Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 12

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1530

USA > Colorado > Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present > Part 12

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In 1875, when the war broke out with the Sioux, Mr. Leech offered his services to the gov- ernment and became a scout with General Crook. On account of his familiarity with the Sioux, their country and their language, he was a very valuable aide, and guided the army in their scouts and rencontres. During one of these expeditions he was captured three times by three different bands of Sioux and each time talked his way to freedom. Knowing their language, character and habits he succeeded in making them think he was the agent of the government, authorized to secure the number of beef cattle that was needed to feed the families of the Indians on the reservations. It was the custom of the government to send a man out every ten days to get from the Indians the number of cattle needed on the reservations, and he succeeded in convincing the Indians that he was this agent, showing them his sealed orders, which were large and official-looking, to prove the truth of his assertion; while if they had been able to read, the papers would have been his death warrant. He participated in the battle of Rosebud.

After the close of the Sioux war, in the fall of 1875, Mr. Leech went into the employ of the Uni- ted States government, the Union Pacific Rail- road and the Wyoming Cattle Growers' Associa-

tion, to hunt down and exterminate the outlaws, train and stage robbers and cattle thieves who had a strong foothold in Wyoming and western Nebraska during the war, as the government could not pay much attention to them during the Indian troubles. He was placed at the head of a band of men and continued in the service for three years, until he had all exterminated. During this time he had sixty-one of the outlaws either hung or sent to the penitentiary, while others were hung by vigilance committees before he got on their track. Sometimes, he rode after them days and nights in succession and had more than one pitched battle. The outlaws were desperate and when they found he was after them they threat- ened his life and several times they attempted to assassinate him at his home in Ogallala, Neb. In 1878 he moved his family to Boulder, thinking it would be a safe place for them. Once, in that place, his life was attempted, but he maimed his assailant to prevent further harm. As the out- laws scattered, it took him all over the country and he traveled under assumed names. It was on one of these trips that he met, in Salem, Ind., the lady whom he afterward married. In 1878 he visited Leadville on business, and became inter- ested in mining. He remained with the United States government until July, 1880, when he cleared up the last gang, Dock Middleton's, at Keya Pah Hah. In 1884 he was again called in- to the service of the Pacific Express Company, to hunt the perpetrators of the Minnedoka and Al- bion stage robbery in Idaho. In three weeks he had them arrested, but it took one year to work up the evidence against and convict them.

From 1878 Mr. Leech engaged in mining oper- ations in Leadville until 1880, when he returned to Boulder County and hecame manager of the mines and mills at Ward and Gold Hill. Later, going to Idaho, he was manager of the Alturas and Poor Man mines and was also interested in mining. In 1893 he returned to Boulder, for the purpose of working up interest in a railroad from Boulder to Ward and other mining camps. He was familiar with the canons and made the orig- inal survey himself; and it is of interest to note that the road when completed did not vary fifty feet from his survey. After making the prelim- inary survey he went east to secure the capital needed for building the road, having already cor- responded with Mr. Ames, a capitalist of Boston,

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

whom he knew personally. On the way east, when at Chester, within one hundred miles of Boston, the train was wrecked, going through a bridge into the river, and fifteen were killed and forty wounded. In the Pullman sleeper there were eleven passengers and he was the only one of the number who escaped death. When he re- gained consciousness his head was under the wa- ter and his body was caught between a pair of trucks, the flanges of the wheels holding and crushing his left hip. He lifted his head out of the water aud was fortunately seen by rescuers, who placed a board under his head, to hold it out of the water. Five hours passed before he was taken out, and it was then found that his left hip was crushed, arm broken and his head injured. He was sent to the hospital in Springfield, Mass., where the physicians held out no hope for his recovery; but he slowly regained his strength, though in the hospital for more than one year. During his conscious moments he studied the plans for the Inter Mountain Railway (for he had already given a name to his projected road); and doubtless the same thought filled his mind even in moments of unconsciousness. One day he asked, "Why did the Lord spare my life and make me a cripple," to which his old nurse replied, "God has spared you so that the Inter Mountain Railway can be built and you be the means through the railroad of making thousands of homes prosperous and happy."

