Eugene Holcomb Biography


	This biography appears on page 1866-1867 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	EUGENE HOLCOMB was born at Carthage, Jefferson county, New York, 
and when he was eight years old the family moved to Dubuque county, 
Iowa, where his father engaged in farming, and where he was reared and 
educated. When he was twenty years of age he crossed the plains to Los 
Angeles, California, where he passed the summer. In the fall of that 
year he returned east as far as Abilene, Kansas, and was occupied in 
the stock industry there. The next year was passed at his Iowa home, 
and he then came back to Kansas and renewed his enterprise in the 
cattle business. Later he sold his interests in Kansas and went to Iowa 
again for the winter, after which he came to the Black Hills, bringing 
a large herd of cattle with him which he placed on the Cheyenne river. 
These were the first cattle placed there, the, whole country at the 
time of his arrival being new and undeveloped. Starting on a small 
scale, he gradually enlarged his herds until he became one of the 
largest stockmen in this section. Of late years he has become possessed 
of extensive tracts on the Cheyenne and elsewhere, and has also 
considerable pasture land leased. From the time of his arrival in the 
Hills he has made his home at Rapid City, and he now has there an 
elegant modern residence. Of the fraternal orders he has united with 
but one, the Masonic order, which he joined soon after reaching the age 
of twenty-one. He was married in Dubuque county, Iowa, to Miss Laura 
Jewett, a native of that state, and they have one child.