Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: PRENTISS, Edward L. (published 1918)
***********************************************************************
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.
***********************************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643
October 24, 1999
***********************************************************************

"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II


p. 311-312


EDWARD L. PRENTISS.

	Edward L. Prentiss is the president and general manager of the 
Routt County Fuel Company, owners of the Pinnacle mine, which is one of 
the most valuable coal properties in Colorado. He makes his home in 
Denver and from this point supervises his investment interests, which 
are now extensive and valuable, returning to him a most gratifying 
income annually. Mr. Prentiss is a native son of Kansas. He was born in 
Lawrence on the 6th of October, 1869. Investigation into his history 
shows that the Prentiss family is of English origin and was founded on 
American soil at a very early day, the original ancestor having crossed 
the Atlantic while this country was still numbered among the colonial 
possessions of Great Britain. Among the ancestors of Edward L. Prentiss 
were those who participated in the Revolutionary war and aided in 
winning independence for the nation. His father, Dr. Joseph L. 
Prentiss, was a native of the state of New York and became a physician 
and surgeon. Removing westward, he cast in his lot with the pioneer 
settlers of Colorado. He had pursued his education in universities in 
the east and at the time of the Civil war he responded to the country's 
call for troops and was a veteran of the Army of the Potomac. He served 
throughout the entire period of hostilities between the north and the 
south, took part in a number of battles, and by reason of his strenuous 
duty as a surgeon his health became greatly impaired. He was chief 
surgeon and had sixty surgeons under him. In one of his notes 
concerning the battle of Antietam he says in his diary that his staff 
cut off two wagon loads of arms and legs, such being the necessity for 
surgical work following that sanguinary engagement. It was subsequent 
to the Civil war in 1865 that he came to Colorado, first settling at 
Canon City, and there he engaged in fighting the Indians. He continued 
his residence at Canon City throughout his remaining days. He was quite 
prominent in connection with civic and political matters in the 
locality in which he lived and was likewise very prominent in his 
profession. He became a man of very high standing in professional 
circles and his marked ability was widely recognized. He kept in touch 
with the trend of modern professional thought as a member of the 
Fremont County, the Colorado State and the American Medical 
Associations and he put forth every effort in his power to broaden his 
knowledge and promote his efficiency. He wedded Mary Anderson, a native 
of Kansas, her parents having been pioneer settlers of Lawrence, that 
state. They were married in Lawrence and they came of English ancestry. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss were born three sons: George, who is now a 
resident of Miami, Oklahoma; Edward L.; and James H., who is living in 
Chicago.

	Edward L. Prentiss is indebted to the public school system of 
Canon City, Colorado, for the educational opportunities which he 
enjoyed in his boyhood and youth. He passed through consecutive grades 
in the public schools of that city and ultimately was graduated from 
the high school. When seventeen years of age he started out to provide 
for his own support and throughout the intervening years he has been 
largely identified with the development of the fuel fields of Colorado. 
He became associated with his father and his brother in the operation 
of their mine, which was known as the Prentiss mine. This property was 
worked with partial success for ten years. Since making his initial 
step in that connection Edward L. Prentiss has followed coal mining in 
every branch of the business, and the mine in which he is now located 
is the third largest producer in the county. His business interests are 
carried on under the name of the Routt County Fuel Company, a 
corporation which employs about two hundred people, and the mines have 
an output of a thousand tons per day. The company owns a mine known as 
the Pinnacle. It was opened by Mr. Prsntiss and, seeing how valuable 
was the property, he incorporated his interests, organizing the Routt 
Company in 1908. He has since been its president and general manager 
and in carrying on the business has been closely identified with the 
development of the coal fields of the state. The work is most 
systematically carried on and Mr. Prentiss has been fortunate in that 
he has been able to surround himself with a competent, efficient and 
progressive force of assistants. He is also president of the Routt 
County Bank at Oak Creek, Colorado, and he has other mining interests 
and investment properties which are returning to him a most substantial 
and gratifying income.

	At Ocean Park, California, Mr. Prentiss was married on the 10th 
of November, 1909, to Miss Ethel Fraser, a native of Michigan and a 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Fraser, both of whom are still 
living and are representatives of an old Michigan family. Her father 
became one of the early residents of California and was the founder of 
Ocean Park. He there erected a million dollar pier, which was destroyed 
by fire, but he soon rebuilt it. He was a very prominent, wealthy and 
influential citizen of that place. To Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss have been 
born two children: Alexander, whose birth occurred in Denver, April 5, 
1912; and Edward L., Jr., who was born in Denver on the 14th of July, 
1913.

	In his political views Mr. Prentiss has always been a republican 
where national issues are involved but he casts an independent local 
ballot. He belongs to the Denver Athletic Club, also to the Denver 
Country Club, to the Lakewood Club, to the Automobile Club and to the 
Civic and Commercial Club, associations which indicate much of the 
nature of his interests. He is also identified with the Broadmoor Club 
of Colorado Springs. His has been an active and useful career. From the 
age of seventeen years he has been dependent upon his own resources and 
one element of his success is the fact that he has always continued in 
the line of business to which he turned his attention on starting out 
in the world. He has therefore thoroughly acquainted himself with every 
phase of the fuel trade, from the point of the earliest opening and 
development of the mine to the time the product is placed upon the 
market. As president and manager of the Routt Company he is conducting 
a most extensive and important business and at all times has been 
actuated by a spirit of unfaltering enterprise productive of most 
substantial results.