James Benton Grant

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder James Benton Grant (January 2, 1848 – November 1, 1911) was an American mining magnate, mining engineer, Confederate Army soldier who served as the third Governor of Colorado from 1883 to 1885 before dying in 1911.

Early life, American Civil War, and education

Grant was born on January 2, 1848, on a plantation in Russell County, Alabama.<ref name="State Archives">Template:Cite web</ref> Prior to the American Civil War, Grant's family owned a plantation.<ref name="Noel1">Template:Cite web</ref> At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Grant enlisted as a private in the 20th Alabama Light Artillery regiment in the Confederate Army.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

While his immediate family was financially destroyed after the American Civil War, a wealthy uncle of Grant's who lived in Davenport, Iowa, paid for Grant's secondary education.<ref name="Noel1"/><ref name="CVL1">Template:Cite web</ref> After the war, Grant attended what is now Iowa State University for two years and then transferred to Cornell University, which he attended from 1873 to 1874.<ref name="cannon"/><ref name="State Archives"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="CVL1"/> He then attended Germany's Freiberg University of Mining, which was, at the time, one of the leading schools in the world for mineral engineering.<ref name="Noel1"/><ref name="cannon"/> There, he studied metallurgy.<ref name="National Governors Association">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="CVL1"/> Grant then worked in the mines of Austria to gain practical mining experience before returning to the United States two years later.<ref name="Noel1"/>

Colorado life

Early years

Returning to the United States, he first settled briefly in the Colorado town of Central City.<ref name="CVL1"/> In either 1877 or 1878, Grant moved to the newly founded Colorado town of Leadville.<ref name="State Archives"/><ref name="cannon">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Noel1"/> He started his career as a metallurgic engineer and smelting magnate there. In Leadville, Grant constructed the Template:Convert tall Grant Smelter stack, which was at the time of its completion the third largest smelter in the world and the tallest in the United States.<ref name="Noel1"/><ref name="cannon"/> Grant was also involved in the construction of the Template:Convert long Yak Tunnel, which facilitated deep mining.<ref name="cannon"/>

In Leadville, Grant married into the Goodell family, esteemed in Colorado, by marrying the young Mary Goodell, the daughter of Roswell Eaton Goodell and granddaughter of former Illinois governor Joel Aldrich Matteson.<ref name="Noel1"/><ref name="cannon"/> The two wed in Leadville's newly built St. George's Episcopal Church. The ceremony was presided over by James J. Mackay. The wedding was a major social event in the community, and was the newly opened church's first-ever wedding ceremony. After the wedding ceremony, a small reception was held at her family's home. The following day, a larger reception took place at Denver's Windsor Hotel. The couple left for their honeymoon in San Francisco soon after.<ref name="cannon"/>

After the Grant Smelter was lost in a fire in 1882, Grant and his wife relocated to Denver, where Grant relocated his business and built a new smelter under the name Omaha and Grant.<ref name="cannon"/><ref name="State Archives"/><ref name="CVL1"/> It was believed to the largest smelter in the world at the time.<ref name="CVL1"/> Its Template:Convert tall smokestack, completed in 1892, stood for decades as one of the most recognizable landmarks in Denver's skyline until its 1950 demolition.<ref name="CVL1"/> The site of this smelter was near where the Denver Coliseum sits today.<ref name="State Archives"/><ref name="CVL1"/> Denver had economic and rail transportation advantages.<ref name="State Archives"/> The Grants’ move to Denver likely also was related to James' ambitions to run for governor of Colorado.<ref name="cannon"/>

Governorship

Grant ran as the Democratic Party nominee in the 1882 Colorado gubernatorial election.<ref name="Noel1"/> Grant was never very interested in politics. However, he was urged by Democrats to run, and agreed to.<ref name="CVL1"/> At the time, Colorado was seen as a Republican Party stronghold due to the fact that most individuals that had moved there were northerners who had supported the Union Army's cause in the American Civil War. This made Grant an underdog in the election.<ref name="CVL1"/> Grant benefited from a major divide that year in the state’s Republican Party, as well as his marriage into a prominent family and his ever-increasing notability as a successful smelting businessman.<ref name="Noel1"/> He won on the election, becoming the first Democrat to win a Colorado gubernatorial election in the state's young history.<ref name="Noel1"/><ref name="State Archives"/>

On January 9, 1883, Grant was inaugurated as governor. He was the state's first Democratic Party governor.<ref name="cannon"/><ref name="National Governors Association"/><ref name="CVL1"/> Grant, having been only a week past his 35th birthday at the time of his inauguration, remains the youngest governor to serve after Colorado's statehood, and the second-youngest ever governor of Colorado, after only territorial governor Edward McCook.<ref name="CVL1"/> As governor, he worked to expand the state's mining industry and its commerce.<ref name="State Archives"/><ref name="NGA1"/> Many mines opened in the state's southwestern portion during his governorship, especially in the "Gunnison Country" area that was formerly a part of the Ute Indian reservation.<ref name="State Archives"/> Mining growth and other factors led to a prosperous economy during his governorship.<ref name="CVL1"/> Grant also proposed the bill which authorized the construction of the Colorado State Capitol.<ref name="State Archives"/> Grant also succeeded in achieving his priority of extending the length of the legislative session of Colorado s state legislature.<ref name="CVL1"/>

During his governorship, Grant and his wife had their first child, son Lester Eames, on March 21, 1884.<ref name="cannon"/>

Grant, still not very interested in politics, declined to seek reelection in the 1884 Colorado gubernatorial election.<ref name="CVL1"/>

Post-governorship

Grant and his wife remained major society figures after he left office as governor, and he remained a major industry figure.<ref name="Noel1"/> Grant became a major figure in finance and industry of the Western United States. Grant also served eight years as the president of the Denver Board of Education from 1892 to 1897.<ref name="cannon"/><ref name="State Archives"/><ref name="NGA1">Template:Cite web</ref> He also helped organize the creation of the Denver National Bank and served tenures as a member of the board of directors and as its vice-president.<ref name="State Archives"/><ref name="CVL1"/> and was involved in the founding of the Colorado Women’s College.<ref name="cannon"/> He was involved in organizing the Colorado Scientific Society.<ref name="NGA1"/>

On May 6, 1888, the Grants had their second and final child, son James Jr.<ref name="cannon"/>

By 1900, Grant's Denver smelter had produced $130 million of gold, silver, and lead.<ref name="CVL1"/> In 1899, Grant's smelting business interests were merged with the newly founded American Smelting and Refining Company. Grant continued to earn profits from his investment in mining and ore-processing facilities across Colorado.<ref name="Noel1"/>

In 1902, the Grants completed construction on and moved into an elaborate house now known as the Grant-Humphreys Mansion.<ref name="Noel1"/><ref name="cannon"/> While his wife would entertain extensively at the residence, Grant himself receded from business and the social scene after his heart attack that year, instead spending much of the rest of his life concentrating on pleasurable outdoor activities such as the ranching on his ranch in Littleton, Colorado, as well as hunting and fishing.<ref name="cannon"/>

Grant died of heart disease on November 1, 1911, in Excelsior Springs, Missouri.<ref name="cannon"/><ref name="State Archives"/><ref name="CVL1"/> He is buried at Denver's Fairmount Cemetery, and his wife was later buried beside him after her 1941 death.<ref name="cannon"/><ref name="State Archives"/>

See also

• Politics of the United States
• Politics of Colorado