Arizona weekly miner., 1875-09-10
LIFE AND CAREER OF RALSToN.

= came upon the community like thunder
 clap. The shock was so sudden, so unlOoke
 for, that when the news came, first as float = ing rumor. those who heard 1t shrugged thei
 shoulders incredulously, but when the sa ' tidings were confirmed the city was plunge . into profound grief Even those whose bus
 mess interests were antOgonistic to those c - the firm of which he was the head, express { ed their feelings of sorrow for the sad fate 0
 one who, unaided by fortune, and who rely
 ing upon his own industry and indomitab Q perseverance, raised himself to position a ( the head of a prosperous mercantile commu Q nity. Whatever may have been his faults
 he was open-hearted and liberal. He wa:
 ever ready to assist new enterprises looking to the development of the resources Of tho
 State, and he was largely instrumental 1T
 putting them afoat. Besides his ordinary
 banking business, he was a large owner ir
 many manufacturing interests in this city and State. When Paul Cornell arrived here
 from Chicago a little over a year ago, and
 was advising himself of the feasibility of in
 troducing the manufacture of watches into
 this city, he called upon Mir. Ralston and
 laid his plans before him. MT. RastOn cor
 dialIy greeted the advent of this new enter
 prise, and he set hims If to work with that
 energy which was characteristic of him, to
 establish the undertaking upon prosperous
 basis. How we'll he succeeded in hIs task
 may be seen from the fact that the institu-
 tion stands in the first rank among our home
 industries.
 His career has been checkered one, and had he not been a man of brain and indomit-
 able energy he would never have risen above
 the common level of humanity, so surround
 ed was he by obstacles which to an ordinary
 mind would appear almost insurmountable
 Mr. Ralston was born in Ohio, near the vil- lage of Wellsville, forty-nine years ago. His
 parents were in humble circumstaces, and could not afford to impart to their son more than an ordinary English education. While quite boy he was taken from school and employed as an errand boy in store. He acted in this humble capacity for a year or | two, and developed such industry and such talent for business that he obtained po- sition as clerk on the steamer Wyoming, on the Ohio river. When about twenty years of age he left the Ohio line and accepted the position of purSer on a steamer on the Miss issipi, running between St. Louis and New Orleans. He afterwards in connection with other parties, obtained control of line of steamers on the Mississippi. Finding that the steamboat business either did not pros per or was not suited to his tastes he went to Panama and associated himself in the year 1850 with C. K. Garrison, Morgan tS Fritz as cashier. The firm at that time was en- gagged Tn the transportation business. and to NIT. RalstOn was entrusted the management of the Yankee Blade line Of steamers. Here he formed the acquaintance of Col. Peter Donahue, who had returned from service in the Peruvian war, and friendship sprung up between them which was interrugted only by his death. Here he met also John c. DOwney, afterward Governor of California, and several other California pioneers. When Mir. Ralston came to California and engaged
 IN THE BANKING BUSINESS, Colonel Donahue called upon him for loans ! in order to assist him in completing his con- tracts with the |. s. Government-notably | the building of the iron-cad Camanche | While in Panama Mir. Ralston was looked | upon as Mir. Garrison's right hand man and | confidential agent. Soon after the failure of | Page, Bacon & Co, and Adams and Bur goyne, of this city, in 1855, Garrison, Mor- gan, Fritz and Raston came to San Francis co and opened a bank on Montgomery street. MT. Ralston acted as cashier, but he display ed such great business tact and gave such sat to his employers that Messrs. Gar rison and Fritz gave him an interest in the 
 The bank prospered After remaining two or three years in this institution, during which time he made a good record for eff ciency, the firm dissolved partnership, and in 1851 NIT. Ralston opened a banking house on tbe corner of Washington and Battery Sts, with Donohoe and Kelly, under the firm name of Donohoe, Kelly & Ralston. In 1862 the firm dissolved, and
 THE BANK OF CALIFoRH.IA
 Was started by D. o. Mills and w. c. Rals- ton. The history of the bank since its or sanization Is no doubt familiar to our read ers. Owing to Mir. Ralston's great business 'agacity, the bank took the first position in tue merchantile community ard not a whis- per of distrust was heard about the manage nent of the bank until about year ago. when the stock excitement was at its height. md 1t was openly charged in the street that he bank had used its capital for the purpose 'f moving certain stocks. The dividends paid in the year 1871 by the bank amounted O SG0000O.
 MT. Ralston, some years since, married the : laughter of Col. J. D. Fry, and four children we're born to them, all of which are living. { lis brother, A. J. Ralston, is also in the 'anliing business, and is married to a daugh- CT of the late Thomas II. Selby, at one time Mayor of this city. iR. RALsToNs PRIVATE STATEMENT OF THE ,
 CAUSE OF THE FAILURE. NIT. Raston to reporter emphatically re- terated Thursday night, in his own private , 'arlor in Commercial street, that his rela- ions with Flood k 0'Brien were of the most ( riendly character, and that they had noth- ng to do with locking up coin or any attempt o injure the bank. After the reporter re- fred, NIT. Ralston followed him out of the e oom and stopped him in the hallway. He ben exclaimed: ''Ihe statement that I have q lade is my statement to the world as to the ause of the failure of the bank, and shall f lake no other. For your personal informa- ion, but not for publication, nor to be i'm t arted to any one else, tell you that this lilure Is owing to a persistent and syste- W latic effort to break this bank" The gen emsn to whom this statement was address b would have remained silent, but in view s; the death of MT. Ralston, he considers t, lat justice to his memory demands that he d. lOuli also give his privare Stateueut to fb. .,