Nelson Bennett (Great Grandfather)

Leaving home at age 17 with little formal education, Nelson Bennett moved around from upper New York to Utah where he started a mule-team transportation business, and later a retail store. He moved an entire gold mine from Utah to Butte Montana and began a partnership with a railroad builder, which culminated in his building the Stampede Pass Tunnel for the Northern Pacific, having convinced the NPRR board of directors in New York.

Finishing under time (two years) and budget he left a rich man. Massive investments made him one of the Pacific Northwest's wealthiest. But the Baring Bros failure in 1892 wiped him out trying to support banks and his investments in towns, hotels, newspapers and land. He emerged strongly paying back all his debts, but sadly died building a two-mile tunnel under the outskirts of Tacoma, Washington. His widow completed the tunnel, named the Nelson Bennett Tunnel, under budget in time and cost, in 1913. His failure and recovery are pertinent to the issues of today with the economic destruction from the novel coronavirus.