The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-09-16

1872 Mr.. Hagernan was made Vice
| President aud General Manager of
| the Company.
MIR. Hager1nan was married to An
ma Osborne of Tecumseh, Michigan
in 1867. Their two sons. Percy Hag-
ernan and Herbert ]. Hagerman.
were educated at Cornell University.
In Sept. 1873 the most disastrous
panic this country ever knew came
like clap of thunder. and was par
ticularly destructive on the iron bu-
siness. In January 1874 Capt. Ward
died. Mr.. Hagerman was then made
President of the Milwaukee Iron
Company. and continued in that posi-
ton until 1876. when he went into
business on his own account.
Knowing of the scarcity of iron ore
suitable for the manufacture of Bes-
semer steel. and also knowing of large
bodies Of such ore in Menominee
County, Michigan, in 1877 he and his
associates organized the Menominee
Mining Company for the purpose of
acquiring lands. and exploring for the
mining of ores. Mr.. tHagerman was
President and the largest owner of
the company. A railroad was built
to the mines late in 1877. and about
10000 tons of ore shipped. BY the
end of 1881 the Company employed
5000 men, owned five large iron
mines. and shipped to market 1.2o0-
600 tons of iron ore. BY far the larg-
est customer of the Company was An
drew Carnegie. Mr.. Mark A. Hanna
was agent for the Company in Cleve
land. Ohio and haldled it's ore there
and at Ashtabula. This business was
extremely prosperous. and Mr.. Hag-
erman would probably be in the iron
business today but for tae fact that
his health began breaking down in
1873 and led to nnal collapse in
1881. He was compelled to stop busi-
ness entirely. and in the summer of
lSSI he went TO Europe with his fami-
ly. and remained there trying 10 re-
, :sain his health until October 1884
ON his return the physicians advised
him TO go 10 Colorado Springs. which
he did i'm the fall of 1884. He sod his
iron interests and made Colorado his
home. intending to do little business
and take things easy. Returning
health brought back the old desire 10
work. and he soon found himself en-
gagged in several enterprises and
among them the Colorado Midland
Railroad. The scheme seemed TO be
feasible. The great silver. lead and
coal deposits of the western slope
had no railroad outlet and the prime
object of the Midland was to give
, them one. In 1856 Mr.. .HagSrman was
made President of the Colorado Mid
land Railroad Co. He soon raised
about Sl2 1000. 900 in New York and
London and the work began. The
road. about 220 miles in length. was
opened for business in 1SSS. The diff
iculties encountered were enormous
However. the road paid. 1t demon
strated that a broad gauge road could
he built and successfully opeitBued
across the most rugged mountain pas
ses. II 1890 Mr.. Hagerman sold the
Midland to the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Ry. Co, at a profit to him
self and friends. He had large sill
yer mining interests in Aspen. Colo
| RADIO, and in 1891 a Company of which
| he We President discovered the ia
nous Mollie Gibson Mine. He had
other large mining interests there. In
/ June 1898 the mints of India were
closed End agitation for the Tepeal of
/ the Sherman Law in this country be-
gan, and silver went out of fashion
as fundamental money. The usage
! of thousands of years was knocked
over in a few months. The gold val
ne of silver bullion the world over
was reduced from s1.29 to so cents
an ounce. What this meant to rhe
owners of silver mines can be ina
giled better than it can be described.
1 In 1889 Mr.. Hagerman became IN
| terested in the development of the
Pecos Valley-at that time without