The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-09-18
Az ExPRNsIYE EnnnArInN.

"I'll bet there isn't man in the world
whose education cost as much as Con-
gresham Sam Fowler's did, "said ma
tive of Sussex county, N. j., where Con-
gresham Fowler was born.
"Old Col. Sam Fowler, the Congress-
mans father, spent fortune in trying
to get into Congress from the Orange
county district, and suppose that was
the greatest campaign ever known in the
State. Col. Sam lived in his magnificent
mansion in Fort Jervis then, and for
weeks he did his electioneering by special
railroad trains, with big company of
dashing military as an escort and fiat
car on which was carried cannon, which
was fired at intervals all along the route
This was thirty-fivs years ago, and that
same cannon is in Milford, Pike county,
to-day, where its use is permitted only
for celebrating Democratic victories and
saluting the advent of the Fourth of
July, those being the conditions on which
Col. Fowler presented it to number of
Pike county citizens. The Republicans
of Milford have frequently tried to get
the old cannon to celebrate victories of
their party, but it has always been de-
Tended against such use by its vigilant
Democratic custodians.
That memorable Congressional cam
paign resulted in the beginning of Col.
Sam Fowler's financial ruin. When he
died, early during the war, he left a
great deal of property in Orange and Sus-
sex counties, but it was loaded with in
cumberances and involved in litigation,
some of which was only recently settled.
In the property that he left was farm
in Franklin, Sussex county, near the
Franklin furnace zinc mine, which was
then regarded as the greatest zinc mine
in the country. Sam Fowler left widow
and son and daughter The son was
young Sam and he wanted college edu-
cation, which the family were not then
able to give him. About that time shrewd
old Moses Taylor of New York got the
idea that they might be some money in
zinc mines up Franklin way, and he took
a couple of expert mineralOgists up there
one day and told them to look the coun-
try over and tell him what they thought
about it. After they had prospected for
few days they told Taylor that if he
could buy certain buckwheat field on
Fowler farm they were positive he would
never be sorry. The matter was kept
very quiet, and soon afterward Taylor
surprised the Fowler heirs by making
them an offer for their farm. The offer
was only few thousand dollars, but the
FIRMLY needed money, and if they sold
the land young Sam could receive the
education he wanted. So the sale was
made. 1t was not long before zinc
mine was opened in the field, before the
richness of which the value of every other
zinc mine in the world became compare
lively small. The Buckwheat mine at
Franklin is famous as the most enormous
deposit of zinc yet discovered. Between
S15, 200, 900 and S20,000,0 900 has been taken
from it, and its wealth may be said to
have been hardly disturbed. 1t is the
easiest and most economical mine to
work of all known zinc mines. Ere
quently single blast will throw down a
thousand tons of ore, and half dozen
miners in the wonderful Buckwheat
mine can do work which it requires IS
men to do in any other mine. 1t is
worth dozen gold mines, and it was
the price of young Sam Fowler's educa-
ton n-NelC York Sun.