A year after he was injured Mr. Leech was able to leave the hospital, though still using crutches. Meantime Mr. Ames had died, so his original plans were necessarily changed. He went to New York City, but was taken worse and was compelled to remain in a hospital for almost an- other year. In spite of discouragements and long illness, he did not give up his hopes. In 1897 he succeeded in interesting a few parties in the road, among them T. S. Waltemeyer, of Omaha. They incorporated the company and started a sur- vey, when E. C. Thompson and other parties from Pennsylvania became interested and sent out J. T. Blair, the manager of the Pittsburg, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, to examine con- ditions and prospects. After going over the sur- vey, Mr. Blair made a favorable report, and him- self resigned his position and took stock in the new enterprise.

In addition to his connection with the railroad,

Mr. Leech is vice-president and general manager of the Midget Mining and Milling Company, which he organized and which is developing the Midget group of mines, containing eight claims. His office is in the Masonic Temple building, on Pearl street, Boulder, and he has a beautiful resi- dence on the corner of Sixth and Arapahoe streets, surrounded by a fine lawn and a fruit orchard. By his marriage to Emma A. Goslen, a native of Indiana, he has six children, namely: Susie, Ralph, Hoyt, Edith, Winniefred and Doro- thy. Mrs. Leech is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he is a liberal contrib- utor. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and in politics is a Republican.

ROF. WILLIAM VAN CLEVE CASEY occupies a leading position among the edu- cators of Colorado, and the town of Boulder considers itself particularly fortunate in having so scholarly and efficient a gentleman as superin- tendent of its public schools. In the fall of 1888 he was honored by being elected county superin- tendent of schools and served with marked ability in that responsible position until January, 1893, having been re-elected in the meantime, in 1890. He is identified with the State Teachers' Associa- tion, the National Educational Association and the Boulder County Teachers' Association. The last-mentioned he was very influential in organiz- ing and has several times been its president. For some time he has delivered lectures on school law before the class in pedagogy in the Uni- versity of Colorado.

The professor's paternal grandfather, Abraham Casey, was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, riding on the old "circuit" in southern Illinois, preaching "without money and without price" on Sundays, and carrying on his farm during the rest of the week, in order to make a livelihood for himself and family. He was a na- tive of Kentucky, was a descendant of one of the respected old families of Virginia, and was one of the pioneers of Jefferson County, I11., settling there in 1818. His son, Rev. La Fayette Casey, father of the subject of this article, was born in Illinois, and likewise became a Methodist minister. He was a member of the conference of southern Illinois for many years, and during the Civil war was stationed at Alton, Ill. He was captain of

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

a company in the Black Hawk war and was one of the founders of Jefferson County. Having at- tained almost the allotted age of man, three-score and ten, he was summoned to his reward, his death occurring at his home in Centralia, I11. His wife, Eleanor ( Herrold) Casey, was a native of Missouri, her birth having taken place upon a farm near Cape Girardeau. She departed this life when in her fifty-fourth year. Of her six children all but two survive. One son, Robert, now of Denver, and interested chiefly in mining enterprises, was formerly quite prominent in ed- ucational circles, having been a teacher in Illi- nois, in Greeley, Colo., and in Boulder.

Prof. W. V. Casey was born in Edwardsville, Ill., February 23, 1860, and after graduating from the Greenville high school in 1877 began his career as a teacher. He taught in southern Illinois until 1883, when he came to Colorado, and became principal in the Louisville school. At the end of two years he succeeded his brother Robert as superintendent of the Boulder school, and later he was placed in charge of the Pine street school. In January, 1893, he finished out the school year (for he had just left the place of county superintendent of schools) for Professor Harding, principal of the Longmont high school. Since that time he has occupied his present posi- tion, and under his able management the local schools are steadily advancing toward perfection. When he was first connected with the schools here, there were but two school buildings, the Central and the Pine street, and now, in addi- tion to those there are the fine new Mapleton and Highland, as well as the high school, which has been merged into the preparatory school of the university. In his political views the professor is a Democrat, though he was elected by the Re- publicans to the superintendency of the county schools in 1888. He was a member of the Odd Fellows' society, being past officer of the same; is also a past officer of the encampment; belongs to the Woodmen of the World; the Fraternal Union, being a charter member of the Boulder Lodge; the Imperial Legion; and Boulder Lodge No. 45, A. F. & A. M. Of the last-mentioned lodge he has twice been master.

