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 18
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WALTER SCOTT CHEESMAN
Joseph Cheesman ( 1740-1820), was commis- sioned first lieutenant in Colonel William Maleom's regiment, New York, serving one year, and then as captain of the artificers at West Point, under General Kosciusko. His son, Joseph B. Cheesman, was a mer- chant in New York City, but during the War of 1812 served as a captain in a New York regiment.
Walter Scott Cheesman, his son, attended
store in Denver. In order to give this new business his personal attention, Mr. Chees- man moved to Denver in 1861 and from that time this city became his permanent home. Ilis store was opened in a building at Fif- teenth and Blake streets, one part of it being occupied by the Kountze Brothers as a bank. He lost heavily in the great fire that swept the business center of Denver in 1863, and immediately went east, where he purchased
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a new and larger stock. A lot adjoining that of Daniels & Brown was bought by him, upon which he erected a two-storied build- ing. He withdrew from the drug business in 1874, having in the meantime become in- terested in other undertakings, and from that time until his death his name was prominent as a promoter and organizer of extensive and ambitious enterprises. In 1869-1870 Mr. Cheesman became associ- ated with Governor John Evans, David H. Moffat and others in the building of the Denver & Pacific Railway, then in financial straits. They sold bonds in the sum of a million dollars, and through their energy and financiering the road was completed to Cheyenne, and in June, 1870, the first locomotive pulled into Denver. When this city and region needed money for publie enterprise, and capital was afraid to invest, Mr. Cheesman risked all he pos- sessed, but it proved a fortunate investment. He was one of the organizers of the Denver & Boulder Valley Railroad Company, in October, 1870, of which he was a trustee and also vice-president. He was interested in the Denver & South Park Railroad, of which he was vice-president, and was also one of the projectors of the Denver & New Orleans, and the Denver, Texas & Fort Worth Railroads, now a part of the Colorado & Southern System.
In 1880, Mr. Cheesman organized the Denver Union Depot and Railway Company, and was its first president, a position which he held many years.
In the meantime Mr. Cheesman, in 1872, became interested in the subject of the water supply for the city, and assisted in the or- ganization of the Denver Water Company, of which he was elected president. In 1888 he organized the Citizens Water Company, and also the Mountain Water Works Con- struction Company, becoming the president of both of these corporations. The Citizens and the Denver Water Companies were con- solidated in 1894, and became known as the Denver. Union Water Company, of which Mr. Cheesman was president, continuing in that position until his death in 1907. He thoroughly investigated all the available water supply for the city, and by the pur- chase of lakes, the building of reservoirs, and finally in the construction of the great Cheesman Dam or lake, Denver has forever been made secure of an inexhaustible and pure water supply. The consummation of his labors in the perfecting of this great system is a lasting monument to his skill and genius.
The Cheesman Dam is one of the most wonderful engineering achievements in the West. It was constructed on the South Fork of the South Platte, below the confluence of Goose Creek, and the large lake or reser- voir thus made extends about three miles up Goose Creek and seven up the South Fork. The depth at the dam is 220 feet and three miles np it is 150 feet, and at six miles from the dam it is fifty feet deep. It con- tains about seventy-five billion gallons of water, sufficient to supply Denver for five years when its population shall have reached half a million.
In 1885, Mr. Cheesman was elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and was for a time prominently identified with that road. In addition to mining interests in Leadville, Creede, Red Cliff and other parts of the state, he was one of the largest real estate owners in Denver. From the early days in Denver he put his faith in this city, both as a railroad builder and an investor When others doubted, he was an optimist. More than once he risked his fortune to further the advancement of Denver and Colorado.
For thirty years Mr. Cheesman was a director and vice-president of the First Na- tional Bank of Denver. He was also presi- dent of the First National Bank at Aspen. He was liberal and generous, many of his gifts being unknown to the general public. Kindness and sympathy were among his strongest traits. He not only had a warm heart for his fellow-man, but for the dumb brute as well. Mr. Cheesman for many years was the mainstay and support of the Colo- rado Humane Society of which he was also the president.
His heirs contributed $100,000 for the memorial in Cheesman Park, formerly the old Congressional park and cemetery, which is now known as Cheesman Park, where a handsome marble Memorial Building has been erected that is one of the chief attrac- tions in the city.
