Joseph Raphael De Lamar
Encyclopedia
Joseph Raphael De Lamar was born in Amsterdam
, Holland, September 2, 1843. His father, a banker in Amsterdam, died when he was six years of age, and the lad in love of adventure went aboard a Dutch vessel that plied to the West Indies. When the young stowaway was discovered, he was put to work as assistant to the cook without wages.
, and, with characteristic energy, he abandoned the merchant service and became a submarine contractor, with headquarters at Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
, operating along the entire coast to the West Indies.
He then studied the opportunities of trade with Africa
; trading companies had confined their operations to the Coast, the natives from the interior bringing their goods to the Coast on the shoulders of negroes at considerable expense. Captain De Lamar decided to do trading in the interior. He equipped a small vessel, capable of navigating the African rivers, stocked with goods and armed with four small cannon, a dozen blunderbusses, rifles and ammunition. He pushed on to the interior, exercising constant vigilance to prevent attacks from hostile tribes. His venture was crowned with complete success. He traded principally on the Gambia and Great Jeba Rivers. After three successful years he gave up this trade on account of the climate so many of his crew died every year of African fever. He sold his outfit to an English company.
, he went West and bought several claims, and the same year took a private course in chemistry and metallurgy under a professor from Chicago University. He returned to the mining fields and purchased the Terrible lead mine in Custer County, Colorado
, which he sold to the Omaha & Grant Smelting and Refining Company at a handsome profit. He then obtained control of a mountain six miles west of Silver City, Idaho
. Many large veins of gold and silver were discovered on the property and he sold a half interest, after he had taken $1,500,000 from the mine to the De Lamar Mining Company of England for $2,000,000.
In July 1899 Captain De Lamar purchased the Bully Hill mines, California, and financed the big copper smelter, which was operating near there. A railroad project was installed to connect level 3 of the mine with the smelter, and the project became informally known as the DeLamar Railroad, which became part of the Sacramento Valley and Eastern Railway.
Captain De Lamar invested in several other mines in Colorado
, California
, Nevada
and Idaho
. Three former mining cities, ghost tows nowadays, Delamar, Nevada
, De Lamar, Idaho
, and Delamar, California, were renamed after him, the last mining town is now under water of Shasta Lake
.
The Delamar Mountains
, a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada
, as well a mountain summit in San Bernardino County, California
, were named after him. Delamar Mountain in California climbs to 8,376 feet (2,553.00 meters) above sea level, located at latitude N 34.290839, longitude W -116.945034 coordinates.
For his gold mining
activities in Nevada and Colorado, Captain De Lamar, together with others, organized companies for starting barrel-chlorination of the telluride gold
ores.
The chlorination plant at Delamar, Nevada did not operate long time. At the Delamar Mine, Nevada, the barrel-chlorinating process was installed in 1895 and soon later discarded in favour of fine grinding and cyaniding.
A chlorination plant was built in 1893 by Edward Holden at the small town of Lawrence which at one time adjoined the town of Victor, Colorado. Captain De Lamar, together with Edward Holden, Charles M. MacNeill and George W. Peirce
(of the Golden Fleece Mine (Colorado)
), had organized a company for starting the first barrel-chlorination plant in Colorado, and were about to rehabilitate an old stamp-mill some little distance below Victor, known as the Lawrence plant.
The conventional stamp mill in which the ore was crushed and the gold amalgamated with mercury was almost useless in refining Cripple Creek ore. At first, the process didn't work well, but it was refined by Daniel C. Jackling
under the surveillance of Charles MacNeill, until it produced very good results. In December of 1895, the chlorination mill at Lawrence burned to the ground.
In February of 1894, De Lamar sold the Lawrence plant to Edward Holden, the mill expert who had lured the Guggenheims into the smelting business at Leadville.
for over twenty years, and one of the leading financiers of the country. He was president of the Dome Mine Company, Porcupine, Canada; president of the Delta Beet Sugar Company; vice-president of the International Nickel Company; a director of the American Bank Note Company, Coronate Phosphate Company, the Canadian Mining and Exploration Company, American Sumatra Tobacco Company, Manhattan Sugar Company, the National Conduit and Cable Company and the Western Power Company.
He was known in Wall Street as "the man of mystery." He never talked much, his intimate friends say, but was uniformly successful in his transactions. He made millions out of his deal in the Nipissing Gold Mine in 1906.
He married, May 8th, 1893, Nellie Virginia Sands, a direct descendant of John Quincy Adams
, and had one daughter, Alice A. De Lamar. Captain De Lamar was a member of the Lotus, and the New York Yacht, Larchmont and Columbia Yacht Clubs. He was the owner of the yacht "May" and "Sagitta," the fastest power boat on the Sound. He was a great believer in aerial navigation and devoted considerable time to the study of the subject.
He was also an art connoisseur, a collector of fine paintings, statuary and other art objects. He was also a great lover of music, but his greatest delight was in the gathering of rare plants and flowers, of which he possessed a wonderful collection. He left a large sum to the Harvard University Medical School, Johns Hopkins University
, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University
for research into the causes of disease and for the promulgation through lectures, publications, and otherwise of the principles of correct living.
