AND REMINISCENCES BY DAVID P. DYER THE WILLIAM HARVEY MINER COMPANY, INC. SAINT LOUIS 1922 TL NEW YORK нег втон 1922 DEDICATION IN MEMORY OF MY WIFE, WHO FOR MORE THAN FIFTYFIVE YEARS WAS MY LOVING AND FAITHFUL COMPANION, THESE REMINISCENCES ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. DAVID P. DYER FOREWORD At the age of eighty-four years, there is little left for one to do except to "take an account of stock," review the labor, incidents, failures, successes, joys and sorrows of a long life,-"balance the books" and then calmly count, as they pass, the few remaining days allowed him by a gracious Providence, observing the shadows as they lengthen and serenely speculate upon the beauties and glories of the future world as they may appear to him at the final sunset of life. It has been suggested to me by friends that it might be of interest to others, especially to my children and their descendants, to have in writing some of the incidents, occurrences, struggles, successes, failures and disappointments that in a measure mark the pathway of my long life. In addition to all of these, the fact of employment as I wait for the summons that sooner or later must come, appeals very strongly to me, as does the further thought that I may be recording some things of interest as they relate to others whom it has been my pleasure to know. Most of the persons of whom I shall speak have long since passed to the great beyond. The object, therefore, of this effort on my part is to record a brief autobiography of myself for the benefit of my children and their descendants, and a succinct account of men that I have known and measures that have come to my attention, with such observations as may possibly be of in |