Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 200

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 200

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).

In 1892 Mr. Robinson went to the new camp of Creede, Colo., where he engaged in prospecting and mining for two years, and met with the usual miner's experiences of alternate success and fail- ure. Returning to Costilla County, in 1894 he established a stock ranch, and this he has since conducted. While his attention is largely given to the management of his place, he still takes an active part in local affairs, and is a well-known Republican. He has frequently represented his party in county and state conventions, and has kept himself posted concerning all party issues. Since 1895 he has been secretary of the school board.

November 28, 1889, Mr. Robinson married Mary Brenneman, a native of Iowa, and daugh- ter of John Brenneman, of Fort Garland. They are the parents of five children.

RANK H. WHITHAM. During the time that he has engaged in the mercantile busi- ness in Holyoke, Mr. Whitham has estab- lished a reputation for fair dealing in every trans- action and has built up an important trade, that is not limited to his town, but extends through Phillips County. He was born in Fairfield, Iowa, October 27, 1866, a son of James M. and Emily Almira (Munhall) Whitham. His maternal grandfather, John Munhall, was born January 7, 1805, and married Mary Ann Wells, who was born at Wellsville, Pa., March 21, 1807; she was a daughter of Abraham and Hannah (Hoffman) Wells, the former of whom lived to be one hun- dred and twelve years of age. Mr. Whithanı was one of thirteen children, and the fourth among nine now living. Of these, Charles W., born May 29, 1859, is in Fairfield, Iowa; Hanni- bal, born January 6, 1861, is in Dawson City, Klondike; Martin Luther, born January 25, 1863, lives in St. Joseph, Mo .; John W., born October 29, 1868, makes his home in Seattle, Wash .; Emily, born March 5, 1873, is in Holdrege, Neb .; Grace, born December 12, 1874, married C. Hilsebeck, and also resides in Holdrege; Rollo C., born July 7, 1876, lives in St. Joseph, Mo .; and Nellie, born October 15, 1881, makes her home with our subject,

The father of Mr. Whitham was born in West Liberty, W. Va., June 29, 1823. When a young man he went to Washington County, Pa., to es- tablish his home. November 18, 1846, he mar- ried Miss Catherine Mount, by whom he had four children, but the only one now living is Will- iam J. (born November 30, 1849), of Phillips County, Colo. I11 1850, accompanied by his fam- ily, James M. Whitham removed to Fairfield, Iowa, and there his wife died May 2, 1855. His second marriage united him with Mrs. Emily Almira (Munhall) Dravo, February 20, 1856. She was the widow of A. A. Dravo, whom she had married January 4, 1854, and by whom she had one son, Samuel A. Dravo, now a prominent lawyer of Holdrege, Neb. She was born near Wooster, Ohio, January 13, 1837, and is now liv- ing in Holyoke, Colo.

In 1880 James M. Whitham and his family re- moved from Fairfield to Thayer County, Neb., where they remained until 1886, and then settled in Imperial, Neb. At that place he engaged in the lumber business with a son. In 1887 he brought his family to Holyoke, Colo., where he engaged in the hardware business and resided until his death, November 5, 1897. While in Washington County, Pa., he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. When he removed to Iowa he put his membership in the Lutheran Church of Fairfield, while in Nebraska he was connected with the Presbyterian Church. For more than fifty-three years he was a member, in high standing, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. From the time of his settlement in Holyoke he was intensely interested in the de- velopment of the town and was actively interested in all undertakings that had for their object the bettering of the condition of the people.

On the twenty-first anniversary of his birth our subject entered a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, five miles southwest of Holyoke. For two years he worked in a hardware store owned by his father. In 1889 he commuted on his homestead and went to Arickaree City, Colo., where he embarked in the hardware business. ·After six months he added to his hardware stock a general line of merchandise, and continued in business at that place until April 15, 1891, when he removed his stock of goods to Holyoke and established himself in business in this town. Here he built up a prosperous business. In 1895 he formed a partnership with his father and brother R. C., and a general mercantile and hard-

1477

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ware business was conducted until the deatlı of the fatlier, after which our subject purchased the interest owned by his father, also his brother's interest, and has since conducted the store alone. In politics he is a Republican.

