Pueblo County Biographies

Pueblo County, Colorado
HON. WILLIAM MOORE

Contributed by Karen Mitchell.

On the 31st day of October, 1827, the subject of this history was born on a farm at Carrollton, Carroll Co., Ohio. Up to the age of fifteen, he attended a district school and there obtained the education which, in after years, was to become an invaluable aid to his modest, yet resolute mind, in the direction of a uniform and unfailing success in all affairs of a business nature with which he had to do. A moment is spared to go back to his youth—to see him as a boy persevering in all his undertakings and precise in all particulars—to see him with that noticeable precision which is conspicuous in the strong features of the gentleman of fifty-four, and which doubtless has been instrumental, as much as any other trait, in obtaining for him the position and influence of one of the wealthy men of the county of Pueblo. At fifteen he left school, laid away his books, and began on a farm in his native State, the active life which has resulted in his popular and financial aggrandizement. With excellent results, he gratified in Ohio his love of farming until he was twenty-five, when he removed to Kansas to farm, and improved on his Ohio success. During his residence in Kansas, he made several visits to Ohio on pleasure and business, and bought and sold many tracts of land and town properties, having engaged in the real estate business soon after his arrival in the State. In 1860, with an ox train of ten teams, he came to Colorado, intending to remain only a year and then return to Kansas, but Colorado's climate, people and business opportunities pleased him so much more than he expected they would, that he did not hesitate to pronounce them superior to any he had elsewhere met with and to decide to make his permanent home within her borders. Mining was the business to engage in in 1860, and Mr. Moore perceiving at once its sure returns if properly managed, turned his attention to prospecting and employing prospectors, and received gratifying and satisfactory returns. In 1866, to see the Territory as to the business advantages, he made a trip to Montana with the freight outfit of J. N. Carlile, but not being pleased with the country or its business prospect, he returned to Colorado, content to " let well enough alone," and to follow mining, which he followed until 1868. His mining record records the sale of a number of mines at moderate prices, yet for an amount sufficiently large to allow him to reflect with pleasure on the seven years he devoted to Colorado's chief industry, and the old-timers of the Central City and Blue River placer mines, who read this description of his life will readily recollect him and place him among the lucky placer miners of their acquaintance. The railroad contracting done by Mr. Moore reaches a large amount when brought down to a total in dollars and cents. In 1868, he abandoned mining and entered into partnership with J. N. Carlile, under the firm name of Moore & Carlile, for the purpose of taking railroad contracts to build railroads. The first mile of railroad built in the State of Colorado was built by them on the Denver & Pacific Railroad. He was interested in contracts to build forty miles of the Denver & Pacific Railroad; to build the Colorado Central from Denver to Golden; to build the greater part of 230 miles of the Kansas Pacific Railroad from Sheridan to Denver, and in contracts to build the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from Denver to Pueblo, and ninety-seven miles of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. The Orman Brothers were admitted to partnership with Moore & Carlile, in 1874, before the taking of the contract on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and the firm given the title, Moore, Carlile, Orman & Co. In order to give his whole attention to real estate and building in South Pueblo, he drew out of the firm of Moore, Carlile, Orman & Co., in 1877, and engaged exclusively in his choice pursuit. In 1878-79, he made a number of transfers and erected several buildings, but, in 1880-81, the transfers he made and buildings he erected exceeded those of any two years previous—were on a larger scale and more in harmony with the scope of his intellect adapted for real estate negotiations. The most costly and finest building built by him is the Moore & Carlile Opera House, J. N. Carlile assisting. At the time of gathering of this data, he was interested in building a large block, to be called the Moore & Orman Block. Independent public enterprise is one of Hon. William Moore's most prominent qualities as is illustrated by the following: Pueblo, or North Pueblo, as it is sometimes called, and South Pueblo, are separated by the Arkansas River, and each controlled by its own city government. Mr. Moore conceived of the project of building a street railway from city to city, and in opposition to the honest fears of the public for the success of the enterprise, he organized the Pueblo Street Railway Company, and built a street railway from the limits of one city to the limits of the other. Stating that the enterprise was a success, when it is known that he was the organizer and manager, is seemingly superfluous, yet necessary to complete the history. The road paid from the day of its completion, and the stock is in demand at a figure considerably above its par value. The building of the road is a benefit to each city which will long be remembered by both. The originator and his co-worker in it and other public enterprises, the Hon. James N. Carlile, are two of South Pueblo's most public spirited men, and entitled to the respect and public honors so generously bestowed upon them by the grateful citizens of the recipient city. In the fall of 1873, Mr. Moore was persuaded, against his expressed wishes, to be a candidate for election to the last Territorial Legislature held in Colorado and convened January 1, 1874, those who urged him to accept the nomination well knowing that as soon as he should consent his election was insured. He was elected by a large majority, served his full term and today wears a legislative laurel which grows as time increases. When the interview to obtain some of the particulars for this history was had, he was a hale gentleman of fifty-four, with the vigor of a much younger man. He was direct and dignified, but pleasant in conversation. His portrait can be found in this volume, and any one examining it cannot fail to be struck with the earnestness and sincerity which marks every lineament of his face. History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado O L Baskin & Co., Chicago, 1881

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