Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-03-21
MANY REMEMBER
E. H. Warner ON
92ND BIRTHDAY
us II. Warner, one Of The

HiS 9-lu pii tHudy quietly at his
nome ~ Silver street yesterday. AL
though no special occasion marked
the anniversary, the kindly old gen
tleman received innumerable mes
sages from virtually all parts of this
country and some parts of Europe
bringing the remembrances and best
wishes of the hosts of friends he has
made himself during his long life of
active work.
In the afternoon Mr.. Warner walk
ed about the city thanking those who
had remembered him on his birthday
He is a man of short stature, hold
ing himself upright and having all
the appearance of a man much
younger than he really is. In the last
| lew years his hearing has failed
somewhat but his sight is we'll nigh
perfect and he moves about with the
VIM of middle aged business man.
1t is allotted to but few men to
get from their lives as much adven-
ture, experience and achievement as
has Mr.. Warner.
He is of one of the oldest of Am
erican families and traces his gen.
! ealogy back to 1885, nine genera lions
! ago, when his ancestors crossed the
sea and were the first to settle in
what is now Hartford, Conn. His
| grandfather, whom Mr.. Warner re-
members well. was soldier in the
| Revolutionary war and one of the old
| gentlemanS most sacred possessions
is the certificate telling of his grand
fathers service. Mr.. Warmers par
ents moved from Vermont to the
western part of New York in 1920.
| Erastus II. Warner was born
March 20, 1888, in Erie county. then
! n ylIcrco1 II l.:
years there and attended school and
when he had attained the age of 16
years his parents died and the boy
was thrown on his own resources.
| About 1850 needing the call of
the great. almost UNEMPLOYED West,
he left New York, embarking in a
boat from Buffalo and sailing to
| Detroit, thence going by land to
| Chicago. Chicago has increased in
size more than 30-fold from the
$4,000 that were there in 1850. For
the next five years Mr.. Warner
| worked as clerk in a wholesale shoe
| house.
Horace Greeley. the great editor
of the New York Tribune's state
ment. GO West, young man" al
| though it has become an household
adage is but little needed by the
young men of today. But in 1855
when Erastus heard him give the
advice during the course of an ad-
| dress, he decided to take it.
Omaha. then a little community
\ with a population of less than 100
! white men in the territory of Ne
7 braska was determined on by the
adventurer. Nebraska had just been
opened by the government to settle
ment and the chances for financial
betterment there We're great. The
trip from Chicago to Omaha in
those days was a long and arduous
enc; by rail to Alton. then down the
| Mississippi river to st. Louis and up
the Missouri river to Omaha.
| His first work upon his arrival
was surveying lots for the newly
| founded town which for the next 10
years he made his home. And these
| 10 years probably form the most in
was then a frontier town and food
and supplies We're sent from there
out into the great UNEMPLOYED tracts
! of the West.
Mr.. Warner was soon in command
of train of OK teams. sometimes
numbering as many as 20. Fourteen
| times he crossed the plains to Dem
yer, mostly going to Denver. One of
his more memorable trips was that
to Montana, the trip taking 120 days.
INDIANS were more common then
| there were white men and although
| there were times when they threat
ened to make trouble no serious diff
| ficulty ever arose. Mr.. Warner tells
| that the virgin country was a hunt
| er's paradise. On one day he and n
| party of friends brought down 10
buffalo and it was nothing eXtraor-
binary to have 0 or 20 deer at the
| end of a weeks hunting trip.
In 1858 Mr.. Warner and 27 other
young men formed an exploring party,
being actuated by the reports of gold
deposits in the Rocky Mountains. They
| trecked their way across the plains
and stopped for the first winter across
river from the land now occupied
| by the city of Denver. Col. Another
man who was scouting the theory of
| gold deposits was Ex-Governor Denver
| Of Kansas. who one day crossed the
| river and told the members of the par
, ty to which belonged Mr. Warner that
| the men could have as many lots to
build on as they wishes. Mr.. Warner
| and his partner claimed three of the
! lots and the construction Of what Is
now the magnificent city OF Denver
| was started.
About 1870 Mr.. Warner married
| Miss Ella NJ. Barney, member of an
! old Waterville family who was visiting
| an aunt in Omaha. Mrs. Warner al
ways maintained a keen interest in her
native city and this fact is largely
| responsible for his making his home
| here now.
| After few more years spent IN
| freighting back and forth across the
prairies he was employed by the
Union Pacific Railroad to go to st.
! Louis and purchase lumber. to be lat
err shipped to Omaha. Mr.. Warner
| liked tho business and applied for a
position with lumber company in st.
Louis and was accepted. He soon
moved his family from Omaha to that
city.
Mr. Warner was in the lumber bust
ness in st. Louis for SIS years and in
1877 was largely instrumental In es-
| tablishing the st. Louis Lumber EN-
] change, OF which for many years ne
| was president. All told. Mr.. Warner
| spent II years in st. Louis and when
| he reached the age of so years he sold
his interest in the lumber exchange
and retired from business.
In 1915 he came to this city as 1t
was his wife's birthplace. For n few
years he lived at $50 Silver street
! and for the last four years has made
| his home at 27 Silver street. HIS
wife died three years ago.
Mr.. Warner has kept up interest In
| the business life of St. Louis and his
| two sons live there. Ralph w. War
ner carries on the lumber business
| that his father started, while Walter
T. Warner is in charge OF the Over
land sales office in that city. In 1915
4 1..(