December 14, 1893, Mr. Whitham married Miss Emma M. Tipton, who was born in Glenwood, Iowa, August 20, 1874. She has filled the office of noble grand in the Rebekah Lodge, to which and to Holyoke Lodge No. 76, I. O. O. F., Mr. Whitham also belongs. Their wedding was an elaborate social affair, two hundred , invitations being issued. The ceremony was performed by Rev. W. E. Collett, in the Baptist Church at Hol- yoke, after which a reception was given in the Odd Fellows' Hall by the parents of the groon, with the aid of the members of the Rebekah Lodge. One child has blessed the union, Strayer Earl, born December 3, 1894.

Mrs. Whitham is a daughter of Theodore D. Tipton, who at the time of her marriage was a stockman and grain dealer in Holyoke, Colo. Mr. Tipton was born October 1, 1841, and was married, in Chicago, Il1., in 1873, to Miss S. E. Strayer, who was born in Ohio October 8, 1852, and whose father, S. D. Strayer, was born in Maryland in 1828, and her mother, Nancy Strayer, in Ohio in 1834. In 1859 Mr. Tipton made his first trip to Colorado. During the fol- lowing years he made several other trips from Ne- braska west. July 4, 1862, he left Central City . to join the army and served in the Union cause for fourteen months and fourteen days. Return- ing to Colorado in 1864, he went on to Montana. Indians were numerous and hostile. In his charge he had the wife and daughter of Judge Brown of Nebraska City; when they reached Soda Springs, the party with whom he traveled determined to go to Boise City, Mont., which left him and the two women to make their way, as best they could, in the midst of many dangers. Highway robbers attempted to capture the women and rob Mr. Tipton, but he succeeded in saving the women after they had made full prepa- ration for committing suicide, believing this pref- erable to falling alive into the hands of their cap- tors. They finally arrived in Virginia City, Mont., after six months and nineteen days of exhausting and dangerous travel. In that place Mr. Tipton kept a livery for six months, after which he went to Butte and built the second house in that town. He was in British America in 1866 and in 1867 mined at Unionville, in Ora-

phena Gulch, three miles from Helena, but lost his mining interest through fraud. Going to Red Mountain City in 1868, he located a number of mines, and later located mines at Butte. In 1870 he started for California, but while spending the winter at Salt Lake City was accidentally crip- pled, and then went back to Colorado, and from there to Glenwood, Iowa. During 1871-72 he had a store at Nebraska City, Neb. On selling out, he went to Lincoln, Neb., and engaged in the real-estate business. In 1873 he came to Colo- rado and mined in Sherman Mountain, and at other times he visited this state. In 1886 he lo- cated southwest of Holyoke. When this town was first started he moved into it, and afterward made his home here (meantime engaging in the stock business) until July 18, 1894. He then moved to Lebanon, Mo., where he now resides.

OHN W. RAMSEY, an early settler of Logan County, and one of its leading stock- men, was born near Bloomington, Ill., March 25, 1849, a son of Joseph and Hannah (Kimler) Ramsey. He was secoud among three children, the others being: Adaline, wife of Charles Stitthammer, of Denver; and Nellie E., who married Alexander Hardy, of Chicago, Il1. His father was born near Columbus, Ohio, December 15, 1820, and when a boy of nine years was taken by his parents to Tazewell County, Ill., where he passed the years of youth. After his marriage he settled near Bloomington, where he tilled the soil of a farm. From there in 1874 he removed to Colorado and purchased land near Greeley, where he remained for eleven years. In 1885 he settled at Yates Center, Kan., where he spent six years. Osceola, Iowa, became his home in 1891. After his wife's death, which occurred in 1895, he returned to Colorado and spent the remaining years of his life among his children. His death occurred in June, 1897. His wife was born near Bloomington, Ill., in 1829, her parents having been among the early settlers of that region.

The education of our subject was acquired in common schools and the Illinois Wesleyan Univer- sity at Bloomington. His health being poor, he determined to come to Colorado, and March 13, 1872, found him at Evans. During the first few months he worked for farmers in that neighbor- hood, but had no steady employment. In the spring of 1873 he and a nephew of Hon. J. L. Brush ran a dairy in the interests of Mr. Brush,

1478

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In the fall of 1873 he rode on the range for the same employer. Beginning for himself in the spring of 1874, he bought a few head of cattle, which he ran on the range with the cattle owned by his employer. After three years he was made foreman for Mr. Brush. When finally severing his connection with his employer, he sold his cattle and bought a bunch of sheep, at the same time settling on the one hundred and sixty acres that he had homesteaded in 1876. He now has almost seven hundred acres, with his own private ditch.

