USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > Spokane and the Spokane country : pictorial and biographical : deluxe supplement, Volume II > Part 6
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L. B. Whitten
and a two-story brick store and office building at 222 Mill street. He is now engaged on the construction of a three-story brick hotel, which he and his son Paul will conduct. His investments in realty and his building operations have brought him a substantial measure of success and in addition to his city property he is also the possessor of much fine farming land throughout the community. He is very active in real-estate circles and has also been identified with a number of mining projects in this part of the country.
On the 5th of November, 1888, Mr. Whitten was married in Spokane to Miss Georgia J. Ballou, a daughter of Ellis and Laura (Clark) Ballou, both of whom were natives of Ohio and were gradu- ates of Hiram College in that state. They removed to Zanesville, Ohio, and afterward to Helena, Montana, Mr. Ballou becoming re- ceiver in the United States land office. On the maternal side Mrs. Whitten is descended from an old, prominent and distinguished French family, her ancestors having settled in this country early in the eighteenth century. Mr. and Mrs. Whitten have three children, namely: Paul B., who is associated with his father in his various real-estate interests; Lester C., who is now a student in Spokane, preparing to enter Harvard College; and Virginia, a student at Bru- not Hall.
Politically Mr. Whitten is a democrat but has never been an aspirant for office, preferring always to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs, in which he has displayed keen foresight, sound judgment and unfaltering enterprise. His labors have been an ele- ment in the city's growth and improvement and he has also contrib- uted to the civic welfare and development in other ways. His own success is due also to the fact that he is an excellent judge of human nature and that in all business dealings he is strictly reliable, so that his word has come to be regarded as good as any bond ever solem- nized by signature or seal.
apBlewett
Arthur R. Blewett
T HE industrial enterprises of Spokane find a worthy and well known representative in Arthur R. Blewett, who is the secretary and general manager of the Northwest Harvester Company, an enterprise that has excellent equipment and is well established on the road to success. A native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Arthur R. Blewett was born June 14, 1877, of the mar- riage of Alexander Chapman Blewett and Galveston Stone. The mother was named for her native city, Galveston, Texas, and belonged to an old southern family, prominent in antebellum days. She was of English descent, as was her husband, who was a native of Ken- tucky. The latter died in California, in 1898, and his wife passed away in 1901. In their family were three sons and two daughters: Arthur R .; Hannibal C., who is living in Turlock, California; Roy V., of the same place; Miss Betsy Stark, of Spokane; and Effie, who is also living in Spokane.
Arthur R. Blewett, taken to California in his boyhood days, his parents removing to that state in 1890, supplemented his public-school course by study in San Joaquin Valley College at Woodbridge, Cali- fornia. After putting aside his text-books he engaged in farming ninety-five hundred acres of land at Turlock, Stanislaus, California, but withdrew from agricultural pursuits in 1906 and went upon the . road as a traveling salesman for The Holt Manufacturing Company, at Stockton, California, with which he was connected six years. He traveled over the northwest territory, covering Oregon, Washington, Montana and Canada, and in 1907 was made the district manager for the company at Spokane, continuing in that position through the years 1908 and 1909. Since then he has been the secretary and man- ager of the Northwest Harvester Company, of which he was one of the organizers. They make a specialty of side hill combined harvesters and build two types of machines-one called the Northwest Side Hill Combined Harvester, and the other the Blewett Side Hill Com- bined Harvester. The inventions and patents of the latter are owned by Mr. Blewett. In addition to the manufacture and sale of har- vesters, the company conducts a general foundry and machine shop
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Arthur R. Blewett
business, builds a variety of special machinery and does all kinds of repair work. They have completed their second year in business and in ten months their output in machines amounted to over eighty thousand dollars. They now have plans for the building of sixty machines for the year 1912, which will represent over one hundred thousand dollars. The company owns its own plant adjoining Spo- kane, with four acres of ground, and has an exceptionally good class of all brick factory buildings, with concrete floors, numbering nine. Modern machinery has been installed and everything is planned for the rapid filling of orders. They have won notable success since em- barking in this enterprise and not a little of the result is attributable to Arthur R. Blewett, whose previous experience with The Holt Man- ufacturing Company well qualified him to undertake the duties that devolve upon him in his present connection. The Northwest Har- vester Company has the following officers: Ben C. Holt, presi- dent and treasurer; C. Parker Holt, vice president; and Arthur R. Blewett, manager and secretary. The business is capitalized for three hundred thousand dollars.
