Mardos Collection
 

WILLIAM B. MINER.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

349

Messrs. Avery and Hall, as Hall & Co. This firm was succeeded, September 17, 1897, by the Akin Live Stock Company, of which F. C. Avery is president, Myron H. Akin vice-president and manager; and Edward H. Hall secretary and treasurer, the capital stock being $60,000. The company have a farm of eighteen hundred acres and ranches aggregating three thousand acres in the foot hills, also Steamboat Rock ranch of twenty-five hundred acres, and raise from twenty-five hundred to four thousand tons of alfalfa each year; also handle as many as sixty thousand head of sheep annually, this being one-fourth of the entire number handled here; and feed over four thousand head per annum. They buy Mexican lambs, which are shipped to this point. In his work Mr. Akin has become familiar with the Mexican language, much of his business having been done with the people of Mexico. He is a charter member of the Larimer County Sheep Feeders' Association, of which he was the first, and is still secretary and treasurer. He is also identified with the Colorado Stock Growers' Association and was a delegate to the National Stock Growers' Convention in 1897. Politically he is a silver Republican. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a trustee in the Presbyterian Church, of which denomination he and his wife are both members.

     In Las Animas, Colo., June 5, 1890, Mr. Akin married Miss Elizabeth D. Mellinger, who was born in Seven Mile, Butler County, Ohio. Her father, Jacob Mellinger, was born in Lancaster, Pa., a son of Jacob Mellinger, Sr. Removing to Butler County, Ohio, he engaged in the hotel business there. His last days were spent in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he died. He married Julia Hunt, a native of Ohio, and daughter of Henry Hunt, who was born in New Jersey and engaged in farming in Ohio. Mrs. Julia Mellinger is now living in Las Animas. She has four children: Elizabeth; Eleanor, who is married and lives in Las Animas; Wayne H., also a resident of that town; and Mrs. Edith Deweese, of the same place. Mrs. Akin was graduated from the Fort Wayne high school in 1877 and the following year completed the course in the Fort Wayne Normal School, after which she engaged in teaching. In 1882 she came to Fort Collins, and here taught in the grammar school for eight years. After her marriage she took a course in kindergarten work and became a teacher in that department of school work. She was the first lady in this city to be elected a member of the board of education and was made secretary of the board, serving for five years. She is also actively identified with the Woman's Club of Fort Collins. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Akin are Eunice Elizabeth and Wayne Mellinger. 

ILLIAM B. MINER, president of the Fort Collins Electric Light Company and one of the most successful stockmen of Larimer County, is a descendant of a pioneer New England family. His grandfather, Jesse Miner, a native of New London, Conn., was a government contractor during the war of 1812 and afterward engaged in farming at Vernon, Conn. He had a son, Dudley T., who was born and reared at Vernon, and devoted his entire active life to the management of the old homestead; there he died at eighty-five years. The home farm is now owned by one of his sons, Harry T. Dudley T. Miner was twice married, and by his first wife had a son, John R., who now resides near the old home place. His second wife was Angeline Davis, a native of Springfield, Mass. Two children were born of that union, William B. and Harry T. The latter at one time served in the Connecticut legislature.

     In Vernon, Conn., where he was born June 23, 1837, the subject of this sketch spent the first eighteen years of life. In 1855 he came west, joining at St. Joe, Mo., a train bound for California, and journeying with an ox-team and herd of stock across the plains, through South Pass, down the Humboldt and into California. At Thirty-Mile Canon the party was attacked by the Indians and at other places they had considerable trouble on account of the proximity of the red men. The journey consumed six months. He remained in California for ten years, engaging in sheep-raising on the Cosmunes River, twenty-two miles south of Sacramento, whence in 1866 he returned to Connecticut. Settling in Vernon, he built a mill and embarked in the manufacture of paper, which business he had learned in his boyhood. With a partner he owned and conducted the Granite Mills until 1871, when he sold out.

350
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

     While in Connecticut, September 13, 1869, Mr. Miner married Miss Mary F. Battey, who was born in that state. Her father, Robert Battey, a farmer by occupation, was a mechanical genius and could contrive useful articles in any line of work. In 1876 he came to Colorado, where he died in 1895, at the age of seventy-two. He had been self-supporting from an early age, as his father, Amasa, a farmer of New England, had died when he was a boy of only six. He married Faith Stiles, who was born in Connecticut, daughter of Samuel Stiles, a farmer. She is now living in Fort Collins. Of her family of nine children all are still living, Mrs. Miner being fourth in order of birth.

     In 1871 Mr. Miner removed to Dixon, Lee County, Ill., and from there in July, 1873, he came to Colorado, settling on a ranch thirteen miles north of Fort Collins, on Park Station Creek, which was named for a station on the overland stage road. He was one of the first men in Colorado to embark in the sheep business. He believed sheep could be raised here and bought some Illinois merinos, with which he started his herd. The experiment was costly at first. However, he secured a fine herd, being a cross between Merino-Shropshires and New Mexican ewes, thus getting a sheep suited to this country. In his work he was greatly assisted by his experience while in California. In 1890 he sold out the sheep business. He owns in one ranch ten sections of land, all of which is fenced.

