454 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
WILLIAM J. PALMER. 
General Palmer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1836. His 
mother’s name was Jackson, and his descent was English, German and Irish, 
through the lineage of both parents. He was educated for business, and four 
years before the Civil War was employed as the private secretary of J. Edgar 
Thompson, president of the Pennsylvania Railway. He entered the Civil 
War as an officer of a troop of cavalry, becoming colonel and then brigadier- 
general. He served in the army of the Cumberland with General George H. 
Thomas. After the war he resumed employment in connection with railway 
construction and operation. In 1865, as managing director of the Kansas 
Pacific Railway, constructed the last division of that road from Kit Carson to 
Denver, constructing one hundred and fifty miles of road in as many days. 
He then perfected a scheme of building a railway along the base of the 
Rocky Mountains from Denver into Mexico. The Denver and Rio Grande 
Railroad, with its intricate system of lines through the Rocky Mountains, was 
General Palmer’s conception. He was president of the road from 1870 for thir- 
teen years. 
General Palmer founded Colorado Springs, and so organized it that no 
saloon can ever be permitted for the sale of intoxicants. 
General Palmer has been foremost in Colorado business enterprises, and 
a philanthropist, which endears him to every citizen of the State. 
General Palmer has done much to promote the cause of forest perpetu- 
ation, maintaining at his own expense very large areas of natural forest, and 
the planting largely of native coniferous trees in the mountains. He is president 
of the International Society of Arboriculture in which he takes great interest. 
It is a matter of congratulation that General Palmer is still in excellent 
health with a prospect of many years of life with continued opportunities for 
doing great good. 