The marriage of Mr. Ramsey to Miss Eva Knowles occurred March 20, 1879. She is a daughter of Myron B. Knowles, who was born in Bangor, Me., in 1823, was educated for the law and admitted to the bar. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are the parents of five children: Eugene, Earl, Guy, Adele and Helen.

After Logan County was set off from Weld, Mr. Ramsey was a member of the first board of county commissioners and at the expiration of his term of one year was re-elected for a three- years term, serving four years altogether, and for a similar period he was a notary public. He is an active worker in the ranks of the Republi- can party and is in hearty sympathy with every movement tending to the uplifting of his com- munity and the welfare of the people. He is con- nected with Occidental Lodge No. 50, A. F. & A. M.

AMUEL A. PAWLEY, an extensive stock- man of southern Colorado, residing at No. 350 Baca street, Trinidad, was born in Breckenridge County, Ky., September 17, 1852, and is a son of Nathan and Susan (Robinson) Pawley, natives of Kentucky.

At the time of removing to Missouri our sub- ject was a lad of fourteen years. One year later he left home and went to Texas, but after a short time proceeded to Kansas with a herd of cattle, later going back to Missouri, where he assisted his father on the home farm. At twenty-one years of age he drove a herd of cattle to Colo- rado, and then for the first time saw Trinidad, his present home. It was then a small town containing a few houses of adobe. For some time he engaged in herding on the range, and from the fall of 1873 until 1883 he . was employed steadily by Samuel Doss. After he had been at work for four years he began to invest his earn-

ings in cattle, and continued to invest from time to time. In 1882 he sold his stock and for two years traveled in the territories and Mexico, look- ing for cattle and for a suitable range. Buying cattle in 1884, he engaged in the stock business on the Pecos River, remaining there until 1891. Then, with four hundred head of cattle, he moved to the Cimarron River. Later he bought a ranch one hundred miles east of Trinidad, where he remained until 1897, and then removed to his present elegant residence, one of the finest in Trinidad. On his rauch he has twenty thousand acres enclosed, which furnishes a range for his herd of eight hundred cattle and forty-five hun- dred sheep.

During the long period of his residence in the west Mr. Pawley has gained a thorough insight into the stock business, and is therefore able to engage in it with confidence of success. In pol- itics he is a Democrat. In the organization of the Imperial Legion at Trinidad he took an act- ive part. He is identified with Lodge No. 28, A. O. U. W., in Trinidad, and the Woodmen of the World.

July 2, 1884, Mr. Pawley married Lucy, daugh- ter of Judge George S. Simpson, a pioneer of Trinidad. Mrs. Pawley was born in Huerfano County, Colo .; her mother, Juanita (Suaso) Simp- son, a Spanish lady, is now making her home with Mrs. Pawley. Our subject and his wife have four children: John S., who is a student in Denver; Gladys, Juanita and Robert.

ATHAN HUGHES, a prominent stockman residing in Pueblo, was born in Macon County, Mo., in 1845. His father, who was a farmer during the greater part of his active life, gained the title of major through service in Indian wars; the mother was a daughter of Will- iam Garrett, member of a pioneer family of Ken- tucky.

In Macon County, where his boyhood days were spent, Mr. Hughes received his education. In 1883 he removed to Pueblo, where he bought a comfortable home on the mesa. In 1865 Mr. Hughes married Miss Mary J. Harrison, of La- fayette County, Mo., and unto them were born two daughters and a son, but the latter is de- ceased. Politically he is a Democrat. Frater- nally he is connected with Pueblo Lodge No. 31, A. F. & A. M., and is also identified with Camp No. 29, Woodmen of the World,

TRANSPORTATION

The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.

