USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > Spokane and the Spokane country : pictorial and biographical : deluxe supplement, Volume I > Part 12
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Mr. Taylor is a prominent Mason, holding membership in Spo- kane Lodge, No. 34, F. & A. M .: Spokane Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M .; Cataract Commandery, No. 3. K. T. He is a thirty-second degree mason in Oriental Consistory, No. 2, Scottish Rite and belongs to El Katif Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also has membership rela- tions with the Spokane Club and the Chamber of Commerce.
On the 11th of February. 1892, Mr. Taylor was married to Ada I .. Martin, a daughter of Mrs. Jennie Martin, of this city, and they now have three children, Margaret J., Binkley R. and John R.
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They reside at No. 1305 Sixth avenue, where Mr. Taylor built a pleasant home in 1894. In his business life he has been a persistent, resolute and energetic worker, possessing strong executive powers, and added to a progressive spirit, ruled by more than ordinary intel- ligence and good judgment, there has been a native justice which has expressed itself in correct principle and practice.
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HI. Day
William T. Day
W
ILLIAM T. DAY, president of The Day & Hansen Security Company, of Spokane, is a prominent fig- ure in the financial circles of the northwest. Endowed with unusual business instinct and foresight, he carly saw the future of the unoccupied western lands, and has been a great factor in their development.
He was born May 8, 1865, at Castana, Iowa. His father, Joseph B. P. Day, a native of Maine, became a settler of Iowa in 1855, and was one of its prominent and influential citizens. His mother, Sophia Thomas Day, was born in Mississippi, and with her family came north in the late '40s. As a surveyor and agent for the American-Immigrant Company, his father became very familiar with lands and land values, which was not the least element in the education of his son.
After attending the public schools at Castana, Mr. Day continued his education at the Southeastern lowa Normal School at Bloomfield. He became actively connected with the business interests in his home town as a general merchant, continuing in that line for about eight years. In 1892 he turned his attention to banking and organized the capacity until 1898, when he was elected to the presidency, which Castana Savings Bank, of which he became cashier, serving in that position he still fills. A large farm mortgage business was carried on in connection with the bank.
In the fall of 1901, Mr. Day came to Washington, bought a large tract of land in Douglas county, and on the 1st day of March. 1902. he and his associates organized The Washington Land Company, with headquarters at Waterville, Washington. The enterprise was cap- italized for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which was in- creased to five hundred thousand dollars, in 1906, when the headquar- ters of the company were removed from Waterville to Spokane. This company owned large tracts of unimproved land in Douglas county. and an idea as to the magnitude of their undertaking may be gained from the fact that in six years they broke out and developed more than sixteen thousand acres of land, about half of which has been sold. Mr. Day and Mr. Charles T. Hansen, his brother-in-law, were associated in the copartnership of Day & Hansen, and were large owners and developers of land in Monona county, Iowa. They estab- lished and operated The Turin Bank of Turin, Iowa, which they sold January 1, 1908. They also disposed in that year of over three thousand acres of their Iowa land. and ou the 1st of March, 1908.
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organized The Day & Hansen Security Company of Spokane , Wash- ington, with a paid-up capital of one million dollars, which took over all the interests of Day & Hansen, including The Washington Land Company. At that time Mr. Day moved to Spokane, and became actively identified with the business, and has since made the city his home. The company operates extensively in improved farm property, and they are among the most progressive in their line.
During the past three years the company has purchased over thirty-two thousand acres of land in Powell county, western Montana, which is all improved and over ten thousand acres are now under irriga- tion. While developing their land projects, the company also became prominent factors in financial circles throughout the northwest, and own controlling interest in five banks, including: The Castana Sav- ings Bank, of Castana, Iowa; The Waterville Savings Bank, of Waterville, Washington; The National Bank of Oakesdale, also in this state; The Moscow State Bank, Moscow, Idaho; and Blair & Company, Bankers, Helmville, Montana. The company has estab- lished a large mortgage-loan business, and deals in high-grade bond issues and other selected securities.
