More to the Story: Hartwell Preston Glidden

Introduction

We’d like to share what we learned while studying the the newly released 1931 Canadian Census. It’s about a man named Hartwell Preston Glidden, a prospector who came to Cobalt around 1907. He stayed for a few years, joined the gold rush to the Porcupine long enough to earn himself a verse in the Porcupine Song, and then returned home to the United States. He later went on to considerable success in the Oklahoma oilfields.

This is not meant to be a full account of Glidden’s life. We touch only briefly on his family and his business pursuits. His story while in Cobalt is not unique. People from all over the world came to the silver camp in the early days, looking for opportunties. Some succeeded, many did not.

But not only did we learn about Glidden and two other men who were his business associates, our research revealed surprising new information about West Cobalt in Coleman Township.

What follows may help other researchers with their family stories. And, we hope, it will inform and entertain. 

Glidden name raises questions

When you read the entries of the 1931 Census, you will see that the addresses for the homes are recorded as the name of the mine site nearest to their dwelling – Silver Leaf, Nipissing, LaRose, and so on. 

We encountered a mine name that we hadn’t heard before: Glidden. This was near Clear Lake, in the West Cobalt portion of Coleman Township.

There was a Glidden Mine? Who was this Glidden person? Was there a connection to the Glidden Paint and Varnish empire?

Judging from the map below, apparently, yes, there was a mine. But we could find no other information, anywhere.

The search was on! In the story that follows, we answer those questions, and then some!

Glidden before Cobalt

Born in Ohio, December 13, 1867, H. P. Glidden married sixteen-year-old Nancy Sabrina Dolloff in Springfield, Michigan, on September 20, 1887. The couple had six children. The family lived in the village of Fife Lake, Michigan in 1900 where Glidden worked in real estate. He was also a board member of the Hollow Wall Machine Co., of the same place.  

Glidden arrived in Canada in 1905. This was two years after the discovery of silver. Whether he came as far north as Cobalt at that time is unknown, but in 1907, H.P. Glidden of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was Vice President of The Cobalt Bullion Mines.

The Cobalt Bullion Mines

The Coleman Township property was located directly west of the Glidden claim, east of Clear Lake. The owners promoted the company on the fact that it was close to other successful mines, and within a fifteen-minute walk of the train station. Both are attractive features for a prospective mine, certainly, but was there ore? Since there were no initial reports of actual silver, we are inclined to label this a “wildcat”.  That is, a property that has the potential to be a producing mine, but work has not yet been done to prove it. The editors of the National Post felt the same way. They warned investors that the Cobalt Bullion Silver Mines is a promotion which appears to have been one among many others that foisted itself on the public [and] nothing material has been heard by the shareholders since they contributed their money.

In 1909, the company reported nothing of value in the results of diamond drilling. After that point, the Cobalt Bullion name no longer appeared in the media. 

Glidden’s life in the Town of Cobalt

However, Glidden’s name appeared frequently, not only in mining news, but in community events as well. He was VP of the Cobalt Hockey League, he sat on the planning committee for the 1910 drilling contest, he broke records at the bowling alley, and refereed boxing matches “in his usual capable way.”

Richard Glidden lived in a boarding house at 23 Cobalt Street, according to the 1911 Census. His occupation was recorded as “income”.

The Gillies Limit and the Porcupine

Glidden was one of the first into the Gillies Limit when it was opened for staking in 1909, acting as an agent for wealthy mine owners such as McMartin and M.J. O’Brien. During the gold rush to the Porcupine that year, he accompanied the O’Brien team of prospectors. Fun fact: Dick Glidden was so well-known that he was assigned a verse in the Porcupine song. After 1911, we find no further mention of his name in mining reports or the newspapers, except that in 1914, he came to visit Cobalt from his home in Toronto.

