William Cornell Greene
| William Cornell Greene | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
August 26, 1852 Duck Creek, Wisconsin |
| Died | August 5, 1911 (aged 58) Cananea, Sonora, Mexico |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder of Cananea, Sonora |
Colonel William Cornell Greene (August 26, 1852 - August 5, 1911) was an American businessman who was famous for discovering rich copper reserves in Cananea, Mexico, and for founding the Greene Consolidated Copper Company in 1899. By 1905, Greene was one of the wealthiest businessmen in the world.
Greene was born in Duck Creek, Wisconsin, on August 26, 1852, to Eleanor Cornell and Townsend Greene. He was educated at private schools and at the Chappaqua Mountain Institute in Chappaqua, New York.
Greene started off as a clerk for O. H. Angevin & Company where he worked for three years before heading out to the western United States as a surveying party member of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He left the Railroad and then in 1870 staked out the site of Fargo, North Dakota, before becoming involved with various businesses. He worked in both mining and cattle-raising industries across the west, which included Montana, Colorado, Arizona, and northern Mexico. He was reported to have had numerous encounters with local native tribes and outlaws that roamed the areas where he prospected.
In 1897, Greene and his family were living on a ranch along the San Pedro River, near what is today the town of Sierra Vista, Arizona. That year Greene built a small dam along the river to water his alfalfa fields, which infuriated his neighbor, James C. Burnett. Burnett, who was looking to expand his own ranch, retaliated by hiring a crew of Chinese workers to build a new dam on his property and, according to tradition, blow up Greene's dam with dynamite. That's when tragedy occurred. On the day after the dam was destroyed, on July 25, Greene's daughter Ella and a friend named Katie Corcoran went down to swim at their favorite spot along the San Pedro, but were swept away and drowned in the current. Apparently, the blast from the dynamite had altered the river's channel, creating a deep hole with a strong current, where there was originally just a shallow swimming pool. Ella's younger sister Eva survived because she remained on the riverbank while the two older girls went in.
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