Lake City's leading businessmen included engineers, lawyers, bankers, mining investors, and merchants.

Brothers Jacob Jackson Abbott and James W. Abbott, two Yale-educated New Englanders, opened a civil engineering business in 1875 and in ensuing years constructed homes for their respective families.

J.J. and J.W. Abbott were responsible for surveying the bulk of mining claims in Hinsdale County and were part-owners of the 34-mile Lake City & Uncompaghre Toll Road between Lake City and Ouray.

J.W. Abbott was a founder and vice president of the Bank of Lake City.  During the 1870s and 1880s the Abbott brothers founded the Colorado Gold & Silver Mining Co. and established the short-lived Bank of Lake City.