Denver-Pueblo County CO Archives Biographies.....McMurtrie, John Aton 1848 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 24, 2008, 3:50 am Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918) JOHN ATON McMURTRIE. In the town of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, John A. McMurtrie was born December 24, 1848. He was the son of Josiah and Rachel Frances (Bush) McMurtrie. the father being a civil engineer and of enviable reputation in the state. Both of the parents are now deceased. John A. McMurtrie received his primary education in the public schools of Summit Hill. Pennsylvania. In 1863 his scholastic training was interrupted and he commenced work in the engineers' corps of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, then making surveys for the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad between Mauch Chunk and Easton, Pennsylvania. Here he remained until August 24. 1864, when, though only sixteen years of age, he joined the colors and was enlisted in Company A, Two Hundred and Second Pennsylvania Volunteers. In this regiment he served until August 3, 1865, when he was mustered out with his comrades. The war having ceased, young McMurtrie found the opportunity to continue his education, which he did for a period of six months at Jersey Shore, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, after which he reentered the engineering department of the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad and assisted in constructing the Nesquepuk branch of the same railroad, continuing with the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, mining and engineering upon the gravity and other roads until the year 1869. At this time Mr. McMurtrie became acquainted with the far west through the stories of men who had returned from the Pike's Peak country and by reading the numerous colorful tales published. The result was that he quickly decided to cast his fortunes in that great country. He had been frugal during his years of employment in Pennsylvania and he had saved enough money to pay his fare to St. Louis. Arriving there he sought employment with the railroads but failed in his quest, whereupon he went on to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and there secured work. The Leavenworth bridge over the Missouri river was then in the course of construction and Mr. McMurtrie was hired to work in the cylinders under compressed air below the surface of the water. This was hard, grinding toil and would have broken the heart of a lesser man, but with indomitable grit he carried on. He was next employed upon the survey of a line between Leavenworth and Topeka, then upon the Kansas-Pacific Railroad, which was building through western Kansas and eastern Colorado to Denver. He was connected with the engineering department of this road and while thus engaged reached Denver for the first time in 1870, where, in his own words, he found "a nice little village." His next move was to Golden, Colorado, in company with J. P. Mersereau, one of the old resident engineers of the Kansas-Pacific, and there made surveys for that company from Golden to Blackhawk and Idaho Springs. He then engaged in surveying for the Colorado Central from Arvada to Boulder, and also did some surveying for Mersereau in Clear Creek Canon during the winter of 1870-71, at which time the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company was being organized. His first work for the latter road was to survey and locate its line through the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas river, and into Leadville, the carbonate camp, which in itself was one of the greatest engineering feats of the entire western railroad building era. After this accomplishment he superintended the construction of the present line of that road over the Continental divide, between Larkspur and Colorado Springs. He also constructed the road from the latter place to Pueblo and Elmore. The preliminary surveys through Eagle River canon, for a distance of seventy miles, were also made by Mr. McMurtrie. He carried it over Marshall Pass at an elevation of ten thousand, eight hundred feet above sea level and through Tennessee Pass at an elevation of more than eleven thousand feet. He pushed it through the Black Canon of the Gunnison over the high mesas beyond and through the valley of the Grand into Utah. His most remarkable engineering was, however, done on the San Juan division of the Denver & Rio Grande, a section rarely visited by tourists. The loop west of Antonito and the tunnel and roadbed through Toltec Gorge are marvels of engineering, but all pale into insignificance when compared with the line through the canon of the Rio de Los Animas, between Durango and Silverton. In the celebrated contest between the Santa Fe and the Denver & Rio Grande for possession of the Royal Gorge, described in Volume I, Mr. McMurtrie bore a prominent part and there exhibited his qualities of leadership and tactical skill. His association with the Rio Grande as chief engineer, which was of high value to both company and man, continued until 1884. Something of his achievements is given by a prominent California journal, in which state he worked during the later years of his life. Mr. McMurtrie's brother, Samuel, came to Colorado several years after he did and later the firm of McMurtrie Brothers & Stone was organized, which was known as one of the leading engineering and contracting companies of the west. His work in Colorado having been completed, John A. McMurtrie began a period of contracting for the Southern Pacific. In this locality he made the same record for efficiency and success as he did in Colorado. This was the last railroad building of note that he did, the later years of his life having been spent in Denver, his death occurring there on February 15, 1899. John A. McMurtrie was married at Kansas City, on January 1, 1874, to Miss Pheriba Wilson and to this happy union there were born three children: Dee McMurtrie, now Mrs. Claude K. Boettcher, of Denver, who has one son, Charles Boettcher II; Nettie McMurtrie, now Mrs. Harry Haley, of Kansas City, Missouri; and John Alfred McMurtrie. Mrs. McMurtrie passed away in the year 1894. Fraternally, John A. McMurtrie was a member of Denver Lodge, No. 5, A. F. & A. M.; Pueblo Chapter, No. 5, R. A. M.; Pueblo Commandery, No. 5, K. T.; Colorado Consistory, No. 1, thirty-second degree; and the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF COLORADO ILLUSTRATED VOLUME III CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1918 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/denver/bios/mcmurtri107nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cofiles/ File size: 6.9 Kb