USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 43
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
Having previously resolved to never again occupy a salaried position, the prob- lem of going into any sort of remunerative business without capital was not an easy thing to solve. In the spirit of the old adage, " Where there's a will there's a way," he opened an agency for the collection of accounts. His anxieties and discouragements were augmented by the well-meant admonition of friends that it was impossible to get enough to do to make it remunerative, and that it did not possess the elements of stability. To him, however, it was the dernier ressort, and he determined to enter in and achieve success. After a year's struggle, in- volving the sacrifice of many personal comforts and the endurance of many priva- tions, the debts were wiped out and a good business was established. It now embraced loans and stock brokerage.
To this was added the formation of stock companies in various enterprises ; and his general brokerage assumed the form of semi-banking business. At the end of nine years, with a large and lucrative business, he found himself on the high road to prosperity, but broken in health. The long, unbroken stretch of untiring endeavor had proved too great a strain. It was but natural that he should have surrendered with great reluctance and give up a business in which was centred his pride and many hopes of the future. He disposed of it readily, and set his face toward the Far West, in the hope of regaining his health. In addition to the above-mentioned enterprises he had established and published the Farmer's Home, an agricultural newspaper, which, from its excellence, was a success from the start. Most truly his are the recollections of a busy life.
A new page in the interesting career of Mr. Dennis began by his entry into Spokane Falls May 5th, 1885. He readily adapted himself to the change and the new condition of things incident to frontier life. The town was then a town of but two thousand souls and but one railway. It was a live, thrifty place, in which he saw a great future. A year was spent in careful investigation as to the
588
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
stability of the resources of the country. The richness and extent of the mines, and the vast areas of fine agricultural lands, and the opportunities for manufac- tures, convinced Mr. Dennis that Spokane would eventually become a great inland commercial centre. He made a number of investments in real estate, and began the publication of the Spokane Miner, a handsome sixtcen-page journal, a high standard of scientific work, which was as well a typographical work of art. It proved a strong factor in attracting mining men to this country. The rapid accumulation of other business matters became so pressing that he gave the paper to the son of an old personal friend. It is still published.
During this period he formed a company of Eastern capitalists for the pur- chase of the great mica mine known as the Muscovite, in Idaho. In this he finally secured a large interest. In the year 1886 he was elected to the City Council, and served two years. He participated in all public matters incident to the development of a rapidly growing city, and it was here that his business fore- sight and judgment became apparent to the public. He retired at the expiration of two years, with the high esteem of the whole city.
In 1887 he organized a company and built the first electric railway of the Northwest at Spokane. General Alger, in speaking of the road, said it was the most perfectly built street railway in the United States. It was built on the centre-pole system, and was equipped with the best service ever made for any line. The road through all seasons has never stopped a day. Water-power -- its first application to this use and purpose- is used in generating the electricity for the linc. He retired from the Presidency of the road after a period of two years.
In 1890 he was elected to the Board of Public Education, and was made Chairman of the Committee on Buildings. During his connection with the Board five large public-school buildings were erected, at an outlay of $250,000. His investments in real estate were made with characteristic. judgment and foresight, and he wisely improved his holdings in a permanent and substantial manner. To-day he stands in the front rank of one of the heaviest holders of realty in Spokane, and there are several whose possessions respectively are conservatively estimated at more than a million of dollars. Early in 1890 he was one of those men who, by virtue of the tact, determination, and enterprise within them, organ- ized and established the Northwestern Industrial Exposition, located at Spokane, of which he was the First Vice-President.
Again, in 1891, becoming quite enfeebled from overwork, he, with his wife, made a trip to Europe, and returned toward the close of the year in an improved physical condition. He has since his return used his leisure moments in con- tributing interesting, descriptive, and reflective letters to the press at home and to Eastern journals, and has also delivered lectures upon his impressions of the older civilizations.
