Gilpin observer., 1907-06-06
HAND OF Death:
1T FALLS UPON PIONEER AND EN-.
PIRE BUILDER.
WALTER SCOTT cnEEsMAh
President Of Denver Union Water
Company Passes Away After But
Ten Days Of Illness.

May 31st he succumbed to complica-
tion of maladies caused by severe
case of la grippe. which he contracted
| last December. Neuralgia, asthma and
| other complications caused death.
Mr.. Cheesman was president of the
Denver Union Water Company, vice
| president Of the First National bank, a
| director of the International Trust
Company and of the Moffat road, pres
ident of the State Bank of Aspen, was
connected with many other corpora
tions, and for fifteen years had been
president Of the Humane Society.
Although comparatively poor man
when he came to Colorado forty-seven
years ago, he died possessed of an es-
tate variously estimated TO be worth
from $15,000,000 to $25 100000. Men
close to him make the estimate of his
wealth as being about $20,O0o,0O0.
Mr.. Cheeseman's realty holdings in
| Denver have an assessed valuation of
nearly 100000, and an actual value
OF nearly twice that much. His inter-
est in the Denver Union Water Com
pany is valued at millions of dollars,
he and David II. Moffat owning far
more than control. His mining prop
critics in various parts of the state are
estimated to be worth millions of dol
lars.
or all the men who by their thrift,
industry and faith in the future and
sterling courage in trying times,
builded the state of Colorado from a
wilderness where the red men held
sway to one of the greatest common
wealths of the Union, the name of Wal
ter S. Cheesman must stand forth pre-
eminently. With the glare of the lime
light upon him he never was known to
| finch, and his life and his connection
with the semi-public enterprises was
as an open book.
Men of public affairs expect to be
criticised. They look for the scathing
darts of public censure, put although
Mr.. Cheeseman's corporations were at
tackled mercilessly at times. his own
character escaped, and even his enc
mics recognized in him a man of lofty
purpose, a man above the little things
OF life, man to whom success would
count as nothing If in its achievement
enc bit of his character had to be sac
rifced
With all of the weighty affairs of
finance, state building and corporation
government on his broad shoulders.
| to the cries Of the oppressed. The
| plaintive plea OF the little uncGred-for
child, or the mute appeal of the animal
never reached him in vain. For twenty
years Mr. Cheesman had been identi-
| fed with the humane movement in Col
| orado. When the old Humane Society
was in existence he was actively inter-
| ested in the work and was one of the
| men who stood by 1t, in the strenuous
| days when financial depression threat
ened the disruption of the society. Fiji
teen years ago he became president of
the Humane Society, and when that de-
velopcd into the State Bureau OF Child
and Animal Protection. he continued
AT the helm, giving freely of mis- own
bank account that the bureau might be-
come firmly established.
Mr.. Cheeseman's interest in the HUI
name Society work was so great that
| he bore the expense of a second field
agent in the Humane Society all dur
| ing 1906. He had become convinced
| that one agent could not cover the
Denver field and thereupon authorized
| the appointment OF an assistant at "A
personal expense of about 81 200. He
kept this charity from the public the
same as he did his many other philan-
| thropic donations.
| III tlt utdtu VI w dltCi SuctSHdu luC
dumb animal and the mistreated child
have lost the best friend they ever had
in Colorado. The good he did along
these lines was by stealth, and he
"blushed to find it fame" Many who
knew him well never guessed that a
| good part of his life work was the re-
lief of the unfortunate. Last winter,
when the General Assembly consid-
cred the abolition OF the bureau he
used his influence to save It, and to the
personal friendship which many of the
Legislators entertained for him is due
the utter failure of the campaign.
Like David II. Moffat, Mr. Chees-
man came to Colorado when life here
was not all sunshine; when the men
who had blazed the trail from the East
thirsted for gold and hungered for
bread. He did not wait until the possi-
bilities of the new country were mani
fest.
Mr.. Cheesman was born at Hamp-
stead Harbor. Long Island, New York.
June q, 1888.
Historians Of the state say that Den
vers salvation from being a mere vii
lage Is due to Walter Cheesman and
group of sanguine young men who pre-
pared the way for the city to become
the metropolis of the Rocky Mountain
| region. HIS history Is good part or
the history Of Denver, and his active
Identification with gigantic enterprises,
such as the construction Of the Den
yer Pacific. the Denver & Boulder Val
ley, the South Park. the Denver & New
Orleans. the Denver, Texas & Fort
Worth railways. is a matter Of record
in financial annals. He labored with
Mr.. Moffat to bring the Union Pacific
| road into Denver. He was also con-
nected with the Denver Union Depot
and Railway Company.
In late years he has withdrawn from