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Subject: [CASANFRA] JIC Bio of C. A. Hutton (Journalism in CA)
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 18:39:33 EST

JOURNALISM IN CALIFORNIA

BY JOHN P. YOUNG

Pacific Coast and Exposition Biographies

CHRONICLE PUBLISHING COMPANY
San Francisco, California
1915

Page 227

Great Men and Great Men's Achievements
Form the Background for
California's Progress

Page 281
Cassius A. Hutton

Considering that Cassius A. Hutton, with an education obtained by the
sweat of his brow, was one time the youngest national bank cashier in the
United States - with this in view one needs no explanations of how Mr. Hutton
has been able to build up from nothing the largest flour jobbing business
west of the Mississippi River.
Strenuous and persistent effort, and close application to business - this
is the secret of his success, of every success. He has struggled against
competition as keen as that in any other commercial pursuit. There have been
times when the future looked dark, when it seemed that all his efforts were
in vain. But fortitude and persistence on every occasion carried the day, as
such attributes nearly always will.
C. A. Hutton was born September 4, 1867, on a farm at Algonac, Michigan,
the son of William H. Hutton and M. J. (Higgins) Hutton. When twelve years
old he left home and made his way through the public schools of Attica,
Michigan. Following his graduation from the high school of Lapeer, Michigan,
he attended business college at Bay City.
With the world before him, and the necessity of putting his knowledge to
account in his mind, Mr. Hutton entered a railroad office and pursued the
study of telegraphy. At the age of nineteen he started as a telegrapher with
the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railroad Company. The year 1888 brought him to
Cheney, Washington, where he took a position in the station office of the
Northern Pacific.
Two or three years more as a railroader and Mr. Hutton began looking
about him for an opportunity for more rapid advancement. He was offered a
position as bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Cheney and accepted it.
As he labored over his figures Mr. Hutton kept his eyes open for knowledge of
the business in which he had cast his lot. This desire to learn was noticed
and it was not very long until he was given the position of assistant
cashier. He was still in his early twenties when he secured the cashiership.

After several years in banking, Mr. Hutton left it to become business
manager for a four milling concern of Cheney. This was his first
introduction to the business in which he was later on to become so forceful a
figure. In 1898 he came to San Francisco to represent the firm as sales
agent, and a short while later he opened in the flour jobbing business for
himself in a small way.
When he started out in his new field as an independent jobber, Mr. Hutton
had only about $3,000 in capital. He steadily enlarged his business,
however, until in 1908 he organized the C. A. Hutton Flour Company, with
offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and incorporated. The present
volume of business runs between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000 a year, with
capital and surplus of $300,000. The corporation, which Mr. Hutton owns and
controls entirely with the exception of a few shares issued for organization
purposes, confines itself to domestic trade in California.
In a civic way Mr. Hutton has been active. He belongs to the Chamber of
Commerce, the San Francisco Commercial Club, and the Olympic and
Transportation Clubs. Fraternally, he is a past master of the Masons and is
a member of Mission Lodge No. 169, A. F. & A. M.
Mr. Hutton is married ahs one son, Harold P. Hutton, who is associated
with him in business. He is a lover of home and his new residence at 95 West
Clay Park, representing an outlay of $50,000, is one of most attractive in
the city.
California is essentially a land of industrial enterprises. Time was
when it produced little of the real necessities of life. Its rich deposits
of gold distracted the settler and left him but little interested in anything
but the wresting of a fortune from hits hills and river beds. Today, what
with the directing of attention to the "gold" that can be made to grow upon
its fertile acres, other interests claim the populace, and California has
become a little country within itself - self supporting.
One of the most important of these industries of today is the flour
business, and in this C. A. Hutton has played, and is destined to play in the
future, an important part.

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