years that have passed since then, and have wrought such changes in the country, have left them still young men, looking forward to yet stronger efforts and still greater achievements. The subject of the following sketch is no exception to this, being but forty years old, and, although his life has been a busy one, he retains the freshness and vigor of youth, and resembles in appearance, a man much younger than he really is. David H. Moffat, Jr., was born in Orange County, N. Y., in July, 1839. His life, with the exception of a few years in the mercantile business, has been spent in banking since the age of nine years, having at that age entered a bank in New York City, where he remained until 1855. He then came West to
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Des Moines, Iowa, and entered the banking-house of A. J. Stevens & Co., at that time one of the prominent financial institutions of the State. This brought him into connection with B. F. Allen, of that city, for whom, the following year, he went to Omaha, Neb., and took charge of the Bank of Nebraska, as cashier .. There he remained four years, and, in 1860, after winding up the affairs of the bank and paying off its indebtedness, he left for Denver, in partnership with C. C. Woolworth. Arriving in March, they at once opened up in the book and stationery business, under the firm name of Woolworth & Moffat. Mr. Moffat continued in the business up to 1867, when he was elected cashier of the newly organized First National Bank of Denver, a position which he continued to hold and whose duties he discharged with signal ability until January, 1880, when he was elected President of the bank. One of the original organ- izers of the institution, he has given it his con- stant and unremitting attention, and under his careful and efficient management, it has enjoyed for a period of twelve years, a career of prosperity excelled by no similar institution in the country. It has withstood the tide of disaster, which, dur- ing the past five years, has overwhelmed so many sister institutions, and to-day stands firm as the mountains themselves, its credit unimpaired, and its originators and managers honored at home and abroad. At the same time, 1867, he became and has since continued a partner of the Hon. J. B. Chaf- fee, in his numerous real-estate and mining opera- tions, being an equal owner with him of the famous Caribou mine, of Boulder, the Breece, a recent purchase of Mr. Moffat's, known as the Breece Iron mine, on Breece Hill, in Leadville, and the IIenrietta, in Leadville. He and Mr. Chaffee, having purchased Gov. Tabor's stock in the Little Pittsburgh Consolidated Mining Company, of which Mr. Moffat has been Vice President since its or- ganization, they are now the equal owners of three- fourths of that celebrated and remunerative prop- erty, deriving therefrom an income of more than $100,000 a month. Their mines are
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