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 Partie DanrortH 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. 