The marriage of Professor Casey and Miss Ida Row was solemnized in Denver in 1888. Mrs. Casey was born in Centralia, Ill., being a daugh- ter of S. and Susan (Brown) Row, natives of

Westmoreland County, Pa., and Tennessee, re- spectively. Her father, who is of German de- scent, is a veteran of the Civil war and is in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. His wife removed to southern Illinois with her parents in her girlhood. Mrs. Casey is one of six children. She was educated in music in the College of Music of the Illinois Female Seminary of Jacksonville and in the Chicago Musical Col- lege. She is gifted as a musician and is a valued member of the Young Ladies' Musical Club of Boulder. Professor Casey and wife have two children, Eleanor and Robert Lafayette.

T. DURBIN, M. D., surgeon to the Den- ver Consolidated Tramway Company and one of the successful physicians of Denver, is a descendant of an English family, whose first representatives in America were two brothers. His father, Jesse, who was born in Maryland, was the son of William Durbin, a jeweler in Bal- timore. He was educated for the Methodist Episcopal ministry and for a time he preached, both in Maryland and Ohio, but his health broke down and he was obliged to seek a change of oc- cupation. For a time he engaged in banking in Wooster, Ohio, and later had a drug store in Can- ton. In 1871, believing the change would be beneficial to his health, he came to Colorado, and, settling in Denver, purchased W. S. Cheesman's wholesale and retail drug business on Blake street, where he remained for nine years. He embarked in the surgical and dental business in 1880 and continued in the same until his death, which occurred in 1884, at the age of fifty-six. Since then the business, which is incorporated, has been carried on by his children, under the name of J. Durbin's Surgical and Dental Instru- ment Company. Until his death he retained his connection with the Northern Ohio Conference. He was instrumental in the founding of the Uni- versity of Denver and was one of its trustees.

Rev. Jesse Durbin married Lucy Ann Cain, who was born in Winchester, W. Va., a daugh- ter of Levi Cain, of that place. She died in Denver, February 16, 1898. Her five living children reside in Denver. Her oldest son, Will- iam R., who was his father's bookkeeper, died in Denver at the age of twenty-five, leaving one son, William R. Durbin, now residing in the state

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of Washington. The others are: Mary E., wife of George S. Van Law, who is a member of the real-estate firm of Van Law & Gallup, in Denver; L. T., onr subject; Jesse B. and Edward A., who are managers of the business left by their father; and Charles K., who is superintendent of the Denver Consolidated Tramway Company.

In Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, Dr. Durbin was born May 5, 1858. He was educated in the high school of Canton. In 1873 he entered the drug business there, giving attention to the study of pharmacy, but in 1876 joined his father, with whom he continued in business until 1880, the business being at that time disposed of. Next he engaged in general merchandising as a mem- ber of the firm of Durbin Brothers at Gold Park, but after eighteen months sold out. He then entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of Denver, from which he graduated two years later, in 1884, with the degree of M. D. For a few months he was engaged as a physician in the county hospital, but soon began in prac- tice for himself. From 1884 to 1886 he was dem- onstrator of anatomy in the University of Den- ver, but resigned in the latter year owing to his removal to Central City. Two years were spent in that city, during which time he was coroner of Gilpin County. From there he removed to Villagrove, Saguache County, in the San Luis Valley, where for four years he was a prac- ticing physician, county coroner and local sur- geon for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and the Colorado Coal & Iron Company, the latter concern having two or three hundred men em- ployed at Orient, eight miles up the mountain. While in Villagrove he became interested in the San Luis hot springs and assisted in organiz- ing a company under the leadership of Chamber- lin Brothers. The San Luis Hot Springs Com- pany secured the finest hot springs in that locality and bought a section of land, upon which they built hotels and residences. The enterprise is yet in its incipiency, but without doubt the place in time will become a noted health and summer resort, for the water possesses curative properties and the climate is delightful.

