WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
ENOS ANDREW WALL
(miner, freighter, philanthropist)
BIOGRAPHY
Enos Andrew Wall was born June 21, 1839 in Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana.Enos started his mining career in Colorado in 1860, then went to Montana in 1863, where he was a gold miner, but also had a general freighting and trading business.
In 1868, he went to Utah, where he lived for fourteen years. His freighting trips to Utah allowed him contact with the ore discoveries in Silver Reef, and he was able to exploit them to make one of his fortunes. In 1879, Enos was the foreman and owner of the Kinner Mine at Buckeye Reef in Silver Reef. This mine was privately and locally owned, compared to the Christy Mine which was under San Francisco management, and the Barbee & Walker Mine which was under New York control. The abundance of ore at the Kinner Mine was described as going "straight down to hell".
In 1969, Captain H. S. Lubbock brought suit to dispossess Enos of the Kinner Mine. Pending a final decision in the litigation before the court in Beaver, the court issued an order to close the mine. Enos hired Jack Truby to guard the mine until otherwise notified. When Deputy Sheriff John Diamond attempted to enter the mine to serve papers, Truby stopped him and said, "We will obey the order of the court but you have no authority to enter the mine. Get off and stay off." That evening, Truby and Diamond traded gunshots until they were both dead. There must have been others who got involved, since some of the bullets in the two men were of different caliber than those they were using.
Enos married Mary Frances Mayer in 1879 in Salt Lake City. They were the parents of two sons and eight daughters, but only six lived to adulthood.
Enos provided funds for the Chinese mayor, Sam Wing, to visit kin in China.
By 1880, water was causing a major problem in the mine, forcing Enos to bring in a pump and hoist. He employed about 30 men. He was also involved in some expensive litigation with the Christy Mill on account of some debts he owed. Several court cases ensued.
In 1881, it was proposed that the wages of the miners be reduced to offset costs. Unpaid miners at Silver Reef seized Enos at his Kinner Mine and incarcerated him in the Harrison House. Wall escaped and about forty strikers were arrested and taken to Beaver where they were tried, fined $100, and sentenced to 100 days in jail. Some say that Enos repaid his men later.
In 1882, Wall left for Idaho where he was a mine superintendent and was elected to the territorial legislature. In 1885, her returned to northern Utah and became heavily involved with the development of copper mines. He became rather wealthy and used that wealth as an activist for the public good. Enos was a rich inventor who could summon an engineer or mechanic to transform his ideas into wood or metal. He would then offer the initial model to a client to test, sometimes having to make expensive changes. Others took his ideas without paying any royalty. He endowed the Wall fellowship in metallurgy at the Utah School of Mines. He purchased and renovated a home which eventually became a Jewish Community Center and later the central building of the LDS Business College.
Enos was stricken with partial blindness due to a cancerous affection in the side of his head. He died after on June 20, 1920 in Salt Lake City after a long illness. He was buried in the Masonic plot of Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City. At that point, Mary and the two youngest daughters moved to Los Angeles, and when they passed, Enos was moved to be buried with them in the Cathedral Mausoleum of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
FAMILY
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Enos' Parents and Siblings:
Etheldred Wall Nancy Haines Wall Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx |
(xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married xx/xx/xxxx) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (6/21/1839-6/20/1920) (married Mary Frances Mayer) |
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Mary's Parents and Siblings: Joseph Anton Mayer Catherine Casey Mayer Louise V. Mayer Mary Frances Mayer Andrew Mayer |
(xx/xx/1830-9/8/1897) (married xx/xx/xxxx) (9/15/1837-12/3/1904) (5/4/1861-8/24/1946) (married Xxxxxxx X. Palmer) (6/5/1862-10/22/1921) (married Enos Andrew Wall) (7/24/1868-7/13/1924) (married Josephine Nielsen) |
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Enos & Mary's Family: Enos Andrew Wall Mary Frances Mayer Wall Edgar Reed Wall Frances Idaho Wall Alice Agnes Wall Mary Wall Esther Wall Mattie Four Wall Olive Wall Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx |
(6/21/1839-6/20/1920) (married 3/7/1879) (6/5/1862-10/22/1921) (3/25/1880-1/28/1886) (4/29/1884-9/14/1885) (12/12/1888-12/13/1942) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (5/31/1890-2/26/1946) (married Clarence D. Lang) (9/5/1893-2/26/1897) (10/2/1895-8/15/1904) (10/30/1897-6/11/1961) (married Gunnar Eriksson ) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) (xx/xx/xxxx-xx/xx/xxxx) (married Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx) |
PHOTOS
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REFERENCES
Enos Andrew WallA research report by Elaine Young, PhD.
Col Enos Andrew Wall
Mary Frances Mayer Wall