Denver-Pueblo-Gunnison County CO Archives Biographies.....Walter, Rudolph J. 1860 - 
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Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918)

RUDOLPH J. WALTER.

    Rudolph J. Walter, metallurgist and mining engineer, prominently known in
his professional capacity throughout Colorado and a highly respected citizen of
Denver, was born in St. Louis. Missouri. July 6, 1860. His father, Jacob Walter,
was a native of Germany and came to the United States in 1855, at which time he
took up his abode in St. Louis. In early life he learned the cabinet maker's
trade and he left Germany in order to escape the enforced military service. He
did not hesitate, however, to stand for a principle which he believed to be
right and was one of the first to enlist in response to the country's call for
aid in the Civil war, becoming a member of the First Missouri Cavalry. He
married Barbara Bergthold, who came to the United States from Germany when ten
years of age. Mr. Walter passed away in 1882 and his wife has also departed this
life. They had a family of six sons, of whom two are yet living, the brother of
Rudolph J. Walter being Louis H. Walter, who is now living retired in Denver.

    At the usual age Rudolph J. Walter became a pupil in the public schools of
St. Louis and afterward attended night school, while the days were devoted to
work. He then completed a course in a business college and thus qualified for
life's practical and responsible duties. He started out to provide for his own
support as an employe in a grocery store, working from five o'clock in the
morning until ten o'clock at night. He was thus engaged until his removal to
Denver. Having determined to try his fortune in the new and rapidly developing
west, he left Missouri for Colorado and reached his destination in May. 1878.
Here he immediately sought and obtained employment, working at the smelters and
in stores. He learned the assaying business at Golden and at Denver and then
started in the business on his own account in Gunnison county in 1879. He was
driven out of that district, however, by the Indians and spent the succeeding
winter in Denver, but in the early spring began prospecting in Breckenridge and
Gunnison county and devoted his time to that work for many years. He was
appointed commissioner from Gunnison county to the great exposition which was
held in Denver, 1882-3-4, an exposition largely devoted to mineral exhibits and
mining machinery. He secured the gold medals for the best display of gold and
silver ores. Through almost the entire period of his residence in Colorado he
has been identified with mining interests in one phase or another and is now
concentrating his efforts and attention upon mining engineering and has for a
considerable period had charge of smelters and mines. Mr. Walter studied mining
and metallurgical engineering at the School of Mines and the University of
Berlin, Germany, after ten years of practical experience in Colorado and other
western states.

    In May, 1887. Mr. Walter was united in marriage to Miss Augustine Schinner.
a daughter of Adolph Schinner. a Colorado pioneer of 1860. She was born April 8.
1866, and by her marriage has become the mother of seven children: Adolph S.,
who is assistant superintendent in connection with a smelter at Pueblo; Ernest
R., who was born in Berlin, Germany, while his parents were visiting there and
who is in business in Seattle, Washington; Frederic J., who is mentioned
elsewhere in this work; Augustine, who married Milton Carlson of Masters,
Colorado; Emily, the wife of Harold Allen, of Denver: Rudolph J., who is a
graduate of the Manual Training high school of the class of 1918; and Carl L.,
fourteen years of age, now in school.

    Mr. Walter is a Mason, belonging to Schiller Lodge. No. 41. A. F. & A. M..
and to Colorado Consistory, No. 1, A. & A. S. R. of F. He is also connected with
El Jebel Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Along professional lines he is a member of
the American Electro-Chemical Society. He is an advocate of physical training
for young men to thoroughly fit them for life's responsible duties and was made
chairman of the gymnasium committee of the Manual Training high school of
Denver, and in that capacity-had a resolution passed requiring the school board
to engage instructors for physical training of both boys and girls, and this
measure is now in force. Mr. Walter was a pioneer in prospecting and smelting
work in Colorado and the western country and has made valuable contribution to
the development of the state along those lines. He is a man of high character
and commendable purpose, respected and honored wherever known and most of all
where he is best known.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF COLORADO

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME III

CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918


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