Daniel Hunt Gilman was born in Levant, Maine, in 1845. After serving in the Civil War, he worked in New York City's mercantile houses. He received a law degree from Columbia College of Law in 1877 and entered private practice in New York City. In 1883, he moved to Seattle, where he began promoting some major businesses, including railroads. Gilman helped to found the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway in 1885. Among the railroad's objectives were to cross Snoqualmie Pass and exploit the real and perceived mineral resources of the Cascade Mountains. Working with Thomas Burke, he secured capital from East Coast investors to finance the railroad's construction. The first tracks were laid in 1887. The line ran from downtown Seattle, around the northern shores of Lake Union, and to the east of Lake Washington. By 1889 the railroad reached as far as Snoqualmie Falls, where it was linked by a northern branch to the Canadian Pacific in Sumas, Washington, and track was laid in Spokane for a line heading west. However, the railroad never succeeded in crossing the Cascade Mountains. Due to the highly speculative nature of its financing and management, the venture ran into financial difficulties and the Nothern Pacific Railway assumed control in 1890.
Gilman helped to found the Seattle and Montana Railroad (part of the Great Northern system) and the West Street and North End Electric Railway in Seattle. He was also involved with various ventures, from real estate to construction to coal mining, connected with his railroad business. Gilman was among the first to recognize the potential of Snoqualmie Falls as a hydroelectric generation source, and he worked to cultivate interest in it.
Gilman was an active Democrat. He was chairman of the Democratic Party's Central Committee from 1890 to 1892. In that capacity he helped to establish the Seattle Telegraph as the newspaper of the party.
Some time following his marriage in 1888, Gilman moved to New York but returned to Seattle in 1906. He died on April 27, 1913.
From the guide to the Daniel H. Gilman Papers, 1882-1903, 1883-1894, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)
