William W. Olds Biography


	This biography appears on pages 272-275 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIAM W. OLDS. 

	William W. Olds, of Custer, is a successful representative of 
mining interests and has found prosperity in that industry which has 
made the Black Hills famous the world over and which contributes so 
largely to the wealth of the southwestern part of the state. He was 
born in Carroll county, Indiana, October 22, 1848, of the marriage of 
Reuben P. and Pilena (Buckingham) Olds, both natives of Ohio. In early 
manhood the father engaged in speculating and went to California about 
1850. He was with the party who discovered Boise Basin in Idaho and 
afterward located Olds, Ferry on the Snake river. That point was a busy 
and important one, as all of the freight bound to Boise, Idaho, and 
Umatilla, Oregon, was transported over the river there. Upon selling 
his property there about 1868 Mr. Olds located at Walla Walla, 
Washington where he purchased land and turned his attention to farming. 
While a resident of Josephine county, Oregon, he was elected to various 
county and town offices which he filled acceptably. He passed away in 
1873 and his wife died when our subject was a child. They were the 
parents of three children, of whom William W. is the second in order of 
birth. Mary F. is the widow of Samuel F. Coit, a farmer and stockman 
who resided at Hudson, Wisconsin. He passed away in the spring of 1914 
and his widow is now residing at Washington, D. C. Julia married J. C. 
Baker, of Bandon, Oregon, who owns and operates the Bandon Creamery. 

	William W. Olds attended public school at Hudson, Wisconsin, and 
after completing his preparatory work at Oregon City, Oregon, entered 
Willamette University at Salem. When nineteen years of age he went to 
Idaho and took charge of a gang of men who were working on a toll road 
for his father. The following year he went to the mines at Shasta, 
Baker county, Oregon, and continued there until a party started for the 
head waters of the Snake river in 1869. He was in that region when the 
first railroad crossed the continent and was present when the golden 
spike was driven connecting the Central Pacific with the Union Pacific. 
He mined for some time on the bars of Snake river and invented a 
process for saving fine gold. In the fall of 1869 he went to Texas and 
for three years devoted his attention to the cattle business. He drove 
three herds to Kansas and upon disposing of his cattle wells to 
California and entered the employ of a railroad company at Santa Cruz, 
that state. He checked out and shipped redwood ties for some time, but 
in the winter of 1876 he arrived in the Black Hills. He traveled as far 
as Sidney on the Union Pacific, but at that point with three others 
hired a four-horse team and was driven to Deadwood. He engaged in 
mining there until the summer of 1877, when he removed to Custer. He 
organized the Ruberta Mining & Milling Company and the May Mining 
Company, both of which are operating a number of paying mines. He 
engages in quartz mining chiefly and his various mining properties are 
yielding him a good income. Since coming to the Black Hills he has also 
equipped and sold seven ranches and still has his homestead right. At 
one time he held title to the Cascade Springs at Hot Springs and he 
also formerly owned the Crown Hill mining group at Bald mountain, the 
Hudson group of mines above Central and other properties. He 
understands mining thoroughly and devotes his entire attention to that 
business. 

	Mr. Olds was married on the 9th of November, 1880, to Miss 
Pauline Pettijohn, who Was born in Chile, South America. Her father, 
William Pettijohn, who was a native of Missouri, served in the Mexican 
war and was captured and imprisoned in Mexico City. After regaining his 
liberty he went to Chile, South America, where he was married to a 
Spanish lady, and for thirty years he engaged in mercantile business 
there. At length he returned to the United States with his family and 
they resided in this country for two years, after which he again went 
to Chile. He had a contract on the Harry Meggs Railroad, furnishing all 
of the lime and kindled products used for the culvert and bridge work. 
Three years after his return to Chile Mr. Pettijohn started for the 
United States to visit his two daughters, but died at sea and was 
buried off Panama. His widow is still a resident of Santiago, Chile. 
They were the parents of six children, of whom Mrs. Olds is the third 
in order of birth. She was educated in St. Louis, Missouri, and was 
married at the time of the visit of the family to the United States. 
Mr. and Mrs. Olds have two children: Frank R., who is now in the employ 
of the government forestry bureau and is stationed at Custer; and Ruby 
M., who received her education at the Spearfish Normal School and is 
now in South America under a three year contract to establish a normal 
school at Santiago, Chile. She has been very successful and the school 
now has an enrollment of over four hundred and has already made itself 
felt as a powerful educational force. 

	Mr. Olds is a republican and for one term was register of deeds 
and for three terms served on the town board. For a number of years he 
has been a member of the school board and has always taken the keenest 
interest in the welfare of the public schools. Fraternally he is a 
member of the Masonic blue lodge at Custer, in which he is past master 
and is the present senior warden. The greater part of his time has 
naturally been taken up with his own business interests, which he has 
managed successfully, thus gaining financial independence, but he has 
also found time to cooperate with worthy movements and is justly 
considered a valuable and public spirited citizen.