The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1901-02-08
ECCENTRIC MR.. ROGERS,
new JERSEYS CROESus
Shut Down His Great Engine Works
After Running for Half a
Century.
REFUSED TO SELL OR OPERATE
His Old Manager Died and He DIDN'T Be-
lieve Anyone Else Could Run Thorn
Wealth Is Estimated From
to so Milliops.

to SO Millions.
II Jacob s. Rogers is not the richest
man in the state Of New Jersey, he at
least is the most successful of the prom
inent citizens of the state in keeping his
affairs to himself, says the New York
SUM- Mr.. Rogers has recently been in
the public eye far more than he usually
is because he shut down the Rogers
Locomotive works, which had been
turning out good locomotives ever since
the machines were built in this coun-
try.
Jacob S. Rogers is great at minding
his own business. Some folks say he is
worth sS0,00O,0O0. Others say that he is
worth only $7,ooo,ooo.
Thomas Rogers, the father of Jacob
s. Rogers, went to Paterson in 1914. He
had just been discharged from the
United States army, in which he had
fought through the war of 1872. For a
time he earned his living as carpenter.
With capital of $50 he started a ma
chine shop. Twenty years later the first
steam locomotives were brought to this
y
shop was then running under the firm
name Of Rogers, Ketcham & Grosvenor.
One Of their men said he could build q
locomotive. A purchaser was found
and the engine was built. 1t was called
the Sandusky. The railroad that or
dered the machine would not take 1t
and the machine. was sold to the Madi-
son River and Lake Erie railroad. The
roadbed had not been laid at the time
.0Hk ,10 I,Nt1k
fit the engine.
In 1856 Thomas Rogers died. By that
time the works We're making loeomo-
tives as fast as machinery could turn
them out. They were good locomotives
and they had a character of their own,
so that there came to be known" among
railroad men a quality known as the
7 Rogers style. 1t did not refer to the
mechanical peculiarities of the ma
chine, but to the way in which they
were finished and the general, clean
cut lines which gave them a dandise1
appearance among the rather clumsy
products of other works
Made Millions in the eos.
After Thomas Rogers death the style
of the business was changed to the
Rogers Locomotive and Machine works.
Jacob S. Rogers was made president of
the operating company. In the war
years the company made money at a
rate that started the present stories
about Jacob S. Rogers $S0,000,000 for
tune. In 1860 the company made ninety
locomotives in one year. Since then its
capacity has risen to one locomotive a
day. The factory mas always made
money.
In a burst Of confidence Mr.. Rogers
once told a man who was talking
about buying the works that there
was profit of about 81 900 or $1,000 on
each engine turned out. Paterson went
to figuring and decided that the profits
on the 1,645 locomotive engines the
factory had made must have amount
ed to about million dollars. Hence
the lowest estimate that has been
made of his fortune.
Ten years ago Mr. Rogers retired
from active participation in the man
agement of the works. r. S. Hughes,
who has been closely associated with
Mr.. Rogers since they went into the
as iii office boy and Rogers as pros
pective owner, took complete charge.
Last summer Mr.. Hughes died. No
one had been trained UP to take his
place in the management of the works.
No one had been trained into Mr.. Rog-
ers confidence to such an extent that
Mr.. Hughes would trust him with the
ers let it be known that he was going
I to close the works as soon as the un-
filled orders were completed. At first
Paterson hardly believed him. Then
as the work gradually decreased and
as one gang of men after another was
released from employment, it realized
that Mr.. Rogers meant exactly what
2 he said.
Citizens Protest.
Meetings of prominent citizens were
held 1t was urged that Mr.. Rogers
want the works closed. He heard the
message and answered that he guessed
he owned the works. He was ther
asked if he would sell the works. Now
that was a request that made Mr.
Rogers rather uneasy. He never sole
anything but locomotives and butter
Z In his life, SO far as his fellow citi
zens knew. He did not want to sell the
locomotive works. But the citizen
were very urgent One Of Mr.. Rogers
few intimate friends was persuaded
to lay the matter before him, and tn,
old gentleman said he would think 1
over. After due reflection he an
nounced that he would sell the works
but only on his own terms. Thes,
were that a board of appraisers SHOULD
be appointed, one to be named by him
self, another by the intended purchas
er, and a third either by both partie
Il, to the transaction or by the two ap
praisers already appointed. Then th
purchaser Was to put up bond o
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