After claiming his freedom, Barney Ford made and lost several fortunes in the American West and was a tireless champion for abolition and civil rights.
After claiming his freedom, Barney Ford made and lost millions, and was a tireless champion for abolition and civil rights.n October 2, 1875, President Ulysses Grant stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a town that didn’t even exist a decade before, but was becoming a burgeoning center of commerce thanks to the newly built Union Pacific railroad. Arriving in the morning, Grant stopped for breakfast at the Inter-Ocean Hotel, a grand building that had only recently opened.
Mile-High Society: One newspaper called Ford's Denver Inter-Ocean"the finest hostelry between the Missouri river and the Pacific coast."As a young man who frequently worked outside the plantation, Ford spent several years driving hogs and mules until around 1843, when he was purchased by Col. Nathaniel Garland Woods, a self-described “merchant” who lived in St. Louis.
Claim and Fame: Though Ford didn't strike it rich in the Colorado gold rush, by the 1870s he was one of the state's wealthiest citizens.At that time, Ford was working in a barbershop, learning a trade that would serve him very well in the years to come. It was there that he decided to seek his next opportunity—gold in California.
At its peak, Ford’s business was bringing in nearly $250 a day—or nearly $2 million a year in today’s money. The Baron's Castle: Ford's Victorian home in Breckenridge had five rooms plus sleeping quarters in the attic. Today it's his museum.Ford took the loan and built a tall brick building, which still stands today and bears his name, to open the “People’s Restaurant.” It had a barbershop in the basement, a saloon on the second floor and an apartment for the Ford family on the top floor. Three months after opening, Ford paid back the loan in full.