THOMAS J. GRIER.—The vast mineral wealth in the Black Hills of South Dakota has made that region noted far and wide, and the great mining industry which has here been prosecuted with such signal success has given the locality a representation second to that of no other mining district in the world. The foundation of this reputation is due to the extensive and successful operations of the celebrated Homestake Mining Company, which for many years has poured forth its stream of riches with the regularity of a never-failing spring, the supply of gold at this time being apparently as inexhaustible as when the vast treasure was first discovered. The business management of the Homestake, which has for more than a generation never failed to declare a liberal dividend, creates admiration among miners and mining experts everywhere and leads to the belief that those having the undertaking in hand possess not only wide experience in their special lines of endeavor, but are also men of intelligence and mature practical judgment. The man who has been responsible for the uniform advancement and to whom more than to any other is due the high reputation and wide prestige the mine enjoys is Thomas J. Grier, the present efficient superintendent a man not only thoroughly familiar with every detail of the mining industry, but the possessor of business tact and executive ability of a high order, as his nearly twenty-eight years of successful management abundantly attest.

Thomas Johnston Grier is a native of Canada and dates his birth from May 18, 1850, having first seen the light of day at Pakenham, in the province of Ontario. His father, James Grier, born and reared in Ireland, and for many vears a successful mechanic and manufacturer of carriages in the town of Iroquois, Ontario, was a man of much more than ordinary natural and acquired intelligence and was to a large degree a moulder of opinion in his community and a leader in its public affairs. He possessed a strong character and spotless integrity, and for a period of twenty-six years served as postmaster of Iroquois, during which time he earned the reputation of an able, faithful and obliging official. His wife, who before her marriage bore the name of Eliza Patterson, was of Canadian birth and, like him, spent nearly all her life in the province of Ontario. Thomas Johnston Grier spent his childhood and youthful years in Iroquois and after completing the lower branches of study in the schools of that town, finished his education by taking a high-school course. His first practical experience was as a clerk under his father in the postoffice, and while holding this position he devoted his leisure time to the study of telegraphy subsequently resigning his place to enter the employ of a telegraph company in the city of Montreal. After remaining some time in that place, and becoming an experienced operator, he took employment in the Western Union Company's office at Corrine, Utah, and later rose to the position of chief operator with that company at Salt Lake City. Severing his connection with the telegraph service, Mr. Grier, in 1878, entered the employ of the Homestake Mining Company, at Lead, Dakota territory, as head bookkeeper, the duties of which position he discharged in an eminently satisfactory manner until 1884, when he was promoted to the superintendency of the company's mines in the Black Hills, which responsible position he has since held. The career of Mr. Grier, since taking charge of the position he now so ably fills has been a distinguished one, as the marked ability displayed in the management of such a large and important enterprise sufficiently attests. His superior judgment is apparent in the manner in which he has conducted the affairs of the company, from the selection of the heads of the various departments down to the most minute detail of the business. He has been exceedingly critical in choosing men for the various posts, selecting and installing only those capable of performing successfully the duties assigned to them, being quick to recognize ability, prompt to reward the same, and making merit alone the stepping stone to advancement. At times he has had charge of as high as twenty- five hundred workmen, between whom and himself the most amiable relations always existed, and this too at a period when the industrial world was in a state of almost constant agitation, growing out of a failure of employer and employe to understand and appreciate the mutual relations of their respective interests.

In addition to his official connection with the Homestake Mining Company, Mr. Grier is identified with various other business enterprises, being president of the First National Bank of Lead City and vice-president of the First National at Deadwood. He is an able and far- seeing financier, with a practical and comprehensive knowledge of all questions relating to banking, and to his correct business methods and safe, conservative management the monetary institutions with which he is connected are indebted for a large measure of their prosperity and for the high reputation they now sustain among the leading banks of South Dakota. Mr. Grier is greatly interested in the growth and development of his adopted state, and to the extent of his ability encourages every means to these ends. He is a man of strong intellectuality, broad human sympathies, and imbued with fine sensibilities and clearly defined principles, has made his presence felt wherever his lot has been cast and in whatever capacity his abilities have been exercised.

Mr. Grier is an active member of the Masonic order and the Episcopal church represents his religious creed. He was married on August 8, 1896, to Miss Mary Jane Palethorpe, of Glasgow, Scotland, and the fruits of which union are four children, Thomas Johnston, Jr., Evangeline Victoria, Lisgar Patterson and Ormonde Palethorpe.

This biography appears on pages 1248-1249 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author.

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