Northwest Equipment Co. of Minnesota issued to and signed by Charles W. Wetmore For Sale

Stock issued to and signed on the back by Charles W. Wetmore. Named for one of the financial backers of American Steel Barge, Charles W. Wetmore became the first whaleback to operate outside the Great Lakes. Also signed by Colgate Hoyt as president. Colgate Hoyt (1849-1922), banker, born in Cleveland, Ohio, March 2, 1849, is a son of James M. Hoyt, a lawyer and man of high position. The young man attended Phillips Academy, Andover, but, owing to the failure of his sight, left school at the end of the first year. He then secured a place in a hardware store in Cleveland, rose by his own merit, and finally joined his father in real estate operations, becoming himself the owner of desirable properties. During 1877-81, he engaged in loans of money on real estate security. In May, 1881, he removed to New York City to become a partner in the banking and bullion firm of J. B. Colgate & Co. He made his way here with marked success and remained an active member until the death of Mr. Trevor, in 1890. Banking soon led him into intimate relations with large corporations. A government director of The Union Pacific Railroad, 1882-84, he was thereafter a company director but resigned several years later. In 1884, he joined Charles L. Colby and Edwin H. Abbott in The Wisconsin Central Railroad enterprise, these three men becoming trustees of the entire stock of the corporation, and building a road to St. Paul and one from near Milwaukee to Chicago, thus making The Wisconsin Central a through line from Chicago to St. Paul and Milwaukee. They also built The Chicago & Northern Pacific Railroad as a terminal, with splendid passenger stations in Chicago. Mr. Hoyt has also been a director and active spirit in The Oregon Railway & Navigation Co., The Northern Pacific Railroad, and The Oregon & Transcontinental Co., and in 1890 reorganized the latter as The North America Co., with entire success, and under trying circumstances. The American Steel Barge Co., whose shipyard and docks are at West Superior, Wisconsin, is the creation of Mr. Hoyt, who bought the whaleback patents of Capt. Alex. McDougall in 1888, organized the company with a capital $500,000, becoming its president and treasurer, and has since employed about 1,500 men and constructed about thirty whalebacks and other vessels of importance. Another of his enterprises is The Spanish-American Iron Co., of which he is an organizer and treasurer, which, with a capital of $5,000,000, is working the Lola group of iron mines in Cuba. Mr. Hoyt was prominent socially, and was a member of the Metropolitan, Union League, Lawyers, Riding, Fencers, Country, Oyster Bay Yacht, Larchmont Yacht and Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht clubs, and The Ohio Socity. In 1873, he married Lida W. Sherman, daughter of Judge Charles T. Sherman, and a niece of Gen. William T. Sherman. They have four children living. Item ordered may not be exact piece shown. All original and authentic.