In addition to his other interests, Mr. Blewett owns an irrigated ranch at Turlock, California, which he is now improving. He be- longs to the Spokane Club, to the Spokane Athletic Club and also to the Chamber of Commerce. His political views are in accord with the principles of the democratic party and he keeps well informed on the questions of the day but does not seek nor desire office, feeling that his time and attention are fully occupied by business affairs, which are growing in volume and importance and which have already won him recognition as an enterprising and successful business man of his adopted city.
I. M. Marton
Samuel Al. Talharton
HAT has often seemed to be irreparable disaster has W frequently proven to be opportunity. The feeling of hopelessness and horror that swept over Spokane with the great conflagration of 1889 soon lifted and in its place came a spirit of determination and reso- lution which has builded the city upon a larger, bet- ter plane than before. Samuel M. Wharton became a resident of Spokane in that year-1889-and was thereafter to the time of his death closely associated with the business development and progress of this section of the northwest.
He was born December 11, 1847, in Charleston, South Carolina, and although he passed away at the comparatively early age of sixty years, his death occurring June 25, 1908, he had accomplished much within his life's span. His parents were George C. and Louisa Wharton, who were natives of South Carolina, where the father became prominent as a contractor and builder. He had the contract for the building of Fort Sumter, taking his men across each day in boats from Charleston to the island on which the fort was located.
Samuel M. Wharton pursued his education in the schools of Charleston and when he had mastered the branches taught in the graded and high schools there he spent several years in college in that city. When his education was completed he became an apprentice under his father and there learned the trade of a brick-mason, which he followed for four years. He afterward took up contracting and building on his own account, removing to Baltimore, where he re- mained for three years, and during that period he erected several fine buildings there. He next went to New York city, where he remained as a contractor for several years, and then spent a number of years in Georgia and in Texas. In the former state he was inter- ested in the old Calhoun mines, the first gold mines which were opened in the United States. In Texas he began ranching and engaged quite extensively in buying and shipping horses, living at different times in Dallas, Belton and San Antonio. In the last named he became widely known as an extensive and prosperous horse buyer and shipper and also owned a large ranch near the city, which he afterward sold.
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Samuel M. Wharton
As previously stated Mr. Wharton was numbered among Spo- kane's pioneers of 1889. Following his arrival here he established a brick-manufacturing business, which he continued for a year, and then sold his plant. He next engaged in mining in the Slocan country of British Columbia. He became one of the original owners of the famous Reco mines, the first mines located in that country, and also discovered and located several mines of the Reco group. He like- wise erected the first sawmill in that country, hauling the material into the interior for a distance of twenty-two miles. Throughout his remaining days his time and energies were given to mining and real- estate operations. Several years before his death he sold his interest in the Calhoun mines but retained the ownership of valuable property in the northwest.
It was on the 15th of July, 1870, in Dallas, Texas, that Mr. Wharton was united in marriage to Miss Marion C. Crumpton, a daughter of John A. and Caroline Lucy Crumpton, who were na- tives of South Carolina, where her father carried on general agricult- ural pursuits.
Mr. Wharton gave his political allegiance to the democratic party
. and was a valued and exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity. He attended and gave liberally to various churches but was a member of none. He could well be termed a pioneer for often he blazed the path which others followed. He was always searching the vast wil- derness and interior for opportunities and developing the country as he saw a chance to utilize its natural resources. His labors were in- deed an element in progress and improvement, counting for much in the history of the northwest. Those who knew him personally found him a most congenial companion. He was fond of outdoor life and was familiar with nature in its various phases. He also loved music and travel but most of all he loved his home and the companionship of his friends and at his own fireside was a most hospitable and genial host.
