Utah Biographies ~ Auerbach to Burton

Auerbach, Samuel H.

One of the successful merchants of whom Salt Lakers are justly proud, is Samuel H. Auerbach, owner of the wholesale and retail dry goods house of F. Auerbach & Bro ., one of the pioneer business institutions of the State, and a firm whose name is synonymous with upright and honorable fair dealing.

Samuel H. Auerbach was born in the town of Fordon, Prussia, June 15th, 1847, his mother being Beulah Auerbach and his father Hillel Auerbach, a dealer in wool and hides. Mr. Auerbach was educated in the schools of his native town, but at an early age came to America to seek his fortune, and shortly after landing in New York, was attracted by the possibilities of the West. He settled in California, where he lived several years, being associated with his brother, Frederick H. Auerbach, in Marysville, a prosperous mining town. In 1866 he moved to Salt Lake City, following his brother Frederick H., who had established the business of F. Auerbach & Bro. in Salt Lake City., in 1864. Since that time, Mr. Auerbach has been an active factor in the Utah business world. He was married December 16, 1880, to Miss Eveline Brooks, by whom he has eight children, namely: Herbert S., Josephine M., George S., Bessie, Selma, Jennie, Frederick S. and Madeline.

While Mr. Auerbach has resided for some years past in New York, he has always given much of his attention to Salt Lake City, where in addition to his mercantile business, he is a very large owner of real estate. From a comparatively small beginning, the business has grown to one of splendid volume, with employees running into the hundreds, and requiring, perhaps, the largest exclusive dry goods stock in the State. While operating- one of the largest retail dry goods businesses in Salt Lake City, the wholesale department sends out a number of traveling men, covering all of Utah and parts of Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada. Mr. Auerbach's son, George S., takes an active part in the management of the business.

In addition to the dry goods business, the Auerbachs are the owners of the Colonial Theatre, recently erected at great expense, and constituting Salt Lake's most modern and up-to-date playhouse. Constructed after the latest plans and containing all the newest devices in vogue in Eastern theatres, the Colonial is perhaps the best appointed and generally most attractive institution of the kind west of Chicago. The upper stories of the Colonial Theatre Building comprise the Hotel Touraine, a European-plan hotel and bachelor apartments which has no equal in Salt Lake City.

Shrewd, and possessed of natural tact and ability, Mr. Auerbach at an early age readily realized the commercial possibilities of the Mormon metropolis. With a disposition which enabled him to make friends and hold them, his rise in the business world was rapid and substantial, and at no time from the beginning of his career was there ever a shadow of doubt as to the ultimate success of his ventures. While no longer an actual resident of the city, Mr. Auerbach is still looked up to as one of the pillars of the Salt Lake industrial world, and as such is accorded a measure of admiration and respect which is at once a tribute to his ability and a proof of the appreciation of his services to the community. 

Bancroft, William Hazard

It was an old-fashioned rose, not an American Beauty, but just a plain old rose, that made a general manager of a great railroad sys-tem out of a station agent at a little hamlet in New York. That was in the long ago. It was on the Lake Shore road. The time was in 1860. At a little station on the Lake Shore a special carrying the general manager of the system stopped for orders. It was in the summer time. About the station everything was as neat as a pin. There were blossoms everywhere; chief among these blossoms were old-fashioned roses. It was an ocular demonstration of what could be done in beautifying, in making the best of surrounding! The general manager was delighted. He questioned the young station agent and operator, praised the appearance of his station. The orders were received. The special proceeded on its way. Two weeks later that station agent was promoted. He has been promoted a number of times since. Several years ago the acme was reached when he was made vice-president and general manager of the Oregon Short Line Railroad. This man is William Hazard Bancroft.

