Otto Mears

About

Built the Million Dollar Highway over Red Mountain Pass and hundreds more miles of toll roads that opened up southern Colorado to settlement.

Before Fame

He settled on a career as a roadbuilder after hearing a complaint from a flour mill owner that he was having trouble moving his product over poorly built roads.

Trivia

He went to the East Coast to construct several successful lines there after a financial panic cost him control of many of his railroads in the West.

Family Life

He was born in Russia to a British father, and he went to live with relatives in the U.S. after he was orphaned at a young age.

Associated With

He and Edward Harriman both helped the early settlement of the West.