Although Mr. Sims has not been strictly a man of commerce among us, his life labor has been one wholly devoted to enterprises that are strictly conducive to that foundation of a commonwealth. Properly placed, he would be with general contractors, but as we have not material sufficient for a department under that head, he must take rank among the men whose trade has been facilitated by his enterprise.

Elias Sims was born at Onondaga, New York, August 4. 1818, and is another striking instance of the value of early dependence on one's own resources. Until he was fifteen years of age, Elias worked on a farm, when he concluded to leave it, and strike out for himself on another line. He worked as a laborer on the New York canal for some time, and being a lad of great force of character with a keen eye to business, he was very soon selected as an overseer. He held this situation for about two years when he became deputy superintendent of the works, being at the time only in his eighteenth year. After considerable experience in this business, he concluded there was an opportunity to make more money by contracting than by working on a salary, and consequently resigned his office and commenced on a work for which he was eminently adapted by nature, and one in which he subsequently became remarkably successful, as, indeed, was his first contract, for it resulted in a profit of several thousand dollars. Men did not become millionaires in such short order then as now, and so much money so easily obtained almost unbalanced the young contractor. It made him less careful in his estimates, and, as may be easily judged, his next job swallowed the whole of his capital, and compelled him to become overseer again.

The next speculation he engaged in was the building of a tug, in connection with two others, and which proved a success. After some time, he obtained a dredging contract at Port Stanley, Canada, and being very successful in this he entered into it as a permanent business, and appeared among the live men of Cleveland in 1856, as a contractor for dredging the "old river bed". From year to year, this contract for dredging at Cleveland has been continued, and in addition to this, he has executed some immense jobs at Grand Haven, Mich., Erie, Pa., and Milwaukee, Wis., in which he has been uniformly successful. He also contracted largely in the construction of the Great Western Rail Road, in Canada, and canal locks in Iowa. He is interested in propellers on the lakes, and has two tugs and three dredges in this harbor.

Mr. Sims may well be styled a pioneer in the system of dredging, by means of which all the lake harbors have been able to receive vessels of double the old tonnage. Although of a quiet, he is not by any means of an indolent temperament, and has exhibited business energy in a way that did not make much noise, but which led to sure results. Mr. Sims was one of the contractors and one of the proprietors of the Rocky River Rail Road and Hotel. He is also interested in the People's Gas Company of the West Side, and we are driven to the conclusion that such a long series of successes in such undertakings cannot be due to accident; there must be for foundation, a clear, calculating mind, and the ability to execute well what is well planned. Projects in which others had failed became profitable under his management. He is still in the vigor of life going on as usual with his contracts.

In 1838, Mr. Sims married Miss Fosburgh, of Onondaga Co., N. Y.; of the marriage three children were born, Mrs. Sloane of Buffalo, Mrs. Evatt of Cleveland, deceased, and Mrs. Wm. Starkweather of Cleveland.