USA > Colorado > Sketches of Colorado: being an analytical summary and biographical history of the State of Colorado as portrayed in the lives of the pioneers, the founders, the builders, the statesmen, and the prominent and progressive citizens Vol. 1 > Part 17
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Upon his arrical in Denver in 1870, Mr. Fisher formed a business connection with the firm of Daniels & Eckhart, then doing busi- ness in a location at Fifteenth and Larimer streets. It is but indicative of the character and capacity of Mr. Fisher to note that two years later, in the spring of 1872, the firm became known as Daniels, Fisher & Co.
In 1875, the firm moved from Larimer street to larger and more commodious quar- ters at Sixteenth and Lawrence streets, the
present location. The firm name then be- came Daniels and Fisher and continued un- der this name until Mr. Fisher's death.
From that time until his death Mr. Fisher was counted a leading eitizen of Den- ver. Publie spirited, energetic, he took a foremost part in every undertaking that made for the city's advancement, and through all the vicissitudes attending the growth of the struggling town, he never lost faith in her future. His imagination conceived a fairy picture of Denver's great- ness and his will put into execution daring and ambitious plans making for that end. When the panic of 1893 laid Denver low, Mr. Fisher ordered construction of an addi- tional story to the home of Daniels and Fish- er Company at Sixteenth and Lawrence streets.
After his admission to the firm, lots were purchased at the present location and a two-story structure built. The firm pros- pered and when the Leadville boom came in 1879, they were in position to take advan- tage of the opportunity offered in the new camps.
The firm of Daniels, Fisher & Smith was the Cloud City Branch of the Denver insti- tution. This was later sold out to Mr. J. W. Smith, the junior partner.
In the fullness of manly vigor, with es- tablished success already won and a pros- peet of years of useful effort before him. Mr. Fisher was stricken while on a business trip to New York.
His death occasioned profound sorrow in the business world of the country, while at home, his friends, employes and business as- sociates experienced the shock that comes from suffering a personal loss.
Mr. Fisher was a member of the Denver Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Fes- tival of Mountain and Plain Association, prominent in the Masonic fraternity and a member of Lincoln Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He had been keenly inter- ested in the electrical development of Den- ver and was the first vice-president of the Consolidated Electric Light Company. Mr. E. W. Rollins, the president, not being a resident of Denver, the active management naturally fell upen Mr. Fisher's shoulders.
In 1873, Mr. Fisher married Mary Fran- ces Cherry at Saratoga Springs, New York. A son and a daughter were born to them: Wm. Sherman Fisher and Barbara E., wife of James Randolph Walker.
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DENNIS SHEEDY.
S HEEDY, DENNIS, banker, merchant, in- ventor, pioneer business man, was born in Ireland, September 26, 1846, the son of John and Margaret (Fitzpatrick) Sheedy. When a boy he came to this country with his parents, the family settling in Massa-
unknown territory beyond the Rocky Moun- tains; so he came to Denver, Colorado, in 1863, remaining there one year.
In 1864, he went to Montana and engaged in mining in Alder Gulch, near Virginia City. While still a boy in his teens, he em-
DENNIS SHEEDY
chusetts, where they remained until he was twelve years old. Then they went to Iowa, and shortly afterwards, in 1858, his father died, and from the age of twelve he was thrown on his own resources.
The spirit of adventure and sturdy inde- pendence, which, in later years, was to earry him far on the road to suceess, led young Sheedy to try his fortune in the then almost
barked in the grocery business in the mining camps and enjoyed considerable success. He continued in this business for about one year, when he sold out and removed to Utah and engaged in the mercantile business in the Cache Valley, remaining there until the fol- lowing spring, when he returned to Virginia City, Montana, where he engaged in freight- ing and merchandising during that summer,
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after which he sold out and started over- land for Chicago, where he took a course in commercial law. Having thus added to his mental equipment, he was ready to return to the life of the frontier.
Purchasing a train load of merchandise he started across the plains. Arriving at Fort Kearney, Nebraska, he learned that the Indians were on the warpath and all immi- grants were advised by the government of- ficers to proceed no further. These immi- grants numbered fifty-four and they held a meeting and decided to go on. They elected Mr. Sheedy captain of their company, and the government issued a captain's commis- sion to him. The band under Mr. Sheedy's captaincy reached Salt Lake City, Utah, in safety, after three months' travel, and en- gaging in several encounters with the In- dians. He then continued on to Virginia City, Montana, wintering there and storing his merchandise.