In recognition of his pre-eminent qualifications for executive management and financiering, he was recently made a member of the Board of Trustees and one of the Executive Board and Treasurer of the Jenkins University, a new institution, lately founded, and endowed by Colonel David P. Jenkins with half a million of dollars. This institution is to be of the highest standard possible in this country. In mining and banking he is heavily interested, holding a foremost position in these interests in both city and State.
589
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Althoughi but a young man himself, having led an active and busy life, he has, nevertheless, been thoughtful of others, and many a young man can trace his success in life to the aid of Mr. Dennis. He is a man of quiet habits, preferring the pleasures of pure home comforts and association of his family to all things else. He was married at the age of twenty-four, in the year 1879, to Miss Hester L. Bradley, the daughter of Captain John Bradley, of Dayton, O. Miss Bradley came from an old Kentucky family, and to-day, as wife and mother of three chil- dren, is a person of strikingly youthful and pleasing appearance. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis is a model one in all respects, especially as it bears the evi- dence of culture and refinement. Personally he is an adherent of the Presbyterian Church and an ardent Republican. He is by nature as well as by experience con- servative in business, and stands high at home and abroad for integrity, sagacity, and fair dealing, an honorable and open-hearted, manly man. Influential, inde- pendent, and enterprising, he has still a long career before him, which must lead to eminence.
BRADLEY, CYRUS .- When the English Cavaliers planted their standards for a new civilization on the shores of Virginia, with all their lofty hopes and aspira- tions, they little dreamed of the magnitude of their undertaking nor of the swift- ness of its accomplishment. Those brave Britons who thus early peopled that historic colony never thought of a republic of States which should stretch from old Roanoke to the shores of the Pacific, nor that their descendants would lead in the westward march of empire ; but they builded better than they knew.
Among their descendants may be counted the name of Cyrus Bradley, now of Spokane. He traces his lineage to one of the oldest families of that grand old State. His father, Captain John Bradley, located in Ironton, Lawrence County, O., where Cyrus was born on October 5th, 1852. Captain Bradley did efficient and gallant service for his country during the great rebellion in the capacity of commander of a gun-boat in the early part of the war, and subsequently with a flotilla of transports in Southern waters, winning for his name the warmest encomiums for alacrity and success in the performance of the duties assigned to him. As long as he lived he was an active man of affairs, and counted among his friends many of the notable men of his day.
After young Cyrus had reached the age of twelve years his parents removed to their suburban home near Dayton, O., and sojourned there in that beautiful land of fields and orchards until the death of his father, four years later. The family then removed to Dayton, where he attended school for three years. At the expiration of this time he gave up his studies on account of ill health, and sought to restore his strength by travel. After an extended tour through the West, spending much of his time in the mountain regions of Colorado, he returned with health and vigor regained, and resumed his studies. He concluded his task with text-books in a thorough course at the Miami Commercial College, thus equipping himself for a practical business life.
Again he turned his face westward, this time to build a fortune. With this object in view he joined an engineer's corps engaged in plotting the city of Wichita, Kan., and has since enjoyed the proud satisfaction of seeing that place become the chief metropolis of Southern Kansas. His next step was to take a
29
590
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
pre-emption claim upon the site of the Osage Indian Reserve, which had been ceded to the Government and opened to settlement. Young Bradley was among the first to locate a farm in that vast prairie land. He secured a pre-emption right to a tract twelve miles from Wichita, the nearest post-office. It required a stout heart in a boy but little past twenty-one to abide in solitude, without other companionship than his horse and dog, in order to win a holding.
After a year of pioneer farming he joined the rush for the new mines in Colo- rado. The stories of fabulous discoveries of gold and silver inspired him with a desire to accomplish what others had done-to achieve a fortune in a day. A long, untiring, hopeful search for years in the fierce blaze of summer's suns and wintry snows on rugged mountain heights, in the depths of canyons and on the broad levels of sterile plains, brought small returns. Leaving the scenes of his ill-requited toil and privation, he sought his Eldorado in the regions of New Mex- ico, Arizona, California, and Oregon with some degree of success. Utah pos- sessed no allurements for him.