Back to the Glidden Claim by Clear Lake

But what about that second claim in West Cobalt, east of the Cobalt Bullion Mine property by Clear Lake? As mentioned at the start, we could find no reference to a mine or prospect that was named for Glidden. Then we turned to Peter Fancy for clues – in his work on the Gillies Limit, he made two brief references to the Glidden Townsite, in West Cobalt.

A townsite?! Now that was news to many of the local historians. Then we asked Coleman Township CAO, Chris Oslund. Yes, he said, the Glidden subdivision was the first to be surveyed (1908) and registered (February 5, 1909.)

Now, it was beginning to make sense! Recalling his work in real estate at Fife Lake, Michigan, Glidden had experience in brokering land deals, and promoting his properties. Both skills would have been handy when he promoted his mining claims.

Speculating about the land speculator

By the time Glidden arrived in the area, all of the ore-bearing land had been staked and mines were already in production. He acquired the only land that was available: barren “moose pasture” or swamp. We have no information about Glidden’s education, or his expertise in geology, mining, or land speculation before he came to Cobalt. But we can’t help wondering: did he know what he was doing, staking claims and developing land in West Cobalt? 

A theory: perhaps Glidden was as naïvely optimistic and as inexperienced as most of the other people when it came to staking and promoting a venture. With the hopeful spirit of the times, he and his associates formed the Cobalt Bullion Mines Company. Anticipating a working mine, he surveyed the Glidden subdivision so that people who worked at the mine could live next door. Who wouldn’t want one of those Lakeshore Road properties?

An alternate theory: Glidden was most interested in selling shares and mining the silver in people’s bank accounts, whether or not his mine and subdivision projects were successful.

Loose ends

Before we follow Glidden from the silver and gold fields of Northern Ontario to the oilfields of the southern United States, let’s tie up a couple of loose ends.

What happened to his family, back in Michigan? The 1910 US Census reveals that wife Nancy and three children lived in Detroit. Sadly, the other Glidden offspring had died by this time. Mrs. Glidden worked as a stenographer for a publishing firm, and her marital status was divorced. When she died in 1950, she was living with her son Orris Glidden.

As for any connection to the Glidden Paint and Varnish empire, Hartwell P. Glidden was remotely related. Francis Harrington Glidden, the founder of Glidden Paint, is 7^th generation Glidden, while our man of the Porcupine Song, is 9^th. They both descend, in separate lineage, from 3^rd generation Joseph Glidden.

Glidden returns to the United States

We lose track of Glidden for a few years after that 1914 visit to Cobalt. Then his name began to appear again in the business section of the newspapers, first in 1917, in El Dorado, Kansas, where he was a developer with a realty company.

Samuel Davenport Madden 1844 – 1929 

At this point in the story, we discover another early Cobalt man, Samuel Davenport Madden. Like Glidden he first arrived in the silver camp around 1907. His name was frequently associated with diamond drilling operations, notably on the Little Nipissing property, where he discovered a healthy vein of ore.

His mining career parallels Glidden’s in that he worked properties near Clear Lake and in the Gillies Timber Limit.  Madden owned multiple leases next to the productive silver area. But apart from the Little Nipissing, these properties were barren, if not outright scams. A prime example was the Silver Bird Mine. In his 1910 book, HP Davis wrote, The Silver Bird is one of the most notorious of the Cobalt wild cats. There is no rock exposure on the property, and while the diamond drilling may possibly locate ore the result is very doubtful.

Like Glidden, Madden “optimistically” promoted his projects. The Lucky Star Mine, one of a suite of non-performers, was located at Loon Lake, out near present-day Portage Bay. Madden declared that the mine would soon be “a shipper,” simply because drilling was about to start.

Glidden’s name never appeared in the same news story as Madden’s, but they would have been familiar with one another. Since Madden was an “expert” in diamond drilling, perhaps he competed in that 1910 drilling contest that Glidden helped organize.

