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Similar modern tale: Wesley Redhead came to Iowa City in its early days, having been a driver on the Erie Canal and a cabin boy on a Mississippi Steamboat. Arr
by JoeAltmaier 4y ago
Similar modern tale: Wesley Redhead came to Iowa City in its early days, having been a driver on the Erie Canal and a cabin boy on a Mississippi Steamboat.
Arrived with nothing (cheated of his money by gamblers on the train, substituted for counterfeit) he worked his way from printer's devil to Postmaster in the capitol of Des Moines (a thankless job back then), sold books from the lobby, became a bookseller, and at his peak sold $600 in books a day (a lot in the 1800's) at affordable prices.
Later the Coal King of Iowa during the Civil war he retired very rich, donated the land for the Iowa State Fairgrounds, donated his house and surrounds for a city park.
- cafard 4y ago> he worked his way from printer's devil to Postmaster in the capitol of Des Moines (a thankless job back then) Postmaster was a patronage job then. Considering how much it was sought after, I wonder just how thankless it could have been.
- JoeAltmaier 4y agoThe folks that got it around here were generally young and promising, but no paying position otherwise. They'd keep it for a year or two, pass it on. These were pioneer days. Low volume, maybe long trips to get mail bags overland. Mail interval in weeks or months.