"Ocha Potter: Time Line of Events in His Life" by Julia Fairchild, 2008

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OCHAPOTTER
TIME LINE OF EVENTS IN HIS LIFE
by Julia Fairchild
July 16, 2008
1878, March 1. Ocha Potter was born near the town of Sherwood, WI. Regarding his
given name, his mother, "who was independent and in some ways eccentric, found the
name in an encyclopedia. It was the name of some historic Persian or Arabian general.
Precedent meant nothing to her," he explained in his memoirs.
1891. (Age 13.) When he had completed all the studies taught at the school near his
home, his mother gave him the option of attending school in Fond du Lac, WI. He
eagerly accepted the opportunity and arrangements were made for him to live with
friends who owned a hotel there.
1893. He changed schools and attended Ryan High School in Appleton, WI. His mother
wanted him to be closer to home. He lived in an empty room in the loft of an old unused
bam or warehouse, paying the rent in farm products. Here he taught a group of 10 boys
how to play football which he had learned by watching the team in Fond du Lac. He was
chosen captain of the team. This is also where he met Julia Silverfriend, his future wife.
1897. Graduated from Ryan High School in Appleton, WI.
1897-98. Taught in a country school 20 miles outside of Appleton.
1898, April. Volunteered to fight in the Spanish American War. Julia Silverfriend saw
him off at the train station. He contracted typhoid fever before leaving Charleston, SC.
1898, October. After spending months in a variety of military hospital settings, he
returned to Sherwood, WI. His mother died a few weeks later in early November.
1898-99. Answered a newspaper ad for salesmen in Ishpeming, MI.
1899-1900. Found work as a laborer at a copper mine near Houghton, MI, cutting down
trees to make way for houses. When the lode was found, he got his first job underground.
He was put in charge of about a dozen skilled workmen all of whom knew more about
mining than he did. He lasted a few months.
1900. He went back to cutting logs for a while. Then through friends he had made at the
mining camp, he promptly found another job 20 miles north near Calumet as a laborer on
a diamond drill looking for copper. This job lasted six weeks.
It turned out that diamond drill exploration had suddenly come into great favor as a
means of exploration for ore bodies. The method was new and anyone who had had any