Madden’s home base was Detroit. He roamed the continent chasing opportunities – in 1895 he owned land in Lambton County, Ontario, and the tax assessment indicates he was an “oilman.” In 1903, he and his associates in Detroit formed The American Mineral Devleopment Co. As reported in the Detroit Free Press, the company planned to buy, sell, and lease mineral and oil lands. Madden was vice chariman. He lived in Toronto in 1911, and told the census taker that he was a mine promoter. In 1917, he was in El Dorado, Kansas. He and his partner formed a realty company called Madden and Glidden Builders. In 1917, Sam Madden went home to Detroit for Christmas. It appears he did not return to work with Glidden.

Glidden the oil magnate

A February 1919 news report from Abilene, Kansas describes Glidden’s new job title as “oil magnate.”

OVER ONE HUNDRED OIL LEASES

H.P. Glidden, a prominent oil man who is heavily interested in El Dorado productions, is in the city today. Mr. Glidden is the man who has been making wholesale purchases of oil leases in North Dickinson and Clay counties. He has filed over 100 leases that he has secured from Dickinson farmers with the County Register of Deeds.

It is not known what company Mr. Glidden represents as all his business is transacted in his own name. However, someone is evidently optimistic in regard to the oil outlook in this vicinity and the oil magnate may be laying the foundations for future gushers.

Glidden strikes it rich

By the end of 1919, Glidden worked for the St Clair Oil Company, securing property for their oil rigs. Then Glidden moved from Kansas to Oklahoma working as an independent with his partner, a geologist named Munn. They sold a property near the Tulsa country club. The deal was worth $990 thousand. Adjusted for inflation, that’s and eye-popping US $18 million in 2023 values.

The Glidden Oil Corporation was launched in 1924. In 1928, the oilman was named to the board of directors of the Producers National Bank, and in September 1930, he sat on the board of the Fourth National Bank of Tulsa.

With the exception of the human-interest story shown in the photo above, we could find no mention of the oilman’s name in the society pages. Glidden lived in a penthouse suite, in Tulsa’s oil district. He shared the space with the Vice President of Glidden Oil, John C. Stevenson.

John Cameron Stevenson – a third connection to Cobalt

Also connected to Cobalt, and originally from Arnprior, John Cameron Stevenson was a founding member of the Cobalt Masonic Lodge and his occupation was broker. He was a director of the City of Cobalt Mine, along with Mayor H. H. Lang. The two men also had interests in the Langham property in Elk Lake. Later, in 1922, Stevenson was on the board of the Mikado Gold Mine up near Kenora.

Compared to Glidden and Madden, Stephenson’s name was rarely in mining news during his life. However, the details of his sudden death in 1932 merited coverage in several newspapers. It was through the obituaries that we learned that he was Vice President of the Leplant-Porcupine Mine. Unfortunately, we are unable to find more information about this operation.

Glidden’s final years

After the rush of the roaring twenties and Glidden’s financial success, news of the businessman falls silent. Though his bank survived the depression years of the 1930s, we do not know what impact the downturn had on Glidden’s personal fortunes. Perhaps it was the loss of his business partner combined with economic difficulties that persuaded him to retire in 1932.

Hartwell Preston “Dick” Glidden died of heart disease, May 11, 1942. The place of death  was 2996 Seyburn, Detroit, the home off his daughter, Nancy Marie “Rye” Glidden and her husband Grant Ingram. Their 14 year-old- son was named for his grandfather.

Resources

• newspapers.com
• Horatio Claude Barber definition of wildcat 
• Peter Fancy’s Gillies Depot A Temiskaming Journal
• Ancestry.com
• Coleman Township, Chris Oslund, CAO
• Fish online for satellite image
• Porcupine Advance Our Ontario
• H.P. Davis The Davis Handbook of the Cobalt Silver District 1910

Special thanks to a descendant of H.P. Glidden who provided the photos of the former prospector and oil man. She wrote, “Hartwell (Dick) is my Mother’s grandfather and Oris Verne Glidden was her father. She is 93 next week but remembers him giving her silver dollars as a child.”