His house
on Madison Avenue is a New York landmark building today.
He died December 1st, 1918. His life was full of well directed energy and splendid achievement. A man of large vision, nothing was too vast for him to undertake to perform.
Joseph and Alice De Lamar's lives were the subject of the In Search of... season 4 episode,"The Missing Heirs." .
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Holland, September 2, 1843. His father, a banker in Amsterdam, died when he was six years of age, and the lad in love of adventure went aboard a Dutch vessel that plied to the West Indies. When the young stowaway was discovered, he was put to work as assistant to the cook without wages.
Early years
He worked as a seaman until he was twenty, when he became master of a ship, and three years later received a captain's command. He visited almost every port in the world and acquired a wonderful education through his observations in foreign countries. His alert mind was attracted to submarine work, which was profitable, owing to the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and, with characteristic energy, he abandoned the merchant service and became a submarine contractor, with headquarters at Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Vineyard Haven is a community within the town of Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It is listed as a census-designated place by the U.S...
, operating along the entire coast to the West Indies.
Early financial success
He received several contracts for raising sunken ships, and was very successful. In 1872 he raised the "Charlotte," a transatlantic steamship loaded with Italian marble that had foundered off the Bermudas, and which had baffled the attempts of three previous wrecking companies. His experience, which nearly cost him his life, at Martha's Vineyard, going down in his diving suit to examine personally the damage to the Steamer "William Tibbitts," in which he was imprisoned for thirty-six hours, led Captain De Lamar to relinquish submarine work.He then studied the opportunities of trade with Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
; trading companies had confined their operations to the Coast, the natives from the interior bringing their goods to the Coast on the shoulders of negroes at considerable expense. Captain De Lamar decided to do trading in the interior. He equipped a small vessel, capable of navigating the African rivers, stocked with goods and armed with four small cannon, a dozen blunderbusses, rifles and ammunition. He pushed on to the interior, exercising constant vigilance to prevent attacks from hostile tribes. His venture was crowned with complete success. He traded principally on the Gambia and Great Jeba Rivers. After three successful years he gave up this trade on account of the climate so many of his crew died every year of African fever. He sold his outfit to an English company.
Mining Business
In 1878 he came to New York, and when the gold fever struck Leadville, ColoradoLeadville, Colorado
Leadville is a Statutory City that is the county seat of, and the only municipality in, Lake County, Colorado, United States. Situated at an elevation of , Leadville is the highest incorporated city and the second highest incorporated municipality in the United States...
, he went West and bought several claims, and the same year took a private course in chemistry and metallurgy under a professor from Chicago University. He returned to the mining fields and purchased the Terrible lead mine in Custer County, Colorado
Custer County, Colorado
Custer County is the tenth least populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 3,503 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Westcliffe.- History :...
, which he sold to the Omaha & Grant Smelting and Refining Company at a handsome profit. He then obtained control of a mountain six miles west of Silver City, Idaho
Silver City, Idaho
Silver City is a ghost town in Owyhee County, Idaho, United States. At its height in the 1880s it was a gold and silver mining town with a population of around 2,500 and approximately 75 businesses. Silver City served as county seat of Owyhee County from 1867 to 1934. Today, the town has about 70...
. Many large veins of gold and silver were discovered on the property and he sold a half interest, after he had taken $1,500,000 from the mine to the De Lamar Mining Company of England for $2,000,000.
In July 1899 Captain De Lamar purchased the Bully Hill mines, California, and financed the big copper smelter, which was operating near there. A railroad project was installed to connect level 3 of the mine with the smelter, and the project became informally known as the DeLamar Railroad, which became part of the Sacramento Valley and Eastern Railway.
Captain De Lamar invested in several other mines in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
and Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
. Three former mining cities, ghost tows nowadays, Delamar, Nevada
Delamar, Nevada
Delamar, Nevada, nicknamed The Widowmaker, is a ghost town in central eastern Nevada, USA along the east side of the Delamar Valley. During its heyday, primarily between 1895 and 1900, it produced $13.5 million in gold.-History:...
, De Lamar, Idaho
De Lamar, Idaho
De Lamar is a ghost town in Owyhee County, Idaho, United States. Its elevation is 5,463 feet , and it is located at , approximately six miles west of Silver City. The community lies within an area governed by the Bureau of Land Management.The community formed around the De Lamar Mine,...
, and Delamar, California, were renamed after him, the last mining town is now under water of Shasta Lake
Shasta Lake
Shasta Lake, also called Lake Shasta, is an artificial lake created by the construction of Shasta Dam across the Sacramento River in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of Shasta County, California...
.
The Delamar Mountains
Delamar Mountains
The Delamar Mountains is a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada, named after Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar. The range's crest forms part of the Great Basin Divide between the Meadow Watershed and the Dry Lake Watershed, which includes Delamar Dry Lake and Delamar, Nevada....
