(Click on picture to view larger image)
"Spokane and The Spokane Country - Pictorial and Biographical - Deluxe Supplement." Vol. II. The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912. (No author listed.) pgs. 228-231.
Many corporate interests have been promoted and stimulated by the
enterprise, business activity and executive ability of Fred H. Oliver, who is
now largely engaged in the development and sale of mining prop-erties and is
an officer in a number of mining companies. His life record had its beginning
in New York state on the 27th of April, 1862. He is one of a family of seven
children, having one brother and five sisters. His parents were William H. and
Elizabeth (Shaw) Oliver, both of whom were born in Maine. Both were of English
descent and belonged to families that were represented in the Continental army
during the Revolutionary war. The mother died in 1881 but the father still
survives and now makes his home in Spokane. Of their children Frank G. is now
a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the five sisters are: Mrs. F. E.
Snodgrass, of Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Paul Brown, of Portland; Mrs.
George Beystone, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Mrs. Fannie Devitt, of Denver,
Colorado; and Mrs. F. R. Fiske, the wife of Dr. Fiske, of Spokane.
The youthful days of Fred H. Oliver were passed in Eau Claire, where
he passed through consecutive grades in the common schools and became a
high-school pupil. He entered business life in connection with lumber
interests in California, whither he went in 1879, and there was connected with
the lumber trade until 1882, when he removed to Spokane. He was here engaged
in mining until 1888 at which time he was appointed Chinese inspector and
served for two years. The next office to which he was called was that of
deputy United States marshal, in which he also served for two years, and later
he was appointed state road commissioner by Governor McGraw and served for two
years. Since his retirement therefrom he has been connected with mining
interests, devoting his time to both the development and sale of mining
properties. He is largely interested in British Columbia, Ontario, Canada, and
in southern Oregon properties, and as an official has voice in the management
of a number of these. He is president of the Salmon River Gold Mining &
Milling Company of British Columbia, is president of the Fairview Copper
Mining Company of Ontario; president of the Big Four Development Company of
Nevada; president of the Southern Oregon Water Power Company, of southern
Oregon; and also has many other mining interests. The Fairview Copper Mining
Company has its property twenty-five miles from the silver camp of Cobalt in
northern Ontario. They have a body of copper ore carrying three per cent
copper and heavy excess of iron, together with eight-tenths of one per cent
nickel. It is being developed by diamond drilling and they have already gone
down four thousand feet with diamond drills and have reached a depth of
fourteen hundred feet. The plant of the Southern Oregon Water Power Company
lies in Lake county, Oregon, five miles from the California line. The minimum
horse power it is proposed to develop is twenty-one hundred and the maximum is
twenty-six thousand. They hope to have the first three units of seven hundred
horse power each in operation in the latter part of 1912. They can thus
dispose of this at Lakeview and other small towns of that district. It is
presumed that a great deal of the power will be used in pumping. The company
is incorporated for three hundred thousand dollars under the laws of the state
of Washington with head offices in Spo-kane. The officers are: F. H. Oliver,
president; Dr. F. R. Fiske, secretary-treasurer; with Dayton H. Stewart,
George McDonald, of Coulee City, and M. R. Jennings, of Edmonton, Alberta, as
directors.
In his political views Mr. Oliver is a republican and has been an
active party worker in Spokane and Stevens county, but the importance of his
business interests precludes personal activity along that line. He has
represented his party in both county and state conventions, was a member of
the first state convention at Walla Walla and served on the Stevens county
central committee. His fraternal relations are with the Elks Lodge, No. 228.
On the 13th of May, 1891, Mr. Oliver was united in marriage to Miss
Elizabeth McCallum, a daughter of D. W. McCallum, of Mendocino county,
California, who was one of the pioneers of that state and is now representing
his district in the general assembly. His parents were Canadians of English
descent. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver have two daughters, Mildred and Margaret, who are
both students in the high school. The family is well known socially and their
circle of friends is an extensive one. Mr. Oliver is a splendid representative
of that class of citizens who find in the conditions of the west the broader
opportunities that call forth enterprise and determination. He recog-nizes the
chances for the progressive business man to develop the country and utilize
its splendid natural resources and he is taking his part in this work which
promises good results both to the individual and to the communities in which
his activities are called forth.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton
* * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individuals featured in the biographies.