Anton Eilers
Encyclopedia
Frederic Anton Eilers arrived in the United States
in 1859 with no job and few contacts. The 20-year-old worked and lived the American Dream
. Starting with modest means and a solid education, the German immigrant to the United States built a worldwide reputation as one of the fathers of the modern smelting
industry. Combining his smelting expertise with business acumen, he built a series of successful smelters and businesses, the culmination of which was co-founding the American Smelting and Refining Company.
academy at Clausthal
. In 1859, for reasons lost to history, Anton, his mother Elizabeth and his sister Emma emigrated to the United States, settling in Syme Township, Ohio, with Elizabeth's sister Wilhelmina Dielmann.
that specialized in mining consulting. From 1863 to 1866 Eilers travelled, "from the islands of the Caribbean to the mountains and deserts of the West." Not only did this provide Anton with an early, unusually broad look at the burgeoning mining industry of the United States, but he also formed a close personal friendship with Rossiter that would last throughout their lives, with Rossiter writing his Eulogy.
With the death of Adelberg and the close of Adelberg & Raymond in 1866, Anton moved his wife and growing family of 3 kids to the town of Hillsville in Carroll County, Virginia. There, he obtained a position managing the Hale copper mine and furnace. In three short years, following the addition of their fourth child, the supply of ore exhausted.
However, the close of the Hale Copper Mine proved a blessing, as Rossiter W. Raymond
, now Commissioner of Mines and Mining Statistics in and West of the Rocky Mountains, asked Anton to be his deputy. For the next 7 years, the two of them travelled the West, writing and reporting on the latest issues—laws, conditions, environment, techniques, and more—concerning mining. Their efforts are recorded and published in successive Congressional House documents. For a young man who had learned the latest smelting and refining techniques in Germany, to observe and report on this early, growing industry was likely instrumental in preparing Anton with the experience and connections necessary to transform the smelting industry.
. Accompanying Anton and Raymond in August 1871 was J.S. Daugherty of Wabash City, Indiana, August F. Thrasher (photographer), Calvin C. Clawson (reporter for the New Northwest) and Gilman Sawtelle, who acted as their guide
The National Park Service
recognizes this party as the first group of 'tourists' to enter a national park for the purposes of simply touring a National Park (the 1971 Hayden Survey party was also in the park at the time, with both parties meeting up at one point). Both Rossiter Raymond and Calvin Clawson wrote accounts of their journeys in serial form. Rossiter would later bind his into a chapter of a book published in 1880 called Camp and Cabin. While the Thrasher photographs did not survive the exit of the Yellowstone area, the negative plates did survive. According to Thrasher's mother, he intended to make the images into a book. However, Thrasher died soon after the trip, leaving the location of the images an ongoing mystery.
son, Howard, and Eilers' son Karl would marry Rudolph's daughter Leonie.
By 1883, Anton felt good enough to return to Colorado. With strong financial support from new partners in New York, Anton launched the Colorado Smelting Company, a state of the art smelting facility that used Madonna Mine ore, wholly owned by Colorado Smelting, combined with cheap transportation to become one of the most successful smelters in Colorado. During the 1880s the company dug more than $4 million in lead and silver from the mine. In the process, the smelter also produced a number of internationally renowned metallurgists under Anton's tutelage, including Anton's own son Karl .
Eilers was considered one of the foremost experts in the United States in his branch of metallurgy
, and, while he never patented any of his own inventions, he did more than any other person to improve American methods in the treatment of lead and silver
. He accomplished this by making possible the long, continuous running of large shaft furnaces in the smelting of argentiferous lead ores. The most important elements of this improvement were the use of water jackets and the scientific and precise adjustment of charges with reference to their chemical composition and the fusion point of slag
s. “Chills” or “salamanders,” formerly so frequent in furnaces of this type, and not only necessitating stoppages but compelling the use of small furnaces, were thus obviated.
Anton, along with his financial backers, which included Walter Gurnee, Augustus C. Gurnee, and Abram S. Hewitt, created other smelters and other companies, until finally moving all their smelting assets into one large trust in 1899: The American Smelting and Refining Company, now known as ASARCO
. At its launch, American Smelting owned 2/3 of the smelting trusts in the nation, making them a critical player in the ore and mining industry.
Until his retirement in 1910, Anton played an active role on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of American Smelting and on its sister company, American Smelting Securities Company. During this period, he was also on the Board of Directors of Wells Fargo, a director on the Seneca Mining Co, a director of the United Missouri River Power Co, and more. He joined AIME
during its first year of existence and was a charter member of the Colorado Scientific Society. He was also member of the American Forestry Association
, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences
, the Technical Society of New York, and of the following clubs: The Engineers’, German and Rocky Mountain (New York); Germania (Brooklyn); Denver (Denver, Colo.); and Alta Club
(Salt Lake City, Utah).
