SANDERS, Jesse, F., b 1854; 1905 Bio, Delta County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/delta/bios/sandersjf.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 14, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- Jesse F. Sanders In the history of any community there are some names pre-eminent because they are those of men who are leaders of the active productive forces therein and both by their own energies and the effect of their examples on those of others give trend to the life of the community, effect to its potencies and strength and direction to its growth and development. Among these at Delta Jesse F. Sanders occupies a leading and commanding place. There is scarcely any element of good in the community, industrial, commercial or moral, that has not felt the force of his creative mind and the impulse of her directing hand. He was born in Broome county, New York, on February 25, 1854, and is the son of Henry and Catherine (Sheare) Sanders, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York. The father moved to New York when a young man and there was married. The greater part of his life was passed in that state, although he lived for a number of years in his native state after he was married, and there his wife died in 1883. In 1892 he came to Colorado and made his home with his son Jesse until his death, at the age of eighty-six years, on February 27, 1904. The family numbered four sons and two daughters, five of them being now alive. Jesse, the youngest of the sons, was reared in his native state and educated in its public schools. At the age of seventeen he left home and went to Pennsylvania where he learned his trade as a blacksmith and machinist. After working at the craft for a number of years in that state he came to Colorado in 1880 and located at Alma in Park county. Here he again worked at his trade and alternated its hard and rugged labor with prospecting tours through the surrounding country. In 1887 he went to the San Juan country, and there he was engaged in prospecting and mining with headquarters at Ouray until 1894, when he took up his residence at Delta. In 1892 he discovered the Bachelor mine, one of the greatest silver producers in the state. In partnership with Charles Armstrong and George Hurlburt, he developed this property and found it a big bonanza, realizing for each of its owners an average for sixty-eight thousand dollars a month in its palmy days, when silver was not above sixty cents. The ore body at times was ten to twelve feet thick and unusually rich in metal. When he settled at Delta in 1894 Mr. Sanders began at once to take an active part and a prominent place in the life of the town. He embarked in the grocery business, which he carried on for a few years, and within the first few months of his residence here acquired a controlling interest in the Farmers & Merchants Bank of the town, of which he has ever since been president. In 1896 he built a canning factory at a cost of twelve thousand dollars, which has been of great benefit to the town and the surrounding country. This he sold in 1899 to its present owners. In 1896 he also built the Sanders opera house and the next year the building in which the bank is now settled and conducting its business. He erected for himself the finest dwelling in the town and owns a dozen or more other residence properties, besides business blocks and other houses. Moreover he is connected with all the leading bridge and ditch companies of the county and president of a number of them; and other projects in behalf of local interests receive his hearty cooperation. In politics he is an uncompromising Democrat and always earnest and effective in the service of his party. For the benefit of Delta he served two terms as its mayor. In fraternal life he belongs to the Elks, the Odd Fellows and the Masons. On February 23, 1879, he was married to Miss Catherine A. Ferguson, who was born in Pennsylvania and is the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Miller) Ferguson, the former a native of Nova Scotia and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father came to Colorado in the early days but soon afterward returned to Pennsylvania, where he died in 1883, and where his widow is now living. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are the parents of five children, Dora M., Charles H., Cora B., Robert R. and Mary E., the latter dying March 4, 1901 at the age of four years. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.