The San Francisco call., 1899-07-26
THE DEATH OF LLOYD TEVlS.

ranks of the CAPITALISTS OF the Pacific Coast.
The vast properties he had accumulated now
ever identified him with the East we'll as with the
West Indeed his name and his financial standing
were broadly recognized throughout the world FOR
forty nine years, without any serious interruption IN
spired by steady purpose and exercising great adj
ty energy and perseverance he Travelled the ROAD OF
progress, until when his life eliminated, he stood
among the magnates OF this age OF concentrated
achievement and intense activity
There was wide distinction between Mr. Tevis and
many OF his wealthy contemporaries, HIS reputation
did not depend upon the realized fortune he mad
amassed 1t was based upon his individual capacity
manifested through long succession OF years in
enterprises and in transactions OF unusual magnitude
and complexity He belonged to that unparalleled
emigration of 1S4o that ever since has shed luster
upon our State and upon national history. Alter
working rocker near Ringgold, in El Dorado
County for two or three months he conceived bril-
liant financial scheme almost his solitary failure which
he often claimed had retarded his financial growth
for nearly year. He constructed bridge across
the South Fork of the American River, at
point which all the immigration wagons that reached
California by the Carson route had to pass. His mis-
calculation that instead OF paying tolls, the I'M
migrants of 1880 took possession of the property
which he was forced to abandon He went straight to
Sacramento labored night and day in the Recorders
office there, saved and invested his money, and be-
fore the end of the year had formed his famous part
nership with ]. B. Haggin which, in the very nick OF
time and when property in the State capital had
reached its highest valuation transferred to San
Francisco The details OF his subsequent life would
fill Volumes and will undoubtedly be preserved in
permanent FORM
Mr. Tevis had received collegiate and legal edu-
cafio aud in he~o /,
practical business When his Identification with San
Francisco was complete in addition the constantly
charging investments OF his firm, he employed
referee in very important cases. in which his clear
discrimination and his sound judgment commanded
fees of almost fabulous amounts Still later in
nection with railroads and express companies and N
other relations, he displayed extraordinary admins
trative ability Perhaps he settled more lawsuits than
any of his day, not excepting the late John
B. FELTON, In diplomatic management, in the COM
binaton of breadth of view with the most precise
attention to details he was unrivaled When the Col
ton case was brought and followed by trial for
which, outside of the Blythe contest there few
if any precedents, it pithiy remarked by the late
Hall McAllister that it useless to attack settle
ment that had passed under the legal optics of Sam
uel NJ Wilson and the financial orbs OF Lloyd Tevis
The traces of Mr.. Tevs are discernble in hundreds
the State and far beyond its boundaries into the
financial centers OF Europe His mental strength was
equaled by his working power which appeared to be
almost unlimited He necessarily both indvid-
ualy and in his Joint enterprises, extensive
ployer Of labor but the OF his almost uniform
the fact that he paid the most rigid aten
ton to business, whether in his personal matters in
the affairs in which he filed representative position
He possessed absolute self-control and was never
swayed by passion or by any morbid element in his
character In fact, his equanimity as marked as
his ease and his freedom OF movement which at
tracted general admiration.
The world is rarely just to of great wealth. It
attributes to them hardness OF nature and lack of
philanthropic feeling that in nine out OF ten
unjust. This is especially true of Mr.. Tevs. While
he made ostentatous donations, and his aspira-
tons for posthumous honors can only be determined
by his will, there was hardly public object of any
kind for which he could not be relied upon for sub
scrption, and the poor rarely applied to him
cessfully for help Alter the Civil War; coming as he
did, from Southern State his purse was always at
the service of that numerous class of intelligent and
refined men and women, who had been reduced to
poverty by the vcisstudes of battle and yet retained
their personal senstiveness. 1t the habit OF Mr.
Tevis to render his aid practically and without humil-
ation He would place the numerous persons in
whom he became interested either in saaried posi-
tons or in occupations in which they could care fol
themselves and furnished them with the means they
preliminarily required And was observed of him
of few other men, similarly placed that he did
grudge his personal services and that the prompt
fufllment of his word, after he had once given it,
was certain
There may be and there probably will be diversity
OF views upon the influence which Mr. Tevis, although
never candidate for Office exercised in public
affairs But as one of the California pioneers, thor
oughly identified with the land of his choice and
largely represented by his relatives and by his friends
it will be generally conceded that his withdrawal from
our midst is distinct loss to the community
TILE RDnNKI NN CTDIKE