Mr. Day's connection with business enterprises, is as follows: President of The Day & Hansen Security Company, and of The Castana Savings Bank; and vice president of The National Bank of Oakesdale, The Moscow State Bank, and Blair & Company, Bankers.
On the 15th of August, 1888, at Mapleton, Iowa, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Day and Miss Helen Hansen, the daughter of Nels and Isabel Hansen of that city. It is his brother-in-law, Charles T. Hansen, who is closely associated with him in his business enter- prises. Mr. and Mrs. Day have one daughter, Sophia Isabel, who is a graduate of the Girls Collegiate School of Los Angeles, and also has been a student for two years at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. The social position of the family is an enviable one, and their at- tractive home is justly celebrated for its warm-hearted hospitality.
In politics Mr. Day is republican, always voting for men and measures of the party, but has not been an active worker in its ranks since coming to Spokane. He belongs to the Spokane Chub and the Spokane Country Club, and has won popularity in these organiza- tions by reason of those sterling traits of character, which in every land and clime awaken confidence and warm regard. It is doubt- ful in his whole life if he ever weighed an act in the scale of policy, but in business has followed a straightforward course and in the legiti- mate channels of trade and financial activity has gained success that places him with the prominent and representative men who are the real upbuilders of the northwest.
Charles T. Dansen
HARLES T. HANSEN, secretary of The Day & C Hansen Security Company, needs no introduction to those who are familiar with the history of financial enterprises and land projects in the northwest. His initial spirit has made him a leader in much that has been successfully accomplished along those lines, and because of his extensive circle of acquaintance his life history cannot fail to prove of interest to many of our readers.
He was born at Sioux City, Iowa, April 6, 1871, a son of Nels M. and Isabel Valhor Hansen, of that city. Both parents were natives of Norway, and after coming to Sioux City engaged in mer- chandising. They died within a few weeks of each other when their son Charles was but thirteen years of age. The daughters of the family were: Louise, who died in 1898; and Helen, the wife of Wil- liam T. Day.
In the public schools of Iowa, Charles T. Hansen was educated, and for a time attended the Highland Park College at Des Moines. After spending a period in farming, he entered the employ of W. T. Day & Company, general merchants at Castana, Iowa, and has ever since been associated with William T. Day in various enterprises, a most harmonious relation existing between them, the labors of one ably seconding and rounding out the efforts of the other.
In 1894 he accepted the position of assistant cashier in the Castana Savings Bank, and in 1898 was elected cashier, which position he suc- cessfully filled until he removed to Spokane in 1906, to become active in the management of the Washington Land Company, of which he was secretary and treasurer. Mr. Hansen was one of the organizers of said company, established March 1, 1902, with headquarters at Waterville, Washington, with a paid-up capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which was increased in 1906 to five hundred thousand dollars, and the headquarters of the company removed from Waterville to Spokane, when Mr. Hansen moved to Spokane and became active in the management of said company. The Washing- ton Land Company purchased large tracts of unimproved land in Douglas county, and some idea of the extent and importance of their operations may be gleaned from the fact that in six years they broke out and improved over sixteen thousand acres of land.
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Mr. Hansen was associated with William T. Day, his brother- in-law, in a copartnership of Day & Hansen in Monona county, Iowa, where they were large owners and developers of farm lands. They also established the Turin Bank, at Turin, Iowa, which they sold January 1, 1908. Early in the year 1908 they disposed of about three thousand acres of their Iowa land, and organized The Day & Hansen Security Company, with a paid-up capital of one million dollars which took over all the interests of Day & Hansen, including The Washington Land Company. This company operates extensively in improved farm property, and is among the most progressive in their line. The company has purchased within the last three years over thirty-two thousand acres of land in Powell county, western Mon- tana, which is all under fence and improved, and over ten thousand acres in cultivation.
They also own and control five banks, including The Water- ville Savings Bank of Waterville, Washington, of which Mr. Han- sen is president; The National Bank of Oakesdale, Washing- ton; Blair & Company, Bankers, of Helmville, Montana; The Castana Savings Bank, of Castana, Iowa; and The Moscow State Bank, of Moscow, Idaho, of all of which institutions Mr. Hansen is a member of the board of directors. The company has established a large mortgage-loan business in eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana, and the attraction of said sections of the country as a loaning field is one of the principal factors that led to the organization of the company.
