Utah Biographies ~ Richter to Sexman

Richter, Adolph

Adolph Richter, who is one of the leading real-estate men of Salt Lake City, is in every sense of the term a self-made man. He was born in Germany, August 10, 1859, and was educated in the schools of Stettin. Graduating from the high school there, he found himself being influenced by a desire to seek a new home in America. Deter-mining on this step, he reached New York in 1878 and sought and secured employment for a while in the Fulton Street market.

About a year later he came west and joined a surveying party which the government was sending to Alaska. This early exploration and surveying trip was a most valuable and interesting experience for Mr. Richter, and when it was completed he returned to the States, remaining a while in San Francisco and later locating in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Here he was employed for another year and went from the Black Hills to Colorado, working at Leadville, Aspen and other mining camps, acquiring a knowledge of mining men and mining interests that has proved invaluable to him.

He came to Salt Lake in 1891, and was a pioneer of the slogan that Salt Lake is a city of opportunities. From the day he opened a real-estate office in Salt Lake until to-day he has been one of the most successful men in his line in the country. He devotes his entire time and attention to the real-estate business, and his name is perhaps better known than many other prominent citizens of the town. He is proud of the City of Salt Lake and is always willing to lend his moral and financial aid to anything and everything that will accrue to its best interests.

While not a club man in any sense of the word, and although he does not bother with politics, he is prominent in the Commercial Club and is one of the prime movers in the Salt Lake Real Estate Association.

He was married to Miss Lucy A. Deakin in May, 1893, and, while he has no children, he is very domestic in his tastes and habits and spends much of his time at his comfortable home at 87 L Street.

Roland, August

August Roland, president and treasurer of the Murray Meat and Live Stock Company, was born and educated in Germany, and emigrated to this country in 1871. Mr. Roland followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a successful dealer in livestock in the old country, and it was from him that August inherited his universal knowledge of that industry. It is doubtful if there is a man in the inter-mountain country with a more practical knowledge of the meat and livestock business than Mr. Roland. He first settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan, engaging in the wholesale meat business, and remained there until 1881. He next furnished the Denver & Rio Grande and Colorado Midland railroads with beef during the completion of their contracts for construction, which kept him busy until 1889.

He then came to Salt Lake City, secured a partner and started in the wholesale meat business, under the firm name of Roland and Sampson. This enterprise lasted two years. In the meantime Mr. Roland held a flock of sheep on the Utah range near Grand Junction, and on account of the tariff being taken off wool on the passage of the Wilson bill during President Cleveland's administration, Mr. Roland sustained a loss of about two dollars per head, which proved quite a setback to him. As he had about thirty-two thousand head of sheep, he lost a fortune. However, with rare courage, he returned to Salt Lake and started the Murray Meat and Live Stock Company in 1893. Since then the plant has been improved and shows equipment and sanitary conditions unsurpassed by any of the big packing houses in the East. The company does its own slaughtering, the cattle coming from the principal cattle raising sections of the inter-mountain country. Every animal bought is inspected before and after slaughter, in accordance with the strictest inspection regulations, and any that do not pass the most rigid inspection are condemned. The plant is always open to inspection by visitors, which has always been encouraged and invited.

Mr. Roland in a marked degree is a man of courage and determination, with perseverance and an earnest endeavor to succeed in business and to do what is right by everybody. He is a man of practical ideas, and through his business experience and travel and observation, he has become a man of broad general information and of progressive views, and has made an untarnished record in all his business connections. Socially he has a happy faculty of making friends and enjoying their respect and esteem.

Roundy, John

John Roundy is a type of the practical mining man who has won success through his own ability as a good mining man. He is one of Jesse Knight's most valued men, and has been instrumental in developing more valuable properties in the Tintic district than any other man.

John Roundy was born May 18, 1864, at Springville, Utah. His father, Loren H. Roundy, was a farmer and stock raiser, and his mother was Jane Koyle Roundy. Young Roundy was educated in the public schools of Springville, and his future knowledge was gained by practical experience with the world.

Mr. Roundy is interested in the numerous Knight properties and superintendent of same at Tintic. He has been interested in mining matters since he was seventeen years of age, and has operated in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, and at the present time is holding some good properties in Nevada. Among the noted mines that are good producers and valuable properties in the Tintic district that Mr. Roundy developed and assisted in the development of, are the Humbug, the Beck Tunnel, the Iron Blossom, the Colorado, the Black Jack and Uncle Sam.

On February 14, 1889, Mr. Roundy was married to Eleanor McEwan, and to them have been born seven children; namely: Nellie, John M., Amanda, lone, Clayton Fern, Bert Lincoln, and Lorin H. (deceased). He is a member of the Commercial Club of Provo, and resides with his family at 146 South Academy Avenue in one of the finest residences in Provo.

Saxman, Charles W.

When the management of a big proposition is offered to the ordinary man and it has been a sort of a bug-a-boo for years and years, he hesitates a long time and tries to figure whether or not he will be more successful than his predecessors. The Yampa Smelting Company and the Yampa Mine, owned by the Tintic Mining Development Company of New York, both of which are located in Bingham, Utah, were generally conceded by all those conversant with the conditions in that camp as propositions which were bound to be failures. Two years ago a young man of quiet demeanor came out from the coal fields of Pennsylvania, where he had been operating, and took hold as general manager of the two properties mentioned, his name being Charles W. Saxman.

He was a young man, born on the 22nd of November, 1871, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He received his preliminary education in Swathmore College, Philadelphia, and finished in Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. He came west immediately after graduating from the above-named university and for many years engaged in mining in all the boom camps from Cripple Creek to Goldfield. After gaining a wonderful experience in these camps when they all were in their infancy, as you might say, he went back to the coal fields of Pennsylvania, where his father had been an operator for many years.

At this time, two years ago, the directors of the Yampa Mine and Smelter as well as of other properties throughout the State and British Columbia, began to look around for a man who could, as it were, save the properties, especially in Bingham, and make them paying propositions. Finally the proposition was put up to Mr. Saxman, then a man of thirty-six years of age. He came out here quietly and without ostentation. He spent a great deal of his time right on the ground, and that to-day the Yampa Mine yields a tonnage of 800 tons a day and the Smelter treats from 800 to 1000 tons a day against 250 tons when he assumed charge, shows conclusively his ability and aggressiveness. Today the Yampa Smelter is considered by all smelting men one of the most complete and best-equipped plants in this or any other State. It would take a book to go into details and show in what way this young man wrought changes in the smelter and mine. They were consummated so quickly and with such lack of show or display that the people in the camp did not realize what was going on until the reports began to spread that twice the number of men were being employed and the capacity of the plant had almost quadrupled. This smelter and mine, instead of being a drain on the stockholders and those interested in its welfare, soon began to put back into the coffers of the company the money which had been put out for years to keep it running. A couple of months ago Mr. Saxman resigned as manager of the Yampa Smelting Company and the Tintic Mining and Development Company, as all the things mentioned were not done without hard and consistent labor. He is now taking a much-needed rest and shortly will take up his work in other fields.

Socially Mr. Saxman is well known and liked. He is a member of many organizations, both locally and in New York City. He resides, when in Salt Lake, at the Alta Club and is also a prominent member of the Commercial Club. In New York City he is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the American Mining Congress, the Harvard Club and the American Geographical Society of that city. Since Mr. Saxman has been in the city he has made many friends, and his fairness in all matters and the high standard of integrity which he has established in all his dealings have earned for him an enviable reputation.

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