Early the following spring he took a train load of merchandise to Lemhi City, Idaho, encountering very severe mountain storms on the trip, but arrived safely at Lemhi City and opened a mercantile house, con- tinuing there all that summer. He closed out his business in Lemhi City in the fall of 1867, going to Helena, Montana, and engaged in the wholesale grocery business until the fall of 1868, when he proceeded to Salt Lake City, Utah. There he purchased a train load of merchandise and a herd of beef cattle, which he took across the Great American Desert to the town of Hamilton, White Pine county, Nevada, which then had a population of 30,000. Disposing of these, Mr. Sheedy took a six months' trip to northern Califor- nia, southern California, Old Mexico, Arizona and back to San Francisco. He then re- turned to New York, overland, and took an extended trip through the southern states and arrived in New Orleans in 1870, when he crossed Berwick Bay to Galveston, and thence to Brenham and Austin. From the latter place he started on a six-hundred mile horseback ride through southwest Texas, concluding a number of large contracts for cattle. He drove these Texas cattle north and then engaged very actively in the cattle business, establishing headquarters in Kansas City and maintaining camps in Kansas, Nebraska, Indian Territory and Nevada. He continued in the cattle business from 1870 to 1884, when the advancing march of settle- ment restricted the extent of the free range, and he sold his interests.
In 1881, Mr. Sheedy returned to Denver, this time to stay. He had lived there in 1863, and his first impression, confirmed by subse-
quent visits, convinced him that the place had an assured future, and he selected it for his home. Almost immediately he plunged into the business life of Denver. The year of his arrival he assumed the guardianship of the son of his old friend, A. B. Daniels, and when he was discharged by the probate court, Mr. Sheedy turned over to his ward an estate that had increased 100 per cent. through his administration of it.
For more than a generation, Mr. Sheedy has been prominent in the smelter industry of the west. He was president and general manager of the Globe Smelting and Refining Company of Denver, and up to January, 1909, was a director and member of the exec- ntive board of the American Smelting and Refining Company of New York. To his genius for initiative the smelting industry owes much of the progress made in the last two score years. It was Mr. Sheedy who first secured shipments of the rich lead ores from the Coeur d' Alene mines to the smelt- ers of this state. Through the use of these ores, the smelting of the formerly refractory gold ores was made simple. He was always experimenting for improvement in processes. Altogether, he secured patents on eighteen inventions, which have gone far toward making an exact science of the smelting in- dustry.
In 1894, Mr. Sheedy organized the Denver Dry Goods Company, and was made presi- dent of the corporation, a position he has held ever since. The floor space has been quadrupled during this time, and the store is now one of the largest dry-goods houses west of Chicago. Through his remarkable capacity for business organization, Mr. Sheedy has been led into many and diverse fields of endeavor. He has been vice-presi- dent of the Colorado National Bank of Den- ver since 1882. He was manager of the Union Real Estate, Live Stock and Investment Com- pany for a number of years. He is vice- president of the International Smelting and Refining Company of New York. He served as treasurer of the Colorado Mining Ex- change and of the Western Patent Company, and was for two years on the State Board of Charities under the last administration of Governor Routt.
Mr. Sheedy was twice married, his first wife being Katherine V. Ryan of Leaven- worth, Kansas, to whom he was united Feb- ruary 15, 1882. She died in 1895, leaving two daughters. In 1898, he married Mary Theresa Burke, of Chicago.
Mr. Sheedy is a member of the Denver Chib, the Denver Athletic Club and the Denver Country Club.
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DAVID HALLIDAY MOFFAT
M OFFAT, DAVID HALLIDAY, banker, capitalist, state builder, born at Wash- ingtonville, Orange county, New York, July 22, 1839; died March 18, 1911, at New York. Mr. Moffat's parents were David H. and Kathleen Gregg Moffat. He attended the schools of his native town and at the age of
assistant cashier of the present day.
In 1855 Opportunity knocked at his door in the form of an offer to go west. An elder brother wrote him from Des Moines, at that time on the edge of civilization, that a new bank was about to be started there and if he cared to come a place would be found for
DAVID HALLIDAY MOFFAT
12 years went to New York city where he secured employment in what was then called the New York Exchange Bank, but is now known as the Irving Exchange National Bank.