Returning to Denver in November, 1891, Dr. Durbin has since engaged in practice, having his office on Fifteenth and Arapahoe streets. Heisen- gaged in general professional practice, and has been surgeon to the Deuver Tramway (now the

Denver Consolidated Tramway ) Company since his return to the city. He was also appointed on the hospital staff, but pressure of other duties pre- vented his acceptance. He is a member of the Denver and Arapahoe County and the State Medical Societies, and at one time was president of the alumni of the University of Denver. In 1897 he took a post-graduate course in general surgery at the New York Polyclinic. Politically he is a Republican, and fraternally belongs to Denver Lodge No. 7, A. F. & A. M., the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World. In this city, in November, 1886, he married Miss Ella Avery, who was born in Bara- boo, Wis., and in 1871 came to Denver with her father, James B. Avery, a retired capitalist. They have two children, Jessie A. and Helen A. Durbin.

ARRY S. BADGER, president and superin- tendent of the Alauka Mining and Milling Company at Salina, Boulder County, was born in Boston, Mass., in 1862, the only child of Charles W. and Mary M. C. (Fowler) Badger, natives respectively of Montpelier, Vt., and Portland, Me. His father, who was a son of Charles Badger, a merchant of Montpelier, early gained a thorough knowledge of the mercantile business, in which he engaged for some years in Boston; but in 1870 he removed to California, where for years he operated a mine in Amador County. Returning to Boston in 1894 he died the same year. His wife makes her home with their only child.

The education of our subject was largely ac- quired in Boston, but was completed in the Uni- versity of California, from which he graduated in 1884, with the degree of A. B. Afterward, with his father, he became interested in mining and the stock business, and for nine years engaged in dealing in cattle at San Luis Obispo. In 1897 he came to Boulder County, Colo., and was em- · ployed as superintendent of the Gold Extracting Mining and Supply Company at Wall street camp. His connection with the Alauka Mining and Mill- ing Company dates from January, 1898, when he organized the company and began remodeling the old Williamson mill. The mill has a capacity of thirty tons, and the removal of the product is fa- cilitated by a siding from the Colorado North- western Railroad. The location could not be

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

surpassed, this district comprising Gold Hill, Sugar Loaf and Sunshine, which are among the best mining districts in the state. A practical mill man of long experience has charge of the mill, and a complete assaying and sampling plant, with every facility for the sampling of ores, is an important adjunct. The ores are purchased on a sliding scale, proportionate to the value of the gold and silver they contain. A specialty is made of handling low-grade ores, averaging from $6 to $20 per ton, thus bringing into the market a product from the mines never before handled commercially. Politically Mr. Badger is a believer in Republican principles, but the demands of his business interests are such as to preclude his active participation in public affairs. However, he is a progressive and pub- lic-spirited citizen, and favors all measures for the benefit of the people and the advancement of the community.

EIL D. MCKENZIE, one of the most prom- inent mine operators of Boulder County, is a representative citizen of Boulder and is vice-president and a director of the National State Bank here. He has been extensively in- terested in mining and agricultural affairs since he came to Colorado some thirty-two years ago, and is a member of the Mining Exchange of Denver. Politically a strong Populist, he was sent as a delegate to the national convention in St. Louis in 1896 which nominated Bryan.

Mckenzie, was born in the neighborhood of Loch Elch, Scotland. With his father he came to America when a young man and was reared Mckenzie carried on as long as he lived. The younger man received a superior education and was engaged in teaching and kindred work dur- ing his active years. For a long time he taught in the public schools of Cape Breton, in which place he lived up to the day of his death. He was in his sixty-eighth year when he died, and his wife, who survived him many years, reached

the advanced age of eighty-four. She, too, was a native of Scotland, and bore the maiden name of Catherine McLeod. She accompanied her family to Nova Scotia, and in Cape Breton be- came acquainted with the man she later married.

