Background
Reed, Verner Zevola was born on October 13, 1863 in Richland County, Ohio, United States. Son of Hugh Fulton and Elizabeth Amanda (Wolfe) Reed.
Reed, Verner Zevola was born on October 13, 1863 in Richland County, Ohio, United States. Son of Hugh Fulton and Elizabeth Amanda (Wolfe) Reed.
Educated country and village schools and 2 terms at Eastern Iowa Normal School.
Business career
He moved to Colorado in 1893. He became one of Colorado"s most important and enterprising pioneers and played an important role in Colorado"s early history and became one of the state"s wealthiest citizens. In the late nineteenth century, he was involved primarily in the gold mining industry that developed around Cripple Creek, Colorado, as well as various silver and copper mining operations in Colorado.
In 1901, he earned a $1 million commission from the sale of Winfield Scott Stratton"s Independence Mine to an English syndicate, and having made his fortune in minerals, he subsequently invested in real estate in and around Colorado Springs, Colorado and through ventures such as the Western Sugar Land Company.
After his return to America in 1913, he continued to expand his fortune with the accumulation of oil fields in Wyoming. Intellectual and political interests
In addition to his business interests, he also made extensive studies of the Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of North America, especially among the Utes and some of the Pueblo tribes.
He was widely known as a lecturer on peace, international politics and kindred subjects. He was author of several books: Lo-To-Kah, Tales Of The Sunland, Adobeland Stories and The Soul Of Paris, and had also contributed essays, editorials and stories to magazines and newspapers nationally.
In 1917, he was one of the original of the Special Mediation Commission appointed by President Woodrow Wilson soon after the United States went to war (World War I) to undertake adjustment of industrial labor trouble.
He is credited with having played a large part in quieting unrest which threatened war preparations. The commission late in 1917, made a trip of many weeks through the West investigating deportations and dissatisfaction in the Arizona copper district, labor troubles on the Pacific Coast, in Colorado, and in Minnesota and Saint Paul, Minnesota, and differences between the Chicago packers and their employees. Subsequently, he took a prominent part in the investigation and settlement of trouble in the Louisiana oil fields.
Personal life
They had three children:
Joseph,
Verner, Junior.
Margery.
He died in Coronado, California on 20 April 1919. He was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery, Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
The Denver Post once cited her as "Colorado"s richest widow".
Member President Wilson’s mediation commission, 1917.
Married Mary Dean Johnson, July 18, 1893.