Elias Cornelius Atkins
Industrialist
and Saw Manufacturing Giant, was born to Rollin and Harriet Atkins
in Bristol, Connecticut on June 28, 1833. Elias was the son of
a clock maker who possessed mechanical skills and turned to the
manufacturing of saws but did not live to see the growth of the
business he started. He would have no way of knowing that he laid
the ground work which would eventually become the largest and most
successful manufacturer of saws in the world. As Elias entered the
business himself, he would find his company at Cleveland, Ohio and
in 1855 established the first saw factory in that city. The
following year, He would make his way to Indianapolis with five
hundred dollars in his pocket and began the trade of saw
manufacturing. His beginnings were humble and he would eventually
grow his company to employ more than a thousand men making him one
of the most influential and chief sources of prosperity to the
growing city of Indianapolis. His saws would eventually be carried
at more than a half dozen branch houses in major cities throughout
the United States and numberless retail stores all over the world.
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While primarily a manufacturer, Elias C. Atkins was a many sided
business man, and it was only natural that his interests assumed
widespread proportions. His name is permanently identified with the
development of the Hecla
Consolidated Mining Company which he
helped charter in 1877. Along with Noah Armstrong, Elias owned a
controlling interest in the new company and would leave his very
busy life at Indianapolis and locate to the Pioneer Mountains of
Southwestern Montana Territory. It is not known what ailment Elias
suffered, however, his one main consideration in moving to Montana
was to "build up his shattered health".
October 14, 1879
Elias felt that his time in
Montana was "an exceedingly profitable vacation", as while Elias
served the capacity of General Agent, the original investment
of the Mining Company was increased from 60,000 to 1,500,000.
In all fairness and in keeping with historical integrity and
accuracy, Elias, through his correspondences and the state in which
the Hecla Company found itself by 1881, either pointed to
mismanagement or Elias' lack of faith and interest in the company's
future successes. It is not the opinion of the writer that Atkins
wanted the company to fail as he himself was an investor and Atkins
had already proven that he had business savvy as was evident in the
monumental success of his saw works empire, but that Atkins failed
to see the potential that lay ahead for the Hecla Consolidated
Mining Company and was evident in his urgency to sell. By 1880,
Elias's main objective was to broker the property for no les than
1,000,000 and return to his life at Indianapolis.
Borrow no more whatever anywhere for Hecla on my
credit.....E.C. Atkins
By 1881, The Hecla
Consolidated Mining Company was in debt of 78,000 and Elias was
replaced by Henry Knippenberg who would serve as General Manager.
Henry Knippenberg was a partner in the Sheffield Saw Works at
Indianapolis which he and Atkins were affiliated since 1870. At the
time of his death in 1901, Atkins was President of the Manufacturers
Natural Gas Company of Indianapolis, Indiana. Atkins was also a
philanthropist having donated money and land to academic and
religious organizations. Elias was married to Sarah J. Wells and had
a daughter, Harriet, who married John L. McMahon. Elias married a
second time to Mary Dolbeare and their child passed. On August 17,
1865, Elias married his third wife, Miss Sarah F. Parker. She was
born at Methuen, Massachusetts, July 26, 1837, Daughter of Rev.
Addison and Eunice (Brigham) Parker.
Image courtesy of Jakoby Lowney Collection
Hecla Smelter and Reduction Works at Glendale.
This facility burnt in 1879
under the Management of Elias Atkins. The Facilty would be rebuilt
within a years time.
Elias and Sarah had five
children, Mary D., who married Nelson A. Glading; Henry C.; Sarah
Frances, widow of Thomas Reed Kackley; Emma L., who married Edward
B. Davis; and Carra, who married Major Sandford H.Wadhams. Upon the
death of Elias Atkins, his son Henry took control of the family saw
works business. Henry was born in the Northwest while his father was
engaged in the mining business. Henry was born in Atlanta, Johnson
County, Idaho on November 27, 1868. He grew up in Indianapolis,
attended local schools and worked in his father's factory during
vacations. Henry attended Yale where he earned his Bachelors of Arts
degree with the class of 1889 at the age of twenty. His first job in
an official capacity was that of Superintendent of the Saw Works
and in 1892 was chosen as the Vice President of the company. Henry
married Miss Sue Winter on January 7, 1896. she was born at
Columbus, Indiana February 10, 1872, daughter of Ferdinand and Mary
(Keyes) Winter. Her father was for many years a prominent member of
the Indianapolis bar. Henry and Sue had three children, Elias C.
(named in honor of Grandpa), Keyes W., and Henry C. Junior.
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