He was born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, October 20, 1840, where his father, Samuel O. Bancroft, ran a grist mill; and was educated in the public schools in his home town. At sixteen years of age he entered the railroad service as messenger boy, learned telegraphy, became an expert operator, was sent to the little hamlet above cited, then to Port Jervis, where he was made dispatcher. Here he was married to Mary J. Baird in June, 1864. Thence his advancement through the various channels of the railroad world. He became train dispatcher on the Kansas Pacific, now the Union Pacific; then assistant superintendent on the Santa Fe; then with the "Katy" as chief dispatcher. From there he advanced to the superintendency of various divisions of the Denver and Rio Grande; in 1884-86 receiver of the Rio Grande Western, and for four years afterward general superintendent of same. Then in 1890 he returned to the Union Pacific as general superintendent of the mountain division. In 1897 he was made vice-president and general manager of the Oregon Short Line when that system was segregated from the Union Pacific. Later, in addition to this position, he became general manager of the Southern Pacific Company's lines east of Sparks, Nevada; first vice-president of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad; president of the Utah Light and Railway Company.

Mr. Bancroft is a member of the Alta and Commercial clubs of Salt Lake City; Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 2, F. & A. M.; thirty-third degree Mason, A. A. S. Rite, Valley of Salt Lake. He has never held any political office. He has two adopted daughters, Marie and Adelaide. With the wife of his youth he resides at his handsome home on East South Temple Street, Salt Lake City. His love for blossoms is as great to-day as in the long ago, and roses, including the old-fashioned ones, are in plenty, and beautify, in their season, the grounds about his home.

Bartch, George W.

Typical in every respect of the success that comes from high ability, integrity and hard work 'is the subject of this sketch. The Hon. Geo. W. Bartch is a native of Pennsylvania, born of sturdy English-German blood that figured prominently in the early history of the Quaker State. His father, Rev. John G. Bartch, was a noted Evangelical clergyman of his time.

Both Judge Bartch's parents died while he was yet a boy, but to the influence the life of his father exercised over him he ascribes the foundation upon which he built his pronounced success. After the death of his father his boyhood days were spent with an elder brother, on a farm in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. At the age of sixteen he began life as a teacher in the country schools, where he displayed great ability, and after graduating and receiving the academic degree of Master of Science, was shortly made superintendent of the city schools of Shenandoah, Pa., a position which he retained for ten years. But his natural bent was toward legal work and during the time that he was winning fame as an educator he was in his spare moments gaining a knowledge of law, with the result that he early achieved success at the bar of Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1886 he removed to Canon City, Colorado, where he maintained the high reputation previously attained. In 1888 he settled in Salt Lake City, and there he gained an enviable position as one of the leaders among the brilliant members of the bar. During President Harrison's term, Mr. Bartch was appointed Probate Judge of Salt Lake County.

Under the same administration he was later on named as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Utah, and when the territory became a State, Judge Bartch won a sweeping victory as a nominee for the same position on the Republican ticket. During the last two years of this five-year term he was Chief Justice, and in 1900 was re-elected a member of the Supreme Court, and again became Chief Justice in January, 1905, holding the office until Oct. 1, 1906, when he voluntarily tendered his resignation for the purpose of looking after his large personal interests and resuming the practice of law.

Judge Bartch's work on the bench has made him famous throughout Utah. No one ever questioned his fairness, his uprightness, or his integrity, and his decisions have been almost universally upheld by the court of last resort, and in no case where he has written the original opinion on the subject has the case been reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States.

