ERB BIO FEATURE 8
Gleanings from the ERB Timeline Bio: August 1875-1899
www.erbzine.com/bio 1881: August 15: A younger brother, Charles Stuart,  is born but dies five months later on January 18, 1882..
1884: Brothers George, Jr. and Harry spend one of many summers at a summer camp at Hartland, Wisconsin.  They write home regularly. http://www.erbzine.com/mag10/1096.html
1885: August 3: A disastrous fire destroys the Burroughs Phoenix Distillery. Within a few years George has turned to a new business, the American Battery Company.
1887: Ed falls while riding his bike and hits his head on the pavement. He is driven home in a daze. He is left with a scar on his head.
1888: Ed's health and stamina improve as he spends much time riding on Warren Avenue from Ogden Avenue to Western. The first stretch of experimental asphalt pavement has been laid on that stretch. 
1889: Harry and Yale classmate Lew Sweetser purchase land for a cattle ranch (the Bar Y) along the lower Raft River in Cassia County, southeastern Idaho.  Ed makes his first proposal to future wife, Emma Hulbert.
1891: Ed's father sends him to work on his brothers' ranch. The 15-year-old greenhorn experiences many adventures in the "wild west."  He does ranch chores, rides the range, delivers mail and supplies from American Falls and develops a life-long love of horses and horsemanship. He impresses the cowboys by riding -- bareback -- the wild horse they call "Killer."
1893: Ed helps out at his father's American Battery Co. exhibit in the Electricity Building at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago: He drives the first automobile in Chicago - an electric "nine-seater horseless surrey" - in an impressive exhibition staged by ABC. The award presented by the judges refers in glowing terms to George Sr.'s product as "the only storage battery made in this country deemed worthy of any notice whatsoever." 
1895: Ed experiences many adventures while working as bill collector for the Knickerbocker Ice Company in Grand Crossing, Ill. 
1896:  Ed, disillusioned with the life of an enlisted man at Fort Grant, starts sending letters imploring his father to help him buy his way out of the service. Worried about the hardships he is going through, his mother secretly sends him food and money. 
1896: August 29: After being hospitalized for two weeks and still suffering from dysentery and having been diagnosed with a "tobacco heart" condition, he rides out with Troop B in pursuit of the Apache Kid and other renegade Apaches.
1897: Ed returns to Chicago. After having read all his letters of hardship in the army his parents are surprised that he appears to be in excellent health and has even gained weight. 
1897: August 5: A bicycle license is issued to ERB for a Reliance brand with a Diamond frame - address: 646 Washington Street. His father puts him to work at the American Battery Company where he starts at the bench for $15 a week and learns the business from the ground up. Eventually he earns a position of company accountant. He resumes his courtship of Emma. Her father, Alvin Hulbert, is manager of several major city hotels, including the Tremont House.  Ed enrolls for a brief stint at the Chicago Art Institute on Michigan Boulevard. According to family members, Ed only wants to draw horses. He is issued a student ticket good until July 1, 1898.  He compiles and illustrate "My Wonderful Military Career."
1898: ERB advertises that he can supply Pocatello readers with any periodical from America or elsewhere. His store is probably one of the few places in town where photographs could be developed. Ed takes many photographs and offers them for sale in the newspaper (many of these photos are still in existence). 
August 27:  The newspaper reports that ERB, the stationer spent a couple of days Salt Lake on business and "You can rent a camera the by the day or week at E.R. Burroughs" and ERB is "...circulating some elegant advertisements for the Junius Brutus cigars...."
1899: Ed returns to Chicago to work as treasurer of the American Battery Company  (1899 to 1903).