On the 15th of August, 1901, Mr. Hansen was married to Miss Elsie Day, daughter of Joseph B. P. and Sophia (Thomas) Day, of Castana, Iowa. They reside at No. 1117 Eighth avenue.
Mr. Hansen is a member of the Spokane Club and the Spokane Country Club. He has become well known in the northwest through his extensive and important operations in land, and prominent con- nection with financial interests. The firm of The Day & Hansen Security Company is regarded as one of the most conservative and progressive of this section.
Paulson
Paul A. Paulson
T HE life history of Paul A. Paulson is in miniature the history of the northwest with its periods of progress and development, its difficulties caused by financial panics, its efforts to resume activity and its ultimate success and triumph. Mr. Paulson is now numbered among the capitalists of Spokane and is largely inter- ested in the mineral resources of the northwest.
He was born in Denmark, June 18, 1855, the son of Mads and Mary (Krag) Paulson, who were also natives of Denmark, the mother dying there during the boyhood of her son Paul. The father served in the war of 1848-1850 between Denmark and Prussia as an officer in the Danish army and aided in winning the victory for the Danish troops. In the early '60s he came to the United States, settling in Wisconsin. He was prominent in his home community and served for several terms as county commissioner. While in Denmark he had followed the business of carriage manufacturing and brought with him some means when he came to the new world. This he invested in farm lands in Wisconsin and gave his attention to agricultural pur- suits to the time of his death, which occurred in 1904.
Paul A. Paulson has one brother living in Green Bay, Wiscon- sin, and there are also four half-brothers, two of whom are in Tacoma, where they are engaged in business under the name of the Paulson Brothers Company. A sister, Mrs. Carrie L. Hathaway, is the wife of the general manager of the Mutual Life Insurance Company for California, Nevada and the Hawaiian Islands. A half-sister, Miss Mary Paulson, is residing in Tacoma.
Paul A. Paulson was quite a young lad when the family crossed the Atlantic and in the public and high schools of Wisconsin he pur- sued his education, to which he has added since leaving school by rea- son of his broad reading. He was reared upon a farm and in early life learned the carpenter's trade. In the latter part of 1876 he left his home in the middle west and at the age of twenty-one years trav- eled over the Union Pacific Railroad to San Francisco, which was then in its palmy days. The Comstock and other famous mines were large producers and stock speculation was a large part of the business,
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stock speculators being very numerous there. There was great ex- citement caused by the manipulation of stocks by the large holders and it was seldom on receiving the morning papers that one did not see accounts of one or more suicides of men and women who had been unsuccessful in their investments in mining stock. Mr. Paulson, however, did not have the mania for stock speculation but began work at the carpenter's trade, which he followed for a few months in San Francisco. He had previously read much concerning Oregon, how- ever, and regarded that state as his destination, leaving San Fran- cisco for Portland in 1877. The city then claimed a population of ten thousand but had considerably less, and what is now the heart of Portland was then covered with a dense forest. He became well acquainted with many prominent old residents who figured in the history of the northwest.
