The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-10-16
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RSbSIIiOuS
Rich Man.
Csan Francisco Examiner.l

(San Francisco Examinerl
He owns a railroad and will not &C
cept lass over it.
He owns palatiaI residence and will
not live in it, preferring to live in a
hut
He owns a large clothing store which
he has never been inside of, nor pa
tronized to the extent of sending in an
order for . suit of clothes.
He wears OveralIs and a denim
blouse instead
He has a beautiful wife whom he
seldom sees. She loves society and lives
in the fine house and spends money
for good time. He associates with
cowboys out on the prairie and has no
inclination toward the gayetieS and
comforts of civilization.
He is one of the richest men in the
northwest, yet he goes about with
empty pockets and lives the life of a
common CO.. Duncher at an expense
of less than % cents a day.
He owns a $4,000 flour mill, which
he has never seen the inside of; and
two other stores that are run by agents
whom he seldom communicates With.
He has one-fOurth million dollars to
spend as he might please, but instead
of spending any of ii he does = labor
pot luck with the rough cattle driV-
ers in as humble a capacity as the next
man 10 him at table.
His name is Abner Robbins, and his
home proper is in the town of Union,
Ore. There IS where his wife lives;
there is where much of his capital is
invested; his railroad runs that way,
and his flour mill stands in the near
vicinity.
But that is not where Abner Rob
bins chooses TO spend the most of his
life.
The neighboring town of Drewsey
contains a major part of the old mans
holdings, yet he seldom goes to Drew
sey. About six miles from this latter
named town is a log cabin 10x12 feet
in Size-a cabin of one room, with
chinks in the walls and no windows or
doors except pieces of cloth or boards
picked uD by chance to serve the pur-
pose. 1t is a crude habitation-sO crude
that only a wealthy man would live
in it contentedIy. A common cowboy
would have improved it long ago. He
would have put in windows and made
2 handSOnner door.
Robbins is a lover of nature-a lat
ter-day Thoreau without the old Thor
eau'S theories TO work out or live up
to, but with a more genuinely finished
nature perhaps and less artificial aspi-
ration IN his reach toward the trees
and the hills and the independent live
nhOOd OF the huntsman-
Is he a crank?
Does = crank accumulate a quarter
of million, and keep it?
It isn't on record
He has made his fortune by hard
work, and he is working hard today
and making the fortune grOw-making
it feel the weight of a strong hand
and brain back of it. Yet he is no
niSer- a miSer does not get out among
the bows and take OF his coat and be
come . boon companion, with a hail
fellow we'll met" and a merry string
of n q irn in
the evening So far is ne from being
StingT that his friends know him
throughout eastern Oregon as a good
thing for spectators and miSSiOnar-
many similar stories they have to tell
Of him when you ask about the old
mans tghtneSs of fist:
Abner Robbins has never refused to
help poor man, both with money and
supplies. And he Will divide his last
loaf with a friend He spent SO 600
just to humor the whims of a friend
As vet there is but little wheat. rails
ed in this section OF country. A smooth
talking drummer came along and con-
WINGED one of Robbins friends that a
big Touring mill would pay at DrewSey:
that if the mill was built the ranchers
would turn their attention to raising
wheat. The friend became enthusiastic
and sought Robbins assistance.
The latter explained that it would
HUI pay IIldt II AOtltu BC years DtAOIG
wheat would be raised in this section
to any extent: that irrigation would be
necessary, and that this would require
time. But the friend saw a.! kinds of
fortunes in a Touring mill and insist
ed. Robbins became impatient and
said:
wen, go ahead and build your mill
and I'll pay for il, Just to show you
that you are wrong"
The friend believed in putting in a
4 hi 10.
dered the very best machinery from
Ohio A four-stOry building was erect
ed, a ditch was dug along the banks
of the middle fork of the Malheur river
and q turbine WheeI was put in, and as
fine a mill completed as was ever con-
structed of the same capacity. Before
the water was brought to the wheel
the protector of the mill became i'm
patient and purchased q large steam
engine, and the mill was started It
was run ? few months at a dead loss
and then shut down 1t now stands
there, the window frames all knocked
in by miSchieTOuS boys, the machinery
rusting and going to wreck. without a
dollars insurance on it. Robbins paid
the bill without a murrnur for he
foresaw the end in the beginning. He
has never been inside the mill and
never speaks of it, although the road
from Drewsey to his ca bin lies along
by TIE side of the mill.
The bed in his cabin is a marvel of
its kind; so is the arrangement for
cooking the bacon and beans which
Robbins lives on. Two sides of the
cabin furnish the main support to the
bed-one peg does the rest, fitted at
the outer corner. at the foot and nailed
to the floor. A couple of rails complete
the outfit, excepting the covering, which
consists of a bedraggled mattress and
some Wen worn blankets.
The cooking facilities are q rude
stone fireplace, a coffee pot, frying pan
and kettle.
Mr.. Robbins is the sole inmate of
the place, does his own cooking. makes
his own bed, cleans house, washes
dishes and acts as general maid of all
work for himself
DESPITE the fact that Abner Robbins