Sacramento County
Biographies
FELTON LOWRY
The fact of having been reared in Ohio and the additional opportunities afforded by subsequent
travel through almost every portion of the United States give to Mr. Lowry a comprehensive knowledge of our
country. As a result of his study and observation he stands without a
rival in its resources, its climate and its material possibilities.
Employment with railroad companies took him throughout the west when he was
still a young man and enabled him to gain a broad information as to every
section of the region west of the Rocky Mountains, but no place visited by him
has offered inducements sufficient to weaken his faith in or lessen his
affection for the commonwealth of his choice.
Born at Zanesville, Ohio, July 20, 1838,
Felton Lowry was the son of John and Elizabeth (France) Lowry of Pennsylvania, who removed to and operated a farm
in Vinton county, Ohio, and he still has living in the Buckeye state one brother
and three sisters. Not content to remain there but allured to the west by
reports concerning its opportunities, in the spring of 1860 he bade farewell to
home and relatives and traveled via the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco and
came on to Sacramento. It was not his fortune to possess any capital nor to have enjoyed a good education, but he was a young man
of tireless energy and force of will. To such, employment comes as an
open sesame to their ability. He first tried his luck at mining at Indian
Diggings, Eldorado county.
Later he helped build a bridge at Live Oak, of which he was the toll
keeper. Subsequently he went to Reese River, Nev., where he engaged in carpentering, and while there he
helped in the erection of the Reese River court house.
During the progress of the Civil War Mr.
Lowry enlisted in Company K, Eighth Regiment of California Volunteers, and at
the time of the riots served in San Francisco, being mustered out at the close of the war. He then
returned to Sacramento and resumed work on the Central Pacific Railroad.
Beginning at the bottom he soon became foreman and finally became assistant
superintendent of grading. For six years he remained with the same
company. Meanwhile he helped to build the line to Salt Lake and reached and completed the end of his contract during
May of 1869. In the latter part of the same year he entered the employ of
the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and served as superintendent of
construction through the San
Joaquin valley, remaining on that
division until the completion of the road to its Los Angeles terminus.
The task of grading roads in other parts
of California brought Mr. Lowry profitable employment for a number of
years. At one time he was dispatched to grade the road toward Imperial
Junction and the Colorado river.
When he had three hundred men in camp as helpers the war department wired Major
Dunn not to allow men to tamper with the bridge at Fort Yuma or to lay rails. Notification was sent to Mr. Lowry,
but at one
o'clock in the morning he had all
of his three hundred men up and ready to assist him. A
flat car loaded with rails were then thrown off. Twenty soldiers
threatened to shoot them, but Mr. Lowry claimed that a man was under the car
and it was absolutely necessary to throw off the rails in order to save his
life. Under these representations the work was allowed to be
continued. In a short time the rails were laid and there the matter ended
so far as Mr. Lowry was concerned, the officials of the road later taking up
the question with the government employes.
After having built more than three hundred
and fifty miles of road for the Southern Pacific Company Mr. Lowry left its
employ and turned his attention to other enterprises. For four years he
acted as traveling representative for the Atlantic Dynamite Company of New York City and during that period he traveled extensively in every
part of the country. At one time he owned four thousand acres of range
land in Kern county and maintained thereon a herd of
some fifteen thousand sheep, but years ago the flock was sold and the land disposed
of. During 1892, associated with Turton &
Knox, he had the contract for the building of the levee from the Pioneer mill
to Twelfth street in Sacramento. After completing this, with the same men he
built part of the Central Canal in Colusa county. The
company also built forty miles of railroad between Merced and Oakdale, fifty
miles of road between Bakersfield and Asphalt, and one hundred and fifty miles
on the west side of San Joaquin valley, from Newman south, and twenty-five
miles between Burbank and Chatsworth Park, all for the Southern Pacific
Railroad. As superintendent for the Pacific Improvement Company he laid out and superintended the building of a
seventeen-mile drive at Monterey, and alone he contracted for and built many sections of road
for the Southern Pacific Railroad, besides which he has built many levees along
the Sacramento river. Eventually Mr. Lowry retired from contracting and
in the twilight of his active existence he enjoys the comforts rendered
possible by years of intelligent exertion. He is now the oldest railroad
contractor in the state.
At Adah, Ohio, Mr. Lowry was married March 27, 1890, to Miss Ida Sisson, who was born in Fort Smith, Ark., but was reared in McArthur, Ohio. She was the daughter of George and Sarah
(Sylvester) Sisson, the latter the youngest daughter of a Revolutionary
soldier, a member of the Daughters of the Revolution, and a resident of Adah, Ohio. Four children were born of the union of Mr. and
Mrs. Lowry, Eva, Fondalite, Agnes and Georgia, all of
whom reside with their father at No. 1610 K street, Sacramento. Politically Mr. Lowry is a Republican and is a
member of Sumner Post, G. A. R. In 1912 he was a candidate at the primary
election for supervisor of the third district, but failed of election by
fifty-three votes. The family are communicants
of the Christian Church and earnest supporters of religious and philanthropic
measures.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 628-232. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.