William David Arnett
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle County Blade page 1 - September 12, 1907
It is with sincere regret that The Blade this week chronicles the death of one of its best friends and a good man--William David Arnett. Mr. Arnett has been slowly going the way of all flesh through the advance of years, and for some months had been in feeble health. He died on September 9th, 1907, at St. Joseph's hospital in Denver. The funeral will occur today at 2 o'clock with interment at Fairmount cemetery.
A detailed sketch of this man's eventful and useful life would fill several columns of this paper, and at this time is necessarily curtailed, although at a later date we hope to be able to devote more space to it.
William David Arnett was born on the frontier of Ohio on November 6th, 1825. His parents were poor and his father died when William was a small boy. He never went to school until nineteen years of age, and then only for a few weeks. Yet by his own effort he secured sufficient education so that he taught a district school, supporting his widowed mother meanwhile.
He afterward learned the carpenter's trade and when proficient worked on the capitol building and other prominent buildings of Washington, D.C. On returning to Ohio he located at Xenia and went into the railroad shops at that place. He soon became very proficient in this line and rapidly rose to the position of manager of the road. Following this he went to the New York Central railroad and for several years had charge of its shops. Later he went to the Chicago & Northwestern with headquarters in Chicago, having general supervision of the rolling stock of the road. At the time of his death he carried a life pass issued by the Chicago & Northwestern.
In 1855 he came to Denver and located a ranch on Beaver creek, near the present site of Wolhurst. About 1859 he went to Central City with the first mining excitement and constructed a large placer mining and irrigation ditch for a company. Later, for himself, he erected the first stamp mill installed at Central City, hauling the machinery by wagon from the Missouri river. In 1879 he came to Red Cliff and laid out the original townsite. It was he who in the early days built the surface tramway on the Anglo American mine on Horn Silver mountain. During the '90s he was in Idaho where he had charge as superintendent of the construction of a number of irrigation works. He was a close friend of the late Governor Stuenberg and other prominent men of that state. About 1900 he returned to Red Cliff and has resided here since that time engaged in prospecting and developing his mining property.
Mr. Arnett was at one time prominent in the political affairs of the state. He took a leading part in the constitutional convention and a short time after the adoption of the constitution. He was a candidate for United States senator against the late Jerome B. Chafee, who defeated him.
During his lifetime he had considerable valuable property but at the time of his death, he was in straitened circumstances. In this district he owned some patented and some unpatented mining claims which are undeveloped and unproductive. He leaves a son and daughter who reside at Reno, Nevada.
The funeral was held under the auspices of the Masonic lodge of which deceased was a member.