Mr. Cheesman married, November 2, 1885, Mrs. Alice Foster Sanger, daughter of John Wells and Lydia (Converse) Foster. Mrs. Cheesman is descended from Myles Standish, who came over in the Mayflower. She is a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, Colonial Dames, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
To them was born a daughter, Gladys, now the wife of John Evans, son of William G., and grandson of Governor John Evans (q. v.). Mr. and Mrs. John Evans have a daughter named Alice, born May 15. 1911.
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CHIARLES HALLACK
CHARLES HALLACK
HALLACK, CHARLES, lumber merchant and manufacturer, born March 22, 1828, in Bethany. Genesee county, New York, died Denver, March 3, 1906, was the son of John D. and Sarah Hallack. His ancestry Sep. 1, 1872.
dates back to colonial days. His father, farmer, miller, manufacturer, was born Nov. 6, 1790, died Aug. 13, 1865 at Bethany, N. Y. His mother was born Dec. 12, 1792 and died
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Charles Hallack was educated in the com- mon schools, and spent the first twenty-eight years of his life on a farm in his native county. In 1857 he removed to Menden, St. Joseph county, Michigan, where he formed a part- nership in the mercantile business with Mr. Lyman, and there continued in the same for eight years. Removing to Highland, Don- iphan county, Kansas, in 1864, he was there engaged for about two years in the stock business. In 1866 he became interested with his brother, Erastus F. Hallack in the lumber business, and shipped freight to Denver. He followed the next year, crossing the plains in a wagon with his wife, and settled in this city, in May, 1867, which became his perma- nent residence. The Hallack Brothers built a planing mill. As Denver was then the cen- ter of activity, rapidly building and expanding, they prospered in business and were soon compelled to enlarge their plant. They be- came known as one of the most reliable firms in the west, and their trade grew and flourish- ed.
Mr. Charles Hallack was a man of in-
. tegrity, thrift, energy, and enterprise, known and recognized as one of the foremost busi- ness men of the city. The firm name was changed to that of Hallaek & Howard, when Charles and J. H. Howard became interested with them in the business, in 1877. His brother, E. F. Hallack, retired from the firm in 1879 to engage in a separate enterprise. Charles Hallack continued in active business until 1895, when he sold out his interest in the Hallaek & Howard Lumber Company and retired.
Mr. Hallack was one of the promoters and organizers of the old State National Bank in 1882, and was a member of its first board of directors. This bank opened in a small apart- ment on 16th street in the rear portion of the McClintock block, with a capital stock of $120,000. When the First National, which then occupied the corner of the same building, was transferred to the Tabor Block across Larimer street, the State National took its place. Mr. Hallack was the president of the
latter in 1884 He also made investments in other enterprises, and became one of the wealthy men of the state. After retiring from active business, he spent his time at his home, 1315 California street, and in attend- ing to his large and extensive property in- interests. He was charitable, but in the quiet and unostentatious way. Being averse to publicity, much of the good that was done by his helping hand will never be known.
He not only relieved cases of distress to which his attention had been called, but often sought them out, giving liberally to the needy with- out the source of the benefaction becoming known to them.
The old and original home at 13th and California, on the site of which now stands the present handsome residence, is still occu- pied by the family. Mr Hallack instructed his brother, Erastus F., who preceded him to Denver about a year, to buy him a home, and he purchased the present site, on what was then known as E. street. The first structure was a modest one and a half story frame dwelling, which was torn down in 1889, and the present elegant home was built. Addi- tional ground was bought, and a beautiful lawn was made. Mr. Hallack set out the trees and sowed the grass for this, the first lawn in Denver.
He was profoundly interested in arbori- culture and personally cared for and tended the three generations of big trees which now adorn the lawn of the family home. He served for a time as one of the Park Commis- sioners of Denver, and it was during his ad- ministration of this office that the lake at the City Park was built. He personally super- vised this work, and in a large measure, the credit for the beautification of Denver's park system is due to his indefatigable ef- forts and excellent taste.
Mr. Hallack passed away at St. Joseph's hospital after submitting to a serious opera- tion to relieve a complicated and long stand- ing trouble.
