Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-09-21
Pioneer RaiIroader Dying
In Colorado Capital

4 Wyoming and Colorado pioneer
OF the sixties, and tn hrst supa'i ten
dent Of the western diHs,h 70 NE
Union Pacific ra9eJal. is lyiDs IL
Denver,
Luther Fillmore, o. Laramie, Wyo
rs years old, stlll bright and dca'
of mind, is seriously II az e. homo
of his daughter, Ms. Clyde Opelt, al
1867 Emerson street. lie may pass
away at ans time.
Ills long career "a & builder and
IA lroad maj Is int wCy'a with The
hi sorry Of pioneer days in the west
with such names as Gicnvlile NJ. ana
r C. Dodge Sidney Newton Fair and
So ator Stanford "a Clliijgnil Mrs.
Fillmore, his aged wife is lying Sc
rlously i'll at Laramie, and may pass
away within a few weeks.
Mr.. Fillmore was born in New York,
near Syracuse, in 1926, coming of the
old Fillmore family, and a relative of
President Millard Fillmore. his father
being a cousin of the president. He
began early as a railroad contractor,
working on the Delaware, Lackawana
& Western, and being one Of the prin-
cipal contractors in building the Erie
canal in New York state in 1S4S and
1S49.
He went to Wyoming in 1869, set
ting in Laramie and entering on the
construction of the Wyoming branch
of the Union Pacific with General
Dodge. When the road was complet-
ed to ogden, Utah, he was made sup
erintent of the division from Chey-
enne to Rawlins, and later we the
division from Cheyenne to Ogden.
Webster Snyder was then general sup
erintendent Of the road.
The blizzard and the fierce winter
in the early eighties impaired his
health, and he gave up ~railroading,
going into the cattle business, being
very successful. Soon after he re-
moved to California to benefit his
health, and was made general super
intendent of a California road, which
later became merged in the Southern
Pacific. Here he was intimately as
eociated with the California railroad
builders, and for thirteen years he
served on this system, returning to
Laramie about 1890 where he has
since lived.
1t was in 1888 that Mr.. Fillmore
and Peter Gumry took the contract
for building what was then to be the
Arapahoe county courthouse, and the
famous old building is a monument to
their labors.
In the old days, before the Union
Pacific built to Denver, Mr.. Fillmore
used to come to this city with an OK
team, and knew many of the old pion-
GERS. His illness is due to catarrh
of the stomach, but his gigantic frame
and remarkable vitality are such that
disease makes slow inroads on his
constitution. He retains a clear mind,
debating letters and ojking with men,
bers of his family every day, although
he realizes that the end is not far
off. He is a member of the Baptist
church at Laramie. His nephew, Je-
rome Fillmore, has for some time been
manager of the Southern Pacific, TAX
ing A. N. TONNES place.
Mr.. Fillmore had one son.. Willard,
who died a few years ago. His four
daughters are living. They are Mrs.
Clyde Opelt, with whom he is staying
in Denver; Mrs, Melville G. Brown,
wife of the federal judge of Alaska;
Mrs. Grove Tinkham, of Chicago, who
IS now here, and Mrs. Walter II.
Adams, of Oakland, California.
Rock Island Officials.
B. L. Winchell, president of the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific rail-
road, accompanied by l.. F. Loree,
president Of the entire Rock Island
system, will arrive in Denver today
al 4:3o y. m, on a tour Of inspection.
The official train, a special of seven
cars, comes through from New York,
and will make the entire circuit of
the system before the return to Chi
cago.
The party was met at the union
depot by A. Sloat, general passen-
az. on.o4 ,,1 7 u KipNAal II nCCfCtont