During the years of his eventful pilgrimage through these regions, he gathered some means, as well as an invaluable fund of knowledge and business experience. In April, 1883, he arrived at Spokane Falls, Wash. Terr., a village of eight hun- dred souls. With a keen, instinctive prescience, he foresaw here a future city, an inland centre of no mean importance. Here he determined to plant his vine and fig-tree ; here to gather about him his kindred and those he loved best ; here to make the supreme effort of his life. He made a number of investments, and with characteristic energy entered into business without delay. He operated chiefly in real estate, and incidentally in mining interests. He indulged in no " boom" schemes, but exercised extreme care and conservatism. He prospered, and the result of every endeavor was success. Among his incidental enterprises was the establishment of the Spokane Miner in company with his partner, Mr. G. B.
Dennis. It was the only mining journal in the Northwest.
Owing to the press
of interests of greater magnitude, they deposed that journal and devoted them- selves exclusively to real-estate operations and to the development of their hold- ings, which now form one of the most beautiful portions of the city of Spokane, which he has seen expand from an unpretentious hamlet of a few hundred to a well-ordered city of thirty thousand people, with all the modern improvements of a first-class metropolis of ten times its size.
Mr. Bradley has always been a great reader, and has many of the habits and inclinations of the student -- indeed, far more than the average, all-around busi- ness man. He takes an active interest in educational matters, and is now one of the Trustees of Jenkins University, recently endowed with $500,000 by Colonel D. P. Jenkins. He is still a bachelor, and resides with his mother, a scion from one of the oldest families of Kentucky, and who lends to their beautiful home that refinement, grace, and geniality for which that old State is famous.
Personally Mr. Bradley is tall and of striking appearance. He would be readily singled out from an assembly of men. He is gentle and easy in bearing, and is as approachable as a child, but has a quick, discriminating discernment as to the character of those he deals with. While genial and pleasing in manner, he is firm in convictions and decisive in his conclusions. It is a common saying among his friends that " There is no nonsense about Bradley." In all relations he has
591
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
always been the soul of integrity and honor. No man's escutcheon shines brighter in good deeds, in truthfulness, in conscientious rectitude, and no man stands higher in the esteem and sincere respect of all with whom he has been brought in contact. In a word, he is indeed one of nature's noblemen, and his is a life worth the living.
GRAY, WILLIAM POLK, was born July 26th, 1845, in Oregon City, Ore. His boyhood was marked by a series of pioneer incidents and migrations. Before at- taining his sixteenth year he had lived in and travelled through nearly all parts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. His education was received from intermittent attendance at the public schools of Astoria, Portland, and The Dalles. In 1862 he became a pilot on Columbia River steamboats, a calling which he fol- lowed for twenty-six years, during which time he commanded vessels on the Co- lumbia, Snake, and many other important streams in Oregon, the adjoining States, and Alaska. In 1867 he was engaged as Assistant United States Engineer to survey the rapids of the Columbia River between the mouth of the Snake and Celilo Falls. In 1881 he took charge of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company's transfer boats across Snake River at Ainsworth. Seven years later he took tlie steamboat City of Ellensburg from Pasco up the Columbia over Priest's Rapids. He was also the first man to take a steamboat through the dreaded Rock Island Rapids. After abandoning piloting Captain Gray located at Pasco, Wash., where lie engaged in real estate interests, and these occupy his time and capital to-day. Although a Republican, living in a strong Democratic community, he has twice been elected County Commissioner for Franklin County. He was chosen World's Fair Commissioner for that county. He is President of the Columbia and Snake River Auxiliary Open Waterway Association, is a member of the Board of Cura- tors of the Washington State Historical Society, and Vice-President of the State League of Republican Clubs. In all things pertaining to the welfare of his State lie takes an active interest.