     In 1878 Mr. Miner formed a partnership with Senator Warren, of Wyoming, in the sheep-raising business, and for five years the firm title was Miner & Warren, after which it was incorporated as the Warren Live Stock Company. They owned ranches in Wyoming and Colorado, and had forty thousand sheep. When the business was merged into the incorporated company a capitalization of $560,000 was secured, Mr. Miner, Mr. Warren and Mr. Gleason being the incorporators, Mr. Miner becoming a director. Some time later he sold his interest in the concern. About 1883 he started in the cattle business, and when he had built up a herd he sold out his sheep interests. He has full-blooded and high-grade Herefords, all of which are kept inside the fence during the entire year. The North Fork ditch runs through the land, providing the cattle with water. On the ranch alfalfa and hay are raised in large quantities, and the most modern machinery is used in farming. The brand is nine half diamond, or an inverted six.

      In addition to his other property Mr. Miner owns a large ranch in Wyoming, comprising thirty-five hundred acres, under fence, on the headwaters of the Box Elder, near Granite Canon, on the Union Pacific Railroad, where he summers his herd. This place is only eighteen miles from the other ranch. He also leases three and one-fourth sections of land near Park Station ranch, his home farm. In September, 1883, he removed to Fort Collins, and the following year built his present substantial residence. In addition to owning cattle, he has some fine Percheron horses. From the organization of the Fort Collins Electric Company he was its president and manager, and is still the principal stockholder, his son being superintendent. The plant owned by the company furnishes light for the city and college.

     The older son of Mr. Miner is Duane F., who was educated in the State Agricultural College and is now superintendent of the electric company; the younger son is Earl D. In politics Mr. Miner was a Democrat prior to 1884, since which he has been a Republican, as is also Mrs. Miner. For two years he was a member of the city council, and for the same period mayor of Fort Collins; also served as county commissioner for three years. When away from the state at one time he was nominated for the state senate, but not desiring the office he did no campaign work and was defeated, but by only two votes. He is a member of Fort Collins Lodge and Chapter in Masonry. In 1884 he was a delegate from Colorado to the National Wool Growers' Convention in Chicago, of which association he was a member for many years. He was also long identified with the State Wool Growers' Association, which he assisted in organizing. Personally he is genial and good-natured, liberal to all enterprises of a public-spirited nature and generous in his benefactions. For a number of years he was the president of the Larimer County Fair Association, which held at Fort Collins the best exhibitions of the kind ever held in Colorado. 

OSEPH R. POWELL, vice-president and secretary of the Long's Peak Coal Company, and a prominent citizen of Erie, Weld County, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Decem-

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

351

ber 14, 1845, a son of John J. and Eliza McG. (Risdon) Powell. He was one of six children, of whom, besides himself, two daughters survive, namely: Caroline, wife of H. L. Krigbaum, of Scranton, Pa.; and Mary A., Mrs. W. M. Darling, also of Scranton.

     A native of Burlington, N. J., born March 17, 1813, John J. Powell served an apprenticeship to the brick-layer's trade in Philadelphia when he was a young man, and after his marriage, which took place in Mount Holly, N. J., he settled with his young wife in Brooklyn, N. Y. While there he erected the first gas works built in the city of New York. Afterward he erected gas works in every seaboard town from Maine to Georgia. At the breaking out of the war he embarked in business at White Sulphur Springs, Va., where he arched a number of tunnels. On his return to Scranton, Pa., to visit his relatives he was obliged to remain there, not being permitted to go south of the Mason and Dixon line; and his outfit, which he had left in Virginia, was confiscated. It was not long after this that he contracted rheumatism, which prevented him from re-engaging in active work. He lived retired until his death June 3, 1871. His father was a native of New Jersey and a successful contractor and builder.

     When the subject of this sketch was about fifteen years of age his father lost all he had through confiscation. The son, obliged to begin in the world for himself, secured employment as a fireman on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. At twenty years of age he was running a passenger engine on the same road, being one of the youngest engineers on the system. February 14, 1866, he was united in marriage with Miss Alice Van Valkenburg, a native of Bradford County, Pa., and the daughter of Rev. R. J. Van Valkenburg. In 1868, with his wife, he came west, traveling by rail to Cheyenne, and thence going by stage to Blackhawk, where he secured work as an engineer. Previous to coming to this state he had gone to Omaha, where he was promised an engine, but after waiting for two weeks without securing work he returned to New York, and after consulting his wife they decided to come to Colorado.

      For a time Mr. Powell continued engineering and mining on his own responsibility, but when the Colorado Central Railroad was built into Blackhawk in 1872, he made application for and was given a freight engine, which he ran for two weeks, and was then given a passenger engine. In 1873 he retired from railroading and began prospecting, which he continued until 1882. During the latter year he came to Erie and entered the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad and during the five years that followed he worked for the company at Erie, Rock Springs, Carbon and Como, where he held the position of chief engineer of the company's mines. At Erie he embarked in the hotel business in 1887, continuing in that business until the summer of 1891, when he commenced to prospect for coal. In partnership with William Nicholson, in June, 1892, he leased his present property and immediately began to sink the shaft of the Long's Peak Coal Company, which he has since operated with Mr. Nicholson, the latter being president, while he is vice-president and secretary. In December of the same year, when the United Coal Company bought an interest in the company, Edward P. Phelps was made treasurer. The company is now sinking another shaft about one mile south of Erie, which promises to develop some of the best coal in this reigion (sic).

