WHITLEY, James, b 1852 1905 Bio, Mesa County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/mesa/bios/whitleyj.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 13, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- James Whitley With a strong inclination to the business of prospecting and mining, in which he has never won a very large success, yet to which he has adhered for years and returned regularly after quitting the industry, James Whitley has not, however, placed all his eggs in this one basket, but has followed other lines of industry in which he has succeeded and prospered, and is therefore a man of substance in worldly wealth as well as a progressive and enterprising business man in any lines to which he turns his hand. He is a Canadian by nativity, born in the city of Toronto in September, 1852, and the son of John and Ruth (Hewitt) Whitley, natives of Ireland of Scotch ancestry. They came to America when young and were reared and married at Toronto. The father was a cooper and worked at his trade all of his mature life except during the Civil war in this country, when he served in the Union army in a New York regiment. In 1858 the family moved to Lockport, New York; and soon after the war the father died and was buried in the Soldiers' Cemetery in that city. The mother died in Canada in 1853. Two of their children, James and an older sister, are living, the sister being a resident of Toronto. James lived with his maternal grandmother in Canada until he was fourteen years old, and received a limited common-school education. Then he began working on a farm in the neighborhood of her home at a compensation of one dollar and seventy-five cents a month and his board and lodging. Some little time afterward he joined his father at Lockport, and when he was seventeen moved to upper Michigan, where he was employed for a number of years by the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagan Railroad, working for the company in various capacities but in train service most of the time. For some time he had charge of the iron ore dock at Marquette, overseeing one hundred men in loading vessels. Early in 1874 he moved to lower Michigan and later back into Canada. In the fall of 1878 he came to Colorado among the pioneers of Leadville, and here he remained five years. During the first year he worked in the smelter, then started a store six miles east of the town at a village called Bird's Eye, where he was also postmaster. He carried on this store three years successfully, then started a store and boarding house at La Plata smelter which he conducted two years. During the time of his residence at and around Leadville he sank about five thousand dollars in prospecting and mining operations. But as his store and boarding house netted him about three thousand five hundred dollars a year he was able to stand the loss. In the spring of 1884 he filed on a land claim near Salida, but the next spring he abandoned this and moved to Mesa county. Here he located on a ranch twenty miles southeast of Grand Junction on Kannah creek and engaged in the stock industry. Later he took up one hundred and sixty acres in that vicinity and for years lived on the land and carried on a successful and profitable stock business there. In the spring of 1897 he traded this for his present ranch of forty acres, located five and one-half miles northeast of Grand Junction, ten acres of which were in fruit at the time. He has since improved the property and doubled his acreage in fruit, becoming one of the most prosperous and progressive men in his business in the section. In 1903 he sold from his orchards 2,000 boxes of apples, besides one thousand boxes of pears, peaches and other fruit. In politics he is a steadfast Republican, and in the public affairs of the county he has for years taken an active and helpful part, serving as under sheriff two years during John D. Reeder's term as sheriff. Not satisfied with his previous experience in mining ventures, he made two trips to the Klondike for further efforts in this line, one in 1897 and the other in 1899, and in the two lost about two thousand dollars; and he still occasionally tries his hand at prospecting. In the fall of 1903 he built a modern cottage residence on his ranch, which is otherwise well improved, and he now has one of the most attractive and complete homes in his part of the county. On December 2, 1873, he was married to Miss Margaret Arnett, who was born near Toronto, Canada, of Scotch parents. They have one child, Agnes A., who for five years has been in the employ of the Colorado Telephone Company, and is now chief operator of the company at Grand Junction. Mr. Whitley is a member of the blue lodge in Masonry at Grand Junction and also belongs to the Woodmen of the World, being active in each of these societies. =================================================== 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.