E. M. Small

E. M. Small, a general merchant of Wilder now conducting a profitable business, was born in Ohio on the 17^th of October, 1865.  His father, S. S. Small, was a native of the south and of Norwegian parentage.  He was a repair lineman on the railroad and also acted as lineman during the Civil war, serving throughout the entire time in which the north and south were engaged in hostilities.  His wife, Mrs. T. T. Small, was also of southern birth, but both are now deceased.
     E. M. Small went to sea when a mere lad, shipping before the mast, and made fourteen voyages around Cape Horn on the oldtime sailing vessels known as “windjammers.”  He has been in every seaport of any importance in the world, has cruised upon the Nile and went up the Amazon when all of the crew on his ship died of smallpox save himself and two other white men.  He stood by and saw his dead shipmates thrown over the side and devoured by alligators and crocodiles and wondered whether he would be the next one to fill their hungry maws.  His trip to various parts of the globe if written in detail would present many a thrilling and interesting picture.
      At the present time, however, Mr. Small is pursuing the even tenor of his way as a progressive and enterprising merchant of Wilder.  He came to Idaho in 1903 and worked on the Oregon Short Line Railroad.  In 1905 he removed to Parma as operator and agent and there remained until 1912, in which year he became a resident of Wilder and erected the first building where the town is now located.  At that time no townsite had been laid out and he built in eighty acres of sagebrush.  He opened a small store but has increased his stock from time to time to meet the growing demands of his trade until he now carries a stock valued at about forth thousand dollars and occupies a substantial store building fifty by one hundred and twenty-five feet and two stories in height.  The interurban line had not been built at the time he located at Wilder and there was little indication of future rapid growth, yet Mr. Small saw the possibilities of the district and from the beginning has been identified with its development.  He conducts a general merchandise business and his interests make constant demands upon his time and energies.  He has three trucks and does a general trucking business in connection with the conduct of the store, in which he carries the most complete stock of goods in Wilder, while the integrity and enterprise of his business methods have brought to him most substantial success.
     In 1910 Mr. Small was married in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Miss Lillian A. Ramsey, a native of Missouri, and to his wife Mr. Small attributes much of his success.  She is a most intelligent woman, cable, energetic and persistent, and her labors and judgment have ably supplemented the efforts of her husband.  Mr. Small is a versatile man who always looks on the bright side of life and has a smile for every situation and for every person with whom he comes in contact.