Captain Joseph Leach, president and general manager of the Missouri River Transportation Company, was born on March 7, 1849, in Cambridgeshire, England. He immigrated to the United States in 1851, settling first in Cook County, Illinois, and later in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Leach began his career in steamboat transportation on the Missouri River in 1866. In 1883, he established a residence in Running Water, South Dakota, and developed a successful transportation business. Leach married Minnie Seeley in 1871, and they had ten children. A dedicated Republican, he served in the South Dakota State Legislature and Senate.
Captain Joseph Leach, president and general manager of the Missouri River Transportation Company, with headquarters in the village of Running Water, Bon Homme county, has had a varied and eventful career and has passed practically his entire life in the great west, being familiar with the vicissitudes, trials and dangers incidental to life on the frontier. He has gained success through his own efforts, having been dependent upon his own resources from early boyhood, and is one of the best-known citizens of South Dakota, where his friends are as numerous as his acquaintances. He is a true type of the stalwart, straightforward, honest, bluff, and generous westerner, and is also an astute and able business man and executive, so that there are many points which render most compatible a review of his career in this history.
Captain Leach was born in Cambridgeshire, England, on the 7th of March, 1849, and is a son of William and Susan (Edwards) Leach, who were likewise born and reared in the “tight little isle,” where the former was engaged in merchandising until 1851, when he came with his family to America, the voyage being made on a sailing vessel and the trip consuming a period of eight weeks. Landing in New York, he soon afterward made his way westward to Cook county, Illinois, and purchased a farm in the district now covered by the beautiful suburb of Washington Heights, the property which he thus owned being now worth millions of dollars. He was there engaged in farming until 1857, when he came to what is now Sioux City, Iowa, the largest and most imposing building in the little frontier village at the time being the barn of the Northwestern Stage Company. He crossed the Missouri river on the 7th of June, 1857, and took up government land where now is located South Sioux City. Upon his claim, he constructed as the first family residence a rude dugout of the type so common in the early days in that section, as also at a later date in the Dakotas, and he developed and improved a good farm, becoming one of the well-to-do and honored citizens of that locality. Privations and hardships of other orders were the portion of the family during the formative era, and at times it was impossible to secure flour and other commodities now considered absolutely essential, and the first flour which he purchased cost twenty dollars for one hundred pounds. William Leach continued to reside in Nebraska until his death, which occurred in 1869. His widow still resides on the old homestead farm in Dakota county, Nebraska, having attained to the venerable age of seventy-six years (1904). She has long been a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, as was also her husband, and he was a staunch Republican in politics, having identified himself with the party at the time of its organization. Of the thirteen children in the family, our subject was the eldest, and only he and his sister are now living, she being married and a resident of Chicago, Illinois.
Captain Leach was about two years of age at the time of his parents’ immigration to the United States, and he attended school for a short time in Cook county, Illinois, being but eight years old when the family came to Nebraska. It is needless to say that in the pioneer locality scholastic advantages were notable chiefly for their absence, so that he received but little schooling after coming to the west. This deprivation has not proved a serious handicap, however, for under the direction of that wisest of all headmasters, experience, he has gained a wide and varied fund of practical knowledge and is a well-informed man of mature judgment. The Captain left the parental roof at the age of eleven years and began to fight the battle of life on his own responsibility. For five months he was engaged in driving stage between Covington and Onidie, Nebraska, and then entered the employ of the firm of Bozler & Hedges, who were engaged in the freighting business, for whom he drove a bull team for the ensuing eighteen months, after which he was employed in the office of the firm and later their general store at Sioux City, Iowa. He remained with the firm for three years and then remained one year at the home farm. At the age of seventeen, he inaugurated his career in connection with steamboat transportation on the Missouri river, securing a position on the steamer “Miner,” commanded by Captain Hawley, and plying between Sioux City and Fort Benton, Montana. He thus penetrated the various sections of the northwest during the early pioneer epoch when the venturesome prospectors were making their way into the mountain fastnesses of Montana in search of gold, while buffaloes were to be seen by thousands and wild game of all sorts were abundant and the Indians obstinately disputed the encroachments of the white men. He continued to be thus identified with the navigation of the Missouri for a few years, and upon attaining his legal majority he started in the agricultural, grain, and commission business at Covington, Nebraska, where he continued operations until 1875, having been successful in his efforts. It should be noted in passing that he first came into what is now South Dakota in June 1859, when he accompanied his father here with a load of