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- FREDERICK SALATHÉ, PhD
The youthful but progressive young state of Wyoming is fortunate in many ways, not the least one of these being the great number of men of acknowledged and conspicuous ability who have cast in their lots with her fortunes. Each calling, profession, vocation, that has its place in the wide range of the capabilities of the state has its representative men of the most distinguished order, men of not only preeminent ability in their respective spheres of action but also possessed of sterling character, animated by high principles, considering the public good through able, well-directed personal endeavor. Among the most distinguished of the sons of the state, standing in the foremost rank of the world’s great chemists, is Frederick Salathé, Ph.D., now of Casper. Wyo., whose distinctive talents and fame are bounded by no narrow horizon, but are known and honored by the most distinguished scientists of America and Europe.
Doctor Salathé was born at Basle, Switzerland, on May 8, 1857, the son of H. and Dorthoy (Baerwart) Salathe, also natives of Basle. They trace their Huguenot ancestry to a residence in France in the time of the Moorish wars in the years immediately antecedent to the middle of the sixteenth century, where they stood in the full splendor of the grace, courtesy and other brilliant qualities then attaching to the people of their faith, renowned alike as scholars, soldiers and lovers of country. The name was then spelled Saladdin, and the family enjoyed life in the sunny land of France until after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, when they were among the half-million of Protestants who fled to foreign countries, and locating in Basle, they soon became prominent as merchants and in civic life. The paternal grandfather was for long years the treasurer of the federal government of Switzerland, holding this office by repeated and consecutive elections until he resigned on his retirement from business. The father, also, was a successful merchant, and the originator of and the pioneer operator in the silk industry of Basle, which has attained such huge proportions and is now largely devoted to the manufacture of silk ribbons. Owing to the high reputation he had acquired as the leader in this industry and on account of his high moral character, business capacity and integrity, he was commissioned by President Grant as U. S. consul at Basle, retaining the appointment during Grant’s successive administrations. The Doctor’s maternal uncle, Edward Baerwart, was one of the leading merchants of Rio Janeiro, Brazil, during the past generation, and his extended mercantile operations (the wholesaling and importation of woolen goods) are now continued by the Doctor’s younger brother, Edward.
Receiving his preliminary educational training in the schools of Basle, Frederick Salathé supplemented this by an attendance at and a graduation from the Basle Industrial School, thereafter pursuing a full course of three years at the Federal Polytechnic School at Zurich, being graduated there from with the highest honors and acquiring thereby the appointment of assistant director of the Chemical Technical Laboratory under, first, Prof. E. Kopp and second. Prof. George Lunge, here remaining two years, within which time he had prepared his thesis for submission to the faculty of the University of Zurich upon the derivatives of aniline, for which he received the degree of Ph. D., after this the doctor invented the process by which aniline colors and dyes are manufactured from the refuse of petroleum oils. Applying for a patent in Switzerland, he came to this country to introduce his invention, and in 1879 he had suitable chemical works for his process erected in Titusville, Pa. These proved very successful under the doctor’s supervision until the tariff on aniline products was largely reduced, the price of certain necessary imported chemicals at
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1857 - 1923 (65 years)
. Valerie Lillian SALATHÉ, b. 24 Aug 1889, Jersey City, Hudson, New Jersey 
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