Early in the spring of 1878 Mr. Paulson with two young com- panions followed the tide of emigration from the Willamette valley to what was called "east of the mountains," in Washington Territory. Some of the Willamette people sold their farms and in prairie schoon- ers traveled east of the mountains to where there was less rain. In Portland Mr. Paulson frequently heard mention of Lewiston and Walla Walla, which were already good-sized towns, and also of Col- fax and Spokane Falls, which were just springing into being. He made his way to the district east of the mountains, with a view to looking over the land, journeying by boat from Portland to the Lower Cascades, at which time the Oregon Steamboat Navigation Company, composed of W. S. Ladd, Sim Reed, Captain J. C. Ainsworth and R. R. Thompson, controlled the boat traffic. This was a good strong company, very prosperous, and their boats were well built, modern river steamers. Between the Lower and Upper Cascades a short port- age railroad had been built which transported passengers and freight around the Cascades where are now found government locks. At the Upper Cascades freight and passengers had again to be transferred by boat to The Dalles. Mr. Paulson ferried across the Columbia at The Dalles and walked over the hills between the river and the Klicki- tat valley to the present site of Goldendale, where was located an Indian camp. He and his companions each bought a pony there and then rode in a northeasterly direction to Yakima. At that time there was nothing at the town but the Indian reservation, the agency having a flouring mill there. There were a few stock-raisers scattered through the county and on the present site of Bickleton they came across a stock-raiser named Dodge, who had lived there for several years like a
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hermit. He was the owner of fifty fine brood mares but there was no market for horses and cattle, save what could be driven to the Colum- bia river and transported to Portland or points on the Sound. How- ever, while at Dodge's place Mr. Paulson met a cattle buyer from Chicago, named Lang, who was buying up several hundred head of steers for which he paid twenty dollars per head. His plan was to drive them to Cheyenne on the Union Pacific and thence transport them by rail to Chicago. The stockmen of the northwest believed he would never reach his destination but were glad to sell their steers at twenty dollars per head. Mr. Lang, however, prospered in his ven- ture and returned for more cattle, becoming the first cattle shipper to eastern markets and the pioneer of a great and growing industry.
Mr. Paulson continued on his way to Spokane Falls, looking for good land. Accustomed to the black prairie soil of the middle west, the timber, volcanic rock and gravel around Spokane did not appeal to him from an agricultural standpoint. He could not see how set- tlers who had taken up land would ever make a living. The people of Spokane seemed somehow to be dependent upon water power for the development of the city but there was no railroad and none in contemplation, and when Mr. Paulson asked what they could do with their water power, the only answer was that it would drive a sawmill. He did not like the rolling hills of Palouse county and returned to Portland but was there only a short time before the Nez Perce Indian war broke out. On the trip to Spokane Falls he had frequently met Indians and noticed that they seemed surly and cross, and the few white settlers whom he encountered said that they feared that the Indians were going on the warpath. With the outbreak of hostilities the militia company of Portland was called out and Mr. Paulson re- lates that many of the young men of the company employed as clerks or in other positions in Portland were very scared when they found that they must go out against the red men.
For a time Mr. Paulson was employed in the car shops of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at Kalama. Coal had just been discovered at Wilkeson and a road was being constructed from that point to Tacoma. The company built two hundred coal cars, in which work Mr. Paulson was actively engaged. He then returned to Port- land and with a partner took contracts for and built several houses. He was afterward employed in the sash and door factory of J. C. Car- son, with whom he remained three years. He then engaged in busi- ness on his own account, forming a partnership with Sylvester Pen- noyer, afterward governor of Oregon, and who at that time owned a
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lumber mill in the south part of Portland. After two years Mr. Paul- son sold his interest to his partner and removed to Tacoma, where was situated a small town that was, however, growing rapidly. He or- ganized a company called the Tacoma Lumber & Manufacturing Company, of which he was the chief owner. This company manu- factured lumber, sash and doors and other building material and also wooden ware. They greatly enlarged their plant to meet the rapid growth of their business and employed as many as two hundred and fifty men, not including the logging crews in the woods. They were burned out twice but rebuilt. As fast as Mr. Paulson made money he invested it in timber lands on the Skagit river and with Henry Drum, W. J. Thompson and Byron Barlow, bought a large tract of land in the Skagit valley near the site of Sedro Woolley, and also in the vicinity of Sterling and Burlington, and in Sterling the company conducted a large mercantile store. They also built and operated several steamers on Puget Sound, including the Skagit Chief, Henry Bailey, the State of Washington, and the Fair Haven, owned by Nel- son Bennett, and named after the town of Fair Haven, now Belling- ham, Washington, of which place Mr. Bennett was the parent as its chief and pioneer promoter. The steamer became a part of their fleet, and Mr. Bennett one of the shareholders and directors of the com- pany. The four steamers plied between Tacoma, Seattle, Bellingham and way ports for many years and some are still in operation.
