Duncan, William

William Duncan was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1857, raised in Illinois, and spent his youth acquiring technical training as a Mississippi river boat engineer and a professional blacksmith. He embarked on an adventurous, multi-decade journey across the western frontier and the far north, prospecting and mining in the Black Hills of Deadwood, digging in Leadville, and establishing a sixteen-year cattle-ranching operation in Arizona’s Strawberry Valley. Following a catastrophic drought that wiped out his livestock, he moved to California in 1895 to operate the Laurel-LeGrand steam power mine in Yosemite Valley, later undertaking a brutal, 1,500-mile dog team trek through the frozen terrain of the Klondike and Nome gold rushes.

In 1908, Duncan channeled his resilient entrepreneurship into the developing town of Clovis by purchasing a small, wooden corner blacksmith shop. Through exceptional trade skill and commercial foresight, he systematically expanded the property, erecting a massive new blacksmith workshop and constructing a modern, reinforced brick commercial garage equipped with advanced machinery. By transforming his early frontier hardships into local industrial success, he established himself as a foundational business leader, real estate owner, and highly respected civic figure within the Clovis community.