Mr. Hallack married Miss Rachel L. daughter of John Wilkinson (born 1806) and Sarah Clapp (born Knox, 1811) Fletcher, who were married in 1831. Mrs. Hallack's grandfather, William, was the son of Captain William Fletcher of distinguished Revo- lutionary service. He enlisted as a private in a detachment of Captain Jonathan Thayer's Company, Col. Barnes' regiment, serving throughout the Revolution and being pro- moted to a captaincy in Colonel Simon's regiment. He retired with a Captain's com- mission. He was descended from Robert Fletcher, whose old home is now the museum of Concord, Mass.
Mr. Hallack is survived by his widow, and two children, both born in Denver, Miss Gertrude Fletcher (Mrs. [Dr.] Arnold Steven Taussig); and Charles Hallack, Jr., who is now (1911) engaged in the lumber and manu- facturing business at Spokane, Washington.
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CHARLES SCOTT JOHNSON
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CHARLES SCOTT JOHNSON.
JOHNSON, CHARLES SCOTT, railroad president, born February 21, 1865, in Wa- terloo, New York, is the son of F. W. (whole- sale lumberman and manufacturer) and An- nie L. Johnson. After graduating from high school, he kept books for a time in the ex- tensive establishment operated by his father. It was this practical school of experience that gave him an insight into business meth- ods and developed the executive ability and skill with which he now conducts large en- terprises in a successful manner.
Mr. Johnson was one of the founders and secretary of The Western Mutual Life Insu- rance Company, of Chicago, and had charge of their extensive agency force there during the five years of his association with that company, and in that capacity placed over $15,000,000 of insurance at risk. He after- wards organized The Natural Carbonie Gas Company of Saratoga Springs, New York, and was the active head of that business com- mercially some five years, until he came to the west to become interested in the projects with which he is now associated.
He is now president of the Denver, Lara- mie & Northwestern railroad, which was chartered February 9, 1910, as successor to the Denver, Laramie & Northwestern Rail- way Company.
This railroad is projected to extend from
Denver to Boise, about 750 miles. The line from Denver to Greeley, now in operation, including sidings, is 56.16 miles in length. On January 1, 1911, the company began the year's work with twelve miles of construc- tion under way west of Greeley, and since that time, has been rapidly pushing the ex- tension of the road. This road is one of the new and most important railway connections for Denver, opening new and rich fields for investment and development that will add much to the wealth of the Rocky Mountain region. Mr. Johnson, who came to this state in July, 1907, has shown splendid executive force and ability in financing and promoting this great enterprise.
Mr. Johnson was also one of the organi- zers of the Northwestern Land & Iron Com- pany, and financed that company to the ex- tent of two million dollars. He also helped to organize and finance The Denver-Laramie Realty Company, and is now (1911) assisting in financing The Colorado-Wyoming Coal Company-both large corporations.
He is a member of the Traffic Club, Colo- rado Golf Club and the Denver Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Johnson married, in Chicago, October 9, 1888, Miss Grace Russell, daughter of Benjamin Russell Cutler of that city. They have two children, Earl R. and Ralph C.
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ALEXIS du PONT PARKER
ALEXIS du PONT PARKER.
P ARKER, ALEXIS du PONT, born July 26, 1859, at Wilmington, Delaware, the son of Stevens Parker, D. D., an Episcopal clergyman, and Mary (Griffitts Lewis) Parker. The first of the family to settle in America
was William Parker, lawyer, who came from London in the early part of 1700, and en- tered upon the practice of his profession at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Dr. Stevens Parker was born Oct. 25, 1830 and died
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March 15, 1894. The parents of A. D. Par- ker's mother were Charles Smith Lewis and Mary Griffitts) Lewis.
A. D. Parker, vice president of the Colo- rado & Southern Railroad, was educated for the church. The men of his house have all been lawyers, or preachers of the Gospel. His great grandfather was the. bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Massachusetts and he but followed the course of family tradition in the plans adopted for his education. At the age of twenty, he received his academic degree of A. B. from Racine College, from which institution he was graduated in 1879. Three years later, his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of A. M.
After leaving Racine, Mr. Parker entered the General Theological Seminary at New York City, and was graduated in 1883, with the degree of S. T. B.
But A. D. Parker was destined for a ca- reer of greater activity than is experienced in the life of a minister of the Gospel. The call of the west beckoned him after leaving the seminary, and he came to Colorado, reaching Denver May 30, 1883. On June 15, 1883, he entered the employ of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad as a section laborer. His rise in the railroad world, from section hand to vice president of a vast railroad system, is one of the wonder tales of the West where custom decrees large rewards for honest and efficient service.
