Page 248 - Cornelius Hedges Story

235 The Cornelius Hedges Story

In Support of a Brother and Friend

One of these three gold miners
(photo 1863), would by the end of the
century, own banks, railroads, timber,
newspapers, sugar, coffee, oil, gold,
silver, and the most profitable copper
mines in the world, and serve as a US
Senator and Grand Master of Masons
in Montana. William Andrews Clark
on the right.565 “There was no lack of
opportunities”, he said, “for those who
were on alert for making money.”
Figure 68. Miners, with W. A. Clark.

William Andrews Clark was born in a log cabin in Pennsylvania
in 1839. He moved to Iowa, where he taught school; while teaching,
studied law at the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant. Clark
enlisted during the Civil War but it’s unclear on which side he served.
Clark moved to Colorado and later to Montana, where he formed a
mining company. He found success in copper, and Clark invested
his earnings into other business ventures to build a mining empire
which grew to include the mills and smelters to process the minerals
he extracted from his own mines. Almost completely self-sufficient,
Clark became tremendously wealthy, and one of the most powerful
men in Montana. Between 1884 and 1888, Clark constructed a 34-
room, Tiffany-decorated home on West Granite Street, incorporating
the most modern inventions available, in Butte, Montana. This home
is now the Copper King Mansion bed-and-breakfast and museum.
When Montana achieved statehood, Clark was determined to win the
newly created office of U.S. Senator. Running as a Democrat, Clark
campaigned head to head against Republican candidate and rival
copper baron Marcus Daly. Each magnate tried to outdo the other
in an attempt to win the office, bribing politicians and purchasing
newspapers to manipulate public opinion and write scandalous,
negative stories about the other. But on December 4, 1899 Clark won
the seat as Montana’s U.S. Senator. Unfortunately for Clark, many
of those in Washington D.C. also were caught up in the struggle
between Clark and Daly, and a resolution was issued to officially
reject his nomination. To avoid the stain of a formal rebuke, Clark
resigned his post on May 15, 1900, before the Senate could adopt the