From errand boy with all the multifarious duties imposed upon the youth of that age, he advanced rapidly until at the age of six- teen he held the responsible position of as- sistant teller, corresponding to the place of
him in the new institution. 1. He went and was made cashier of the institution. During his service here he attracted the attention of B. F. Allen, a capitalist who planned to start a bank at Omaha.
Allen invited young Moffat to accompany him to the Nebraska metropolis and the in- vitation was accepted. When the bank opened its doors the boy from New York,
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still in his teens was made cashier, a position of grave responsibility which he discharged with the fidelity to duty that has been charac- teristic of him all his life.
Through no fault of his the institution was forced into liquidation and to him was intrusted the difficult task of winding up its affairs. It was one of his most cherished memories that under his management the last cent of debt owed by the institution was paid, every depositor got to the last dollar, the amount of his claims, and when the doors were finally closed every stain of reproach was removed from the persons who had been responsible for the bank's suspension.
Late in the fall of 1859 young Moffat de- cided that the news of gold discoveries and consequent peopling of the Pike's Peak re- gion was worth investigating, and he deter- mined to join the throng the next spring. It was not his intention to join the search for gold. His native shrewdness taught him that it would be far more profitable to sup- ply the wants of the gold seekers.
Accordingly he formed a partnership with C. C. Woolworth of St. Joseph, Missouri, and they bought a stock of books and stationery for the new town of Denver. Woolworth was to remain at St. Joseph to look after the buying and shipping, while Moffat was to have charge of the selling end at Denver.
The stock was loaded onto four wagons, they hired three drivers, Moffat taking charge of one team, and the march across the plains was begun. The outfit arrived in Denver on March 17, 1860, and the store was established on Eleventh street below Larimer street on the other side of Cherry Creek.
The venture proved successful from the first and as the town grew the business was removed to a location on the north side of Larimer street between Fourteenth and Fif- teenth streets.
For ten years Moffat retained his interest in the store, but in the meantime, in 1865, he was invited by the directors of the First National Bank to accept a position as cashier of that institution. From that day down to the time of his death Mr. Moffat and the First National Bank of Denver were syn- onymous terms. In 1880 he was elected president, a position he retained for more than thirty years.
At the age of thirty he gathered some of the venturesome spirits of the time and submitted to them a proposition for building a line from Denver north to Cheyenne to connect with the Union Pacific, a large undertaking in those days. They successfully executed their plans and one day in 1870 a locomotive christened the "David H. Moffat," steamed
into Denver and this city was on the railroad map.
The discovery of the wonderful ore de- posits in the Leadville district led to Mr. Moffat's next venture in railroad building. By construction of the South Park line he made easy access between Denver and the Cloud City, adding materially to the pros -... perity of Denver and contributing to the well- being of the citizens of the new camp.
When Creede was discovered Mr. Moffat went to the directors of the Denver & Rio Grande and urged them to build a line through Wagon Wheel Gap to place the new camp on the map. They refused and Mr. Moffat's answer was characteristic. "Very well," he said, "then I will build it myself," and he did. So when Cripple Creek was discovered. After meeting refusal from directors of other railroads to build into the camp he under- took himself the construction of the Florence & Cripple Creek road, a route which proved the most profitable in the state.
His success in railroad undertakings was so proverbial that in 1885 he was elected to the presidency of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad, a position he held for six years.
By reason of his wonderful business fore- sight Mr. Moffat acquired some of the best mining properties in the state. He made millions out of such mines as the Maid, Hen- riette, Resurection and Little Pittsburgh at Leadville; the Victor, Anaconda and Golden Cycle at Cripple Creek. His other business interests included holdings in the Fourth National and Western National Banks of New York and the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York. He was also a heavy owner in the securities of the Denver City Tramway Company and the Denver Union Water Company.
The crowning achievement of his career Mr. Moffat reserved for the closing years of his life. It had been long his dream to place Denver on a direct transcontinental line of railway, and at the age of sixty-five, when most men are planning surcease from labor, he announced to the public his plans for the Moffat Road, which should pierce the Rocky Mountains on an air line, establishing direct communication between Salt Lake City. Be- fore his death he saw the realization of most of his dream.