His decisions on the Supreme Court bench have been clear and comprehensive. They are especially strong in the application of equitable principles and upon questions of irrigation and mining. On the subject of irrigation he has pointed out forcibly and logically the modification of the common law respecting riparian rights in the arid regions of this country necessitated by the peculiar conditions existing in those regions, and his opinion in the case of the Grand Central Mining Company is regarded as one of the ablest that has yet been written upon the subject of mining. It is strong alike in the application of legal and scientific principles. Respecting that decision, the "Mining and Scientific Press" of San Francisco, Cal., under date of March 17, 1906, speaking editorially, said: "In deciding the case of the Grand Central against Mammoth Mining Company, the Supreme Court of Utah has given us a valuable treatise on the law of mines. Not since Justice Field wrote the decision in the Eureka-Richmond case have we had anything comparable to it, especially in clearness of statement, in fullness and breadth of treatment and in the vigorous way each issue is exhaustively discussed and conclusively decided." And in Shamel's "Mining, Mineral and Geological Law," the author says: "The most important mining decision of recent years is that in the Grand Central-Mammoth litigation, delivered by the Supreme Court of Utah, Oct. 11, 1905. The chief question in the controversy was the definition of a vein with reference to apex, extralateral rights, etc., and the decision contains one of the best discussions, based on the latest investigations and theories of vein formation and ore deposits, that has ever been presented on this feature of the mining statutes by a court."

His opinion in the case of Weyeth H. & M. Co. vs. James-Spencer-B. Co., delivered Jan. 12, 1897, is a strong exposition of the powers and rights of private corporations as to their corporate property; and likewise his opinions in the cases of Herriman Irrigation Co. vs. Keel, decided July 19, 1902, and Salt Lake City vs. Salt Lake City W. & El. P. Co., decided April 1, 1903, ably represent the law respecting the appropriation of water and riparian rights in the arid region.

He resigned as Chief Justice, October 1, 1906.

Since resuming the practice of law, Judge Bartch has, within a short time, built up an extensive and lucrative high-class practice, giving special attention to mining, irrigation and corporation business.

Bettles, Alfred J.

Alfred J. Bettles is one of the best known and most competent mining men in the 'entire inter-mountain country. He is associated with the largest and most productive mining enterprise in Utah in an active and official capacity; as mill manager of the Boston Consolidated he has his hands full, and his services are invaluable to that important company. Mr. Bettles is of English birth, having been born in Bedford-shire, England, July 14, 1856, a son of John and Charlotte Dixie Betties. His father was a farmer. Young Bettles received his early education in the common schools of Ontario, Canada, and his knowledge of metallurgy and mining was obtained by his own efforts, never having attended any academy or college of mines for that purpose. He acquired a practical knowledge of metallurgy, chemistry and assaying, and today is one of the foremost in his line in the inter-mountain country.

When a boy he was engaged in the mercantile business for seven years at Chatham, Ontario, and in 1881 he went to Colorado and commenced working on mill construction. It was while thus engaged that he became interested in the study of metallurgy and mining. And, being ambitious to succeed, he devoted all of his spare time from then on to those particular studies, and with what success we in Utah all know. In 1884 Mr. Bettles went to Montana, and in 1885 he took charge of the Granite Mountain Mining Company's reduction works, and there remained until 1897, when he came to Utah. While at the Granite Mountain reduction works he had complete charge of their various reduction plants for the treatment of gold and silver ores.

Mr. Bettles is connected actively and officially with various mining companies in Utah, Nevada and British Columbia, also with the United Grocery Company of Salt Lake; Bettles, Mathez & Co., assayers and chemists; and has many ranch interests in Alberta, Canada. Mr. Bet-ties designed and superintended the construction of the large concentrator in connection with the Newhouse Mines and Smelters at New-house, Utah, and also the concentrator of the Boston Consolidated Company which is one of the largest plants of its kind in the West.

Mr. Bettles was married in Colorado in 1883, to Miss Grace A. Kennedy of Michigan, and to them have been born six children, four of whom are living; namely: Charlotte May (Catrow), Grace, Gordon M., and Helen. Mr. Bettles is a member of the Alta Club, Commercial Club, Engineers ' Society of Utah, and of the Masonic Lodge of Granite Mountain. He resides in a handsome residence at 53 Sixth East Street, Salt Lake City.

