Joseph E. Pilcher Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1727-1728 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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	JOSEPH E. PILCHER, proprietor of the largest drug house in Custer, 
was born in Racine, Ohio, on August 18,1851. He attended the public 
schools of his native county until about sixteen years of age, when he 
went to Indiana, and for some time thereafter worked on a farm in 
Jefferson county, that state, later taking a commercial course in an 
Indianapolis business college. In 1878 Mr. Pilcher went to Colorado, 
where he entered the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, which was 
then constructing one of its lines through that country, and after 
working there for some time he assisted in building branches of the same 
system in New Mexico and Arizona, remaining with the company in 
different capacities until 1880. In the latter year he made a business 
trip to Europe, returning in the fall of 1881, and immediately 
thereafter came to the Black Hills, locating at Deadwood, where he 
engaged in the hotel business, conducting the same until the spring of 
1883, when he disposed of his interests in that place and changed his 
abode to Custer City. After devoting his attention for the greater part 
of a year to mica and gold mining, Mr. Pilcher, in the spring of 1884, 
accepted a position with the Adams Express Company, being appointed to a 
local agency in Nebraska, but later he was promoted traveling auditor of 
the company, and in that capacity visited various parts of New Mexico, 
and other western states and territories, discharging his duties in an 
able and business-like manner until his resignation, in August, 1886. 
After severing his connection with the above company, Mr. Pilcher 
returned to Custer City and, entering politics, was elected the same 
year register of deeds for Custer county, which position he held until 
1891, proving an exceedingly efficient and popular official; meanwhile, 
in the fall of 1890, he was appointed assistant secretary of the state 
senate, in which capacity he served two terms, and in 1893 was sent to 
Chicago in charge of the Black Hills mineral exhibit at the World's 
Fair. Returning to Custer City, he resumed mining in various parts of 
the Hills, but not meeting with the results anticipated, he discontinued 
that line of work three years later and purchased a drug store, to which 
business he has since devoted his attention, building up a large and 
lucrative patronage. 

	Mr. Pilcher is still interested in mining and owns considerable 
mineral property in the Black Hills, some of which is quite valuable and 
from which he reasonably hopes to realize a fortune. As an authority in 
all matters relating to the mining industry, he is frequently consulted 
by experts and others, and in 1898 he had charge of the large mineral 
exhibit of the Black Hills at Omaha. He has devoted much study to mining 
in all of its phases, has made many valuable researches and original 
investigations, being a scientific assayer, as well as a graduate of the 
School of Mines at Rapid City, one of the most thorough institutions of 
the kind in the world. Mr. Pilcher is a Republican in politics, and for 
a number of years has been an active party worker and an influential 
factor in the public affairs of his city and county. He is now second 
vice-president of the Black-Hills Mining Men's Association, and he is 
also interested in various other local enterprises for the promotion of 
the material welfare of his adopted state. Fraternally he is a Mason, in 
which order he has held various official positions, and he also holds 
membership with the Modern Brotherhood of America and the Knights of 
Pythias. 

	Mr. Pilcher, on April 10, 1886, entered the marriage relation with 
Miss Jennie Thornby, of New York, and is now the father of two sons, 
Rufus J. and Warren T. Pilcher.