Tehama County Biographies

PHILIP W. SNYDER

Transcribed by Sande Beach.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


Philip W. Snyder, proprietor of Los Molinos Inn Los Molinos, California, was 
born in West Virginia, August 15, 1862, a son of Philip and Elizabeth (Martin) 
Snyder. The father, a lifelong resident of West Virginia, was a minister of the 
gospel and also followed the trade of a carpenter. The mother was also a native 
of that state and departed this life in 1865, when but a young woman.
Philip W. Snyder pursued his education in one of the old-time log schoolhouses 
in his home locality but when comparatively young began working at the 
carpenter's trade, which he there followed until he reached the age of twenty. 
He then went to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he began driving a milk wagon for 
fifteen dollars per month and during this time delivered milk at the home of 
Jesse James, arriving there fifteen minutes after the notorious desperado had 
been shot and killed by Bob Ford. Mr. Snyder worked for the milk company for 
fifteen months and then went to Atchison, Kansas, where he secured employment in 
the wholesale beer bottling department of the establishment of Katherine 
Brothers, representative of a Milwaukee concern. Three years later he went to 
New Mexico, where he spent a year, and on returning to Kansas -- he embarked in 
the grocery business, but the venture proved unprofitable. He afterward followed 
the races from New Orleans to Canada in various sections of the United States 
but in 1907 left for Alaska, where he remained for fifteen years, winning a fair 
degree of success during that period. While there he met "Soapy" Smith, a former 
member of the Jesse James band of guerillas. The man derived his name from the 
fact that while in Denver he would put twenty dollar bills in various cakes of 
soap, which he would then sell for a dollar per cake from a basket, every 
purchaser hoping to draw the one that contained the money. This gained him the 
sobriquet of "Soapy". He afterward went to Alaska, were he conducted gambling 
houses. On the 4th of July he led the parade in Skagway and on the 8th of the 
same month he was shot here by Frank Reed, Mr. Snyder being one of those who 
assisted in taking his remains to an undertaker, although many residents of the 
town wanted to throw the body into the bay.
With his return to the States Mr. Snyder located at Swan Lake, Oregon, where he 
purchased a ranch, and raised thereon pure bred Hereford cattle, some of which 
were worth three thousand dollars. He was also a breeder of horses and other 
stock but finally disposed of his holdings there on account of the condition of 
his health and went to San Jose, California, where he underwent three 
operations. With his removal to Los Molinos he purchased The Inn and today has a 
fine hotel of eighteen rooms, with a large veranda across the entire front. His 
property adjoins one of the finest small parks in the state, containing over 
fifty kinds of shrubbery. His place appeals to tourists owing to its attractive 
surroundings as well as the excellent service which he renders to patrons.
In 1893 Mr. Snyder was married to Miss Mary J. Parnell, a daughter of John 
Parnell, who was a farmer and carpenter of Tennessee, in which state he passed 
away. While in Skagway, Mr. Snyder became an Elk, joining lodge No. 431. His has 
been an interesting career, fraught with many thrilling experiences, and there 
is no phase of life in the west with which he is not familiar. He is classed 
today with the substantial citizens of the Sacramento valley and is conducting a 
profitable business as the proprietor of Los Molinos Inn.
  
Source: Wooldridge, J.W. Major History of the Sacramento Valley California, Vol. 
2 pgs. 345-346. The Pioneer Historical Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.