Nathaniel Peter HILL, Congress, CO (1832-1900)

HILL, Nathaniel Peter, a Senator from Colorado; born in Montgomery, Orange County, N.Y., February 18, 1832; attended Montgomery Academy and graduated from Brown University in Providence, R.I., in 1856; instructor and later professor of chemistry in Brown University 1856-1864; traveled to Colorado in the spring of 1865 to investigate mineral resources; spent a portion of 1865 and 1866 in Swansea, Wales, and Freiberg, Saxony, studying metallurgy; returned to the United States with a perfected method of smelting gold ore and took up a permanent residence in Black Hawk, Colo., in 1867 as manager of the Boston & Colorado Smelting Co.; mayor of Black Hawk 1871; member, Territorial council 1872-1873; moved to Denver, Colo., in 1873 and engaged in smelting and in the real estate business; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1885; chairman, Committee on Mines and Mining (Forty-seventh Congress), Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Forty-eighth Congress); engaged in mining; owner and publisher of the Denver Republican; member of the United States delegation to the International Monetary Commission in 1891; died in Denver, Colo., on May 22, 1900; interment in Fairmount Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Fell, James E., Jr. “Nathaniel P. Hill: A Scientist-Entrepreneur in Colorado.” Arizona and the West 15 (Winter 1973): 315-32; Hill, Nathaniel P. Speeches and Papers on the Silver, Postal Telegraph, and Other Economic Questions. Colorado Springs: Gazette Printing Co., 1890.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present