Wyoming on the whole has been fortunate in the class of men who have occupied her public positions. They have usually been devoted to the general welfare and qualified by innate ability and experience for the duties that have devolved upon them. In his present position as state treasurer Hon. Herman B. Gates is adding to the stability of the state, while his record reflects credit and honor upon his constituents.
    A native of Illinois, he was born in Auburn, January 7, 1884, a son of Jacob A. and Susan M. ( Ballou) Gates. The father was a farmer by occupation and went to Illinois from the south. He served in the Confederate army during the Civil war and he passed away when his son Herman was but a year and a half old. The mother is still living and in the family were four children but two sisters died in infancy.
    Herman B. Gates, who was the third in order of birth, acquired a public school education in Auburn, Illinois, passing through consecutive grades to the high school and he then completed a business course. In 1902 he removed to the west with Thermopolis, Wyoming, as his destination, and became bookkeeper in the First National Bank, which position he occupied for three years. He was afterward assistant cashier and eventually he became one of the organizers of the First National Bank at Worland, Wyoming. He was made cashier upon the organization in 1906 and afterward, in 1910, was elected to the vice presidency of the bank and later was made its president. He thus became widely known in financial circles and his broad experience, ability and enterprise brought him prominently to the front as a logical candidate for the office which he is now filling. He was elected in 1914 to the position of state treasurer for a four years' term and is a most capable custodian of the public funds, thoroughly familiar with the complex problems which devolve upon him in this connection. At one time Mr. Gates served as director of the. Hanover Canal Company, which was engaged in building canals in the Worland district, and later he was one of the directors of the Upper Hanover Water Association, a farmers' organization which took over the canal from the construction company. At present he is vice president and a director of the Western National Life Insurance Company, a Wyoming corporation with headquarters in Cheyenne. For a time also Mr. Gates was engaged in ranging cattle, pursuing this business for about three years in the Thermopolis district, on Kirby creek, known as the Black Mountain country.
    On the 28^th of August, 1908, Mr. Gates was married to Miss Nellie Foster, a daughter of A. L, Foster, of Iowa. Since becoming a resident of Wyoming, Mr. Gates has made judicious investment in property in this state. He is interested in beet farming and in stock raising and is one of the directors of the sugar company owning and operating a factory at Worland, Wyoming, having been instrumental in the establishment of the plant there. He is fond of hunting and fishing and enjoys various phases of outdoor life.
    Fraternally he is connected with the Masons as a Knight Templar and as a representative of the consistory and the Mystic Shrine. He is a Protestant in his religious faith. In politics he has always been an earnest republican and in 1911 was elected to the state legislature, where he took active part in furthering through legislative enactment many of the best interests of Wyoming. He has always been devoted to the welfare of the state and has been particularly active in advancing the development of Worland and the Big Horn basin, having seen the town grow from nothing to a city of fifteen hundred. Twice he has acted as its mayor in 1910 and 1911 and at all times his aid and cooperation can be counted upon to further local progress or advance the welfare of the state. Broad-minded and public-spirited, his labors have been productive of great good and at the same time he has carefully and wisely directed his private business affairs, so that substantial results have accrued. His home is at Worland.