Prairie Peddler S.A.S.S. #24967 |
Prairie Peddler |
"Prairie Peddler" was the business alias adopted by Silas Anderson, sometime Colts Firearms agent, itinerant gun and liquor salesman, and eventual founder of the Anderson mercantile empire. Born in 1836 in Elmira, New York, the third child of a Methodist minister, Anderson spent his boyhood preparing to follow his father into the ministry. But a love of guns, hunting, and the outdoors far outstripped his interest in the cloth. Wisely recognizing that his son was made of different stuff from himself, Anderson's father soon abandoned plans to send young Silas off to seminary, and instead, as soon as his basic schooling was completed, apprenticed him at age 15 to a local blacksmith. |
In the early 1800s, in addition to their usual work, country blacksmiths often served as the only local gunsmiths, and given his passion for guns and hunting, Silas soon became fascinated with this aspect of his work. Within a few years, he had learned all that his indulgent employer could teach him of metalworking and firearms repair and sought a wider field for his interests. |
He found it in Hartford, where, in 1855, Samuel Colt opened the first modern firearms factory. Hired the following year as a journeyman metalworker, Anderson soon was promoted to assembly, then to finishing. Four years later, the outbreak of the Civil War sent demand for Colt's products soaring. Within a year the Armory was at full capacity, employing more than a 1000 workers, and Anderson found himself a shop foreman at age 25. |
Colt's "Armory," Hartford, Connecticut, c. 1858 |
In 1864, fire destroyed the Armory, suspending production for nearly three years. Although Anderson participated in the design and building of a new Colt's plant, he was becoming increasingly restless, and when the Armory finally resumed manufacture in 1867, he applied for and received a commission as Colt's sales agent to the western territories. Traveling by rail and wagon with an extensive sample of Colt's latest models, he roamed from Kansas City to Denver and from San Antonio to Ogallala, demonstrating products, taking orders from local merchants for transmission to Colt's jobbers in Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans, and occasionally repairing weapons from his own traveling stock of spare parts. His backround in metalworking and manufacturing gave him an enormous advantage over local gunsmiths, and his repair services were in constant demand by Army garrisons as well as storekeepers, not only for Colt's products, but also for the rapidly expanding diversity of other western firearms from revolvers to rifles and shotguns. After three years as Colt's agent, Anderson concluded that he could earn more as an independent merchant selling not only Colt's weapons, but also those of Smith & Wesson, Winchester, Remington, and others. Accordingly, in 1871, in partnership with another former Colts' agent, he established a warehouse in Kansas City and began assembling an extensive inventory of weapons and spares. By arrangement, his partner agreed to manage warehouse and inventory, while Anderson, preferring life on the road, resumed his travels, telegraphing orders to his partner and receiving and distributing products by rail and wagon freight. So effective was the system that within a year, Anderson could reasonably assure delivery anywhere within his sales territory within thirty days' receipt of an order except in winter months, and provided the Indians remained quiescent. |