J. Grier Long
I N THE life history of J. Grier Long is found a refu- tation of the too generally accepted statement that American business men are so engrossed in the spirit of commercialism that no time nor opportunity is left for cooperation in the broader themes and more vital activities which touch the interests of society at large. While president of The Washington Trust Company and therefore one of the most prominent factors in financial circles in Spokane, Mr. Long has done equally effective work for the moral and social uplift of his fellowmen, holding ever firmly to the theory that each individual should be given the opportunity of bettering him- self. It is due to the fact that he has wisely used his time and oppor- tunities, that he has reached his present position. He was born in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1861, and is a son of John F. G. and Frances (Gallagher) Long. The father, who de- voted his life to agricultural pursuits, died in 1903, while his wife passed away in 1900.
J. Grier Long pursued his education in the Tuscarora Academy of Pennsylvania, and in the Washington and Jefferson College near Pittsburg, being graduated from the latter with the A. B. degree in 1887. In the interval between these academic and collegiate courses he engaged in teaching in the public schools of his native state for five years and following his graduation again engaged in teaching for three years. In 1891 he arrived in Spokane and has since been a representative of financial interests here, becoming identified orig- inally with The Pennsylvania Mortgage Investment Company, of which he was made manager in 1896. In 1902, associated with Messrs. Webster and Connelly he organized The Washington Trust Company, of which he has since been the president and active man- ager. This is today one of the most progressive of Spokane's banks and is growing rapidly. The same gentlemen also organized the Union Park Bank and the Union Savings Bank in 1902, and of these Mr. Long is likewise the president. He is also the president of the Washington National Life Insurance Company which has been re- cently organized. His success is attributable in no small measure to
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the fact that he has ability to coordinate forces and bring seemingly diverse elements into a harmonious whole. He seems to see from the outset the possibilities for accomplishment and ever sets his mark high, striving constantly to bring his institutions to that level.
Mr. Long is also a very active republican and is now serving for the third term as a member of the school board. He was one of the committee of fifteen appointed to prepare the new city charter that was adopted at the time the city took on the commission form of gov- ernment. He is always loyal to his obligations of citizenship, recog- nizing the duties as well as the privileges of each individual in this connection, and his efforts have ever been of the practical and result- ant form, which has characterized his business activities.
On the 10th of October, 1895, Mr. Long was united in marriage to Miss Maude G. Sorter, a daughter of Albert and Louise Sorter of this city. They have three children, Lloyd, Frances Louise and James Grier, the eldest being now a high-school pupil. Mr. Long is well known in fraternal and club circles of this city, belonging to the Knights of Pythias and to Spokane Lodge, No. 74, F. & A. M. He likewise holds membership in the Spokane Club, the Spokane Country Club and the University Club, and is in hearty sympathy with the progressive movements of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he is also a representative. He belongs to the First Presby- terian church and for twenty-one years has served as an elder. Twice he has represented his church in the general assembly, in the meeting held in Minneapolis, in 1899, and again in Atlantic City, New Jer- sey, in 1910. He is a director of the San Francisco Theological Seminary and has been very actively associated with every movement to better social conditions in Spokane, feeling that every man and woman should be given an opportunity for advancement. He re- alizes, as few men have done, the obligations and responsibilities of wealth and is ever ready to extend a helping hand to one who is will- ing to help himself. In his investigation of political, economic and sociological conditions he keeps abreast with the best thinking men of the age, striving to promote even-handed justice and recognizing the principle which is the basic element of modern civilization-the brotherhood of man.
