by Charles W. Bowman

Biographies

JOHN FISHER

   Mr. Fisher is managing the mercantile business of Jones & Weil at La Junta. This firm was the pioneer one in the town. Mr. F. was born in 1845, in Mobile, Ala., and lived only six years before moving with his parents to Fulton County, Ill. He completed his education at the Webster School in St. Louis, one of the largest schools in the city. Soon after this he removed to Newton. Kan., and opened a furniture store, where he remained until the grasshopper incursion, which destroyed all crops and business. He then went into the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company, with whom he remained three years. Afterward he was employed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. He had charge of the telegraph lines from Granada to Santa Fe. Mr. Fisher built the line from La Junta to the Tunnel, near the Mexican line, a distance of 100 miles. His mother was a native of Connecticut. His grandfather was Dr. Viets, who was a graduate of Yale College, and had charge of a hospital in Albany, N.Y. His father was born in Louisville, Ky., and was engaged in fitting out steamboats with carpets and curtains, before the days of state rooms. At the first municipal election in the city of La Junta, Mr. Fisher was elected Councilman for one year. The election occurred in May, 1881.