Canyon-Owyhee County ID Archives Biographies.....Dewey, William H. 1858 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 13, 2010, 3:06 am

Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1920)

COLONEL WILLIAM H. DEWEY of Nampa, who has departed this life was one of the
builders of Idaho's greatness. His contributions to the work of development were
real and creditable and his signal service was in the vigor he lent to the
pioneer era in making his region habitable, in bringing its resources to light
and in stamping his intensely practical ideas upon the constructive measures
which have led to the upbuilding of the state. Such careers are too near us now
for their significance to be appraised at its true value, but the future will be
able to trace the tremendous effect of their labors upon the society and the
institutions of their time. The possibilities of high position afforded in the
United States to industry and fidelity were never better illustrated than in
Colonel Dewey's case. He crossed the plains when a man of about forty years and
thereafter bent his energies to constructive work in the development of Idaho.

   Colonel Dewey was born in Massachusetts in 1822 and in 1863 came to the
northwest, making his way first to Ruby City, Owyhee county. From that town he
afterward removed to Silver City, where he spent many years in the boom mining
days, contributing much to the utilization of the great mineral resources of
that district and to the progress made in other directions. He at once saw the
necessities and the opportunities of the state and in pioneer times became
identified with trail building; and his labors were continued in accordance with
the period of development until he was actively associated with railroad
building. He regarded no project that would benefit his community too
unimportant to receive his attention, nor did he hesitate to become identified
with the most extensive interests. In pioneer times he labored in the
development of the trails, later assisted in the building of wagon roads and
finally of railroads. He was also closely associated with the development of
mining interests and whatever he undertook seemed to be attended with prosperity
and success.

For twenty years Colonel Dewey was actively engaged in mining and his operations
placed him in the front rank among those who were developing Idaho's mineral
resources. The notable properties which he owned included the Trade Dollar and
Black Jack mines, which he afterward sold to Pittsburgh (Pa.) corporations.
These properties had been brought to a stage of production that added greatly to
the fame of Owyhee county as a mineral section. With various other mining
interests Colonel Dewey was also closely associated. However, he gradually
diverted his business activity to other fields, becoming interested in railroad
construction and in community building. In 1893 he was one of the incorporators
of the Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railroad Company, which constructed a standard line
from Nampa to Murphy and included the building of the pioneer steel bridge
across the Snake river, which still stands as one of the most substantial
structures of the kind—a splendid example of the permanency of the Dewey
construction. With the completion of that road Colonel Dewey took up the work of
building a line north from Nampa and organized the Idaho Northern, which in 1900
undertook the work of constructing a railroad from Nampa to Emmett which was
completed in 1902. Later this road was extended to Payette lakes, one of the
greatest natural summer resorts in the northwest, but which was neglected and
isolated for many years because of the lack of transportation facilities. As he
promoted his mining projects he always secured the best equipment that could be
purchased and the same was true in connection with railroad construction. The
result of this high standard of work is seen today in the excellent condition of
the railroads which he built and the mines which he developed.

   A contemporary writer has said: "Colonel Dewey was a typically rugged western
specimen. He lived many years in the mountains but at no time did he permit that
environment to render him provincial. His ambition as a builder was abridged
only by his most supreme effort and his last dollar. His determination in all
his work to build big and broad for the future was exemplified in a thousand
directions, but perhaps at no time more noticeably to the general public than in
the case of the Dewey Palace hotel at Nampa, then a small place. Colonel Dewey
projected his vision down the avenues of time and built for that little place a
hotel costing two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Time has fully justified
his judgment. Colonel Dewey, in all his busy life, was never so much concerned
as to his own financial future as he was about the future of his home section
and his state, although he had amassed considerable of a fortune before he died.
Essentially a builder for future generations, he left to the people of the state
a magnificent heritage."


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

IDAHO
DELUXE SUPPLEMENT
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1920


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