     Fraternally Mr. Powell is connected with Garfield Lodge No. 50, A. F. & A. M., of Erie, of which he is the present master. He is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which denomination in America his maternal ancestors were among the founders. His mother was a cousin of Dr. Adam Clark, author of Clark's Commentaries. Mr. and Mrs. Powell became the parents of four children, namely: Harry A., deceased; Alice M., wife of W. J. Breckel, who is engaged in the jewelery (sic) business at Steamboat Springs, Colo.; Emma R., wife of C. M. Morning a railroad man, now holding a position in the office of the superintendent of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad at McCook, Neb; and Richard T., deceased. 

ON. EDWIN J. TEMPLE, secretary of the board of regents of the University of Colorado, is one of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of Boulder. No one here has taken a more active or interested part in the promotion of local enterprises and institutions, or been swifter to come to the assistance of such with material aid. Education of the young is a subject the importance of which he deeply feels, as

352
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

has been manifested by him in many substantial ways. For eight years he has served as a member of the school board and for five years has been the able president of that honorable body. Subsequent to the death of Captain Tyler, Governor Eaton appointed Mr. Temple to the vacated place on the regency board of the university. In the following election he was chosen to continue in the office by the Republicans, and as such remained for six years; at the time of the election of Governor Waite he was defeated with his whole party by the Populist vote, which carried everything before it. Later, however, he was appointed on the board by Governor Mclntire, and is now filling out his tenth year in this responsible position. He is an earnest champion of the principles of the Republican party and has been an alderman here for about twelve years, much of the time being the president pro tern. In this period the new water works have been instituted, the Highland and high schools have been built and many other improvements carried to successful completion.

     The paternal grandfather of the subject of this biography was born in the northern part of Ireland, and was of Scotch, English and Irish extraction. He brought his family to the United States at an early day and settled in Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life. James Temple, father of our subject, was likewise a native of the Emerald Isle, but was reared chiefly in Ohio. He married Rebecca Temple, whose birth had occurred in Scotland, and who is now a resident of Boulder. In 1861 the family started for Colorado, going by way of St. Joseph, up the Platte River, and south to Blackhawk. There the father engaged in milling and mining operations for a few years, but in 1866 went to New Mexico. There he managed the famous Moreno ranch, near Elizabethtown, for two or three years, and about 1869 started in the cattle business on his own account. His property, known far and near as the Temple ranch, is one of the finest and largest in the territory, and for years prior to his death Mr. Temple was considered to be one of the most extensive cattle raisers of the locality. Death put an end to his career in 1886, when he was but fifty-six years of age. Of his six children E. J. is the eldest. William O. is operating the Temple ranch in New Mexico; Joseph R. is living at Fort Collins; John Charles is managing a ranch in Routt County (near Hayden); Harry R. is superintendent of a mill at Ward, for the Utica Mining Company; and Frank L. is on a ranch in Routt County.

     Edwin J. Temple was born June 22, 1851, in Youngstown, Ohio, and was consequently but ten years of age when he came across the plains to this state. He engaged in the milling business in Blackhawk when a mere lad and afterward embarked in merchandising while quite young. He continued as a member of the firm of Smith & Temple in Blackhawk up to 1879, dealing in groceries, grain and hay. The next two years he was occupied in freighting goods in the vicinity of Leadville, and became more or less interested in mines thereabouts. In 1881 he located in Boulder, having determined to make his permanent home here, however scattered his numerous business enterprises might be. He established an extensive ranch near Hayden, Routt County, and has always had investments in property and cattle in New Mexico. He is vice-president of the Pawnee Cattle Company, of Colorado, which does a very profitable business in buying and selling cattle. In short, he is undoubtedly one of the most extensive dealers in cattle in Colorado and on his ranches forty-five hundred lambs were fed and kept during the winter of 1897-98. He still operates with his brother the Temple ranch in New Mexico and owns three ranches, one of six hundred and forty acres, and the other two of a quarter-section each, in Larimer County, not far from the county-seat. Mr. Temple is a member of the executive committee of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association.

     In addition to his large operations in the cattle line, Mr. Temple is interested extensively in mining. He is the sole owner of the group of Emancipation mines near Sunshine (three different claims) now being worked by a force of twenty-five men, and considered one of the best-paying mines in the county. Mr. Temple is a director in the National State Bank of Boulder, and is a director in the Boulder Electric Light Company. He helped to organize and is now a director in the Boulder Milling and Elevator Company. At present he is serving for a second term as a member of the Veterinary Sanitary Board of Colorado, and is the president of the same. He was appointed first by Governor Mclntire and later by Governor, Adams. Fraternally he belongs to

© 2002 by Pam Rietsch, Ted & Carole Miller