Clark, Walter S; 1905 Bio, Pitkin County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/pitkin/bios/clarkws.txt --------------------------------------- Donated May 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- Walter S. Clark One of the founders of Aspen, and prominently connected with its history from the start, Walter S. Clark, of that town, has been a very influential factor in building it up, developing its resources, adding to its commercial importance and giving substance and shape to its governmental affairs. Locating here in 1879, he was one of the four original prospectors in the camp and helped to locate its principal mines, the Smuggler, the Durant, the Thousand and One, Monarch, the Hoskins and the Iron. He wrote the first location certificate, built the first cabin and helped to survey the first claim in the camp. Mr. Clark is a native of Connecticut, born on November 12, 1850, and was reared in Wisconsin, whither his parents moved in his childhood. They were Griffith C. and Sarah T. (Tillinghast) Clark, New Englanders by nativity, the father born in Connecticut and the mother in Massachusetts. They conducted a hotel in Connecticut, and after they moved to Wisconsin engaged in farming. They were Presbyterians in church connection, and in politics the father was an unwavering Democrat. Nine children were born to them, two of whom died in infancy. A son named James M., who was a member of Company I, Second Wisconsin Infantry, in the Civil war, was killed at the siege of Vicksburg at the age of eighteen; another named George T. died at Denver in November 1884, and John H. passed away at Madison, Wisconsin, in September, 1902. The living children are S.L. Sheldon, of Madison, Wisconsin, and Walter S., of Aspen. The father died in 1876, at the age of seventy-six, and the mother in 1878, at the same age. Their son Walter's educational advantages were very limited, as he was obliged to begin earning his own living at the age of fourteen by clerking in a drug store, and through practical experience he became a well qualified druggist in Wisconsin. In 1872 he came to Colorado and located at Denver, where he was employed by Bucklin & Clark, at the corner of Fifteenth and Larimer streets. After two years of successful trading in this line they sold out to Solomon Bros. , and then Mr. Clark became the traveling representative of Daniel Hurd & Sons at Twentieth and Blake streets, Denver. He remained with them one year, at the end of which he turned his attention to mining, prosecuting this business in Georgetown, Leadville, Aspen, Old Mexico, British America, Montana, Idaho and Utah, following it thirteen years and experiencing all the vicissitudes of the miner's life of uncertainty. On July 8, 1879, he located permanently at Aspen, and here followed mining and prospecting until 1887, when he again turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, and continuing in business as such until the financial crash of 1894 closed his establishment. In June, 1897, he was appointed postmaster of Aspen by President McKinley, and at the end of his term was re- appointed by President Roosevelt. He is an Elk and a thirty-second- degree Mason, and also an active Ribab. On October 10, 1901, he united in marriage with Miss Rosa A. Tonard, a native of Hartford, Connecticut. =================================================== 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.