The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-17
CAREER OF DIAMOND JOE.
He Started Life in Debt and Died
Leaving S7,OGO,GO0.


No name is more familiar to the
miner west. and few more so to the
capitalist, than that of Diamond Joe
Reynolds. All sorts Of stories nave
been circulated about his life, how he
got his name, and when and where he
died. Some are true. other fiction We
were all gathered about the board of a
miners table at Cripple Creek, Colo.
when the following narratives were
told by DR.. Sydney r. Bartlett, the
mine expert, who mad been a room
mate at Harvard with Blake Reynolds,
the only son of the famous Joe
The doctor was also an expert in the
employ Of Reynolds and played an i'm
portant and grewsome part at the time
OF the old mans death. Colorado mines
and ores were discussed and then the
conversation turned on Arizona, when
the Congress mine was spoken of and
with it its former owner. Diamond Joe.
He was the sharpest man on a bar
gain and withal the most generous man
I've ever known" said the doctor
He was lame-hip disease-which was
brought on when he was a boy 1t
illustrated the stuff he was made of.
He had a jackknife, and in drinking at
an ar hole in the ice, it slipped
got an axe and chopped a hole in the
ice large enough to admit his body, and
dove in, secured his knife and caught a
cold, resulting in a disease which
famed him for life. He told me- con-
tinued the doctor, that he started at IS
years of age with S25, with which he
bought a $45 heifer, leaving him $40 III
debt, and from that time up to his
dying day he had never been out of
debt, despite the fact that he left
81, Goo 900.
1.-The true story of his getting the
name of Diamond Joe was in this wise:
Joe Davidson owned number of
steamers plying on the upper Missis-
sippi, while Joe Reynolds owned boats
running south on the river to New Or
leans. Both lines were known as the
Joe Steamers and all bales and goods
were marked via Joe Line. The con-
founding of the two resulted in Rey-
nolds drawing a diamond around the
Joe on all goods shipped, and thereaf-
ter he was Diamond Joe, and in no way
did the appellation come from the fact
that he had q fondness for wearing
the precious stones.
LAS a plunger the old man has had
few equals. One of the greatest was
the Del Pasco mine, in Arizona, but its
turning out badly only strengthened
beaten, and it was about this time he
set his heart on the Congress mine,
which even today is one of Arizona 5
greatest producers. He paid S39, 600 for
the property and it was SiXty-tve
miles from Prescott and no railroad.
1t was here the old man died. | went
out to make an examination OF the
property for Reynolds and handled as
says and the requisition department Of
-
out there. The story of Reynolds
death has not been repeated correctly,
so I'll tell you the facts:
ct was in February. 1890, and the
rains were on. Outside Of the mill
we had a little shanty, a bunk house,
and here we all slept. Never shall l
forget that February night. Joe mad
been complaining for several days, al
though he was in and about the mine
and mill each day. One afternoon he
was taken down suddenly, and L I'M
dressed him and put him to bed in one
of my own nightgowns. Toward even
ing he grew worse, and the storm out
side was fearful. About s O'Clock l
knew he was dying. His desperate ef-
forts to breathe were frightful. His
head was on my shoulder. Then IL was
the thought struck me Of getting him
to Prescott, for we had no ice, and it
sixty-five miles, and a start must be
made at midnight, if the one train
daily out of Prescott was to be caught.
About 9 o'clock 1 ordered the mill
carpenter to come to the bunk house,
and whispered to him to knock some
boards together into a coffin. and in a
few minutes above the blowing outside
1 could hear the nails being driven
home in old Joe's coffin, and he not
dead yet. 1t was pretty tough, L as
sure you, and the night made things
seem worse About midnight he died,
and by l in the morning we had the
body in the crude coffin, on one of the
wagons, with its relay of six mules
and it's Mexican drivers, and the start
to Prescott was made. 1t took the
outfit just twenty-four hours to make
the trip and we caught the one train
out of Prescott. 1t was a sad ending
of a great man, and a terrible jour
ney."
And what became of the mine?"
asked one of the men at the table.
TT sold last July" said the doctor,
''for $780, OOO." philadelphia Times