As the years passed by and opportunity offered Mr. Paulson bought large tracts of timber land in Lewis and Thurston counties and later in British Columbia, mainly on Vancouver Island. He con- tinued to figure as one of the most prominent business men of Tacoma and aided largely in the upbuilding of the city, serving for many years as one of the directors of the Chamber of Commerce. He was also a stockholder in the Tacoma Woolen Mills; was one of the chief own- ers of the Tacoma Box Company; and was interested in various other business projects. He acted as chairman of the building committee at the time the Chamber of Commerce erected its new building and spent much time in its supervision. The widespread financial panic of 1893 brought him heavy losses, for nearly all of the Tacoma banks failed and anyone who had been doing a large commercial business suffered severely thereby.
About that time many of the Spokane people went into the hills prospecting and the Rossland camp on Trail creek was started, while at the same time the Slocan district in British Columbia was opened up. Mr. Paulson made a trip into British Columbia to look over some
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of the mines and, like most of the others, became interested in sev- eral prospects. He engaged, however, in the lumber business in the Kootenai country and made some money. Later he removed with his family to Spokane and purchased a large amount of timber and meadow lands from the Canadian Pacific Railroad on its Crow's Nest Line a short time after the building of that branch and organized the International Lumber & Mercantile Company, of which he is the chief owner and of which he was president for several years. The company has a large mill and owns a vast amount of timber tributary to the Crow's Nest branch of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, near the town of Kitchiner.
Immediately after the completion of the road Mr. Paulson learned of the coal measures in the Rocky mountains along that line at what is commonly known as the Crow's Nest Pass. He made a trip into the country, covering the eastern part of British Columbia and the west- ern part of Alberta and purchased from the government the property which is now owned by the International Coal & Coke Company. Mr. Paulson organized the company and developed the mine, so that it became a large shipper. He has in his control much of the stock of the company which has a capacity of two thousand tons per shift of eight hours. The company also manufactures coke and in addition to this Mr. Paulson is also interested in other coal lands and coal mines in British Columbia. He is likewise numbered among the own- ers of valuable water-power sites in this state, both in the Inland Empire and near Puget Sound, and is one of the stockholders of the Big Bend Transit Company, which owns water power on the Spo- kane river.
In Tacoma Mr. Paulson was married to Miss Anna K. Anderson, the daughter of C. Anderson, an old settler of Walla Walla. For a number of years Mrs. Paulson was a successful school teacher in Ore- gon. By her marriage she has become the mother of two children: Clara Arney, who is the wife of Charles W. Mason, chief clerk in the superintendent's office of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at Tacoma; and Chester R., who is assisting his father. Mr. and Mrs. Paulson attend the Unitarian church.
Mr. Paulson gives his political allegiance to the republican party. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, in which connection he cooperates in public projects tending to promote the welfare of Spokane and exploit its interests. While not all the days in his career have been equally bright, his record on the whole has been char- acterized by continuous progress. At times in his commercial experi-
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ence he has seen the gathering of clouds that have threatened dis- astrous storms but his rich inheritance of energy and pluck have enabled him to turn defeats into victory and promised failures into brilliant success. His strict integrity, business conservatism and sound judgment have always been so uniformly recognized that he has enjoyed public confidence to an enviable degree. Because of a well balanced mind and a sterling character he has been enabled to see the silver lining to many a cloud that to others would look hopelessly black, and to overcome obstacles which to many would appear insur- mountable.
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Lyon. Horatio 2. Belt
MONG the builders and makers of Spokane Horatio A N. Belt was numbered, and that he enjoyed the con- fidence, honor and good will of his fellow townsmen was manifest in his election to the mayoralty of the city, in which office his administration was extremely beneficial, holding in check restless and unlawful ele- ments and promoting many valuable projects along the line of general improvement.
A native of Illinois, he was born in Jersey county, October 1, 1841, and traced his ancestry back to one of two brothers who came from England soon after the Revolutionary war. The family has since been prominent in the new world. The father of Horatio N. Belt was a soldier of the war of 1812 under General Jackson and died in 1869, on the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans.
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