GATES, JOHN WARNE

1855–1911, American financier and promoter, known as Bet-a-Million Gates, b. near Chicago. He discovered a market for wire fencing on the Western plains, began the manufacture of fencing in St. Louis, and, by a succession of consolidations and promotion schemes, organized (1898) the American Steel and Wire Company. He was a well-known figure on the grain and stock exchanges and later, interesting himself in oil, became prominent in the development of Port Arthur, Tex.

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