Mr. Moffat was married at Mechanics- ville, New York to Fanny A. Buckhout, on December 11, 1861. They had one daughter, Mrs. Marcia Moffat McClurg.
Mr. Moffat was a member of the Denver club, the Union League club of New York and the Chicago Club of Chicago. He was ... also a veteran of the civil war, his discharge papers showing the rank of captain.
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ALFRED CURTIS CASS
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ALFRED CURTIS CASS.
CASS, ALFRED CURTIS, born Sept. 4, Osgood in the Whitebreast Coal & Mining 1850 at Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin. He was of English ancestry, the family immi- grating to Wisconsin in the pioneer days. His grandfather on his mother's side was one of the pioneer Baptist ministers of the Badger state. He received his education in the pub- lie schools and after graduating from the high school at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, he attended Wayland University where he was a classmate of the late Senator Thurston of Nebraska.
After finishing at Wayland, Mr. Cass en- tered commercial life, engaging in the dry goods business at Beaver Dam with David Newman. When the firm moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, Mr. Cass accompanied them. It was there that he met Mr. John C. Osgood, with whom he was later to become associated in the organization and development of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, the largest and most powerful corporation in the Inter- mountain states.
The early beginnings and subsequent his- tory of the C. F. & I. form one of the most unusual industrial romances of present times. It was conceived and brought into being through the brains and splendid energies of four remarkable young men, Osgood, Cass, Jerome and Kebler. They had the daring imagination of empire builders, the initiative to put their dreams to the test and unbounded faith in their ability to carry through their enterprises. With far-sighted wisdom, they recognized the illimitable resources of the Centennial State and the opportunities for advantage in bringing forth and developing the locked up treasures of nature. The busi- ness and industrial world soon came to recog- nize the power of the "Nebraska Group," by which title they were known.
In 1882 Mr. Cass joined with John C.
Company. Six years later he came to Colo- rado to assume the position of general sales agent of the Colorado Fuel Company, of which Mr. Osgood was president, and which was afterwards consolidated with the Colo- rado Coal and Iron Company, under the name of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. In the succeeding years, the growth of this company advanced by leaps and bounds. Its mineral holdings were added to, by acqui- sition of thousands of acres of the best coal and iron ore lands in this and neighboring states. The steel plant at Pueblo was es- tablished, and a railroad, the Colorado & Wyoming was constructed to connect the various mines of the company.
In all this phenomenal development, Mr. Cass bore an important part. He had ad- vanced from the position of sales agent to that of first vice-president and to that im- portant executive position he gave the best of his energy. He burned the candle at both ends, prolonging his labors far into the night. Such application to the hard, grind- ing details of business was more than nature could stand. The thread of life was cut short and the community was shocked to learn on July 4, 1903, of the death of Mr. Cass.
Before coming to Colorado, Mr. Cass took a lively interest in politics and served for many years as City treasurer of Lincoln, re- ceiving nomination from Republican, Demo- crat and Prohibition parties, which was practically a unanimous election.
He married at Beaver Dam, Wis. in 1876 Miss Mary E. Ashton. Two daugh- ters were born to them, Mrs. Frank M. Vaughn and Mrs. Roger Wolcott Toll.
At the time of his death, Mr. Cass was a member of the Denver Club, the Denver Chamber of Commerce and the Denver Country Club.
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CHESTER STEPHEN MOREY
CHESTER STEPHEN MOREY.
M OREY, CHESTER STEPHEN, presi- dent and general manager of the Great Western Sugar Company, founder of the C. S. Morey Mercantile Company, was born March 3, 1847, at Medina, Dane county, Wis- consin. The movement of the family west-
ward was started by the grandfather, who was born in Rhode Island in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He first went to Crawford eounty, Pennsylvania, and, after a brief stay in that state pushed his way across the plains to the Badger state. Mr.
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Morey's father was William Harrington Morey. His mother was Abigail Baird Morey, daughter of Chester Baird.
When barely in his teens a succession of erop failures lost the Morey home and the family moved to Buffalo county, where a new start was made on another farm. Here for- tune gave them a temporary smile and after disposing of one good crop it was determined that young Morey might have another short period of schooling. He had already at- tended two terms at the district school.
