Simeon Gannett Reed
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Simeon Gannett Reed (1830–1895) was an American entrepreneur from Oregon.
Reed was born in East Abington, Massachusetts. In 1855, he became a clerk at the firm of William S. Ladd in Portland, Oregon; in 1859 he became a partner in the company, which was then known as Ladd, Reed, & Co. In May 1860, Reed, Jacob Kamm, and John C. Ainsworth founded the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, a conglomerate of several river shipping companies plying the Columbia and Willamette rivers.
In April 1880, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company merged with the companies of Henry Villard and Ben Holladay to form the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. This created a single transportation conglomerate encompassing river shipping, stagecoach, and railroad ventures. Reed focused his energy now on meeting the demand for steel he anticipated due to Villard's Northern Pacific railroad. But Reed's iron factory at Oswego suffered a lack of investment and never started production of the steel rails Reed expected; Reed lost half a million dollars in the venture.
In 1908, his widow Amanda Reed established Reed College in Portland. William Ladd provided the lands on which the college stands today, and almost all of Reed's estate was passed on to the college, Reed having left no heirs. Simeon and Amanda Reed are buried near the family plot of Jacob Kamm in Portland's Riverview Cemetery.
