One of a series of caches recognizing figures from Pueblo's early days.
William J. Palmer was born in Delaware and grew up in Pennsylvania. He studied engineering in England and France and worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad. During the Civil War he served as a Colonel in the Union Army, was captured by the Confederates and imprisoned as a spy. After the war he returned to railroad work and was sent west to manage the construction of the Kansas Pacific Railroad; after that line was completed, he started his own railroad, the Denver & Rio Grande, which he routed through Pueblo. Seeing the need for a source of steel for rails, he started Colorado Coal and Iron Company's steel mill south of Pueblo. Palmer founded the city of Colorado Springs and lived there until his death in 1909.
Most of the information to create this series came from the following three books: Pueblo, an Illustrated History by Eleanor Fry & Ione Miller. 2001. Heritage Media Corp. Carlsbad, CA Pueblo, a Pictorial History by Joanne West Dodds. 1982. The Donning Company/Publishers. Norfolk, VA They All Came to Pueblo: a Social History by Joanne West Dodds. 1994. The Donning Company/Publishers. Virginia Beach, VA
Supplemented by various internet sources.
William Palmer
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