On January 1, 1864, at the age of sixteen, C. S. Morey laid down his books and, passing the scrutiny of the military officers, enlisted in Company I, Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Volun- teers. The fortunes of war saw him twice in the hospital; in the battles of Strawberry plains and Jerusalem plank road ; on the field at the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, and marching finally in the grand review at Washington. For gallantry in action he was promoted to corporal and to the brevet rank of lieutenant.
Returning from the war he took up again the hard and unremunerative work of the farm. As he labored through the long days before the harvest and compared the small returns to the family for the excessive toil faithfully given he concluded that a farmer's life offered nothing but unending hardship. He would leave it.
He had faithfully saved his earnings and went to Chicago to take a course of study that would fit him for the ministry. He had had one year at high school at Portage, Wis- consin, and another year at a private aead- emy at Waterloo, Wiseonsin. At the conclu- sion of these studies he determined that a business career was the one for him and he entered the employ of Cobb & Thorne, a re- tail grocery house of Chicago. He began with this firm as a porter, the only opening at hand, but his close attention to the busi- ness of his employers soon won his promotion and he was given a position as clerk. A little later he secured employment as a com- mencial traveler for the wholesale grocery house of Sprague, Warner & Company, a con- nection which marked the beginning of his real advance.
In 1872, C. S. Morey came to Colorado, partly to improve his health, which had be- eome somewhat impaired by too close atten- tion to business, and partly to investigate for himself the opportunities in the Rocky Mountain region. He had saved money in Chicago and upon his arrival here he in- vested his capital in cattle. His venture was a success, both physically and financially,
and at the end of a year he renewed his con- neetion with Sprague, Warner & Company, beeoming their western representative.
In his new position Mr. Morey had for his territory the entire country west to the Pa- cific, a large part of which he had to cover by stage. The inconveniences and positive hardships of this life were many but the re- wards were most satisfactory. He sent in so much business that his salary was in- ereased from $3,000 to $12,000 a year. He invested his savings wisely and in 1881 he became a member of the firm for which he had worked, and a braneh was opened at Denver with him in charge.
For three years this arrangement ob- tained, the business showing steady increase. In 1884, Mr. Morey purchased the interests of his partners in the Denver business and incorporated the C. S. Morey Mercantile Company, a concern which has been for many years a leading wholesale grocery house in the west.
The name of C. S. Morey will forever be associated with the birth of the beet sugar industry of Colorado, an industry which in ten years' time has added millions to the wealth of the state and has piled values in ever increasing degree upon the lands of this state. Through Mr. C. A. Granger, Mr. Morey became interested in 1900 in a beet sugar factory at Greeley, and from that time dates his connection with this great interest of Colorado.
Mr. Morey invested, first, with the idea of encouraging a new industry for Colorado, and as success attended the early efforts he increased his holdings, gradually resigning active connection with his mercantile busi- ness and devoting his entire time and energy to the development of the beet and its manu- facture into sugar. The business which still bears his name is now under the management of his son, John W. Morey.
The growth of the Great Western Sugar Company in the last decade has been almost phenomenal. The company now owns eleven factories, nine in Colorado, one in Montana and one in Nebraska. The sugar produets of the company have a value of twenty million a year, and the affairs of the corporation are directed by C. S. Morey, president.
Mr. Morey married Anna Laura Claugh of Denver, and to them were born a son, John W. Morey, (q. v.) and a daughter, Mary Louise Morey, widow of the late Barry Sullivan. Mrs. Morey died February 27, 1890.
Mr. Morey is a member of the Denver Club, Denver Athletic Club and the Denver Country Club.
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WALTER SCOTT CHEESMAN.
C HEESMAN, WALTER SCOTT, capital- ist, born June 27, 1838, at Hempstead Harbor, Long Island, New York, died in Denver, Colorado, May 31, 1907, was the son of Joseph B. and Grace Rowling Cheesman. He is descended from prominent families of the colonial period, and later some were numbered among the patriots of the Amer- ican Revolution. His grandfather, Captain
the public and high schools in New York City, and part of his education was obtained under private tutors. He at first intended to follow a mercantile life, as had his father, and for several years was employed in the old New York Bank in that city. In 1854 he removed to Chicago, where he engaged in the drug business, and in 1860, while still a resident of that city, he established a drug
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