Bradley, William Mallory

A local attorney with an enviable record is William Mallory Bradley, who came to Utah in September, 1883, and has since made his headquarters in Salt Lake City. Mr. Bradley is a graduate of the law school of the University of Wisconsin of the class of '83 and immediately upon gaining possession of his sheepskin he turned his face to the West, arriving here a few months later. Prior to beginning the study of law he was educated at the Elkhorn high school of Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

He is a son of Henry and N. Jane Bradley, the former of whom at the ripe old age of 83 years is still hale and hearty. In December, 1886, Mr. Bradley, then a comparatively young man, was married to Miss Luella M. Brewster and the couple has since resided almost continuously at number 12 Fourth East Street. Three children have blessed the union, Henry F., Brewster M., and Allen P. Bradley.

While for many years prominently engaged in the practice of law, Mr. Bradley has always been closely interested in various mining operations throughout this State and Nevada, and is now prominently identified with such well-known producers as the Daly- Judge Mining Company, the Mason Valley Mines Company and a number of others. In addition to this he owns shares in various mining ventures many of which give promise of a splendid future.

Both socially and in a business way, Mr. Bradley has always occupied a prominent place in Salt Lake City. While realizing to the full the vastness of the field offered by Utah politics and the possibilities of a splendid distinction to a man of his ability and experience, Mr. Bradley has always held aloof from the political game and although many times solicited has always consistently declined to be a candidate for office of any kind. In a business way in his chosen walk of life he has been successful to a degree and in a social sense no less so. For some years past he has been among the prominent clubmen of the city and at this time his name appears on the membership rolls of the Alta, the Commercial, the University and the Rocky Mountain clubs as well as the Bear River Duck Club and others. Personally, Mr. Bradley has nearly all the qualities which make for success. Hale and hearty in mind and body, his cheery manner is a delight to his acquaintances and a panacea for all ills among his friends. Possessing a mind of unusual power he has found time to assimilate and room to store a fund of knowledge of remarkable range and scope.

While prominent in club and social life, it is in his own home, surrounded by his family, that Mr. Bradley is seen at his best. In this as in everything else Dame Fortune has been kind, and from the stand-point of a still comparatively young man he is enabled to look out upon a past replete with the successes of life and a future serene in its promise of even better things to come.

Bransford, John S.

A Missourian by birth, a Utahan by adoption; a progressive, public-spirited citizen, who believes in the present and has faith in the future of Salt Lake City this is John Samuel Bransford, Mayor of Salt Lake City.

Mayor Bransford is fifty-three years of age. He was born in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, August 26, 1856. His father, Milford Bard Bransford, was of English descent. His mother, Sarah Allen Cooper, was of German descent. Sturdy stock they were, too. They lived at Richmond, Missouri, until 1864. Then, when Mayor Bransford was eight years of age, his parents decided to remove to California. Their journey was across the plains by ox team, the final destination was Quincy, Plumas County. The journey was a long and laborious one, and was beset with many dangers, and there were many trials and hardships, but the new home was reached after six months. Here Mayor Bransford lived until 1899, when he came to Salt Lake City, arriving here February 16, 1899.

Mayor Bransford's education was obtained in the public schools of Plumas County, California. Afterwards he took a course in a business college.

When twenty years old he engaged in the mercantile business in his California home, and continued in business until 1886. In that year he was elected assessor of Plumas County on the Democratic ticket, which position he held for four years. In 1890 he was chosen sheriff of the same county, and this position he held until 1899.

Meanwhile Mayor Bransford had visited Utah and became interested in several mining properties. These demanding his attention, he retired from the position of sheriff in California and came to Salt Lake City. Soon after his arrival he was elected president of the Salt Lake Stock and Mining Exchange, which position he held for one year.

Mayor Bransford is the vice-president of the Silver King Mining Company, a director in the Keith-O'Brien Company, in the State Bank of Utah, in the Utah-Mexican Rubber Company, and is president of the Tabasco-Utah Development Company, located in Mexico; is also president of the Rogers-Evans Company, general insurance, which is the largest insurance agency in the State. He is also a director in several other companies.

