Rocky Ford enterprise., 1907-06-07
HAND OF DEATH
IT FALLS UPON PIONEER AND en-.
PiRe BUILDER.
WALTER SCOTT cHEesMAM
President Of Denver Union Water
Company Passes Away After eus
Ten Days Of Illness.

sfs'Ah hA'Nsuiaus
captain Of finance. empire builder aud
pionssr. is dead.
Al 5;5s o'clock ON the morning OF
May SIS, he snesunibed 30 a coH,piiea-
tion Of maiaiics eaussi by a severe
ease Of la grippe. which he contracted
last December. Neuralgia. asthma and
other complications caused death.
Mr.. chsesman MAS president Of tho
pthSer Union Water Company. sieo
president OF the Pirsi National bank. u
director Of III. international Trust
Company and OF the MofIaI road. pres.
iieRt of III. State Rank Of Aspen. vas
connected with many other corpora
tions. ana for hus-n years had been
riesidcn, Of III. Humane Society.
Although comparatively poor man
when u. came To Colorado fouy-ss ven
years sso. hs died poss.sss,i of an ee-
tat. Seriously estimated To bs worth
from Sis.0OO.ooO to 81. S.oO0. 900. Men
slosr To him make tho estimate at his
wealth an being about s-0.DO0!0Ov.
Mr.. Cheeseman's realty holdings In
Dcnycr have an ass-rs-d valuation OF
nearly 100000. and mn actual value
W
est Ia the Beaver Union Water Com
pany In valued n, millions of dollars.
he and David ~. Monat owning far
more than control. His mining prop
critics In various parts of the s,a,o arc
estimated to be worth millions ot dol
lara.
or all III. men who by their thrift.
industry nnd faith Ia IN. fuiuT. aud
st"rlin. courage In trying times.
buildcd the state Of Colorado from u
wildcrnshs where the red men held
r~ay Ia one OF the .reat.nt common.
vcai,hs OF tn. Union. the name oi Wal.
ter s. Chcehman must stand forth pre-
cmlncn'iy, with the glare Of the lime
iisht upon him he never Was known tn
fiiEcb. and hiR life and hia connection
with tn. scmi'pubiic cntcrpriasa was
ar an open book.
Men Of public affairs expect to bc
criticised. They look for the Hcalhins
dartn Of public ccnsurc. but. although
Mr. Cheeseman's corporations v"ro at
tackled mcrciicraiy .t tines. hin own
character escaped. and even his enc
niicB recognized In him n man of lofty
purpose. n man above the little things
OF life. "a man To whom success would
count AN nothing II In its achievement
cne bit Of HIS character had To be- SAC
rinccd.
with all Of thu wciri,y psIairs Of
finance. state building and corporation
government on his broad shoulders.
Walter Chcosmnn found time 10 listen
to the cries of the oppressed. Tho
pinintivc plea Of the little uncarcd.for
child. or the mute appeal Of the animal
never reached him In vain. For twcnty
years Mr.. Chtesman had been idcnti-
fed with the humane movement In Col
orado. when the old Humane Socicty
was In existence he was actively inter
cstcd In the work and was one of tho
men who stood by II. In the strenuous
days when financial depression threat
cned 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 his own
bank account that the bureau might bc-
come firmly established.
Mr.. Cheeseman's interest In the Hu-
name Society work was so great that
he bore the expense OF n second Held
agent in the Humane Society all dur
Ing 1906. He had become convinced
that one agent could not cover tho
Denver field and thcreupon authorized
the appointment of an assistant ut "A
kept this charity from the public tho
same rs he did his many other philan-
thropic donations.
In the death OF Walter Chcesman tho
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
.'biushcd to find 1t 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-
ered the abolition OF the bureau ho
used his influence to save 1t. and to tho
personal friendship which many OF the
Legislators entertained for him is duo
the utter failure of the campaign.
Like David II. Moffat. MIR. 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 81, 1888.
Historians of the state say that Den
ver's salvation from being a mere vii
lage is due to Walter Cheesman and n
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 a good part OF
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-
with tho Denynr IInlon Danaf