History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

763 COMMERCE AND COMMUNICATION.
At this date there were some fifty insurance agencies
having business with Salt Lake City and Ogden,
their risks on buildings amounting to $500,000, and
on merchandise in stock to $3,500,000. 36
Thus with her 1,143 miles of railroad, her agricultural
and stock-raising interests, now valued at $12,-
000,000 a year, her manufactures at $5,000,000, her
mining output at $7,000,000 or $8,000,000, her commerce
at $23,000,000, and her seventeen national and
commercial banks, it will be seen that Utah compares
1872, with a capital of $200,000, and with the same directors and officials, its
deposits in 18S0 being about $500,000. The Walker Bros' bank was established
in 1871, the firm having at that date large deposits of cash and bullion
to their credit, notwithstanding the losses caused by the cooperative movement
and by the opposition of the church dignitaries. Walker's Merchants
and Miners of Utah, MS., 4. The remaining banks at S. L. City in 1S73
were those of Jones & Co. , McCornick & Co. , Wells, Fargo, & Co. , and the
Zion's Savings Bank, the last having a capital of $50,000, and of which John
Taylor was president.
The Ogden banks were the Commercial National Bank, the Utah National
Bank of Ogden, and the First National, of which last H. S. Eldredge was
president in 1S85. The business of the Commercial National was purchased
from J. M. Langsdorf and H. O. Harkness, the former organizing the firm
of J. W. Guthrie & Co. at Corinne in 1874. J. M. Langsdorf, a native of
Pittsburg, Pa, came to Utah in 18G9. His first occupation was to sweep
out the bank at Corinne, of which he was soon made book-keeper, and afterward
manager. Langsdorfs Stock-raising in Weber Co., MS. Guthrie & Co.'s
business afterward fell into the hands of R. M. Dooly, by whom the Utah
National Bank of Ogden was organized in 1S83. Dooly, a native of 111., came
to Cal. in 1S72, removing to Utah the following year, and being employed by
Wells, Fargo, & Co. until Oct. 1SS1. In 1878 he was married to Mary Eliza
Helfrich, a native of Grass Valley, Cal. Dooly's Ogden Banks, MS. Among
the bankers of Ogden may also be mentioned Watson N. Shilling, a native of
Ohio, where he was born in 1840. Removing to Michigan when he was
twelve years of age, he enlisted in 1S61 in the 1st Michigan cavalry, serving
throughout the war, and being mustered out, in 1S65, at Fort Collins, Col.
Two years later he proceeded to Oneida co., Id., where he engaged in farming,
trading, and stock-raising, and where in 1884 he still retained his interests,
his residence in Ogden being mainly with a view to the education of his
family. In 1SS3 he was a delegate to the national republican convention,
throwing in his influence to secure the nomination of Blaine. Utah Biog.
Sketches, MS., 56. The Logan banks were those of Charles Frank and
Thatcher Bros & Co., the latter having a capital of $75,000. The bank at
Provo was named the First National, its capital being $50,000, with A. O.
Smoot as president; the one at St George was conducted by Woolley, Lund,
& Judd; the one at Richfield by Jas M. Peterson; and the one at Silver Reef
by R. T. Gillespie. For further particulars concerning Utah banks, see
Tullidge's Mag., i. 522-3; House Ex. Doc, 4Gth Cong. 3d Sess., cxciii. 713;
Deserct Xeivs, Nov. 6, 1S72, Aug. 27, 1873; S. L. C. Tribune, Jan. 11, 1873;
S. F. Post, Aug. 9, Oct. 21, 1873; S. F. Chronicle, July 17, 1877; Silver Reef
Miner, Jan. 21, 1S83.
36 Alex. Daul of Ogden opened the first fire-insurance agency in Utah.
Mr Daul, a native of Germany, came to the U. S. in 1862, and on arriving at
S. L. City was for the most part employed as a missionary until 1873.