John J. Hummel
John J. Hummel
OHN J. HUMMEL, president of the Multitype Machine Company of Spokane, is by birth a Hol- lander, possessing in a marked degree the practical qualities of mind and tenacity of purpose for which this people are noted. His birth occurred at Nithin- sen, Province Groningen, Netherlands, June 5, 1876, his parents being John H. and Peteke (Drent) Hummel. The first eleven years of his life were spent in his native land, and in later years, when the cares and seriousness of life grow oppressive, he relaxes for a moment and indulges in reminiscences of his home by the sea, where were the long low sand dunes and the dykes to pro- tect the town from the ruthlessness of the ocean but over which the music of the waves traveled. I
In 1887 John J. Hummel came with his parents to America and settled in Muskegon, Michigan, where the father engaged in agri- culture. In the public schools of that city John Hummel acquired his education, which was supplemented by much home study, and during this time he also assisted his father in his agricultural pur- suits. For a period of ten years following his school course in Mus- kegon he continued to work on the home farm, also learned the print- er's trade, and developed, from the natural bent of his mind, a great interest in sociological, economic, philosophic, theological and scien- tific problems. Subsequently he went to Chicago and later to Davenport, Iowa. In 1907 he came to Spokane, and during his five years' residence here has, by his progress, proven what can be accom- plished by conserving all energies and expending them in the special work where lies one's greatest ability.
Mr. Hummel is now numbered among the inventors of the land of his adoption. When a youth battling with and trying to solve the mysteries of typesetting, the idea of inventing a machine to fill a very evident need originated, and since its birth he has devoted much time to the study of typesetting and typecasting machines, and the result is the multitype, which many printers believe to be the ideal typesetting machine of the immediate future, it differing from the linotype and monotype in that it accomplishes by machine work what
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John J. hummel
has heretofore been done by hand in most printing establishments. The multitype machine promises to be of great commercial value. It has a field of its own and is demonstrating how thousands of dol- lars can be saved annually with also great economy in time and labor. When the inventor realized the worth of his product he inter- ested prominent printers and machinists in the invention and a com- pany was formed and a trial machine built. Subsequently the Multi- type Machine Company was incorporated for one million dollars with John J. Hummel as president, but the capital stock has since been increased to ten million dollars. The experimental shop which the company now operates was installed in 1910, but plans are now being made to expand their works in order to facilitate the manu- facture of their larger machines. Remarkable certainly has been the evolution of the printing industry since the epochal day Laurens Coster dropped his hand-carved letter on the sand and by its im- pression gained the first idea of reproducing manuscripts with movable type.
Mr. Hummel has kept his mind and time so occupied he has found no opportunity to affiliate with any lodge or club. He is unmarried, his parents at present making their home with him. He holds mem- bership in the First Presbyterian church of Spokane. In his polit- ical views he is a near socialist, his naturally analytic mind being impressed with the problems of the capitalist's oppression of the la- boring man and his consequent resistance. His vote is always given to the party working for the betterment of social relations.
Although still a comparatively young man he has made good use of his years, depending upon no outside aid or circumstances but exerting his powers to the utmost, always on the alert for improve- ment, never regarding any attainment as final but rather as a start- ing point for further achievement.
Elmore 7 Boyles
Elmore F. Boyles
G REAT have been the obstacles and difficulties which Elmore F. Boyles has overcome in winning his way from a most humble and prosaic position in the busi- ness world to a place of affluence. Today he and his brother are the owners of Granby Court, one of the finest apartment buildings in the city and a monu- ment to one of the best pieces of financiering ever done in the north- west. His life record is another illustration of the old adage that, "Where there is a will there is a way."
Iowa numbers Mr. Boyles as one of her native sons, his birth there occurring February 20, 1864. His parents, Edward F. and Nancy (Rowland) Boyles, were both natives of Ohio and the former was of Irish descent. He was born in 1825 and his life, which was devoted to the carpenter's trade, was terminated in death in 1885. He had for thirteen years survived his wife, who passed away in 1872. In their family were three sons and two daughters, the brothers of our subject being: Page, who has always been associated with Elmore F. in business projects; and John, who is connected with the Wash- ington University at Seattle. The sisters are: Alice, the wife of Walter Reynolds, of Los Angeles, California; and Emma, the wife of Tom Gray, one of the first commissioners under the commission form of government in Keokuk, Iowa.
