The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-03-03
oAL1FoRN1A,s DEAD SENATOR.
A Brief Biography of George Hearst of
That State.


George Hearst was born in Franklin
county, Mo-, Sept. 8, 1920. His father
had gone to that state from North Caro-
lima in 1918. The son received only such
a limited education as the common
schools afforded in that day. He worked
on his fathers farm until 1850 when he
caught the gold fever and went to Cali
fornia. For several years he was a
miner and prospector and subsequently |
by location and purchase became the
owner of valuable mining interests and a
large employer, having at one time as
many as two thousand men at work in
his mines and operating quartz mills
that crushed 1000 tons of ore per day.
The increase of his wealth was steady
and rapid and for some years past his in
come has been something like $1,000 per
day. He has been for long time chief
partner in the extensive mining firm of
Hearst, Haggin, Lewis & Co. He owned
about forty thousand acres of land in
San Luis, Obispo county, California, a
ranch of $50, 900 acres of grazing land in
Old Mexico, stocked with a very large
herd of cattle and fine stable of
thoroughbred horses.
| He was also interested in large tract
of land near Vera Cruz and in railroad
building in Mexico. His fortune at the
time of his death was estimated at $780,
! O0O, 900. Mr.. Hearst's political life began
in 1865 when he was elected to the Cali
| fornia legislature and served one term.
In 1883 he was a candidate before the
democratic state convention at San Jose,
| California, for the nomination for gov
ernor but was defeated by General
elected governor and when, by the death
of United States senator John F. Miller,
in 1885, the power of appointing a sena-
tor was given to him he appointed his
former opponent for the gubernational
nomination, Mr.. Hearst. The latter
was reelected in 1887 and his term
would have expired in 1893.
His death gives the republicans in
their turn, the same advantage which
the death of Senator Miller, gave the
democrats. While in. the senate, Mr..
Hearst was a man of action rather than
of words. He took but little part in the
, debates as he suffered from a weak voice
but when he did address the senate, his
speeches, though brief, were always
pointed. Senator Hearst leaves a wife
and but one child, William B. Hearst,
) proprietor of the San Francisch E1-
aaniraer. Mr.. Hearst was in person tall
and slender with blue eyes and long
D gray beard. He was good type of the
old California pioneer. He was warm
hearted, impulsive and generous, popu
r lar with his associates in the senate, and
had many devoted friends.
The following tribute to his memory
e is from the pen of well known Cal
afornian: For thirty years or more
# George Hearst has been one of the vita
e men of the west, one of the individua
Y forces which have inspired and giver
r direction to that quick and vast develop
It ment of its resources which is one of thu
s material miracles of the century, Blu
g it is not as the mining expert, the or
d ganizer of gigantic enterprises or tn
possessor of great fortune that he will
be nominated, 1t is not an obituar.
commonplace but the simple truth to sa.
h that his death has brought sorrow t.
+ thousands of hearts. Change of forum
y, made no change in the man. AS sen
"a ator of the United States he was tn
n same simple, unaffected, clear headed
J. @arm-hearted George Hearst who mine
% on the Feather and Yuba in the fftie
and took his share of the rough free lif
of the claims and cabins. To the thous
ands of comrades who knew him he re
y mained always as comrade. Ostenta
Y ton was abhorrent to the man forme
% on his rugged lines and it will never b
fe known how many successful men ow
8 their beginnings to him or how man
y broken lives were made easier to live be
u cause of his hidden helping hand. 7
hundreds upon hundreds of the associate
b. and even the acquaintance of pionee
g. times he was a good providence, becaus
i'd he was a thorough Californian. MI
er Hearst was held in affection by all Ca
ht ifornians whose experience reached bac
to the days when railroads and tn
sharp completion of commercial life wei
!. unknown on the coast. His years of har
: work and intimate mingling with me
:, of every social and intellectual grac
gave him knowledge of human natul
=. and a sympathy with its defects an
= weaknesses which kept him free fro
that pride of purse and hardness of fee
In ing that sometimes go with the riches
the self-made man, and while he had
VI singularly keen perception of charact'
u and shrewdness that baff1ed all pr
ss tenders, his heart was tender, his charit