Los Angeles County
Biographies
URI BALCOM CURTIS
CURTIS, URI BALCOM, President, Macomber Rotary Engine Company, Los Angeles, California, was born in Curtis, Steuben County, New York, April 18, 1869, the son of Daniel Blakman Curtis and Mary Aceneth (Brown) Curtis. He married Martha Florence Voiers at Los Angeles, June 10, 1912. He is of English descent, his ancestors having been among the early settlers of New York State.
Mr. Curtis received the early part of his education in the schools of his native town, leaving there in 1886 to go to Chicago. He entered the Manual Training School of Chicago and was graduated in 1889.
Prior to leaving school Mr. Curtis was employed by his uncle, Uri Balcom, at that time one of the large lumber dealers and builders of the city, but upon finishing his schooling he became a salesman for another lumber firm, known as Cook & Rathbone. He only remained in the lumber business about two years, however, becoming in 1892, a salesman for Chase & Sanborn, the Boston coffee importing house. It was a natural step from this line of activity for Mr. Curtis to go into the wholesale grocery business and in 1894 he was appointed Western Distributing Agent for E. C. Hazard & Company, wholesale grocers of New York. He maintained offices in Chicago and managed the company’s business in the territory west of Buffalo for about four years.
In 1898, Mr. Curtis went to California, and in association with his brother, George H. Curtis, undertook the operation of a gold mine at Johannesburg, California. This district has been a liberal producer of fortunes for many years, but Mr. Curtis remained there only about two years, going into the oil business in 1900. He entered the celebrated Sunset fields of California and was one of the first men to drill for oil in that section.
At the end of a year, however, he abandoned the oil business, and joined the rush to Tonopah, Nevada, which was at that time the center of a new gold strike. Being among the early arrivals, Mr. Curtis staked out several claims and for some time was exceptionally active in the development of the camp. Among others, he opened up the Jim Butler and Tonopah Belmont mines, and was instrumental in the organization of the first company for providing Tonopah with a water system.
This company was known as the Crystal Water Company and built a plant capable of furnishing 50,000 gallons of water daily. This was commensurate with the size of Tonopah at that time, but within a short time the town had grown to such proportions the plant had to be enlarged.
Some years later, eight men of Tonopah “grub-staked” Al Myers and Tom Murphy, the discoverers of Goldfield, Nevada’s greatest camp, and Mr. Curtis purchased the interest of one of these backers, with the result that when gold was discovered by the prospectors, he was one of the first ten men to be located in claims. He was one of the original owners of the Combination Mine, so-called because the original ten men were its owners, and upon the opening of the Goldfield district he went there. He maintained his residence in Tonopah, however, and within a short time had mining interests in several parts of the State. The most important of these, though, were in the Goldfield and Bullfrog districts. He operated for several years with success, but in 1910 gave up mining and has not ventured into that field since.
Going to San Francisco, in 1910, Mr. Curtis spent some time there, though not actually engaged in business, and the latter part of the same year went to Los Angeles, where he has since been located. He purchased an interest in the Macomber Rotary Engine Company, and was elected its President.
In the management of this company Mr. Curtis has made a place for himself among the manufacturing interests of Los Angeles. The Macomber Company produces the Macomber rotary engine, an invention of Walter G. Macomber. This engine, said by technical experts to be a fine application of the science of equilibrism, (sic) is so built that all of its parts revolve except the frame, and it has been adopted to a large extent in the equipment of areoplanes, (sic) where its balancing properties have a peculiar value. It is stated that the Macomber Engine is adding a great deal toward the advancement of the science of air navigation.
Mr. Curtis is a member of the Bohemian Club, of San Francisco, and during his residence in Chicago was a member of the Chicago Athletic Club, of which he was one of the original organizers. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Transcribed 6-2-09
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 290, International
News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston,
Atlanta. 1913.
© 2009 Marilyn R. Pankey.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES