Alexander Toponce

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Birth: Oct. 10, 1839 Belfort Territoire de Belfort Franche-Comté, France

Death: May 13, 1923 Ogden Weber County Utah, USA

Born in Belford, Paris, Seine, France

Son of Peter & Mary Toponce

Married Katherine Ann Beach, 18 Sep 1870, Corrine, Box Elder, Utah

Reared Children - John Horace Cullen (Toponce) & Rufus Cullen (Toponce) & Katie Toponce

No biological children born to Alex & Kate

History - Alex Toponce, of Ogden, is well known through Utah as a mining and irrigation promoter and made valuable contribution to the development and upbuilding of the of the state.

He knew many prominent Mormons, including Brigham Young, whom he praised as "the squarest man to do business with in Utah, barring none." Declining conversion to the Mormon faith, Toponce nonetheless respected the Mormons, viewing them as energetic pioneers intent on carving out an empire.

Alexander was the son of Peter and Mary Toponce, who in 1846 crossed the Atlantic and landed in New York. Unhappy at home, Alex ran away when he was ten and by age fifteen had journeyed west. He began by whacking bulls for the famed freighting company of Russell, Majors and Waddell. His parents removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where the remainder of their days were passed. His father death there, occuring in 1868.

Alex drove a stage line on the Santa Fe Trail, and eyed the Mexican girls, whom he described as "dolls when rigged out in the dancing costumes." In 1857 he became assistant wagon boss for General Albert Sidney Johnston's army during the bloodless Mormon War.

By 1860 the stampede to the gold fields in Colorado had drawn Toponce to the mining camps near present-day Leadville. In the vicinity of French and Georgia gulches, Toponce spent two years making and losing money and watching others wield miners' picks and strike it rich.

In the fall of 1862, Alexander sold all his holdings for a few horses and mules, a wagon, and $250 in food supplies. Then, in early 1863, he headed a wagon train bound for Montana. He had just turned twenty-three.

The discovery of rich placer deposits at Bannack, Alder Gulch, and Last Chance, Montana, brought hundreds to the Montana gold fields. Within a year's time this northern wilderness was the scene of wild activity in mining, freighting, trade, and settlement.

Toponce was one of the many who went to Alder Gulch in the spring of 1863. He located a claim, built the town's first sluice box, and collected $20,000 in gold dust. Then his talents took a new turn: he began freighting. Gathering together a few wagons, horses, and oxen, Toponce hauled flour, sugar, tea, coffee, eggs, butter, shovels, picks, and a six-hundred-pound pig to the gold fields and boomtowns of Montana. Eventually he was operating one of the largest freighting outfits in the Northwest.

Though he continued freighting in the years after 1865, Toponce found time for many other occupations and adventures. He drove cattle to California, chased renegades, supplied beef to railroad crews, raced horses, and saw "vice and all kinds of sin" at the silver metropolis, Virginia City, Nevada.

Alexander's marriage to Katie in 1870 did not slow him down. He dabbled in ranching, owned a slaughter house and butcher shop, helped build the Bonanza Road in Idaho, ran a stage line from Blackfoot to Challis, Idaho, served as mayor of Corinne, Utah.

Alex's mother removed with her family to Utah, making the trip west in 1873, and settled at Corinne.

While still active at age eighty, Alexander Toponce wrote down his reminiscences-a record of his adventureous life as one of the "good old boys" who helped win the West.

In 1920 census the Toponce's were running a rooming house in Odgen.

Heart Throbs of the West, Kate B. Carter, Vol. 9, p. 74

Alexander Toponce was born in Belfort, France, in 1839. When he was seven years old his parents came to the United States and settled in the state of New York. At the age of fifteen years, Alex came west as far as Missouri with some young men friends. When he was but sixteen he began working for Major and Russell as a freight driver. He tells us of this in his "Reminiscences." "One trip took us over the trail up the Arkansas River to the fort at Sante Fe. We were paid fifteen dollars a month and board. They furnished us each with a Bible, but they never gave us much time on the road to read it. We were required to sign an agreement to observe certain 'iron clad' rules. In part they were: 'While I am in the employ of Majors and Russell I agree not to use profane language, not to get drunk, not to gamble, not to treat the animals cruelly and not to do anything that is incompatible with the conduct of a gentleman.' These rules were hard to keep sometimes, especially the one about swearing. That was a nuisance when yoking up unruly oxen in the mornings."

Mr. Toponce helped install the first overland stage line from Missouri to California, in about 1850. This line went from Missouri by way of Texas and New Mexico, but when Johnston's Army was sent to Utah in 1868, the route was changed to run by way of Salt Lake City. Mr. Toponce drove stage on this route. He writes: "We would start out with six mules and three men. One man would ride a horse along side the mules and keep 'touching' them with a black-snake whip. He was called the 'side whipper.' The third man sat on the 'dickey seat' on top of the stage facing the rear. He had a field glass and kept an eye out for Indians. We all had the latest makes of rifles. We would drive these six mules fifty miles, stopping once to feed and water them, then change teams and drive another fifty miles."

Mr. Toponce continues, "One of the pioneer developments was a fast mail service up the Platte River. I carried mail out of Fort Kearny to the west. I rode one horse 25 miles, changed horses and rode 25 miles more. There I met the rider from the west. If he was late I took the fresh horse that was ready for him, and started to meet him and kept on till I did meet him. When we met we changed horses, also the mail pouches. I came back and he began his trip west."

In 1863, Mr. Toponce came to Salt Lake City to freight from Utah to Montana. He purchased a freighting outfit from John Handley of American Fork for $1,200. It consisted of eight wagons with four yoke of oxen to the wagon. At Salt Lake City they loaded their wagons with tea, flour, shovels, and picks. At Brigham City he gathered up butter and dressed hogs. In Cache Valley he obtained all the eggs that could be found. He had paid six cents for the pork and sold it in Montana for $1.00 per pound. The eggs he sold for $2.00 a dozen. He was paid in gold.

In the summer of 1864, Mr. Toponce bought flour of Bishop Chauncey W. West in Ogden, to freight to Montana. He paid $24.00 a hundred for the flour. Bishop West was delayed two weeks in filling the order. Mr. Toponce tells us that this delay caused him a great loss, both in cattle and gold. — Files of Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

Family links:

Spouse:

 Katherine Ann Beach Toponce (1847 - 1926)*

• Calculated relationship

Burial: Ogden City Cemetery Ogden Weber County Utah, USA Plot: C-3-30-5E

Created by: SMSmith Record added: Feb 14, 2007 Find A Grave Memorial# 17933894