Los Angeles County

Biographies

 

 

 

 

ANDREW PETER ANDERSON

 

 

     ANDERSON, ANDREW PETER, Mining Engineer, Los Angeles and Oakland, California, was born in Helsingberg, Sweden, April 8, 1862, the son of Andrew Anderson and Laura (Larson) Anderson.  He is descended of a family which has long been prominent in church affairs in Sweden, his grandfather having been a Bishop and various other members having held office in the church.  He married Marguerite A. Dickinson at Deming, New Mexico, February 12, 1892.

     Mr. Anderson was brought to America by his parents when he was four years of age and his life has been characteristic of those Americans who have won their way to prominence in business and professional lines by their own personal effort.  His family settled in the central part of Illinois and Mr. Anderson received a good common school education, graduating from the High School of Greenview, Menard County, Illinois, in 1880.

     Finishing his studies, Mr. Anderson went to Clarksville, Mo., where he entered the employ of a railroad company.  Later on he entered the construction branch of railroading and was thus engaged for nearly two years, working in Missouri, Southern Iowa and New Mexico, when he became a freighter at Albuquerque, N. M.  He followed this for some time, but was stricken with rheumatism and went to the Hudson Hot Springs in Grant County, New Mexico, in search of relief.

     This was in the days of stage coaches, when railroads were just beginning to penetrate the desert regions and Mr. Anderson worked as stableman for the owners of the Hot Springs, who operated a line of stages.  He remained at the Springs for about fifteen months, when, having regained his health sufficiently, he determined to go in search of gold.  He began prospecting in New Mexico and wandered from there into Arizona and Colorado.

     Indians still were plentiful in those parts at the time and the gold-seekers had to be continually on their guard.  Mr. Anderson, like the men of his day in that country, went armed and alert for any sign of danger.  In 1888 he left off prospecting for a year and served as foreman of the Graphic Mine in Grant County, N. M., going into business for himself at the end of a twelvemonth.  He owned and leased various mining properties and worked them with varied success from 1888 until 1892, and at that time was seized with a desire to locate in a more populous part of the country.

     It so happened that in 1892 the town of Velasco, Texas, was in the midst of a real estate boom, the promoters’ promises including the building of a great harbor.  Mr. Anderson went to investigate, but after studying the proposition decided that it was no place for permanent investment and left there for Butte, Montana, where he re-entered the mining business.  He leased and developed several claims, working in the mines himself, until 1895, when he joined the rush to Cripple Creek, Colo.

     Mr. Anderson began as a contractor in Cripple Creek, but soon was made foreman of the Ithaca Gold Mining Company’s properties, which he operated until 1896, when he went to California for six months.  Returning to Cripple Creek he mined for a short time, then returned to New Mexico, having obtained a lease and option on the Graphic Mine.

     In 1899, Mr. Anderson left New Mexico to go to California again, and there, after eight months as foreman of the Cleveland Gold Mine in Shasta County, he became foreman of the Bully Choop Mine in Trinity County.  This he worked for eight months, then was made foreman of the Trinity Copper Mine in Shasta County. One year there and he was called back to the Bully Choop as Superintendent.  This he resigned to become Superintendent of the Sheep Ranch Gold Mine in Calaveras County, California, and after fifteen months there he embarked upon his career as a Mining Engineer.

     Mr. Anderson started in 1904 examination work which took him to all parts of the West.  He examined many properties during the next succeeding nine months, at the end of that time being made Superintendent of the Mammoth Copper Mining Company of Maine, a subsidiary company of the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Company, which had large holdings in Shasta County, California, and in 1906 he was made General Superintendent of the mines owned by the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Company, one of the largest and most substantial companies of its character in the world.  Later on he was made Field Engineer, having charge of all exploration work for the company, also holding the position of Consulting Engineer.

     In his present important office, Mr. Anderson is the advisory power on all the operating properties of the U. S. Smelting, Refining & Mining Company, including those mines in Peru, S. A.; Mexico, Newfoundland, Utah, California, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico.

     Starting in life as he did, Mr. Anderson is one of the men who may be justly placed among the list of “self-made men.” for his is today one of the leading positions in the mining world.  He is highly regarded among his fellows and is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles Chamber of Mines and Oil, the Sierra Madre Club, and the Brotherhood of Elks.

 

 

Transcribed 6-21-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I,  Page 71, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.  1913.

© 2008 Marilyn R. Pankey.

 

 

 

 

 

GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES 

GOLDEN NUGGET INDEX