178 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



A MASTER OF MEN AND MEASURES 



70. Foremost among the philanthropists and men of big busi- 

 ness in the closing years of the last century in Chicago, occurs 

 the name of PHILIP DANFORTH ARMOUR, founder of Armour and 

 Company, and the Armour Institute. He was born May 16, 1832, 

 at Stockbridge, New York, a farmer descended from a race of 

 Scottish farmers. When the rush for gold in California reached 

 its highest mark, he had reached the age of nineteen. Stories of 

 fabulous wealth obtained by this or that adventurer were recounted 

 in each magazine and journal, and like many others, the ambi- 

 tious youth turned anxious glances toward the west. He finally 

 secured parental consent, and with a few companions left the 

 family homestead to seek the land of the sunset. Although the 

 start was made on foot he had received several hundred dollars 

 from his parents, and in a large measure became the financier of 

 the party. The undertaking was of an almost stupendous nature, 

 one member of the party died, and two lost heart, turning back. 

 At Independence, Kansas, they secured a yoke of oxen and a 

 prairie schooner, and at the end of six months arrived in Cali- 

 fornia. A brief study of conditions convinced the young man 

 that a more certain road to fortune would be found in building 

 sluices than in prospecting for gold. At first he worked as a 

 laborer by himself getting $5.00 a day, or $10.00 when he 

 worked at night. This led to his developing a contract business 

 for sluice construction and he employed numbers of miners who 

 had lost their all in vain searches and who wished to earn money 

 to return home. The business prospered and in five years young 

 ARMOUR had accumulated a few thousand dollars. He thereupon 

 returned to Oneida Co., New York, to invest in a farm, but as he 

 found the young lady in whom he believed himself interested 

 had married another while he was in the west, he started for 

 other parts in which he determined to build a fortune. 