produce, for which they received the sum of three hundred forty dollars, which practically paid for the farm in Nebraska. After retiring from business in Covington, Nebraska, the Captain removed to Dixon county, that state, where he erected the first grain elevator and established the first lumber yard in the village of Ponca. In 1877 he traded his properties there for mining properties in the Black Hills, to which section he made his way, being there engaged in prospecting for a short time, after which he returned to Nebraska, where he remained until 1878, when he came again to the Hills, bringing about fifteen buggies and harness, of which he disposed at a good profit. Upon his return to Nebraska, he engaged in contracting for ties, supplying the Sioux City, Columbus & Black Hills Railroad, which was then in process of construction. To this enterprise he gave his attention for one year and then, in 1882, he built the steamer “Little Maude,” which he put into requisition in connection with his wood trade, securing the product from his land on the river and selling the same in the markets at Sioux City. In the following year, he entered the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, transporting passengers and baggage with his boat, and on the 24th of August, 1883, he arrived at what is now his home village of Running Water, Bon Homme county, where he has ever since resided, while he has built up a large and important transportation business of general order on the Missouri river. He has been the owner and operator of the ferry across the river from this point to Niobrara, Nebraska, from 1883 to the present time. In 1893 he chartered the steamer “Last Chance,” which he utilized for transportation purposes until 1898, when he built the steamer “South Dakota,” which continued in service until May 10, 1902, when it was burned to the water’s edge at the dock in Hiles Landing, entailing a loss of twenty thousand dollars, without insurance. In January 1903, Captain Leach purchased the steamer “Bachelor,” which he now utilizes, having also in requisition the steamer “Little Maude,” both of which are operated by the company of which he is president, the stock of the concern being owned in its entirety by his family. The Missouri River Transportation Company, of which he is president and general manager, was incorporated under the laws of the state in 1902 and does a general freight and passenger transportation business, having landings at the following named points: St. Helena, Yankton, Lyter, Springfield, Santee, Running Water, Niobrara, Yankton Agency, Iron Post, Scalp Creek, and Wheeler. His son, Captain Joseph, Jr., is general superintendent of the company; while the other two sons of the official corps are William A., who is secretary, and Paul Clifford, who is treasurer. The company handles a large annual business and affords facilities which are of great value. In 1893 the Captain purchased what is known as the Chalk Cliff ranch in this county, and he made many improvements on the place, which is one of the best in this section. He disposed of this property in 1901. In 1889 he erected his present fine residence in Running Water, the same being one of the most attractive homes in the county, while it is a recognized center of social life and is notable for its gracious hospitality. He is also the owner of a general merchandise store at Perkins, this county, and is known as one of the progressive business men and loyal citizens of the state in which he has made his home for so many years and in which his circle of friends coincides with that of his acquaintances. In politics, he gives an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party and is well fortified in his convictions on matters of public policy, as he also is in the other and varied relations of life. He has been an active and influential factor in public affairs and has been honored with offices of distinctive trust and responsibility. In 1895 he served as a member of the state legislature, and in 1900 was elected to represent the seventh district in the state senate, making an excellent record in both assemblies and gaining the unqualified endorsement of his constituents. He is an appreciative and honored member of the Masonic fraternity, having been a charter member of Mt. Vernon Springfield Lodge, No. 7, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Niobrara, Nebraska, where he is also affiliated with the other York Rite bodies, and he has also attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, being affiliated with Yankton Consistory, at Yankton.
At Covington, Nebraska, on the 2d of September, 1871, was solemnized the marriage of Captain Leach to Miss Minnie Seeley, who was born in New York. She was reared and educated at Waterloo, Iowa, being a daughter of Clinton F. and Mary Seeley, who is now deceased, her father having been a successful contracting mason and now living at Anaconda, Montana, aged seventy-five years. Mrs. Leach is a member of the Congregational church in Running Water and is prominent in its work and also in the social life of the community. Of the ten children of Captain and Mrs. Leach, we enter the following brief record in conclusion of this sketch: Joseph, Jr., the general superintendent of the company of which his father is president, is captain of the steamer “Bachelor”; Minnie C. is the wife of Marion A. Farver, who has charge of the subject’s mercantile establishment at Perkins; George is engineer of the steamer “Bachelor”; Paul C. is clerk on the steamer “Bachelor”; Willard A. is secretary of the Missouri River Transportation Company, as has been previously noted; Susan B. is a member of the class of 1903 in All Saints’ College, at Sioux Falls; Arthur died at the age of two years; and Vera, Minnie, and Maude are at the parental home.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.