J. Henry Schnitzel Collection

J. Henry Schnitzel was born in Germany in 1860. He studied chemistry and received a degree as a pharmacist before coming to the United States at the age of twenty-one. He worked for family in Illinois until he made his way to Deadwood in 1886.

After arriving in Deadwood, Schnitzel kept himself very busy, holding several jobs at the same time. These jobs included working as an assayer in the Carbonate Camp as well as the Deadwood and Delaware Smelter, a butcher in Deadwood, and an executive assistant to George W. Perkins.

After several years of working for others, Schnitzel opened an assay and chemical office in Lead in 1894. The office employed over one hundred men and operated until 1904. After closing his office, Schnitzel was named general manager of the Golden Reward Consolidated Mining & Milling Company. Golden Reward was the largest mining operation besides Homestake at that time and stayed open until World War I forced its closure in 1918. Outside of the Lead and Deadwood area J. Henry Schnitzel established both cattle and mining operations in Kirwin, Wyoming. The cattle operations were not as lucrative as the mining operations, and Schnitzel ceased ranching by 1912. He founded the Galena Ridge Mining Company in Kirwin, which was highly successful through the late 1910s.

J. Henry Schnitzel passed away in Baltimore, Maryland, while on a trip to visit family. His body was returned to Deadwood and interred at the Masonic Cemetery. His pallbearers included prominent businessmen George V. Ayres and Chambers Kellar.