RIO GRANDE SOUTHERN RAILROAD – SILVERTON RAILROAD, 1892
Otto Mears silver filigree railroad pass for the Rio Grande Southern and Silverton railroads, #85, issued to George Ross-Lewin, 1892.
GEORGE ROSS-LEWIN was David H. Moffat’s chief business lieutenant, and had been so for over 20 years when died July 21, 1905. Ross-Lewin rose from messenger boy in the First National Bank of Denver to Vice-President; and, was involved in nearly aspect of David Moffat’s business operations.
1888 was the first year Otto Mears decided to issue a special railroad pass. That one was leather. Turned out it didn’t last as long as the paper passes. In 1889, Mears issued his first silver pass. Each year the format of these silver passes varied. 1892 saw Mears issue the most elaborate silver pass of them all — the silver filigree.
George Ross-Lewin was the secretary of the Denver City Tramway Company; vice-president of The Bi-Metallic Bank of Cripple Creek; vice-president of The Bank of Victor; a director of The Florence & Cripple Creek Railway; The Metallic Extraction Company of Cyanide, Colorado; and The Anaconda Gold Mining Company, among many others.
Jeweler’s original mark: S. Spitz, Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory.
Ross-Lewin’s health began a slow decline in 1892. He took a leave of absence from Moffat’s network of companies to engage in a therapeutic regime involving the special spring waters of Germany. Several years later, Ross-Lewin returned to Denver in hopes of associating himself with several new businesses, such as the State Investment Company. However, it wasn’t long before his health began to fail again.
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JULY 20, 2016
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