The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1921-10-14
D. JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN.

lSE and fail Of the Miller empire
] : !" !
Who was the Milierf Where VIZ.
his emplref How did II risef w'a'
made Ii falIf Well. hunt around "
W the encyclopedias and books OF fe.-
A9YA erence and The following. In ~Whos
W nj Who In America. l9l6i7. Is the
Nv NH most you likely 10 md anywhere
M Az Miller. Henry stockman. Q.
NAjLA Bracke helm, Wurfteinburg.
NZHKKV July 81 1927. Came to United
IAN States lS47. m. Sarah Wilmarth
VW sheldon July 10. 1860 Was
AA butcher In Washington Market.
n y lS47-50: went to San Francisco iso'
worked in meat market 1S5O1 started on his
own account 1851; with Charles LUX. started
I'm cattle business 1857. They acquired SUo-
Co acres in California. besides other lands IN
Oregon and Nevada and at one time had So
600 cattle and 10000 sheep. MIR. Lux died
in 1887 and the business was Incorporated.
Mr. Miller retaining large interests Home.
2IO1 Laguna ST. Office. 1914 Merchants Ex-
change building San Francisco.
This is the Miller and this his empire. II
rose because Miller had genius-the genius Of
taking pains-and an aim that refused to be d.
yerted. II fell because Miller died October "a
1916 and II Is against public policy that the vast
estate should be allowed to remain intact II IL
therefore being broken up and sold piecemeal to
the highest bidders.
The foregoing biogrnphy-or autobiography.
Miller himself. II may be the truth and nothing
but the truth, but II is far from being the whole
truth Anyway, It is bit skinny the life
story Of a penness German boy immigrant who
acquired million acres Of land and accumulated
. fortune Of $4OO00OO0. II can hardly be said
to give much Of an idea Of the processes by which
. butcher boy could leave behind him the largest
area Of land ever assembled under one ownership
In this country. And II Is eloquenty silent OF
the methods by which he survived and prospered
while other "IaDge Barons' and "cattle Kings"
tOppled from their thrones with the coming Of
the hoInesteader and the farmer. In short there
u considerable to be read between the lines Of
Henry Miller's laconIc autobiography.
Well, 20 begin with the beginning Henry Miller
was christened Heinrich Mueller. He was the
son Of a cattle dealer and got seven years OF
schooling At fourteen he went to work for his
father. He got ten thaers for his FIRST years
work. ThereupOn he left home. He went to
Holland then to England and arrived In New
York at twenty. He had saved enough a. q
butcher to be able to buy passage to San Fran
cisco when the gold stampede set In. He reached
there with 50 and went TO work at his trade. He
never wasted minute in looking for gold. He
saw there was more money In feeding those who
found gold
Cattle were plentiful In California; under the
Mexicans the export of hides and taow had been
the chief business Of the region. Land was prn.
tiful. too. Under the land laws It could be had
Tor a song II one went nj II In the right way.
SO Miller took to himself partner. Kari Luchs,
another young German immigrant. and started out
TO acquire cattle and land. Charles Lux figures
only incidentally In the story: Henry Miller was
the empire builder. Miller got his cattle by buy.
Ing them and raising them
Miller also bought much land the years went
on. But old-'ime cafornIans say that In his
early years Miller got land In various ways he
sides direct purchase. Cowboys flied honest ead
claims 10 sell out to him. One story Is thai he
mounted boat on wngon and drove over thou
sands Of acres In the San Joaquin valley, later
acquiring much submerged land" over which he
erode In a boat"
Miller. Of course. did not overlook the impor.
lance Of water. though irrigation In those days
lad not been dreamed Of by Cniifornians. lie
acquired riparian rights along the San Joaquin
river wherever he could by homesteading nnd h,
purchase. He also secured water rights in othe,
ways One Of these was the paienting of min
~rs inches" for mining purposes: the process seryes
equally we'll for watering stock and Irrignfin,
land Later many attacks were made on his WIN
~ rights. He kept lawyers under retainer nj