Kansas Tycoon Emerson Carey: Building an Empire from Coal, Ice and Salt - Paperback

Emerson Carey, the powerful salt magnate of Hutchinson, Kansas, was the architect of his own rags-to-riches story on the prairie.

"I've seen a fly make a bull switch his tail" is a homespun quip attributed to Emerson Carey. True or not, the quote epitomizes the fearless and tenacious character of the legend who became Reno County's benefactor. Young, awestruck Carey arrived in boomtown 1880s Hutchinson and went on to create an immense empire. Coal, ice, salt, strawboard, egg cases, bags, soda ash and streetcars--he presided over it all. From Carey's sleeping in a coal yard with a quarter in his pocket to the founding of the exclusive Willowbrook community and attaining a net worth of more than $15 million, authors Lynn Ledeboer and Myron Marcotte relate the epic story.