The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1907-03-15
GETS $4,000 SALARY
At The AGE OF THIRTY
Relative of Unthank Family
Draws Big Pay.
EXPERT MINING ENGINEER

/ The story herewith printed taken
from an exchange, viii be of great in
terest locally on account of the sub
ject of the write-up being a relative
of the family of Charles r. Unthank,
ex-sheriff of Wayne county.
How many Hoosiers receive a
I straight-salary equal to that OF the
President of the United States? If
there are any besides Oscar B. Perry
of Bloomington, Ind, il is certain that
there is none who, at his age, 80, re-
ceives $4,000 a year for his services.
This young man is paid that much
| for his brains, and it is not an excess
| i've salary from the standpoint of the
corporation which employs him. The
investment of $4,000 a year has
| brought returns approaching the mil
lions. 1t is remarkable story of an
| Indiana boy who made the best of his
talents and his opportunities, who
made college education count for all
that it was possible to get out of il,
and who now holds a position that few
men of his age seldom attain. And he
has been out of college but ten years,
having graduated at the age of 20. Mr..
Perry, an expert mining engineer, is
general manager of some half dozen
of the Guggenheim mining enterprises
of Colorado, California, Canada and
Alaska, the combined capitalization OF
which represents many millions. He
has been with the Guggenheims about
four years, his selection for the i'm
portant position he now holds having
been made by John Hays Hammond.
long the right hand man of Cecil
Rhodes in South Africa and recog-
nized as one of the foremost mining
experts of the world His attention
was attracted to Mr.. Perry several
years ago.
After graduation from Indiana
University at Bloomington from the
department of physics in 1897 Mr..
Perry took a years graduate work at
the institution, then enteld the
school of mines of Columbia Universe
ty, from which he took the E. NJ. de-
gree in 1900. Soon after, in company
with his father, a wealthy owner OF
stone quarrieS in the Bloomington
district and one of the first to demon
strate the beauty and value for build
ing purposes of the Oolitic limestone,
he went to California and became in.
terested in dredging for gold. He stud
led the dredges with the eye of an ex-
pert and made SO many improvements
that the machines soon came to be
known as the Perry dredges.
His inventions soon attracted the
by him for the Guggenheims was the
attention of Mr. Hammond and led to
his employment by the Guggenheims
One of the first enterprises handled
Pacific Gold Dredging Company of
Oroville, Cal. He was soon operating
for this company fleet of five dredg-
es. all eminently successful from the
start Connected with this fleet of
five dredges is the Indiana Machine
Shop of Oroville, one of the largest Of
it's kind in California. Other large
paying properties of which Mr.. Perry
is general manager include the Carlo
Consolidated Hydraulic Mining Com
pany of Bullion, B. c.; Yukon Con-
solidated Gold Fields of Alaska,
Northwest Hydraulic Company of
Alaska and Atlin Consolidated Mining
Company OF California.
Ordinarily Mr.. Perry travels 10000
to 10000 miles every year. In 1905 he
visited Yukon, but Travelled under an
assumed name in order to better
study mining conditions in the famous
gold field. Last year he went again
in one of the first boats in June, and
during the four months after his arriv-
al there accomplished results unheard
of before in so short a period. From
Alaska, near the close of the mining
season, he went direct to the Canad-
ian properties, travelling some $50
miles on horseback. From there he
returned to New York city, where he
spe nds his winters filing his reports,
consulting with other engineers of the
Guggenheim companies and outlining
plans for the coming season.
I'm addition to his other duties Mr.. |
Perry is final arbiter upon all the
Guggenheim properties offered for !
sale. His word consummates or re |
jects the deal.
Notwithstanding his great success
es. Mr. Perry is as modest and unas-
Stunning as when a student at the uni !
versity. He is a member OF the Beta
Theta Pi fraternity and was the only /
member of his class to take his de-
gree from the department of physics.
While he was delving in physics as