Otto Mears

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Otto Mears (May 3, 1840 – June 24, 1931) was a popular Colorado railroad builder and entrepreneur who played a major part in the early development of southwestern Colorado.Mears was known as the "Pathfinder of the San Juans" by working on Colorado's San Juan Mountains in the late nineteenth century.

Hundreds of miles of toll roads in Colorado's rough terrain, particularly the Million Dollar Highway over Red Mountain Pass, connecting Silverton to Ouray, was built by the man.

Early life and education

Otto Mears, a boy from Estonia and a British father, was orphaned at age three. He was sent as a youth to live with relatives who had immigrated to the United States, and he sailed to San Francisco at age 11 as an orphan without relatives.

During the Civil War, Mears served in the California Volunteer Infantry. He was forced out in late 1864 and spent time in New Mexico as the head of Gallup Mercantile Co.

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Career

Later in California, Mears worked in the gold fields before settling in Colorado, where he would make his name. He landed in Conejos County, Colorado, but soon moved to Saguache, Colorado, then San Juans.

A wheat farmer in Sathrop, Mears, first built a road over Poncha Pass to gain access to the flour mill at Nathrop, which was on display at the Leadville market. Mears related a tale several times in his life that triggered his decision to become a road builder after a meeting with William Gilpin, Colorado's former Territorial Governor, while struggling to get his flour to market due to the poorly constructed road. He asked for toll road charters for his roads and paved the roads in conformations and at railroad grade. By the Denver and Rio Grande railway, his routes across Poncha Pass and Marshall Pass were purchased for road beds.

During his 91 years, Mears built several railroads, including the Rio Grande Southern Railroad from Durango to Ridgway, the Silverton Railroad, and the Silverton Northern Railroad. Several of his railroads were narrow gauge. Mears issued special railroad passes to dignitaries and friends, allowing them to ride free on any of his trains from 1888 to 1892. Any of these rare passes were made of silver or gold and are now highly coveted collectors' items. A Master List of all of Otto Mears unique passes for the Silverton and Rio Grande Southern Railroad is on view at the San Juan County Historical Society.org under "Mears Passes."

Mears was one of Colorado's three presidential candidates for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876. Mears was elected to the Colorado legislature in the 1880s. The 1893 crisis sunk the value of his investments. He had to sell a lot of land and lost track of his railroad interests.

Mears also migrated to the East Coast and became involved in railroad and manufacturing ventures. The Chesapeake Beach Railway, which ran between Washington, D.C., and southern Maryland, was one of his most profitable railroads on the east coast.

The dome of the Colorado State Capitol building was originally coated in copper. Mears suggested that the dome be coated with gold after the weather marred the copper sheathing. He begged the Colorado Mining Association to donate 200 ounces of gold for the project, and by 1908, the dome's first gilding was complete.

Otto Mears died in Pasadena, California, on June 24, 1931.

He was inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Westerners in 1964.

Mears Peak in the San Juan Mountains has been named after him.

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