, a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada
Lincoln County, Nevada
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 4,165. Its county seat is Pioche.-History:...
, as well a mountain summit in San Bernardino County, California
San Bernardino County, California
San Bernardino County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,035,210, up from 1,709,434 as of the 2000 census...
, were named after him. Delamar Mountain in California climbs to 8,376 feet (2,553.00 meters) above sea level, located at latitude N 34.290839, longitude W -116.945034 coordinates.
For his gold mining
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
activities in Nevada and Colorado, Captain De Lamar, together with others, organized companies for starting barrel-chlorination of the telluride gold
Gold chalcogenides
Gold chalcogenides are compounds formed between gold and one of the chalcogens, elements from group 16 of the periodic table: oxygen, sulfur, selenium, or tellurium....
ores.
The chlorination plant at Delamar, Nevada did not operate long time. At the Delamar Mine, Nevada, the barrel-chlorinating process was installed in 1895 and soon later discarded in favour of fine grinding and cyaniding.
A chlorination plant was built in 1893 by Edward Holden at the small town of Lawrence which at one time adjoined the town of Victor, Colorado. Captain De Lamar, together with Edward Holden, Charles M. MacNeill and George W. Peirce
George W. Peirce
George W. Peirce was secretary and treasurer of the Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company , and the Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company , since its incorporation until his death in a train collision on December 4, 1899....
(of the Golden Fleece Mine (Colorado)
Golden Fleece Mine (Colorado)
The Golden Fleece Mine is a gold mining site in Hinsdale County, Colorado, south of Lake City. The mine is located half a mile west of the north end of Lake San Cristobal. By 1904 it had produced $1,400,000 in silver and gold ore. The mine operated intermittently until 1919...
), had organized a company for starting the first barrel-chlorination plant in Colorado, and were about to rehabilitate an old stamp-mill some little distance below Victor, known as the Lawrence plant.
The conventional stamp mill in which the ore was crushed and the gold amalgamated with mercury was almost useless in refining Cripple Creek ore. At first, the process didn't work well, but it was refined by Daniel C. Jackling
Daniel C. Jackling
-Career:Daniel Jackling was educated in mining and metallurgy disciplines at the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla, Missouri, now known as Missouri University of Science and Technology. In 1898, Jackling and Robert C. Gemmell made a detailed examination of the Bingham Canyon copper property. They...
under the surveillance of Charles MacNeill, until it produced very good results. In December of 1895, the chlorination mill at Lawrence burned to the ground.
In February of 1894, De Lamar sold the Lawrence plant to Edward Holden, the mill expert who had lured the Guggenheims into the smelting business at Leadville.
Other Business
He was the sole owner of the Utah Mines and Smelting Company, of Colorado. He was one of the most noted traders in Wall StreetWall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
for over twenty years, and one of the leading financiers of the country. He was president of the Dome Mine Company, Porcupine, Canada; president of the Delta Beet Sugar Company; vice-president of the International Nickel Company; a director of the American Bank Note Company, Coronate Phosphate Company, the Canadian Mining and Exploration Company, American Sumatra Tobacco Company, Manhattan Sugar Company, the National Conduit and Cable Company and the Western Power Company.
Political Attempts
In 1891 he served as State Senator in the first Legislature of Idaho, and occupied the Chairmanship on Finance, Railroads and Constitutional Amendments. He was offered the highest honours in the gift of the State, but declined to continue in politics and removed to New York.He was known in Wall Street as "the man of mystery." He never talked much, his intimate friends say, but was uniformly successful in his transactions. He made millions out of his deal in the Nipissing Gold Mine in 1906.
Marriage, Family and Death
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
, and had one daughter, Alice A. De Lamar. Captain De Lamar was a member of the Lotus, and the New York Yacht, Larchmont and Columbia Yacht Clubs. He was the owner of the yacht "May" and "Sagitta," the fastest power boat on the Sound. He was a great believer in aerial navigation and devoted considerable time to the study of the subject.
He was also an art connoisseur, a collector of fine paintings, statuary and other art objects. He was also a great lover of music, but his greatest delight was in the gathering of rare plants and flowers, of which he possessed a wonderful collection. He left a large sum to the Harvard University Medical School, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
for research into the causes of disease and for the promulgation through lectures, publications, and otherwise of the principles of correct living.
His house
Joseph Raphael De Lamar House
The Joseph Raphael De Lamar House is a mansion located on 233 Madison Avenue and the corner of 37th Street in New York City.- History :It was designed by C. P. H. Gilbert and built in 1902-05. It is a Beaux-Arts Second Empire mansion, the largest in Murray Hill, New York and one of the grandest in...
on Madison Avenue is a New York landmark building today.
He died December 1st, 1918. His life was full of well directed energy and splendid achievement. A man of large vision, nothing was too vast for him to undertake to perform.
Joseph and Alice De Lamar's lives were the subject of the In Search of... season 4 episode,"The Missing Heirs." .