Gilpin observer., 1911-03-09


thurs cabinet as secretary of the
interior. he being as well equipped
for the position as any other man
who might have been selected
With Mr.. Teller, Jerome 3. Chat
FEC was one of the first two United
States senators elected from Colo.
rado upon it's admission to the
Union. in 1876. He was in the first
rush to Gregory gulch and laid the
foundation for considerable fortune
when he erected quartz mill which
h.. operated from 1860 to 1868. Then,
with the profits in his pocket he
went to Denver, then the principa.
trading point OF the mountain sec
ton, and started the first national
bank to be organized in the future
metropolis of the Rockies.
Early in the '60s came Nathaniel
p. Hill, technically educated met
allurgist who had gained practical
knowledge of his profession in the
mines and smolters of Swansea. Be-
fore his arrival the treatment of ore
mad been confined entirely to crude
stamp mills and primitive arastras
the latter no improvement on the
clumsy machines used by the Span
iards in Mexico centuries before
Young Hill set to work to change
this condition and in 1868 gave Colo
rado its first we'll arranged smelter
| Jou Df n. .Db
town he served as mayor for two
years.
The smelter was success and
came in the nick of time, as Gregory
gulch was just then recovering from
tho effects of wild speculation in
shares carried on in the east, which,
while it made fortunes for few
men who had never seen Colorado,
stock jobbing. The new smelter treat
ed ores that could not before be
handled at profit.
With his first taste of politics, in
municipal campaign, Mr.. Hills career
changed. While keeping up his min
ing and smelling interest in Black
Hawk, the field Of his political op-
erations expanded over the entire
state. and in 1879 he was elected
senator to succeed Senator Chaffee
who had drawn the short term in
1876. In the meantime he had built
a perfect smelter in Denver, known
as the Boston Colorado snelter, and
from this a fortune was taken. His
son. Crawford Hill, who inherited the
bulk of the smeiter made fortune, is
the owner Of Tho Denver Republican
a regular profit making newspaper.
and is also the acknowledged leader
OF Denver society. The genius that
shaped the career of Nathaniel P.
Hill also did much for Colorado as
a mining state.
With Senator Hill during his smelt-
ing days in Black Hawk and later at
Denver was Henry r. Wolcott, a
graduate from Boston Tech" and a
mining engineer and metallurgist. He
became cashier Of the Boston-Colo-
RADIO smelter and later was made
general manager. He followed his en-
ployer in political paths and several
times was elected to the legislature,
in the meantime building up a for
tune. No man made more close per-
sonal friends than Henry Wolcott. as
was shown when one OF those friends
built hotel in New York and nam
ed it for him. There he is spending
the afternoon OF his life.
Senator Woleott's Rise.
Henry. on arrival in Colorado. was
not slow to see the infinite possibi.
lities Of the Rocky Mountains for
, young men Of vigor and enterprise,
and he sent for his brothc~. Edward
o. The latter prIVad one of the most
picturesque characters the west has
!. ever produced. Handsome, command
ing in presence, refined, he was in
, addition a natural born orator. Min.
! ing and milling did not appeal to
!. him; SO on his arrival he went to
, teaching school. He became a mem,
Der Of the local lyceum and gave his
; oratorlcal powers full play. Politics
was his natural bent, and when the
opportunity came he crossed over to
Georgetown. on the southfork oi
Clear creek. and had himself elected
district attorney. Then his progress
I was rapid; he became the leader OF
the Republican party. and in 1885
. was elected to the United States
senate-the fourth Gregory gulcf
man to attain that honor.
Still another United States sen
, ator who lived in Gregory gulch Ions
. enough to feel the Midas touch wa.
, w. A. Clark OF Montana. the copper