He is a member of the Alta and Commercial clubs, and also of the Elks, and a charter member of the Bear River Duck Club.

Mayor Bransford was appointed Mayor of Salt Lake by the City Council, on August 13, 1907, to fill out the term of Mayor Ezra Thompson, who resigned. He was nominated by his party, the American, to succeed himself, and was elected by an overwhelming majority. His vote was within two hundred and fifty votes of all those cast for opposing candidates.

Mayor Bransford was married to Rachiel Stella Blood in Granville, Plumas County, California, on July 31, 1878. Mrs. Bransford's father was one of the prominent mining men of California. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bransford, Stella Irene and Wallace Wilford. Mayor and Mrs. Bransford reside in the Bransford Apartments, in Salt Lake City.

Burton, Joseph Fielding

In the front rank of the army of men who are fighting for the cause of progress in the inter-mountain region, and establishing there a mighty commercial empire, which, great already in achievement, but many times greater in its possibilities and promise, is Joseph Fielding Burton, general manager, secretary and treasurer of the Utah Implement-Vehicle Company. As an added incentive to the promotion of industrial activity in the great region lying between the Rockies and the Sierras, Mr. Burton brings to his natural energy and business capacity an innate love for his "mountain home." He has the native son's affection for his beautiful surroundings to a degree which few who have come here from other sections of the country are permitted to equal in intensity. For Mr. Burton was born at Marriott, Weber County, Utah, March 3, 1861, of a pioneer family, and his life history is intimately connected with the advance that Utah and the inter-mountain territory have made in the past half century.

Mr. Burton is the son of William Walton Burton, a retired merchant, and Rachel Fielding Burton. The boy received most of his education in Ogden, the metropolis of Weber County, and there he spent the most of his life, until twelve years ago, when he came to Salt Lake City. In Logan, Utah, he was married, March 31, 1886, to Mary A. E. Driver, second daughter of William and Charlotte Emblen Driver. To that union eight children have been born: Rachel Emblen, Joseph Howard, Lee Driver, Ida May, Vilate Pearl, Charlotte, Mary Ellen and Margaret.

Like many another man who has attained success in business circles in the inter-mountain country, Mr. Burton gained his first experience with the Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution, serving in the Ogden branch for six years. He then engaged in the mercantile and implement business in Ogden, Utah, with his father, under the firm name of Burton, Herrick & White, subsequently incorporated under the name" of the Consolidated Implement Company, and now known as the Consolidated Wagon & Machine Company. In the year 1903, however, Mr. Burton severed connection with the latter company, for the purpose of devoting his entire time to other interests. From such a comparatively humble beginning, his activities have spread out in the past quarter of a century, until now he is interested in many industrial enterprises in three States. In addition to holding the important position with the Utah Implement-Vehicle Company, already mentioned, Mr. Burton is vice-president of the W. W. Burton & Sons Company of Ogden; vice-president of the Burton Mercantile Company of Montpelier, Idaho, and of Afton and Freedom, Wyoming; vice-president of the Burton Creamery Association, which has offices and plants in the same cities.

Nor have his activities been entirely confined to the realms, of business. Mr. Burton has found time, despite his many duties in connection with these important industrial enterprises, to serve his fellow-citizens of the inter-mountain country by taking a prominent and influential part in the public affairs of the day. Especially has he been interested in the cause of education, and for three years, 1904-5-6, he was a member of the Board of Education of Ogden, representing the Fifth Ward of that city.

Mr. Burton has a beautiful and comfortable home at 385 Fifth Avenue, Salt Lake City, and he is as highly respected for his social qualities in his large circle of friends, as he is esteemed for his capacity and energy among those with whom he has business relations.

Index

Source: Sketches of the Inter-Mountain States, Utah, Idaho and Nevada, Published by The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1909