It was characteristic of A. D. Parker that, having selected the railroad business as his life work, he determined to learn it thoroughly, beginning at the bottom and mastering its details in all branches. The idea of advance- ment was ever in his mind. On the day he grasped his rough tools, prepared to do a man's work in whatever station fortune might place him, the conviction was strong within him that his first employment was but the start- ing point of his career. In a short time he was made foreman of the section. Heremained at this work until he became acquainted with every detail of railroad construction and then was promoted,
From the railroad grade, Mr. Parker went into the machine shops. He began as an apprentice and learned the trade. It may seem tedious to the young man of today to contemplate the years of preparation, but Parker never doubted the wisdom of his course, nor regretted the time he spent in securing the equipment that should make him qualified for the position of high responsi- bility awaiting him at the end.
After leaving the machine shops, Mr.
Parker took a position as clerk in the general office of the Colorado & Southern. One pro- motion followed another until he finally was made general auditor for the entire system. After holding the position for several years, Mr. Parker in 1905, was made vice-president and general manager. Upon the retirement of President Frank Trumbul Mr. Parker's duties as vice president werc greatly enlarged. The hardships and sacrifices attendant upon the years of preparation on the section, in the machine shops and as subordinate clerk, finally won their reward.
The same steadfastness of purpose that won his advancement from section laborer to railroad vice president also brought mar- velous success to Mr.Parker in his mining in- vestments. While employed as section fore- man, Mr. Parker formed the acquaintance of Thomas Lockhart, a miner and prospector of large experience and expect knowledge. It did not take Mr. Parker long to decide that Lockhart was a man whose honesty and judg- ment could be safely capitalized. The two entered into a partnership and for several years the railroad man "grub-staked" the miner. Every month a certain sum was appropriated out of his salary by Mr. Parker for the needs of his mining partner. Lockhart scoured the mountain sides of Colorado for years with indifferent success. Finally, when reports of gold discoveries in Southern Nevada were given to the world, he set out for Tonopah. There he located some claims in the new dis- trict, which gave evidences of being producers ultimately, but greater fortune was yet in store for them. Lockhart was one of the first in the new camp of Goldfield, thirty miles to the south. His practiced eye se- lected the claims which now constitute the holdings of the Florence Gold Mining Com- pany, one of the two great mining companies of the Goldfield district. Mr. Parker's share in the bonanza has made him a millionaire several times over.
Mr. Parker, on Sept. 14, 1887, married Eliza Bowley Bryan at Baltimore, Mary- land. They have three children, all girls, Anne Bryan Parker, Helen Lewis Parker and Emily Le Compte Parker.
While in no sense a devotee of society, Mr. Parker holds memberships in a number of prominent clubs. These include the Uni- versity Club of Chicago, University Club, Denver, Denver Club, Denver Country Club, El Paso Club, Colorado Springs, Montezuma Club, Goldfield, Nevada, and the Traffic Club, Denver.
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LAWRENCE COWLE PHIPPS
LAWRENCE COWLE PHIPPS.
PHIPPS, LAWRENCE COWLE, retired steel manufacturer, capitalist, philan- thropist, was born in Amwell township, Washington county, Pennsylvania, August 30, 1862. His father was William Henry
Phipps, a minister of the gospel, born March 27, 1825, died November 28, 1902. His mother was Agnes McCall Phipps, daughter of William and Elizabeth Johnson MeCall.
The history of the steel business in Amer-
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ica is the story of the life work of Carnegie and the men of the Phipps family and those they gathered around them. The marvelous development of production, manufacture and distribution, the welding together of scores of individual plants, the adjustment on an economic basis of the labor of a hundred thousand men, and the scientific marketing of the fruits of their labor so that the intri- cate organization thus built up should move smoothly and easily, is a monument to those whose daring imagination conceived the dream and whose executive capacity carried it out.
Lawrence Cowle Phipps attended the pub- lie schools of Pittsburgh, to which city the family moved when he was five years of age. At sixteen he was graduated from the Pittsburgh High School and soon there- after entered into the world of busi- ness and manufacture in the office of Carnegie Brothers & Company, Limited. He was assigned to a place at the Upper Union Mills, Thirty-third street, Pitts- burgh, remaining there until December 1, 1887. These were the years of his appren- tieeship given under the watchful care of men who even then were coming to be recog- nized as the greatest masters of the busi- ness in the country. In these offices he served in various capacities, holding the posi- tion of bookkeeper when the properties were transferred to the firm of Carnegie, Phipps & Company, Limited.
