Early Life and Youth
Lester Allan Pelton was born in Vermilion, Ohio on September 5, 1829. His grandfather, Captain Josiah S. Pelton, who retired after a successful career at sea, had established his family and descendants prominently in the area. Lester's father was Allen Pelton, Josiah's youngest son; his mother was Fanny Cuddeback, she of another locally prominent family. As a youngster Lester worked on the Pelton family farm and attended the Cuddeback School.
In 1850, young Pelton joined a local party of males and emigrated from Ohio to participate in the California gold rush. But he was not successful as a miner, and for a time he fished the Sacramento River and sold his catch locally; and he worked in woodmilling and carpentry. In 1860, after the gold strikes in the nearby Sierra Nevada he relocated to Camptonville—near the Yuba River and the California Mother Lode country—where he made his living as a millwright and carpenter. Pelton spent much of his time reading and observing mining activity; his work and studies gained him critical knowledge of mining equipment and processes and related engineering principles.
Read more about this topic: Lester Allan Pelton
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early, life and/or youth:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo, not for a man.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“When a god is once beguiled
By beauty of a mortal child,
And by her radiant youth delighted,
He is not fooled, but warily knoweth
His love shall never be requited.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)