File:Marvels of the new West - a vivid portrayal of the stupendous marvels in the vast wonderland west of the Missouri River - comprising marvels of nature, marvels of race, marvels of enterprise, marvels (14578350088).jpg

Identifier: marvelsofnewwest1889thay (find matches)
Title: Marvels of the new West : a vivid portrayal of the stupendous marvels in the vast wonderland west of the Missouri River : comprising marvels of nature, marvels of race, marvels of enterprise, marvels of mining, marvels of stock-raising, and marvels of agriculture, graphically and truthfully described
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Thayer, William Makepeace, 1820-1898
Subjects:
Publisher: Norwich, Conn. : Henry Bill Pub. Co.
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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ared no pains to secure his portrait andlife-sketch ; and, after all, failed. It is only left for us to say that hewas a railroad king. OAKES AMES. Oakes Ames, eldest son of Oliver and Susannah Ames, was bornin Easton, Dec. lO, 1804. His father removed from Bridgewater toEaston in 1803, because the water-power there was better for hisbusiness, — the manufacture of shovels. He purchased a farm, also,on which Oakes worked more or less as soon as he was old enough,and that was very early. Subsequently he assisted in the shovelfactory when he was out of school, as inclined to industry as he wasto obedience. District schools were short and poor, but Oakes got more out ofthem than many boys, on account of his thoughtfulness and applica-tion. He went to school to learn — and he learned, as he went intothe shop to work — and he worked. Until he was sixteen years ofage, he had no opportunities for education, except what the districtschool furnished. Then he attended Dighton Academy a few
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RAILROAD KINGS. 408 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. months, as a kind of conclusion to his education, when he enteredupon his life-pursuit in the shovel factory. Oakes was a large, stout boy, full of life and energy, willing andambitious. He progressed rapidly in shovel-making, and soon madehimself indispensable to his fathers business. On reaching his ma-jority, or soon after, he became superintendent of the factory, in whichposition he won the confidence and respect of all the employees. In 1844, his father became sixty-five years of age, when he with-drew from active participation in the business, and the two sons,Oakes and Oliver, became the sole managers ; and the firm wasknown as Oliver Ames & Sons. From year to year their businessextended, until they employed nearly five hundred men ; and onethousand tons of iron, two thousand tons of steel, and five thousandtons of coal passed annually through their hands, in the manufactureof shovels. Their manufactures were always first-class.

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