With the change, his position was im- proved, a place of larger responsibility being given him in the city offices. So well did he discharge the trust committed to him that on October 1, 1888, at the age of twenty-six years, he was given an interest in the busi- ness of Carnegie, Phipps & Company, Lim- ited, and also in that of Carnegie Brothers & Company, Limited, the latter corporation owning the Edgar Thompson Steel Works and other properties.
On September 5, 1885, he married Miss Loomis of Pittsburgh. A son, Lawrence C. Phipps, Jr., and a daughter, Emma L. Phipps, were born to them. Mrs. Phipps died in July, 1888.
Upon his introduction into the firm he was made treasurer of Carnegie, Phipps & Company, Limited, and two years later he was elected a member of the Board of Man- agers of Carnegie Brothers & Company, Lim- ited, and of Carnegie. Phipps & Company, Limited. On July 1, 1892, upon the organ- ization of the Carnegie Steel Company, Lim-
ited, by the consolidation of the several Car- negie interests, he was elected a member of the Board of Managers, and assistant treasurer of the new company. Later he was made treasurer and subsequently, in 1894, he was elected second vice-president of the company.
In 1900 the Carnegie Company was formed to take over the Carnegie Steel Com- pany, the H. C. Frick Coke Company, the Oliver Iron Mining Company, the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and many other affiliated companies. Mr. Phipps was elected a member of the Board of Managers of the new holding company and first vice-president. Until the Carnegie interests were absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation, on April 1, 1901, he re- tained these offices. At that time he resigned all positions and retired from active business.
On April 22, 1897, he married Miss Chand- ler of Pittsburgh, by whom there were two children : Dorothy Chandler Phipps and Helen Chandler Phipps. The family ac- quired a residence in Denver, Colorado, in the fall of 1901, and subsequently disposed of the Pittsburgh residence.
In the Agnes Memorial Sanatorium, in- stituted in 1904, Mr. Phipps has erected an enduring monument to his charity and has earned the grateful regard of hundreds of sufferers from the white plague, who have found recovery at the institution. The San- atorium is situated in the Montclair subur- ban district of Denver upon a commanding estate of forty acres. Mr. Phipps, besides providing all expense of first cost and eon- struction, has given a generous endowment to meet the annual deficiency. The institu- tion is a model of its kind, splendidly equipped for housing one hundred and fifty patients. Since it was opened on July 1, 1904, it has established a remarkable record for effecting cures of tuberculosis.
Since his retirement from business in 1901, Mr. Phipps has spent much of his time in travel, both in this country and abroad. Being fond of outdoor life he has devoted himself to golf, riding, fishing and shooting. His park near Wagon Wheel Gap, in Min- eral county, is one of the finest natural pre- serves in the country. On this estate are to be found some of the rarest birds and animals ยท extant. The streams within the enclosure are stocked with an abundance of fish.
On January 25, 1911, Mr. Phipps married Miss Margaret Rogers, daughter of Judge Platt Rogers of Denver.
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JOEL FREDERICK VAILE
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JOEL FREDERICK VAILE.
V AILE, JOEL FREDERICK, was born at Centerville, Indiana, March 14, 1848. He is descended on his mother's side from Elder William Brewster, the leader of that devoted little band who landed from the Mayflower on the bleak and rock-bound coast in 1620, and whose influence for good in the American character is recognized today, three centuries after they gave thanksgiving on Plymouth Rock for safe delivery from the perils of the deep and from the persecutions of the mother country.
The same lofty ideals and capacity for leadership that placed Elder William Brew- ster at the head of the Pilgrim Fathers de- seended to his progeny, and they proved themselves worthy scions of an illustrious sire. Colonel Benjamin Hammond, who was an ancestor of Mr. Vaile's, participated in the battle of Bunker Hill and in later en- gagements during the Revolution.
Rawson Vaile, father of Joel F. Vaile, was born May 20, 1812, and died in Decem- ber, 1888, at Kokomo, Indiana. For nearly half a century he was a successful practi- tioner before the Indiana bar, and it was from him that his son acquired his liking for the law and received his early training in the profession.
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