Page:Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon.djvu/176

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136 EEPRESENTATIVE , MEN OF OREGON.


preservative, and gained the reputation of being a first-class compositor. He then struck out for Oregon in 1870 and spent two years working at his trade. Becoming anxious to see " the old folks at home," Mr. Bower start- ed Edst and remained away from Oregon two years, returning to his chosen State m 1874. He settled down in Portland and turned his attention to the study of^law, and after three years studious attention to his new vocation was admitted to the Supreme Court in 1879. Mr. Bower is associated with Mr. McDougall at the present time. He is a young man of neat address, logical in his arguments, and quick in discerning every item that points fa- vorably towards benefiting a client, and we predict for him a brilliant fu- ture.


DAN HOLTON, The genial boniface who presides over the destinies of the well-known Holton House in Portland, though not claiming to be one of our "oldest inhabitants," is sufficiently acclimated to bear the honor of being a thor- ough " Webfoot," having spent the last sixteen years of his life in the grow- ing metropolis of Oregon. Dan is one of those modest men who, though always alive to a joke, jollification and to business, seeks no notoriety out- side of the favorite resort that is always enlivened by his countenance; and as his pleasant temperament and popularity merit for him a position in these annals, we called upon him for the requisite data with which to adorn these pages. With that candor for which Dan is noted, he informed us that he could not boast of valorous deeds, rank or title; that he was born and reared in the accustomed, ordinary way, and came to Oregon in 1866, in order to jog along socially with the rest of mankind, without any view of meriting or claiming any distinction. This much we did glean from him, that his first insight into hotel life was obtained from Mike O'Connor, well known to all pioneers as the proprietor of the old What Cheer House, on Front and Morrison streets. After several years' experience Dan took charge of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, and afterwards established the Holton House, on Front street, near Oak. Three years ago he secured the present site for the Holton House, southeast corner of First and Alder, and under his liberal and genial management it has become the most popular resort in the State for business and professional men, and is justly classed as the commercial house of Portland, as can readily be judged from the numerous business men who can be found congregated in his comfortable rooms at all hours, day or night. Rush of business and the geniality of the companions with whom Dan has been thrown in contact have combined to keep him in the ranks of merry and mellow bachelorship; but now, whilst he is still in the full vigor of manhood, as the gray hairs are beginning to warn him that he is approaching the " sere and yellow leaf" of life, his friends think that he should make some effort to perpetuate his name and fame for the benefit of futurity.

COL. SAL. RIPINSKY.

The subject of this sketch, although still a young man, has already given signs of rare ability as an artist, scholar and linguist, and at no dista