Following an illness, Anton died at Sea Cliff, Long Island, April 22, 1917. His wife died two years later in 1919.
, and Meta). Over the years, they lived in Ohio, Virginia, Salt Lake City, Denver, Pueblo, but for nearly all their later years, the family shuttled between their home in Brooklyn and their summer home at Sea Cliff, Long Island. While Karl Eilers married Leonie Wurlitzer and produced 3 grand children, the only daughter to marry was Anna. None of the other daughters married and none of the daughters produced grand children. Anton's son Karl became vice president of ASARCO
and eventually fought a highly publicized battle with members of the Guggenheim family
over control of the company during the early 1920s. Following that battle, he became Chairman of the Board of Lennox Hill Hospital, leading it from the mid-1920s until his death in 1941. Anton's daughter Emma Eilers became a noted painter.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1859 with no job and few contacts. The 20-year-old worked and lived the American Dream
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
. Starting with modest means and a solid education, the German immigrant to the United States built a worldwide reputation as one of the fathers of the modern smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
industry. Combining his smelting expertise with business acumen, he built a series of successful smelters and businesses, the culmination of which was co-founding the American Smelting and Refining Company.
Early years
Frederic Anton Eilers was born in Laufenselden, Nassau, Germany, Jan 14, 1839. He grew up the son of Ernest Julius Adolph Friederich and Elizabeth Dielmann Eilers. Despite the death of Anton's father when he was 12, Anton was able to attend the German High Schools of Weilburg and Wiesbaden. He then pursued studies at the University of Gottingen, after which he attended the prestigious miningMining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
academy at Clausthal
Clausthal University of Technology
The Clausthal University of Technology is an institute of technology in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony, Germany...
. In 1859, for reasons lost to history, Anton, his mother Elizabeth and his sister Emma emigrated to the United States, settling in Syme Township, Ohio, with Elizabeth's sister Wilhelmina Dielmann.
Early work
In 1863, the same year he married Elizabeth Emrich, Anton was offered a position with Adelberg & Raymond, a partnership between Justus Adelberg and Rossiter W. RaymondRossiter W. Raymond
At his memorial, Rossiter Worthington Raymond was described by the President of Lehigh University as "one of the most remarkable cases of versatility that our country has ever seen’—sailor, soldier, engineer, lawyer, orator, editor, novelist, story-teller, poet, biblical critic, theologian,...
that specialized in mining consulting. From 1863 to 1866 Eilers travelled, "from the islands of the Caribbean to the mountains and deserts of the West." Not only did this provide Anton with an early, unusually broad look at the burgeoning mining industry of the United States, but he also formed a close personal friendship with Rossiter that would last throughout their lives, with Rossiter writing his Eulogy.
With the death of Adelberg and the close of Adelberg & Raymond in 1866, Anton moved his wife and growing family of 3 kids to the town of Hillsville in Carroll County, Virginia. There, he obtained a position managing the Hale copper mine and furnace. In three short years, following the addition of their fourth child, the supply of ore exhausted.
However, the close of the Hale Copper Mine proved a blessing, as Rossiter W. Raymond
Rossiter W. Raymond
At his memorial, Rossiter Worthington Raymond was described by the President of Lehigh University as "one of the most remarkable cases of versatility that our country has ever seen’—sailor, soldier, engineer, lawyer, orator, editor, novelist, story-teller, poet, biblical critic, theologian,...
, now Commissioner of Mines and Mining Statistics in and West of the Rocky Mountains, asked Anton to be his deputy. For the next 7 years, the two of them travelled the West, writing and reporting on the latest issues—laws, conditions, environment, techniques, and more—concerning mining. Their efforts are recorded and published in successive Congressional House documents. For a young man who had learned the latest smelting and refining techniques in Germany, to observe and report on this early, growing industry was likely instrumental in preparing Anton with the experience and connections necessary to transform the smelting industry.
First Tourists to Enter a National Park
Normally, while executing their duties and doing their research in the West, Anton and Raymond travelled separately, but in 1871 they decided to explore a region of the United States now known as Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
. Accompanying Anton and Raymond in August 1871 was J.S. Daugherty of Wabash City, Indiana, August F. Thrasher (photographer), Calvin C. Clawson (reporter for the New Northwest) and Gilman Sawtelle, who acted as their guide
The National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
recognizes this party as the first group of 'tourists' to enter a national park for the purposes of simply touring a National Park (the 1971 Hayden Survey party was also in the park at the time, with both parties meeting up at one point). Both Rossiter Raymond and Calvin Clawson wrote accounts of their journeys in serial form. Rossiter would later bind his into a chapter of a book published in 1880 called Camp and Cabin. While the Thrasher photographs did not survive the exit of the Yellowstone area, the negative plates did survive. According to Thrasher's mother, he intended to make the images into a book. However, Thrasher died soon after the trip, leaving the location of the images an ongoing mystery.