After acquiring his education in the country schools of his native state Elmore F. Boyles went to Arizona where he was employed as a miner and engineer in connection with the mines and afterward be- came boss of the company boarding house at Tombstone, Arizona. He there continued from 1886 until 1891, and in the latter year came to Spokane, bringing with him five thousand dollars which he had saved from his earnings. Soon all of this was lost and in 1896 he went to the mines on a prospecting trip, there continuing until 1899. He then returned to Spokane with his brother Page and their com- bined capital consisted of about five cents. The two brothers have never been separated, have had but one bank account and have ever worked and shared together in a rare example of brotherly love and devotion. Elmore F. Boyles has always taken the initiative, but Page
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Elmore F. Boples
Boyles has the executive ability, and thus the labors of each forms a complement to the labors of the other. They have shared together almost untold hardships and difficulties, and it was an arduous fight to gain a start after their return to Spokane, but in April, 1899, they established a diamond drill business under the name of the Inland Empire Cooperative Mining Company. The original members were to take interests in property and drill prospect holes, assessing their own stock for the purpose of paying for the work. By the first of August they had ten thousand dollars in bank subject to check. After two years of failure to develop anything of value, the stock- holders decided to put up no more money and the Boyles brothers turned to contracting with their outfit. They have since engaged in this undertaking and have built up a large business, bringing them in about eighteen thousand dollars annually. Operating under the name of the Boyles Brothers, they are known throughout this section of the country as men of marked business calibre and enterprise, resource- ful far beyond the majority.
The process of the business development of Elmore F. Boyles and his brother is most interesting. As previously stated, he takes the initiative and his brother the executive management. In 1891 he sold some stock for A. L. White in the Old Ironsides mine, receiv- ing as his commission two thousand shares. He regarded it practi- cally as worthless but held it until 1900, in which year it became valu- able. At the solicitation of Page Boyles, who has the utmost faith in the ability of his brother to accomplish whatever he sets out to do, El- more F. Boyles in 1903 decided to erect a building. His cash capital, consisting of only fifty dollars, was put up in an option on part of lots 4, 5 and 6, block 25, Glover's resurvey addition to Spokane on Madi- son street, a half block south of Riverside. The price of the property was four thousand dollars. He sold Old Ironsides stock for twenty- five hundred dollars, and at that time was drawing a salary of fifteen hundred dollars as manager of the Diamond Drill Mining Company. He paid for the lot and with seventeen hundred dollars which came to him from his wife he immediately contracted for the building of the basement of the property for twelve hundred dollars. It seemed that luck was with him, and yet it was because those who became his associates in the business project felt faith in his ability and indefatig- able industry. About that time through the agency of Andrew Shaw he met a man from the Pacific States Investment Company who de- cided to put up the money for the Boyles Brothers for the erection of a two-story brick building covering part of the ground, the cost to be sixteen thousand dollars. Through George Braley they were en-
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abled to obtain furniture from the Grote Rankin Company to the amount of seven thousand dollars, Mr. Braley standing his security. The rental of the building and the wages of the brothers enabled Mr. Boyles to develop the property until it is one of the finest apartment buildings of this city, known as Granby Court, so named in compli- ment to the Granby Company, whose stock was really responsible for the building. This is now a three-story and basement structure, con- taining seventy-five rooms, with all modern improvements, represent- ing an outlay of forty-two thousand dollars for the building and fif- teen thousand dollars for the furniture. In this enterprise, Elmore Boyles has justified the faith of his brother as to his ability. He and his wife are conducting the house, which is one of the most desirable apartment houses of Spokane. Thus from comparative poverty and obscurity Mr. Boyles has steadily worked his way upward until he is now well known in the business circles of the northwest.
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