OSBORN, HON. RICHARD, of Seattle, Judge of the Superior Court of King County, Wash., was born in McLean County, Ill., on Christmas Day, 1845. His early years were passed upon a farm, and were full of hardships and a severe struggle for existence. His parents were poor, and he was obliged at an early age to assist in the support of a large family, obtaining his early education as best he could between seasons of laborious farm work. Environed by circumstances which offered little to encourage his ambitions, surrounded by obstacles which seemed almost insurmountable, his future prospects for a career beyond that of the most modest pretensions were anything but bright ; but even at this time he determined, however much the effort might cost him, to rise above the conditions in which fate had placed him. Then the War of the Rebellion broke out, and men from the ranks of the professions, from the farm, from workshops, from schools and colleges stepped forth to defend the Union. Active preparations for war were seen on every hand, ordinary avocations of life lost their charms, and in the wild excitement which prevailed the military spirit was enkindied in the most sluggish nature. Our young subject, though a mere lad, was enthused with the spirit of the times, and even his ambitious thirst for an education became second- ary to the great cause which demanded the services of every patriotic citizen.
592
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
He enlisted August 24th, 1861, in Company D, Twenty-third Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, and participated in some of the most desperate engagements of the bloody conflict. With General Sherman he started on the celebrated march to the sea, but in an action before Atlanta, in August, 1864, he was severely wound- ed. Upon his recovery he was unable to engage again in active service, and was therefore mustered out in the following November.
Returning home, he resumed the studies so rudely interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities. After teaching school a short time, he became a student in Oska- loosa College, Ia., and subsequently entered the State Normal University of Illi- nois, where he qualified as a teacher. On leaving the latter institution he was appointed Principal of the graded school at Whitehall, Ill., and a year later was elected Sheriff of McLean County, in which office he served one term. Deter- mining to adopt the profession of the law, he pursued a course of legal studies, and attended the Law Department of Wesleyan University, graduating therefrom with the degree of B.L. In January, 1875, he was admitted to the Bar of Illi- nois, and began practice at Bloomington, in that State, where he continued for several years. In September, 1881, he came to Seattle, where he speedily won an enviable standing as a man and a lawyer, and became a prominent figure in the public life of his adopted city. He was City Attorney in 1883-84, and in 1888 was elected Probate Judge, in which office he won high commendation for his efficient and impartial adminstration. In the fall of 1890 he was elected Judge of the Superior Court of King County. The splendid record made by him in this court, in which he fully justified the wisdom of his selection, was his best recom- mendation for re-election. He entered upon the duties of his second term in January, 1893. By his profound knowledge of the law, wise decisions, and inde- pendence of character he has won not only the confidence of the general public, but the highest respect and esteem of the Bar. He has been called upon to deal with many most important and intricate cases, in all of which he has acquitted himself creditably. His opinions bear indubitable evidence of careful and ex- tended research and show the possession of an honest, clear, logical mind, the grasp of legal principles, the unfailing purpose and independent courage which surely lead him to right conclusions. He has thoroughly systematized the man- ner of court procedure, and during his occupancy of the bench has accomplished a vast amount of valuable work. His able and scholarly decisions in the cele- brated tide-land cases, in which he was sustained by the Supreme Court, are deserving of special mention.
Naturally thoughtful and discriminating, his thorough education and his varied experience as a teacher and lawyer have combined to make him exact and scholarly, with a decided literary taste and appreciation. He has been an occa- sional contributor to the press of the Pacific Northwest, and has attained consid- erable prominence as a littérateur. His poem " Sunset Scene on Puget Sound" has attracted much attention and favorable comment, as also his memorial poems on the death of generals Grant and Logan, which were widely copied. In addition to these he has composed and read many exquisite productions on Memorial days and other public occasions. He has taken a deep interest in educational matters, and in recognition of his peculiar fitness for the position, Governor Ferry ap- pointed him a Regent of the State University.
593
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Judge Osborn is prominently identified with many social and fraternal organ- izations, including the John F. Miller Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in the organization of which he was identified, and the Knights of Pythias, in which he has been Master of the Exchequer and Treasurer of the Endowment Rank, Grand Vice-Chancellor of the Grand Jurisdiction of Washington, and subsequently Grand Chancellor. In politics he is a Republican.