GEN. W. J. PALMER, while manager of con- struction of the western division, Union Pacific Railway, soon after the close of the Civil war, visited Denver and was much impressed with its geographical position, advancing the idea that in the future the city would become a large commer- cial center. Shortly after his first visit, and while still engaged with the Union Pacific Railway, he was commissioned by the company constructing that road to make a preliminary survey for an ex- tension between Kit Carson and the Pacific coast in the neighborhood of San Diego. With this ob- ject in view, he traversed on horseback the coun- try between Denver and the Pacific coast, via Pueblo, Trinidad, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Albu- querque, Fort Wingate, Mojave and Los Ange- les to San Diego. He was impressed more favor- ably than ever with the resources of the country lying to the east of the range, and conceived the idea of building a narrow gauge railroad from Den- ver south. The Festinoog Railway in Wales, which was built through mountains and had very sharp curves and heavy grades, was much spoken of at this time, and, as it was of narrow gauge and said to be operated cheaply, General Palmer doubtless considered that such a road would be well adapted to the conditions existing in Colo- rado. Accordingly, in 1870, he organized the Denver & Rio Grande Railway Company, his principal associates being Dr. W. A. Bell, of Manitou, Colo., and Ex-Governor A. C. Hunt. Construction was commenced out of Denver April 1, 1871, and the first section (which terminated at Colorado Springs, seventy-five miles, with three-foot gauge, thirty pound rails, thirty-two- degree curves and ninety-foot grades), was con- pleted and opened for business June 15, 1872. The line was completed to Pueblo August 1, 1872.

The equipment used in operating the road was rather light in comparison with the present narrow gauge equipment. The passenger loco-

motives had four wheels connected and weighed twenty-five thousand pounds, and the freight lo- comotives had six wheels connected and weighed thirty-five thousand pounds. The passenger coaches were built with but four wheels and were sixteen feet long, with four rows of seats running longitudinally along the car, one on each side and two in the middle. The freight cars had only four wheels and were twelve and sixteen feet long, weighing about four thousand pounds and having a carrying capacity of eight thousand pounds.

Before the close of 1872 the line was extended up the Arkansas River Valley as far as the coal mines near Florence, known as the Canon Coal Mines, and here construction rested until the summer of 1874, when the line was extended as far as Canon City, at the eastern end of the Grand Canon of the Arkansas River, now known as the Royal Gorge. In 1876 an extension was built south from Pueblo to El Moro with a view to de- veloping the coking coals of that vicinity, and a branch line from Cuchara to La Veta was also completed in the same year. No more building was undertaken until 1877, when the branch line, which was completed as far as La Veta the pre- ceding year, was extended west over Veta Pass, with its two hundred and eleven foot grades and sharp curves, and ou to Alamosa in the San Luis Valley, which point was reached July 4, 1878. This was the first real mountain work done and was much commented on at the time as a marvel of engineering skill in overcoming the steep ascent of what was considered an impassable mountain. During the fall of 1878 the entire line was leased to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and that company took possession January 1, 1879. The lease was abrogated, however, in the latter months of the same year, and the line again came into the possession of the Denver & Rio Grande Company.

The discovery of carbonate silver ores in the vicinity of what is now called Leadville, in 1876 and 1877, had by this time become of such im-

1480

TRANSPORTATION.

portance that it was decided to extend the line from Canon City west through the Canon of the Arkansas River and on up that stream to Lead- ville. This passage of the Grand Canon was an undertaking considered by very eminent engi- neers to be an impossibility, though the right to build through was stoutly contested by the Atchi- son, Topeka & Santa Fe. The courts decided, however, in favor of the Denver & Rio Grande, and the work was commenced in the fall of 1879 and, notwithstanding the seemingly insurmount- able difficulties, was completed as far as Salida May 1, 1880, and into Leadville July 20 of the same year. This part of the line runs almost wholly in the Canon of the Arkansas River and the cost of construction was tremendous, but the work was quickly executed.

May 1, 1880, the line from Salida west over Marshall Pass to Gunnison was commenced. Gunnison was supposed to be the center of a very large and rich silver and gold mining district, al- though the bituminous and anthracite coals found in that vicinity have proved of most value. This line was completed to Gunnison August 6, 1881, and to Crested Butte, where coal mines and coke ovens are located, October 20, in the same year. In the construction of this line the same grade and curvature as on the Veta Pass line were used, though the length of the line over Marshall Pass was much greater, as was also the altitude of the mountain, being ten thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight feet at the top of the rail on the summit.

In the beginning of 1880 an extension of the San Luis Valley line west over the Conejos range to Durango, and a branch leaving that line at Antonito and running south ninety miles to Es- panola, were projected. The Espanola branch was completed December 30, 1880, and the line was completed into Durango July 27, 1881, a dis- tance of two hundred miles from Alamosa and four hundred and fifty miles from Denver, and was continued northwest to Silverton, forty-five miles, which point was reached July 8, 1882. June 13 a branch was completed from Alamosa to Del Norte and was further extended to South Fork November 20, 1881. April 15, 1881, a branch was built from near Canon City up the Grape Creek Canou to Silver Cliff, where rich silver mines had been discovered. On account of the great difficulty of keeping this branch open, occasioned by floods which washed the roads out once or twice every year,

it was finally abandoned entirely after the flood of 1887.

The Villa Grove branch, leaving the Gunni- son extension at Mears Junction and running south over Poncha Pass into the north end of the San Luis Valley, was completed September 25, 1881. At the time this branch was built the ad- jacent camp of Bonanza was experiencing quite a boom, and Villa Grove was the nearest railroad point. The building of this branch served the purpose of developing the great iron mines at Orient, for which an eight-mile spur was built. About this time the mining district in the neigh- borhood of Red Cliff began to attract the atten- tion of mining men. The necessity for a branch to that point developed itself, and February 15, 1882, the extension was completed from Leadville west over Tennessee Pass to Rock Creek. During the same year an extension was undertaken north from Leadville to Dillon, on the Blue River (as many important mines were opened up in that vi- cinity) and was completed November 27, 1882. Fremont Pass, over which this line passes at an altitude of eleven thousand three hundred and thirty feet, is the highest point on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.

During this year the Gunnison extension was continued west, opening up the vast agricultural and horticultural districts of Montrose, Delta and Mesa Counties, and reached Grand Junction, at the confluence of the Grand and Gunnison Rivers, November 22 and the Colorado-Utah line December 19, 1882.

About this time the Pleasant Valley Railway of Utah, extending from Provo to Clear Creek, was purchased by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway and was extended east via Spanish Fork and Price River Canons to a connection with the Gunni- son extension at State Line. This connection made a through narrow gauge line from Denver to Salt Lake City, and a year later was completed on to Ogden, making connection with the Central Pa- cific Railway at that point. This line was oper- ated as one road from Denver to Ogden until the latter half of 1884, when the Rio Grande Western Company commenced the operation of its line from State Line to Ogden under separate manage- meut, and in December, 1889, the latter com- pany leased from the Denver & Rio Grande that portion of the road between State Line and Grand Junction, since which time the Rio Grande Western' has operated under separate manage- ment from Grand Junction west.

1481

TRANSPORTATION.

In July, 1883, the Del Norte branch was ex- tended from South Fork to Wagon Wheel Gap, at which point are located well-known mineral springs. The terminus of this branch was but eleven miles from Creede, the now famous silver- mining camp. Its riches were unknown at the time this extension was made, and not until No- vember 23, 1891, was the line built into that camp. Adjacent to this branch, however, were the mining camps of Summitville and Platora.

No building of importance was done between 1883 and 1887, though during the year 1886 the Texas, Santa Fe & Northern Railway Company was organized and a narrow gauge line built from Espanola to the city of Santa Fe, which enabled the Denver & Rio Grande to reach the latter point. August 1, 1887, the El Moro line was extended to Trinidad to a connection with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Early in 1887 a great min- ing excitement prevailed in the Aspen district, and the extension west of Leadville, terminating at Rock Creek, was hurriedly built down the Canons of the Eagle and Grand Rivers to Glen- wood and up the Canon of the Roaring Fork to Aspen, which point was reached October 27, 1887. Ouray, near the source of the Uncon- pahgre River, had by this time developed into an important mining camp, and a branch line was completed from Montrose to that town December 12, 1887. Construction work rested for two years more, when rich discoveries at Lake City caused a branch to be built from Sapinero, on the Gun- nison extension. The branch was finished July 20, 1889. The same month a branch was built from Glenwood Springs to Rifle, in the Grand River Valley.

Up to 1881 all the lines of the Denver & Rio Grande were narrow gauge` (three feet). It then became important for the Denver & Rio Grande to have a standard gauge line between Denver and Pueblo, in order to compete for business from the Missouri River, and a third rail was laid and completed December 23, 1881, which resulted in a traffic arrangement by which the trains of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe were run through over the Denver & Rio Grande from Pueblo to Denver, this arrangement continuing until about 1887, when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe built its own line into Denver. The Missouri Pa- cific having built from Kansas City to Pueblo during the same year enabled the Denver & Rio Grande to make a similar traffic arrangement with that road, which is still in existence.

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.

Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 200

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