N. D. Mckenzie was born November 29, 1842, in Cape Breton, and was educated in the public schools of his native island. In 1862 he went to New Brunswick and engaged in the lumber busi- ness on the St. John's River. Thence he went to the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, and for about a year subsequent to the close of the Civil war carried on a lumbering trade in that state. In 1866 he came west, and for about two years was interested in mining near Brecken- ridge, in Summit County. He then went to Blackhawk, Gilpin County, and there bought and sold claims and finally invested considerably in mines in Boulder County. He improved and placed in a favorable condition a mine at Cari- bou, known as the Poor Man's Mine, which he operated for twelve or fifteen years alone. He then sold that mine, in which, however, he re- tained an interest. He was superintendent of the company until 1894, when he withdrew from the concern. Among his possessions is a fine ranch of four hundred and eighty acres. It is situated about two and one-half miles east of Boulder, is improved with fences, good buildings and facilities for irrigation, and is a valuable and model ranch. Since settling permanently in Boulder he has served as a member of the school board here. He belongs to Silver Queen Lodge No. 112, I. O. O. F. A Mason of high stand- ing,' he was identified with Blackhawk Lodge No. 11, A. F. & A. M., and is now associated with Columbia Lodge No. 14, A. F. & A. M .; Boulder Chapter No. 7, R. A. M .; Mount Sinai the Denver Consistory and El Jebel Temple, Mystic Shrine.

In a family numbering six sons and three daughters, Neil D. Mckenzie is the seventh in order of birth. He has lost one brother and one sister, and two of his brothers, Colin and Daniel, are in Colorado, being engaged in mining in the vicinity of Boulder. The father, Prof. Donald . Commandery No. 7, K. T., and is a member of

upon a farm in Nova Scotia, which the senior. sided over by his estimable wife, formerly Miss

The pleasant home of Mr. Mckenzie is pre- Isabelle M. Backus, a native of Milburn, Ill. Her parents, Benjamin and Mary (Griswold) Backus, who were natives of New York and Con- necticut respectively, were early settlers in Illi- nois. The eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Kenzie, Neil Backus, is a member of the Boulder high school, class of '99. The four daughters are Maud, Isabelle, Catherine and Pauline.

med. VB. Communs

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ON. JAMES B. ORMAN, mayor of Pueblo. The life record of this gentleman is worthy of careful perusal, for it shows how a young man without capital or influential friends, but solely by the exercise of good judgment, deter- mination and perseverance, has gained a place among the prominent men of Colorado. Mr. Orman was born in Muscatine, Iowa, November 4, 1849. He received his education in the com- mon schools of that state and afterward worked on his father's farm until the spring of 1869, when lie came to Denver, Colo. Perceiving that there was a demand for freight animals he deter- mined to enter into the business. With his brother, William A. Orman, he purchased a large number of horses and mules, which they sold with profit during the next two years. In the fall of 1869 the brothers took a contract for work on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, then build- ing between Sheridan and Denver, which contract they filled promptly and satisfactorily.

From that time forward Mr. Orman gained in- creasing prominence as a railroad contractor and builder, and such was the demand for his services that he was kept constantly busy. He has con- structed more miles of railroad than any other man in Colorado. Among the roads which he assisted in building are the Denver & Rio Grande, Colorado Midland, Canadian Pacific, Oregon Pa- cific, Elk Mountain, Texas, Santa Fe & North- ern, and Crystal River Railroads, and he also had the contract for the Colorado & Northwest- ern Railroad from Boulder to Ward, Colo.

Railroad contracting does not represent the en- tire field of Mr. Orman's labors and activity. He has identified himself in every way with the development of Colorado, and is a large holder of real estate in Pueblo, Denver, Trinidad and in Huerfano County (where he owns coal lands). In addition to erecting a number of substantial business blocks he built in Pueblo a residence that is among the most elegant in the state. Col- orado, and especially the city of Pueblo, owes much of its progress to his enterprise and public spirit. With his associates, in 1879, he com- menced to build the Pueblo horse railway, and within the following five years the company con- structed ten miles of road. A re-organization was effected in 1890 with a capital stock of $500,- 000, and since then the road has been operated by electricity, Mr. Orman having for five years held the position of president of the company.

Among other interests with which he has been

identified may be mentioned the Bessemer Irri- gating Ditch Company, which has been an im- portant factor in the development of the agricult- ural districts of Pueblo County. He is also financially interested in coal properties in Pitkin, Gunnison and Huerfano Counties; and mines in Leadville and Cripple Creek. The fact that he is successfully identified with so many and varied interests, each different from the others, proves him to be a man of energy, keen discernment and excellent judgment in all matters of business. He has the foresight to grasp a business problem in its entirety, not only in its present, but in its future relations. While superintending large in- terests he also overlooks matters of detail, which, though small in themselves, yet affect the success of the whole. His activity is untiring, while his capacity for details is extraordinary.

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Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 12

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1530

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1530