Rising Prominence in the Smelting Industry
In 1876, Anton left his role as Deputy to Rossiter and entered the private sector. After consulting for a couple years, Anton partnered with Gustav Billing, building successful smelters, first in Salt Lake City, Ut, and then in Leadville, Co. While the partnership was very successful professionally and financially, by 1881 Anton found himself ill enough that Billing bought him out and he spent a year or more in Europe traveling and recovering. While never partnering again in business, Billing and Eilers would become related through family, as Billing's daughter would marry Rudolph Wurlitzer'sWurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
son, Howard, and Eilers' son Karl would marry Rudolph's daughter Leonie.
By 1883, Anton felt good enough to return to Colorado. With strong financial support from new partners in New York, Anton launched the Colorado Smelting Company, a state of the art smelting facility that used Madonna Mine ore, wholly owned by Colorado Smelting, combined with cheap transportation to become one of the most successful smelters in Colorado. During the 1880s the company dug more than $4 million in lead and silver from the mine. In the process, the smelter also produced a number of internationally renowned metallurgists under Anton's tutelage, including Anton's own son Karl .
Eilers was considered one of the foremost experts in the United States in his branch of metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
, and, while he never patented any of his own inventions, he did more than any other person to improve American methods in the treatment of lead and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
. He accomplished this by making possible the long, continuous running of large shaft furnaces in the smelting of argentiferous lead ores. The most important elements of this improvement were the use of water jackets and the scientific and precise adjustment of charges with reference to their chemical composition and the fusion point of slag
Slag
Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form...
s. “Chills” or “salamanders,” formerly so frequent in furnaces of this type, and not only necessitating stoppages but compelling the use of small furnaces, were thus obviated.
Anton, along with his financial backers, which included Walter Gurnee, Augustus C. Gurnee, and Abram S. Hewitt, created other smelters and other companies, until finally moving all their smelting assets into one large trust in 1899: The American Smelting and Refining Company, now known as ASARCO
ASARCO
ASARCO LLC is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona that mines and processes primarily copper. The company, a subsidiary of Grupo México, is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
. At its launch, American Smelting owned 2/3 of the smelting trusts in the nation, making them a critical player in the ore and mining industry.
Until his retirement in 1910, Anton played an active role on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of American Smelting and on its sister company, American Smelting Securities Company. During this period, he was also on the Board of Directors of Wells Fargo, a director on the Seneca Mining Co, a director of the United Missouri River Power Co, and more. He joined AIME
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers
The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers is a professional body for mining and metallurgy, with 90,000 members. It was founded in 1871 by 22 mining engineers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States, being one of the first national engineering societies in the...
during its first year of existence and was a charter member of the Colorado Scientific Society. He was also member of the American Forestry Association
American Forestry Association
The American Forestry Association was formed in Chicago, Illinois in September 1875 by John Aston Warder. The current headquarters are in Washington, D.C.. The organization acts as a clearinghouse for environmental organizations working to preserve world tree growth. The "National Register of...
, the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
, the Technical Society of New York, and of the following clubs: The Engineers’, German and Rocky Mountain (New York); Germania (Brooklyn); Denver (Denver, Colo.); and Alta Club
Alta Club
The Alta Club is a private social gentlemen's club in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, named for a local mining district. It was founded in 1883, 13 years before Utah's accession as a state, and currently boasts 630 members...
(Salt Lake City, Utah).
Following an illness, Anton died at Sea Cliff, Long Island, April 22, 1917. His wife died two years later in 1919.
Personal life
Anton and his wife Elizabeth raised 6 children (Else, Karl, Anna, Philopaena, EmmaEmma Eilers
Emma Eilers was an American painter from Sea Cliff, New York, who, despite her uncontrollable shakes, was recognized regionally for her work.- Early Years :...
, and Meta). Over the years, they lived in Ohio, Virginia, Salt Lake City, Denver, Pueblo, but for nearly all their later years, the family shuttled between their home in Brooklyn and their summer home at Sea Cliff, Long Island. While Karl Eilers married Leonie Wurlitzer and produced 3 grand children, the only daughter to marry was Anna. None of the other daughters married and none of the daughters produced grand children. Anton's son Karl became vice president of ASARCO
ASARCO
ASARCO LLC is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona that mines and processes primarily copper. The company, a subsidiary of Grupo México, is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
and eventually fought a highly publicized battle with members of the Guggenheim family
Guggenheim family
The Guggenheim family is an American family, of Swiss Jewish ancestry. Beginning with Meyer Guggenheim, who arrived in America in 1847, the family were known for their global successes in mining and smelting . During the 19th century, the family possessed one of the largest fortunes in the world...
over control of the company during the early 1920s. Following that battle, he became Chairman of the Board of Lennox Hill Hospital, leading it from the mid-1920s until his death in 1941. Anton's daughter Emma Eilers became a noted painter.