Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/554

522 profitable were purchased at nominal prices, and the telegraphs that extended over parts of thirteen states were consolidated under the name of the Western Union telegraph company, of which Sib- Icv vas president for seventeen years, during which permit the value of the property grew from $220.- (lii ti> *4s.000,000. He was unable to interest his associates in a line to the Pacific coast, and con- structed it alone in 1801, transferring it to the company after its completion. With the other managers, he distrusted the practicability of sub- marine telegraphy, and entered into the project of telegraphic communication with Europe by way of Bering strait and Siberia. He visited St. Peters- burg in 1864, and obtained a promise of co-opera- tion from the Russian government. The Western Union company expended $3,000,000 in building 1,500 miles of the projected line, but abandoned the enterprise as soon as the first message was sent over the Atlantic cable. Mr. Sibley was the prin- cipal promoter of the Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana railroad. He purchased large tract- of land in Michigan, and was interested in the lumber and salt manufacturing business at Saginaw. After the civil war he engaged largely in railroad building and various industrial enter- prises in the southern states, and did much to re- vive business activity. He had become the largest owner of improved lands in the United States, and had in recent years engaged in fanning operations on a great scale. The Burr Oaks farm, of nearly 40,000 acres, in Illinois, the Howland island farm, comprising 3,500 acres, in Cayuga, N. Y., and many others, were mainly devoted to seed-culture. Mr. Sibley gave $100,000" for a building to hold a public library and the collections of Rochester uni- versity, and a like sum for the establishment of the Sibley college of mechanical engineering and the mechanic arts connected with Cornell university.

SIBLEY, Solomon, jurist, b. in Sutton. Mass., 7 Oct., 1769; d. in Detroit, Mich., 4 April, 1846. He studied law. and began practice in Marietta, Ohio, in 1795, removing in the following year to Cincinnati, and a year later to Detroit, Mich. He was elected to the first legislature of the North- western territory in 1709, and was a delegate to congress from the territory of Michigan in 1820-'3. He was appointed a judge of the supreme court of Michigan, and held that office until he was com- pelled bv deafness to resign in 1836. His son. Henry Hastings, pioneer, b. in Detroit, Mich., 20 Feb., 1811 ; d. in St. Paul. Minn., 18 Feb., 18SI1. He began the study of law. but abandoned it to engage in mercantile business at Sault Sainte Marie, soon afterward entered the employment of the Ameri- can fur company, became a partner, and on 7 Nov., 1834, during one of his trips, reached the mouth of the Minnesota river, and was so delighted with the spot that he made it his permanent home, building at Mendota the first stone house within the present limits of the state of Minnesota. He devoted much of his time to the sports of the frontier, which he described in graphic style in the " Spirit of the Times" and "Turf, Field, and Farm," over the pen-name of " Hal, a Dacotah." When the state of Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, 29 May. 1848, the western boundary wa.s fixed at St. Croix river, leaving an area of about 23,000 square mile-, on the east of Mi. issjppi river, including son i-'_:ani/cd counties, without a government. Tin- acting governor of the territory issued a proc- lamation providing for I he election of a delegate to represent this di-lrict in emigre--, ami Mr. Sibley was chosen in November, 1S4S. After much delay and discussion, he was admitted to his seat, 1"> .la:i.. 1849, and secured the passage of an act creating the territory of Minnesota, which embraced the rest of Wisconsin and a vast area west of the Mis- sissippi. He was elected a delegate to coniriv from Minnesota in 1849, and re- elected in 1851, when he declined longer to be a candidate. He was a member of the Democratic branch of the convention that framed in 1857 the state constitution that was adopted by the people in November of the same year. The state was admit- ted to the Union on 11 May, 1858, and he was inaugurated as governor in the same month. He opposed the loan of state credit to railroad companies, and. when a constitutional amendment was carried authorizing the issue of bonds, he refused to send them out ex- cept on security of trust deeds from the companies giving a priority of lien upon all their property. But this ruling was negatived by the decision of the supreme court, thus leaving the way open for the issue of an indefinite amount of first mod gage bonds, and resulting in the bankruptcy of the com- panies and the repudiation of the bonds by the people of .Minnesota. When the great Sioux ri-ing occurred on the Iowa and Minnesota frontier in 1862 (see LITTLE CROW) he commanded the while forces composed of volunteer citizens. Notwith- standing the delay in procuring arms and ammuni- tion. only five weeks elapsed before t he deci-ive bat- tle of Wood Lake, 23 Sept.. broke the power of the savages. Their capture followed two days later. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volun- teers, and afterward brevetted major-general. He was appointed a member of the board of Indian commissioners during President Grant's adminis- tration, and in 1871 was elected to the legislature. where, during the ensuing session, he made a vig- orous speech against the repudiation of the state railroad bond-. IK-HILT thus instrumental in restor- ing the credit of Minnesota. He recehi -d iln de- gree of LL. D. from Princeton in 1888. Gen. Sil>- lev held the offices of president of the Chamber of commerce of St. Paul, where he resided, of the board of regents of the State university, and of the State historical society, to whose "Collections" he made man) contributions.

SICKEL, Horatio Gates, soldier, b. in Belinont. Bucks co.. Pa.. 3 April. 1S17: d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 18 April. 1S90. lie was i-ngagcd in tin bii-ine-s of coach-making, invented in 1 s 1^ a new method of producing artificial light, and became an exten-ive manufacturer of lamps. Hetore the civil war he was connected with vaii-m-militia organizations. He entered the [J, S. service on 17 .lime. 1861, as colonel of the 3d regiment of the Pennsylvania reserve corps, and sue -reeded ( ieii. (1. Meade in the command of the brigade. Ib- i "iiiMiaiided a brigade in Gen. George Crook's Kanawha valley expedition of 1804. and afterward ..... in tin- 5th army corps till the close of the war. lie participated in the principal bailie- of the Army of the Potomac, lost his left elbow-joint, be