Los Angeles County
Biographies
ERNEST
ALEXANDER MONTGOMERY
MONTGOMERY, ERNEST ALEXANDER, Capitalist and Mine Operator, Los Angeles, California, was born in Toronto, Canada, November 24, 1863, the son of Alexander Montgomery and Jane (Chapman) Montgomery. He married Miss Antoinette Schwarz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Schwarz, at New York City, July 23, 1912. Mr. Montgomery is of Scotch descent, his paternal granduncle having been General Richard Montgomery, who fell while heroically fighting in the Battle of Quebec in 1775.
Mr. Montgomery, who occupies a position among the successful mining operators of the West, received his early education in the public schools of Toronto, and later studied in those of Stuart, Iowa, whither his parents had moved.
His boyhood was spent on the family farm in Iowa, but in 1884, when he had attained his majority, he decided to strike out for himself and made his way to Idaho, where he engaged in mining. He met with only meager success there, however, so changed his operations to the State of Washington, where he spent some time in prospecting. There, as in Idaho, he found the field unpromising, and after working in various other sections of the West he went to Nevada in the year 1901, and there helped to organize and develop what is known as the Montgomery district. It was in this region that he brought his long experience into play, and his years of discouragement and hardship were rewarded with success. One of the early properties developed by him in Nevada was the Johnnie Mine, which netted him a small fortune, but which has since become a property of note.
Mr. Montgomery’s energy next directed him to Inyo County, California, where he developed the World Beater and O Be Joyful properties.
Returning to Nevada in 1903, Mr. Montgomery located at Tonopah and there became identified with the Los Angeles, Daggett & Tonopah Railway Company, which commissioned him to report on the districts which would be tributary to the road. His intimate knowledge of the country enabled him to perform this work in such a manner that he foresaw very closely the tonnage of freight that would accrue to a railway in that section, and it was upon his judgment, to a great extent, that the promoters of the line began its construction. The railway was begun by the original company, but they did not complete it, the Las Vegas & Tonopah and Tonopah & Tidewater Railways, two Clark enterprises, taking over the road.
In 1904, Mr. Montgomery returned to mining and outfitting, prospected the region surrounding Tonopah, Nevada. In September of that year he located the once celebrated Shoshone Mine in the Bullfrog District of Nevada, a property which he developed rapidly, and at the end of sixteen months it had made such a remarkable showing that Charles M. Schwab, the steel magnate, and his financial associates, sought to purchase it. The result of the negotiations was the sale of this property, together with the Polaris mine, a neighboring property which Mr. Montgomery also owned, to the Montgomery-Shoshone Mines Company, which was organized to take over Mr. Montgomery’s holdings. He retained a large interest in the new company.
By the time the Shoshine(sic) deal was consummated, Mr. Montgomery had acquired a comfortable fortune but he did not relax in his mining activity, and in 1905, after examining various properties, obtained control of the Skiddo Mines, a property located in the Panamint Mountain Range of California, on the edge of the Death Valley. He immediately began working these mines on a scientific and extensive scale, spending a large sum of money in development work, the installation of machinery, erection of a mill and the construction of a pipe line twenty miles in length, from which a supply of water is furnished sufficient to operate a fifteen-stamp mill. The entire investment represented a capital outlay of about half a million dollars, which has been practically equaled in dividends during the few years the property has been in operation.
Aside from the development of the mines already mentioned, Mr. Montgomery has been identified with various others. He was among the pioneers in the great camp of Goldfield, Nevada, and was one of the original twenty property owners of that district who, in the autumn of 1903, held a meeting at which the camp was organized and christened Goldfield.
Since 1910 Mr. Montgomery has devoted much of his time to the development of several new mining properties, one of which is in Mexico and another in the camp of National, Nevada. The most promising, in the opinion of Mr. Montgomery, is the Mexican property, which adjoins the famous El Monte Mine in the Guanajuato District.
Mr. Montgomery is regarded as one of the practical mining engineers of the country, and also is versed in the financial end of the business, but his present position is not entirely a matter of discovery. In the early days of his work in underwent many hardships and heart-breaking disappointments. A great portion of his life was passed on the Nevada and California deserts, and in those isolated places he was compelled to treat a great deal with the Indians. By his fairness and consideration of the red man he came to be regarded by them as their friend, and his fame as a decent, honorable man is known to every Indian of the desert country. Mr. Montgomery unhesitatingly declares that he owes much of his success to the friendship of the Indians, who, because of their trust in him, overcame the prejudice and suspicion with which they always regarded white man, and gave him assistance in his prospecting work.
Aside from his mine holdings, Mr. Montgomery of recent years has also been active in oil development in Mexico, having large interests in the Tampico fields of that country. He is a Director of the Mexican Premier Oil Company and is also Vice President of the Topila Petroleum Co., which has brought in a well producing about one thousand barrels a day.
He is largely interested in realty, and is a Director of the Calif. Savings Bank, Los Angeles.
Mr. Montgomery has made Los Angeles his headquarters since 1904, although he had been in that city at various times for nearly fifteen years previously. Since locating there permanently he has done a great deal toward establishing the city’s prestige as a mining center and devoted endless time and capital to having the American Mining Congress meet there in 1910. He is Vice President and Director of the latter; Director, Chamber of Mines and Oil, and member, American Institute of Mining Engineers.
He has traveled extensively in the United States, Europe and the Orient, and is a prominent figure in fraternal and club circles, being a Mason, Mystic Shriner, President of the Sierra Madre Club of Los Angeles and member of the Jonathan Club, Los Angeles; Rocky Mountain Club and Chemical Club, New York, and American Club, Mexico City.
Transcribed
10-8-10 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 517, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2010 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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