Among the developing, producing, civilizing elements of the great American people none is entitled to more credit or has been of more substantial service than the thrifty and all-subduing German. He is one of those great toilers in any field of labor, whose energy never flags, whose patience never falters, whose courage never quails and whose industry never tires. With a hand, kind as well as skillful, he smooths the rugged surface of the wilderness and persuades it to comeliness and fertility. If a mine is to be developed, he digs and delves, with unwavering fidelity, until its treasures are laid open to the light of day and made ready for the use and benefit of man. If a state is to be built, he aids in laying its foundations, broad and deep, on the common sense of human needs, erecting its superstructure along the lines of civil and moral excellence. A scion of this sturdy race, John Waiters, of the Canyon Creek Prairie, of Weston County, Wyoming, has well exemplified in his career in this favored region, the sterling traits of his ancestry and the most desirable characteristies of good citizenship. He is a native of the Fatherland, where his parents, John and Mary (Wurster) Walters, passed their childhood youth and early maturity, and where their ancestors had lived from time immemorial. In 1854 the parents emigrated to America, and locating in what is noe Grant County, Wisconsin, in their day a wild western frontier, they entered into the spirt of conquest of the wilderness that was characteristic of the place and time, and gave their loyal efforts to the development of the Country. The father followed sawmilling, farming and millbuilding, industries much needed in a new region as yet almost untouched by the ax of the woodsman continuing these occupations until his death in 1892, and in the section hallowed to her by his labors, his widow still resides. Mr. Walters remained with his parents on the homestead until he reach his majority, attending the public schools of the neighborhood and assisting his father at the mills and on the farm. In 1873 he started his own life workm going to Nebraska, and after remaining in Beatrice two years, he removed to Kansas and took employment with the surveying outfit of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad. Three and 0ne-half years he spent in this service, then followed freighting from Buffalo Gap to Newcastle and Cody until 1885. In that year he took up land on Divide near Newcastle and remained on it one year, then, during the next five years time he was in the employ of the Kilpatrick Brothers, teaming and freighting, in 1901 purchasing his present ranch on Canyon Creek Prairie, laying twenty-one miles from Newcastle, where he has since been engaged in farming and raising stock, being recongized as one of the representative citzens and leading farmers. At Newcastle, Wyoming on October 8, 1898, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma Bonte, a native of Illinois, of French ancestry. They have one child, a son, who bears his father’s name, John. Mr. Walters is a Republican in politics and gives all matters of public local interest his careful and conscientious attention, rendering valued service in every enterprise for the improvement of the community and the development of its needs and resources.
