Joseph Reynolds

As printed in 1894

JOSEPH REYNOLDS, deceased, was for nian_y years widely known and highly respected by the citizens of Winona County. His honesty and integrity were proverbial, and won him the confidence and regard of all with whom he was brought in contact. He was born in Sullivan County, N. Y., June 8, 1819, and died February 21, 1891, in the seventy-second 3'ear of his age, his loss being widely and deeply mourned. He was reared on a farm in New York.- Flis brother Silas was of late a large stock-grower of Aurora, Ill., and his brother Isaac also lived in Aurora. I n early life Joseph and his brother James left home and came to the West, and the latter died in Aurora some six 3'ears ago. On leaving the farm they bought a stock of groceries at Buffalo, and opened a country store in the state of New York, which they conducted for a year. They afterward carried on a tannery and a gristmill. James having received an injury, the brothers drifted apart, James going to Aurora, while Joseph went to Chicago.

It was in 1850 that Mr. Reynolds, of this sketch, took up his residence in Chicago, which was then a small place without railroads, and the traders had no good facilities for transportation. He visited all the country trading points buying furs, riding from one place to another on horseback through Iowa. Minnesota and Wisconsin. He was always quick to take advantage of opportunities afforded him, and this characteristic was one of the important factors in his success. He carried on a prosperous business as a fur-trade for some time, and then engaged in the grain trade, his western headquarters being at McGregor, Iowa, but his main place of business was in Chicago. He bought grain all along the northern part of the river, everything being put in sacks and shipped by boat to Prairie du Chien, where he handled his grain by means of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad elevator, from which he loaded cars for Chicago. As the steamboat owners did nkjt handle his grain to suit him, he began to load barges of his own, which he hauled with a small steamer which he had built for that purpose. Mr. Reynolds was familiarly known as ''Diamond Jo," which came from his special mark upon the sacks of grain. At that time buyers usually marked each sack of grain in a certain way and Mr. Reynold's mark was a diamond, inside of which was the name "Jo." This soon became familiar over a wide extent of territory, and he was thereafter called "Diamond Jo," a name which he also gave to his steamer. His business was usually conducted under the names of other men. He was the "company" of the great grain firm of Bassitt, Hunting & Co., of McGregor, Iowa, the predecessor of the present firm of Hunting & Co. This firm had a line of elevators on the Milwaukee Road into Iowa and Dakota. At Winona the business was under the name of E. B. Strong <fe Co., and the concern operated all of the Chicago & North- Western elevator lines as far west as Sleepy Ej'e, having the business of what is now the Marfield Elevator Company, the McNeill Grain Company and the Winona Mill Company. At Winona as high as two million bushels of grain were bandied in some seasons. This firm also had an extensive river trade, extending from Cassville, near Dubuque, and including all points north to the first town below St. Paul. Mr. Strong had previously been employed in buying grain at Biovvnsville, near La Crosse. He was afterward called upon to take charge of the business in Winona, and soon became a partner, but when the first year was over he withdrew, although the name of E. B. Strong <k Co. was retained and he continued an employe. In 1878 he went to Chicago, and the business was then carried on b- Mr. Reynolds until 1881, when it was transferred to Dubuque, and became the business of the E. M. Dickey Company, which handled a large line of elevators on the Illinois Central. Mr. Dickey had been superintendent of the boat line, and had formerly been connected with Mr. Reynolds in the grain business at points below Dubuque.

In other business relations Mr. Rejnolds was also found. He was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, and one of the successful operators on the same. In 1867 he started the "Diamond Jo" line of steamers, in order to secure better transportation for his grain. At first he only hauled grain down the river, but soon started an agent in Chicago to solicit consignments of goods to take up the stream, and the result was very successful. He had five regular passenger and freight boats, valued at about $100,000, besides about thirty barges, costing $4,- 000 each, with a capacity of from eight to twelve thousand bushels of grain. In later years nearly all of the grain was handled in bulk. About $350,- 000 was invested in the steamboat business, and employment was furnished to from five hundred to six hundred men. E. M. Dickey' served as Superintendent, and is the present manager of the Reynolds estate, which continues the steamboat business, but has recently closed out the line of elevators to the O'Neill Grain Company. Mr. Reynolds always gave his personal attention to both the steamer line and grain business. He made Chicago his headquarters, but was usually on the river or visiting the points where he had elevators or bought grain. He also attended personally to sales in Chicago, so that the entire business was under his supervision.

About 1876 Mr. Reynolds became interested in mines in Georgetown, Colo., but that venture did not prove a success. Later he became a stockholder in mines at Leadville, and there won back all that he had lost in mining ventures. He afterward met a mine-owner in a hotel in St. Louis and bought a mine in Arizona, for which he paid $50,000, but it proved to be a salted one and he lost it all. He then purchased the Congress Mine, a group of eight mines at Congress, Ariz., and incorporated the Congress Gold Mining Company, with a capital stock of 1600,000. He put in about $350,000, but this was all reimbursed to him, and the mines have recently been sold for $1,000,000. The steamboat business having proved successful, he turned his attention to railroads in 1875. He visited Hot Springs, and finding no road at that place, he secured a charter for building what became the Hot Springs Narrow Gauge Railroad, for a distance of twenty-two miles. This required an investment of $300,000. but proved a great success financially. It was afterward made a regular gauge road, and the capital stock was increased to $600,000, most of which was owned by Mr. Reynolds. During the time of the construction of the road he made his home in Hot Springs. He would carry in a little grip-sack the money with which to pay off all bills, and the Hot Springs Road was probably the only' one whose obligations were promptly met, the road never having any debt of any kind. No man gave more close or careful attention to the details of business.

Some time before his death, Mr. Reynolds sank an artesian well in the beautiful park in McGregor, Iowa, and placed therein a fountain. He always considered McGregor his home. With the Democratic party' he voted, but was never prominent in political affairs. He was reared in the faith of the Society of Friends, and always adhered to its principles. He was undemonstrative, retiring in disposition, and never very talkative. When he suffered loss he would merely remark, "It's tough, boys," and with renewed energy' begin work again.

At the age of about twenty-six Mr. Reynolds wedded Mary Morton, who still survives him. They had one son, Blake, who died of consumption in May, 1890, in his twenty-eighth year. Mr.

Reynolds was fond of a good story and possessed a genial, pleasant nature, which won for him friends wherever he went. For some time lie was in poor health, and in 1891, accompanied by Jay Morton, his brother-in-law, and Marshall Ney Pierce, he started for Arizona, intending to visit his mines at Congress. On the way he was attacked by pneumonia, and was forced to remain in Phcenix, Ariz., for a week. After a two-days drive across the country to Congress he felt quite tired, and the next morning complained of headache, but his illness was serious, and he grew steadily worse until at ten o'clock i>. m. on the 21st of February, 1891, be passed away. His remains were taken back to Chicago, and he was laid to rest in Mt. Hope Cemetery.

Hans Hanson.

As printed in Portrait and biographical record of Winona county, Minnesota. Containing biographical sketches of prominent ... citizens .. (1894). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.