This biography of Simeon Reed places him in the environment of bustling enterprise of the Pacific Northwest in the 1850s and on into the 1880s when transportation was key and many fortunes were made. Having grown up and married in Massachusetts, Reed's entrepreneurship is apparent in his coming West in 1852 at the age of 22. His wide-ranging business interests are documented. They extend beyond transportation into the iron and steel industry, the mining of silver and lead, horse-raising, and agriculture.