Background
Samuel Newhouse was born on October 14, 1853 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of Isaac and Babetta Newhouse. His father was a pioneer merchant in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania.
Samuel Newhouse was born on October 14, 1853 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of Isaac and Babetta Newhouse. His father was a pioneer merchant in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania.
Newhouse graduated from the Central High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Samuel read law in Scranton until 1873, when he was appointed clerk of the court in Luzerne County. He served in this capacity until 1879, and then went West, arriving in Leadville, Colorado, at the height of the mining boom. He soon engaged in freighting, which proved so profitable, especially before the railroad reached Leadville, that he accumulated sufficient capital to invest in mining prospects. The Leadville and San Juan districts, the Prussian tunnel in Boulder County, and the region around Idaho Springs, all in Colorado, were fields for his mining ventures.
In 1891 he originated and in 1894 became president of the Denver, Lakewood & Golden Railroad.
Newhouse tunnel, begun in January 1894 and completed in November 1910 is over five miles long, with nearly twenty miles of workings. The mines under which it passes are estimated to have produced gold, silver, lead, and copper to the value of about $75, 000, 000. The tunnel provided cheaper drainage, ventilation, and transportation facilities than would otherwise have been possible, permitted mining at greater depths and the profitable extraction of comparatively low-grade ore. In the driving of this tunnel and in other enterprises Newhouse secured the interest of English capitalists. From 1888 to 1896 he made his headquarters in Denver, but in the latter year removed to Salt Lake City, since his Utah holdings were becoming more important than those in Colorado. In Utah, he opened the Highland Boy mine at Bingham and through its sale made his first large fortune.
In working the property of this concern he used the first steam-shovel ever operated on a copper mine. Upon his pioneer work with this style of mining was subsequently based the success of the great Utah copper mine. He also organized and operated the Newhouse Mines & Smelters, at Newhouse, Beaver County, Utah.
At one time his interests were so widespread that in addition to his headquarters at Salt Lake City he had offices in New York and London.
He retired from business about 1925 because of failing health, and spent the last years of his life in Europe, dying at his château at Marnes La Coquette, Seine et Oise, seven miles from Paris.
Newhouse projected the Argo (more commonly called the Newhouse) tunnel, with portal at Idaho Springs, perhaps the most celebrated mining tunnel in the world. He served as head of the Boston Consolidated Mining Company at Bingham Canyon, which in 1910 was merged into the Utah Copper Company. In 1907 Newhouse introduced modern steel skyscraper construction into Salt Lake City: the Newhouse and Boston buildings and the Newhouse Hotel still stand (1933) as monuments to his memory. He did much to improve and beautify his other property holdings in this city, and was one of the organizers of the National Copper Bank.
On January 1, 1883 he marrtied Ida H. Stingley, daughter of Hiram Stingley of Virginia.
