W.H. TAYLOR. – The subject of this sketch was born in Michigan in the year 1851. He was a farmer boy of that new England stock which has enriched so many of our American commonwealths. His parents removed to Iowa, and afterwards to Kansas, while he was a mere lad. At the age of twenty he abandoned the life of a farmer boy for a place where his talents would have broader field of usefulness, and entered the office of the Commercial, the leading paper in his section, where he learned the trade of a printer. Before the expiration of his apprenticeship he was made the foreman of the office, and the next year became the publish of the Daily Evening Argus. Soon afterwards, following the advice of an able journalist, he set out for the Pacific coast, with the intention of establishing a newspaper at San Francisco.
Having stopped off at Salt Lake City, he quickly discovered an opportunity for usefulness in the line of his profession in the Mormon capital. There were at that time three dailies at Salt Lake City, two of which were devoted entirely to the cause of Mormonism; while the third, which pursued a weak and vacillating policy on this great question, was in the last stages of mental and financial dissolution. Mr. Taylor, associating himself with one of his former employe’s and a few others, secured the leading control of the Tribune. He and his associates at once placed that paper in the front rank of American journalism, and made it a literary and financial success second to that of none between Chicago and San Francisco. To the Tribune, under the management of Mr. Taylor and his associates more than to all causes combined, is due the now decaying fortunes of the latter day hierarchy. It was a fight to the death from the start; and the noble part borne by the Tribune advanced the reputation of that journal and its managers to the orbit of national reputation.
When the battle for American supremacy in Utah had been fought until the issue was no longer doubtful, Mr. Taylor, unable to continue to bear a life of confinement such as journalism alone imposes, sought a home in the territory of Washington, intending to devote his time to private business affairs. but it is not possible for such a man to long deprive the public of the benefit of his services, or escape the duty of citizenship which a character and nature such as he possesses imposes. In 1887, the business men of Spokane Falls, without regard to party, elected him mayor of that beautiful and progressive city, an office which he administered with untiring energy, integrity and capacity. Declining a re-election, eh became president of the Spokane National Bank, and of the Board of Trade of Spokane Falls, which position he now fills.
Mr. Taylor is a Republican in politics, and a man of intense convictions. He is, however, broad and liberal in his views, and commands the confidence and respect of the entire community in which he lives. He is one of the progressive men of the Pacific Northwest, and contributes largely to all enterprise of a public and progressive character. He is a man of abundant wealth, a large stock and land owner, and is extensively engaged in mining in Washington and Idaho Territories. Few men are so entirely devoid of ostentation; and none affords a better example of American manhood when directed to honorable ends.