Joseph Reynolds was born around 1820 in Thunder Hill, near Rockland, Sulivan County, New York. He was married to Eleanor Morton Reynolds, also born in Thunder Hill, near Rockland, Sulivan County, New York about 1920. They had no children.[1][2]
Joseph "Diamond Jo" Reynolds was a successful steamboat operator from Chicago, Illinois. He gained the name "Diamond Jo" by marking his steamboats with the name "Jo" surrounded by a diamond. Reynolds was also known as the "Steamboat King."[3]
In April 1875, he began building the Hot Springs Railroad between Malvern, Arkansas and Hot Springs. The railroad was sometimes called the "Diamond Jo Line" for its developer.[4][5]
"Diamond" Joe Reynolds died of pneumonia at the age of 71 on February 21, 1891 in his tent at the Congress Mine in Congress, Arizona.[6] After his death his estate was valued at between $8 and $10 million completely debt free. His estate included real estate, steam packets, grain elevators, mining properties in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, and the Hot Springs Railroad, a 24 mile long narrow gauge line running from Malvern, Arkansas to Hot Springs, Arkansas.[7]
A photograph of Diamond Joe Reynolds can be found in the Sharlot Hall Museum Library and Archives entitled "Diamond Joe Reynolds at Congress Mill, Congress, Arizona ": photo link