ARTHUR, JOHN, the senior member of the law firm of Arthur, Lindsay & King, has been a resident of Seattle since April, 1887. For four years previous to that date he had spent a considerable portion of his time in the city in connec- tion with his business, though residing at Tacoma. He was born in Ireland on June 20th, 1849, being of English descent on his father's side and Irish on his mother's. The late President Arthur was of the same paternal stock. A notable family resemblance existed between them. While he was yet a small boy young Arthur emigrated with his parents to the United States. He received the benefits of a good practical education, which was supplemented by a course of study, under private tutors, in Greek, Latin, French, German, and Spanish. He had a decided taste for the study of languages, in acquiring which he developed unusual facil- ity. His ambition was to lead the life of a scholar and travel extensively, but cir- cumstances forbade, and he was obliged to set about carning his own livelihood. He became clerk and book-keeper for a railroad contractor in Westmoreland County, Pa. Later lic entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company on the Philadelphia and Eric Line, and soon attained a position of considerable responsibility for one so young. While at Erie he began the study of law in the office of Hon. John P. Vincent, ex-Presiding Judge of the Eric Judicial District. Removing to Washington, D. C., he took a four years' course in the law school of the Columbian University. At his graduation in his second year as Master of Law he was awarded the first prize for the best essay on a legal subject. This prize was presented to him in the presence of a distinguished audience, including the President and his Cabinet, the Judges of the Supreme Court and other high officials, by the Solicitor-General of the United States, on behalf of the Attorney- General, who bestowed high praise on the essay and predicted for its author a brilliant career. A few days later the Solicitor-General made the motion that Mr. Arthur be admitted to practise before the Supreme Court of the United States -an unusual mark of favor and interest. During his course of study at the law school Mr. Arthur was employed as a law clerk in the Treasury Department. In a competition between three branches of the Treasury Department for the honor of preparing a manual of the laws governing transactions in United States bonds and of regulations needed to carry them into effect, Mr. Arthur was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to represent his office. The manual prepared by Mr. Arthur was unanimously adopted by the board selected to decide between the contestants, and has been used by the Treasury for over thirteen years past. It has been highly regarded for clearness and judicious condensation. Upon reading it the First Comptroller requested the Secretary of the Treasury to have Mr. Arthur appointed as his law assistant, which was accordingly done. After holding this position for two years Mr. Arthur resigned and entered upon prac- tice for himself. He was offered the United States Attorneyship for New Mexico
594
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
by President Arthur, but declined it. Having become impressed with the bright prospects of the Puget Sound country, he determined to seek his fortune here. While engaged in Pennsylvania in organizing a colony for Seattle he was tendered and accepted the position of Attorney for the Tacoma Land Company. After a four years' residence at Tacoma, he came to Seattle, and has since been identified with this city. His special branch of practice is land litigation, and he has been engaged in many important cases in this line. He is a lawyer of conceded ability, and holds a position of prominence among the most successful attorneys of Wash- ington. Mr. Arthur was President of the Board of University Land and Building Commissioners in 1891-93. He is an ardent Republican in politics, and at the beginning of the campaign of 1892 was elected Chairman of the King County Re- publican Committee. This selection met with the hearty endorsement of the Re- publican Party throughout the State. Under his guidance the party won an un- precedented triumph, more than trebling its normal majority in the county. As a public speaker he is widely and favorably known.
Mr. Arthur was married in 1880 to Amy, daughter of William S. Lane, a prominent attorney of Philadelphia. Their only child, a son, died in the city of Washington. Mr. Arthur has made judicious investments in real estate in both Seattle and Tacoma, which will, in the course of a few years, make him a compara- tively wealthy man. He is an active Mason, and takes great interest in the wel- fare of that fraternity in Seattle. No man in this community stands higher for strict integrity of character, business probity, and faithfulness to every trust and obligation. Seattle has benefited in many ways by his willingness to promote every public enterprise. According to his ability to do and to give, the city has had no more helpful and sincere friend.
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.